TX-Zen
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Posts posted by TX-Zen
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Any chance that they come over as 10rd single stack rifles and are converted to double stack by Arsenal with the appropriate 922r compliance parts.
I can't find any welded linkage pin holes on mine so I am going to propose a basic hypothesis.
They might be arriving in some variation with the trigger forward already.
We know the trigger guard is Bulgarian, so we can probably assume Izhmash didn't install it at the factory. I'm not sure why they would ship an Arsenal injection molded US made trigger with it either, just so we could have it in the right spot when Arsenal opens the box. If anything they probably ship without a Russian FCG at all, or as suggested in the sporter location but ready to drop out.
Just thinking outloud
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Damn that's hot
Who did the ATACS?
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Despite the weight the PO 3.5 is considered to be a fast acquisition scope, basically designed for using that belt buckle point of aim you mentioned (with the chevron though, not the cross).
I don't think if you aimed at the chest with the chevron you'd be that far off really, but if you were it would only be at the 100m range or less. Probably easy enough to compensate for without much hassle I'd think.
I will probably be able to find you a buyer for the RPK PO 3.5 if you decide to sell, I have two friends that might be interested. I know someone who might be able to get the AK74 version instead if you want.
Post up some reticule pics if you can, I've seen them before but it would nice to have them in the thread.
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There's a new SVD-DMR chest rig on the market made by Beez Combat Systems in collaboration with Marco Vorobiev. You'll remember Marco as the ex Spetsnaz Dragunov marksman who teaches DMR tactics; and BCS who are made up of prior military vets that make a variety of gear based on their real world combat experience (They also make S12 chest rigs too). This rig is a nicely made combination of both Marco's Afghan war experience and BCS's ability to construct tough durable gear that works, derived from both their own experience and requests and input from other professionals in the industry. It's designed to be a simple, low profile setup for the dedicated marksman...something intended to give easy access to mags under stressful situation and to carry a few extra's like grenades, IFAK and a radio for example.
They are offering it in two main styles, a 10 mag version and a 6 mag version with the primary difference being in how much real estate is available for molle attachments. My review is on the 6 mag version because I wanted to experiment with different molle combinations. Another point is that this rig isn't just designed for the SVD, it can be used just as well with virtually any kind of DMR rifle...think PSL's, Yugo M76 or even Saiga 308s. Basically anything that uses a similar size magazine should work great.
Some of you are familiar with the Russian Chamelion rig that I did a review on earlier this year. I had taken Marco Vorobiev's class and really wished I had one then, so as soon as they came on the market I picked one up and haven't been disappointed with it. However while I'm a big fan of Chamelion there's a few not so great parts of the design. I'm happy to say the new SVD chest rig removes the not so well done features of the original, namely replacing the MP 4x20 spotter scope pouch with way more useful molle attachments to increases the flexibility of the rig. It's also modernized with a significantly better magazine retention system, better orientation of the mag pouches and a tougher Cordura construction (vs the original Kodra material). Quick release buckles are incorporated and you now have the choice of using the traditional X style harness, or an H harness. It also comes in a nice array of colors including multicam, SURPAT and ATACS.
Hands on observations:
To me the first and biggest improvement is the bungee+snap retention system that allows for quick removal of the mag but keeps them quietly secure when snapped. I mentioned in my earlier review that one disadvantage of the original Chamelion is that it wasn't as quiet as it could be. The SVD chest rig solves this nicely with the new retention system and while training with it I could see an immediate improvement in speed when prone. You'll need to adjust the bungee somewhat but it doesn't take long to get them cinched properly. I've tried a variety of SRVV and SPLAV mag pouches before this rig came on the market and while most of them are well made they are usually not quiet enough for my taste. The analogy to me would be regular infantry vs special forces types...under most circumstances noise isn't critical for regular infantry but it could be a real show stopper on night patrol or ambush scenarios obviously. The SVD chest rig definitely shows the Spetsnaz/SF emphasis on quietness and I'm very impressed.
Construction of the rig is as good as I've seen any gear and definitely better than the original, I doubt this thing is going to fall apart any time soon. They added a large internal pocket but unfortunately I find it's so big that it's not easy to get to little things while wearing it ...they tend to collect under the side magazine pouch area. I guess you need to decide what you have to get to in a hurry, or just use it for maps as intended. The rig feels more comfortable than the original, it rides better and has a snugger fit IMO when adjusted properly. I'm on the fence about the X vs H harness, but during testing I added 6 more mag pouches to get to 12 total to see how the weight distributes. At the high weight of 12 mags it seemed like the X harness was more comfortable. At 6 mags both were great and I didn't notice any fatigue while wearing them all day on the range.
In summary I am really happy with the rig and am planning on buying probably two more in ATACS and Multicam most likely. It does what the Chamelion does only better and solves some of the smaller problems while it's at it. The addition of molle is my dream come true improvement. While I'm not one to run around with a plate carrier adorned with everything I can think of, there are a few things I do want and the new SVD rig delivers those options nicely. Another big hit with me is the choice of colors, I'm a fan of the Russian/American SURPAT pattern (basically the Russian colorization of MARPAT) and I'm glad to see it making it in the US. ATACS is another interesting choice, lately Texas has turned into a giant desert because of the never ending drought and ATACS looks right at home most everywhere these days.
I have to hand it to Marco and Beez at BCS, I think they knocked this one out of the park.
On to the pics:
6 mag version in SURPAT, shown here with H harness
My photoshop of how the 10 mag version looks
Closeup of the bungee+snap retention:
Cavernous internal pocket (Don't mind the loose threads, this is a prototype/proof of concept build)
Back showing the extra molle in the inside
Comparison with original Chamelion
Testing at the range
And no review seems to be complete without Tactical Buddha
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Do your responses make sense to you? They don't make a bit of sense to me in context with what I posted. I can't understand why you feel the need to argue that buying an 030 isn't a personal subjective decision, but you did.
030's aren't rare because Izhmash makes them all the time...yet we have almost none over here?
Really?
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There are several Kobra versions on the market, at least 3 that I know of. The most common is the EKP-1S-03M, there is a version after that and two before it if I am not mistaken. The fake is based off an earlier version similiar to the 03M model.
These are comparison photos of the most common EKP-1S-03M real model vs the fake version made by airsoft companies in China. One thing to remember is that the fake is patterned after a real Kobra, just not the 03M version. The version it's patterned after is not very common at all, I've only seen 1 or 2 over the years.
Here's an example of the real version that the fakes are based on. You'll notice the real thing uses brass fittings on the base clamp and different screws, plus different windage and elevation dials. The devil is in the details so to speak, the real version has the screws and small parts similar to the real Kobra 03M version (and presumably the other real models too). It's these little details that can help you tell the difference between the fake and the real deal, which the fake is actually a pretty faithful copy of.
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030's are completely subjective in value and only you can make that decision.
The majority of people on this forum aren't into Russian stuff, they just like the S12 and how they can Americanize it. To them spending $1500 on a magwell shotgun is way too much when you can do the same thing for much less using American parts. To them being Russian or authentic or having rare parts or features doesn't mean anything at all. I'd expect most of the responses to your qustions will be along similar lines.
It's basically the same argument as buying a Romanian WASR10 AK vs an SGL series rifle produced by Legion at Izhmash. Both go bang and both are reliable so why does one cost twice as much as the other. People will argue forever about why one is better than the other. In the case of the 030's people will point to lack of readily available magazines, the price, the fact they aren't even here yet etc etc as to why they aren't worth it. All valid points but it also depends on your perspective. They are also probably the most unique S12 you can get. That's worth something to some people.
US magazines can be modified to use in the Russian magwell, they just aren't going to be as reliable as the Russian magwell mag. For range use they'd be fine though I suspect.
It's hard to say that a better version will be imported, the BATF has already nixed future imports with the rail under the gasblock. But who really knows what that means for the 030 style guns, there was talk of importing the next batch without the rail which the BATF was apparently fine with. What's better than an 030 though?
It's impossible to say when they will get here and speculating will only make people upset. All I can say is that I'm not surprised at the delay, this is not an uncommon timeline dealing with rare Russian stuff.
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Any news on this by chance?
The gas ports are in different locations.. and the bbl has to be turned down when using a russian GB. If using a Russian Gas Block the gas port will need to be welded and re-drilled. This information is straight from Ted Marshall.
True, a friend is going through the same process and I've gotten my schooling on AK105's
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and didnt know if it was like the wasr10 of SVDs or not.
It's not an SVD.
It also doesn't have any relation to the Dragunov other than caliber and use. It's an AK chambered in 54R and not a cousin, variant or relation to the SVD. Don't be that guy who thinks he has a special Romanian Dragunov, instead know what you have and love it for what it is, a big AK
For the SVD style furniture do a search for Dragunov on Gunbroker. There's a guy that sells the polymer stock, HG adapter and similar style flash hider for it. I'd take it out and see how consistent it is first though, some PSL's shoot great and other's don't.
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I've talked to Brian on the phone a few times and he isn't really a salesman IMO, he's an AK enthusiast who wants to get some cool sh*t over here. FWIW I trust him, I paid in full last October without thinking twice about it. Situations like these are just the nature of the game sometimes when dealing with rare and unusual Russian stuff. I've paid more and waited longer for other stuff on the grey market.
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Since you bring this up, when I removed all the paint that my sgl21 came with, my trigger guard and oddly the front bayonet lug had a different paint that was not like the Izmash paint over the rest of the rifle. The paint remover peeled the trigger guard and the lug paint pretty fast and took an hour on the rest of the rifle. The paint on the receiver was not touched up with any of the easier to remove paint. Does this mean that Arsenal or possibly Izmash Legion custom shop painted the easy to remove paint on? I don't know. But, the linkage holes area wasn't touched up so I'm not sure what that means either.
The trigger guard is Bulgarian and does have a different finish, not sure on the bayo lug itself. Check and see if you have a 74M FSB...there are differences in how they appear compared to earlier Russian or Bulgarian pattern. It's possible that they slapped a Bulgarian FSB on there instead, but I know that my two SGL31's are definitely Russian. This is Arsenal we're talking about so who knows for sure.
the finish on my 31-94 is not the same as what came on my S12, from the factory.
Could be true, but the one I've seen in person appeared to be Izhmash. Like I said I haven't seen much in person that makes me think Arsenal is doing a traditional conversion on the sporters and selling them as SGL's. They might be, but there are details that seem odd especially when the finish is examined closely. Considering the SGL's are coming out of Legion I'm inclined to think they are more or less done at the factory and Arsenal is doing the minimum possible before they sell them. I still don't know if it's true but again it seems logical.
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The question is pretty simple. If Arsenal does any cutting or welding of the receiver...why would it have an Izhmash factory finish over the cutting or welding? Because they care that much about attention to detail they took the time and effort to replicate what Izhmash uses?
Doubtful.
If there's some evidence the 31-94's are refinished by Arsenal I'd like to see it. It's just that so far I haven't.
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It can often take months. Just the nature of the game
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It's an SVD handguard, the Russians use them on some versions of the S12.
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For beauty, I say Saigatech's legion clone
And this one too;
I love my S12 but there's really nothing hotter than SaigaTech's creations, plus he's a metalworking genius to boot. A true artisan, I'd love to own one of those krink S12's
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As far as the stock goes, I just can't bring myself to go back to a Russian stock! No offense, but the stocks are horrible on these shotguns. It is very hard to control the firearm when firing rapidly due to the very small surface area where the stock contact the shoulder. I know the AR style stock doesn't look right with all the Russian stuff I have on the gun, but it's much more comfortable, provides much better contact with the shoulder, and a better cheek weld too. I've got the AK100 polyfolder on my 5.45, and it does work well with the recoiless 5.45, but I have no interest in putting it on my shotgun. Maybe some sort of US made skeleton stock may give a more "AK" look to the shotgun. I do appreciate the variable LOP of the AR stock though.
I never noticed but then again I only had the standard poly stock on my S12 for a little bit, pretty soon after conversion I got the SVDS folder installed which same as your stock has a larger surface area than the 100 series poly. And for me I'm either shooting clays one at a time or dumping mags into the berm so I can't really comment, accuracy isn't a factor in what I do with mine. Interesting observation though.
Can't do much about LOP but a triangle folder with SVD cheekpad works great as long as you shim the stock so the pad locks up tight. Probably not worth the cost and hassle to add a folding trunnion but they are definitely sexy. You know me though I am an admitted side folder junky and can't seem to own a non folding AK, I get them added to all my rifles eventually.
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Nice job, I think you just need to sneak a Russian stock of some sort on there
As far as I can tell drop free seems to be a function of the catch on the back of the mag. I have two kinds of mags and they seem to be almost identical with the exception of the polymer material and the difference in height of the catch. (or at least they look nearly identical to the naked eye, I haven't taken calipers to them). The older and apparently more common mags don't drop free without some grinding on the catch but this newer one drops free right from the factory, I discovered it by accident one day. After testing it for a while and looking at the two I'm pretty sure it came out of the mold ready to drop free, there are no marks that I can see.
You can see in the photos the typical fuzzy polymer of the mags that are the most common type, the newer mag is on the far right of each photo. I haven't done anything to these mags myself and bought all 3 from different sources...Rusmilitary, a friend overseas and GunCity in NZ. It looks like the two older mags had some hand filing done but I don't know if this was two different people trying to make them drop free or a common thing from the factory. In any case neither of them drop free so I'm inclined to think it's part of a normal fitting or finishing process at Izhmash to allow them to fit the magwell, then each user can tailor them to their individual weapon (or so I assume).
I'm not sure if the feed lip area difference matters, really it seems it's just how the catch is shaped differently that is allowing it to drop free. Subjectively speaking the newer style mag is much nicer and has a more factory feel to it, and seems to be the same material as the newest AK103 mag polymer. The older magwell mags seem more like the AK74M black polymer and gets that characteristic fade/white-ishness as the oils leach out of it. (SVD polymer does the same thing)
Back of the mags showing the catch, again the newer drop free mag on the right. You can see how the ledge is actually somewhat lower than the other two even though it seems to be a bit taller. This catch seems to be the only main difference in determining if it drops free, other than a slight difference in feedlips.
Close up
Feed lip area
FWIW I don't think it's terribly wise to file away on a $140 mag, I haven't tried on mine and am happy with them the way they are but then again I don't use mine for anything serious. YMMV of course but I would use a lot of caution, go really slowly and test after each small change.
But congrats and welcome to the magwell club, to me it's the only way to run an S12
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Thanks Salmonking . I have plan to put this muzzle brake on the end of the BBL.
That's not a brake, actually it's a booster.
It increases back pressure to help short barrelled AK's cycle correctly, but is mainly for full auto shooting. The AKSU cone booster does the same thing and also increases back pressure to help keep it from stalling on FA.
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I haven't heard of any 5.45 barrels being threaded under the sleeve but I haven't paid attention for a while.
In any case if you cut the sleeve and thread the barrel you'll be limited to 14x1 if you want combloc brakes. Really seems like it will be more work to cut the sleeve and thread than it will be to just pop the whole FSB off and replace it with a proper 74 24x1.5. If you don't have a press I'd check around your hometown forum if you have one and find someone who does, it's really pretty easy if you think it through.
Good luck
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I think it's pretty easy yes.
Just tap the pins out and then use a press if you have one to pop the FSB off. A rubber mallet should work to get it off if you don't unless it's really stuck on there, that's how I got my S12 gas block off, I didn't have a press at the time.
It's not uncommon for the Bulgarian FSB to line up with the channels for the Saiga FSB, but it's also not terribly hard to redrill them if they don't. It's really a matter of patience and attention to detail. I've done a few Saiga conversions but have never built AK's and don't have many tools, I thought the FSB was much easier than converting the rifle itself if that gives you an idea of how hard it is.
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Well then I suppose he's been tarred and feathered, then banished from WT - right?
Harv
Seems to happen alot over there doesn't it? I've seen more than a few threads get deleted or locked when they don't agree with the party line, particularly about the US Palm magazines.
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I can't comment on Aimpoints because I don't have one but I find it unlikely that they will cowitness on 1. If they do it's probably lower 1/3 rather than absolute, I just can't see how the aimpoint is going to be able to do it when the PK can't considering they are both 30mm tubes.
The people I know with this setup all use PK23's and we all have the same observations, won't absolute cowitness on 1 but will on 3. Off the top of my head I haven't seen anyone mention cowitness one way or the other with aimpoints, I don't remember if Sturm gave a description of it in his video or not.
Zen, I knew if ANYONE had used one it would be you!
Thanks for the review!I definitely wasn't the first by any means but I had to get my hands on this mount, it's too interesting to pass up. Over on arfcom there are excellent threads on it, theakforum.net as well. One reason I post alot over here is I think Saiga-12 doesn't have as strong an AK community as other forums. So while it's the shizzle on S12's many people aren't familiar with all the other stuff going on with AK's, particularly optics which are not very well known over here at all.
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I like most of his video's but that one hits a few buttons for me and I kind of wish he'd redo it. Some of it perpetuates the western mindset that optics on Russian rifles are a compromise solution and in general the tone sounds like he's not really sure how the side rails or even the folding stock works. Not his best work IMHO, other reviews of his are spot on and I give him a thumbs up in general.
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I like it, I have my PK02/PK23 in mine. It was designed for the Aimpoint C3 I believe (or other 30mm Aimpoint tube optics whatever they are) but it works for any 30mm red dot including Russian ones. On the PK23 I had to rotate it in the mount for the battery cover to clear the dust cover, same with the Aimpoints from what I understand.
It's light weight, well built and does a nice job of compromising on two conflicting requirements...being able to field strip the rifle while mounted but also being low enough to cowitness. It's basically impossible for a mount to do that because of how low the irons sit relative to the receiver cover but the RS mount gets you close enough.
While you can't get cowitness with the rear leaf set on 1, it will give decent cowitness on battlesight or 3 and while doing so you can still remove the top cover. Considering those criteria are diametrically opposed I'd say Horse did a good job all things considered. I'm not a fan of cowitness myself so I'm not terribly worried about it. I'd rather not use battlesight all the time just to get it or have a 100 zero instead of 300 on battlesight but for people that must have cowitness it will do it, you just have to use battlesight or farther on your rear sight.
The mount itself works properly but does deflect more than typical MTK83 type Belarussian clamps that it was designed after. Return to zero does seem to work properly but visually it seems like the clamp is deflecting more than usual to achieve it. I haven't seen any issues with it so far, FWIW.
Nice feature is that you can shift the optic to the left or right to get it centered over the bore if you like (eliminating a common complaint that Russians optics are offset to the left). In fact my mount was maxed out to the right out of the box but it took about 15 seconds to get it centered.
And the price is actually very close to what it costs to make the mount, I know from the inside that Horse isn't making a ton of money on them at all. They aren't cheap because the manufacturer doesn't make them for much less than he sells them for.
After using it for a while I think it's decent and functional.
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New SVD chest rig review
in Other AK Rifles
Posted · Edited by TX-Zen
Google them, BCS makes a bunch of stuff. This is my first go around with their gear but they get a lot of good reviews on the AK and AR stuff they make.
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