Vanity: Question for Gun Enthusiasts

Grannyx4 | 1/11/07 | Grannyx4

[Vor Lady]

Also, AK-47s are kinda old. Your fellow writer needs to do some research. I'd agree on both counts. I'm not positive, but I think he has it set in current days.

[absolootezer0]

i would assume that if you can see the clip seated, a round is not chambered.
the bolt won't close if there's a stripper clip in it.

[Hawthorn]

> the other thing to remember about port and starboard is port is left and starboard is right WHEN FACING FORWARD, i.e. the bow of the said vessel. <

Absolutely!

And here's a mnemonic I didn't mention in the previous post:

Port is a RED wine. Therefore, when you see a ship at night,

PORT = the RED light, and

STARBOARD = the GREEN light.

[NB: Does not apply to the AK-47!]

[activationproducts]

With the Kalashnikov you can tell if the safety is on but you cannot determine whether or not there is a cartridge in the barrel. The only way to determine whether or not there is a cartridge in the barrel is to pull back the operating handle and look in the action.

The part about being to tell by how the magazine is seated is BS.

[activationproducts]

Kalashnikov rifles do not have bolt hold open devices (the thing that locks that bolt back when the last cartridge in the magazine is fired). The only exception to this that I know of is a Yugoslavian variant which has a raised surface on it’s magazine that will hold the bolt open on the last shot. However when the magazine is remove the bolt will be pushed forward by the return spring back into battery acting like any other Kalashnikov.

[holymoly]

The author in question is a retired cop, so I didn't feel I could argue with him at the meeting.

He doesn't understand the difference between a magazine and a clip. You need to steer him to my Freeper home page.

[blarney]

Yes they do it's the magazine. All versions have it on the magazine. You are correct though when the magazine is removed they will slide forward. You can also lock the bolts back but have to reach inside the chamber to do it.

[activationproducts]

My experience with both a Norinco NHM 91 and Russian VEPR K has lead me to the opposite conclusion. They do not have bolt hold open devices. This is also what Small Arms Review editor Peter Kokalis has noted in various articles on the Kalashnikov rifle. What has your experience been?

[Vor Lady]

I don't believe my writer collegue is a Freeper; many in our group are bleeding heart liberals, so I can't direct him to your wonderfully, informative profile page.

[Vor Lady]

wonderfully, informative S/b wonderfully informative....Bad fingers, no, no...

[rbookward]

All these 'experts' are full of balogna!

All you gotta do is get real close and look down the barrel while shining a flashlight in at the same time. (A little awkward, but can be done if you perservere!) If you can see a pointy, shiny, copper-colored thingy waaay down there, that would be the tip of the bullet, so you know it's loaded. If all you see is darkness, then either the gun is unloaded, you're not doing it right, your flashlight is dead, or you're dead. /s

More seriously, one should always assume any firearm you have not kept your eye on since you cleared it yourself personally (or watched cleared at close range) is loaded and respond appropriately.

[blarney]

I have a chinese and a russion version ak and I have an chinese version SKs.

[activationproducts]

What model Russian Kalashnikov rifle do you have?

[Dutch Boy]

I also have a VERP K. Mine is in 5.45x39mm. It's a bit heavy but I love it.

[CountryBumpkin]

Let me guess, he thinks that "bullets" get loaded into the "clip"? First, there is no way that a round is going to chamber correctly unless the magazine is fully seated. Second, with the possible exception of a masochist fond of dropping a loaded magazine onto his feet, nobody intentionally leaves the magazine partially unseated (more than once). But all of that aside, looking down the front of the barrel from almost any distance, it is just about impossible to tell if the safety is off. He probably either made the story up or did a lot of embellishing.

[blarney]

embellishment is my vote. :)

[Vor Lady]

He did make it up; it's part of a fiction novel. The hero in the novel is being captured by the bad guys and the bad guys are pointing an AK-47 at the hero. The hero supposedly looked at the gun while it was being pointed at him and could see that the safety was off and a round was in the chamber.

I thought it sounded lame last night, but the writer is a retired cop, so I didn't want to argue with him since I didn't know for certain about how AK's worked. Now I know!

[Vor Lady]

For your enjoyment!

[archy]

The safety of an AK is particularly prominent, mounted on the weapon's righthand side [as held by the firer] and if it's in the uppermost position, blocking the path of the operating rod/bolt handle, then yes, it's obvious that the AK is on *safe.

If you hear a fairly loud CLACK, that being the sound of the safety lever being moved into the central position [full-auto] or all the way down [semiauto], then the weapon is in one of those two *FIRE* positions. There's no loaded chamber indicator.

If the story line absolutely requires an AK, then the concern for having a loaded, ready weapon pointed at one's tender parts should come from hearing that nasty snapping click, sometimes near as loud as a spring mousetrap going off.

If the glance at the weapon that tells it's loasded is the primary concern, then the weapon should be a Mauser bolt-action military rifle of the sort commonly used by the millions during the first half of the XX century. THough several different types of safety devices have been arranged for military Mauser bolt-action rifles, the prominent striker that protrudes about 3/4 of an inch from the rear of the bolt handle when cocked is the giveaway. Though not an indicator that the chamber is loaded, as can be found on a few handgun designs, that's about as technically close as can be found on a very common weapon.