Building an AK-47 from a parts kit.

I got bored at work the other night and stumbled onto a video of a guy that was building his very own AK-47. It looked easy enough (how projects have I started thinking that) but the guy was using some specialty jigs and a shop press for the project. After looking into this a little deeper I can get a Romanian Ak-47 parts kit (everything but the reciever) for under $100.00. A 100% complete lower reciever is an FFL item and they run around $100.00 as well. So I figure another $50.00 to cover the things that I am uneducated on and I have a rifle for under $300.00. Not bad.
So why mention this. Well first off the jigs make the finished product look better and they no doubt make the project a little easier. BUT they are not cheap. The most useful jig is $250.00. If I did build one rifle the cost of the jigs makes buying a completed rifle cheaper but if one or two other people pitched in and got kits as well then this would be a great item to have. There are a few other jigs that totaled to around $200.00 that would make the project much easier. But again even building two rifles would not offset the cost of those items.

I may decide to get a kit an a couple of the flat recievers (no FFL dealer required) and give this a go anyhow. If this is something that is fun then the jigs can be bought as needed for future builds. I guess the project itself is intreguing to me. I would love to have an AK but there is just no way that I see spending more than $300.00 for a great one. Imagine have cool it would be to show up at the range with a Krinkov SBR that you built. Or even a regular fixed stock AK-47.

So if there is anyone out there that has the desire for an AK but does not feel like laying down the full price for one maby building your own is the way to go.

Weather

Due to the recent snow storm here in Bartlesville Oklahoma I was unable to use my days off work to get out and actually start this test. Thursday was just way to windy to get any good initial data for the .17HMR Maximum Range test and well Friday it snowed all day long. So I am going to have to postpone this test untill a good day comes along where I am off work and the weather is in my favor. Right now I have to get the rifle/scope zeroed for 100 yards. I may do this prior to heading out to conduct the longer range testing. The Bartlesville Sportsmens Club has a lane that is 185 yards long (it is only open for use once a week) that will probably be used untill my other range dryes out a little.
Right now I only have 130 rounds for this test. I am not 100% sure that the test can be done with such a small ammount of ammunition. I will probably stop by Wal-Mart and pick up at least 100 more rounds so that I will have my bases covered for this test. In any case I will keep my results, or lack of, posted here. CHEERS

Some more on the .17 HMR

Looking at my notes and some ballistics data that I found on Hornadys web site something occured to me. Hitting something at 400 yards with the .17 HMR is like shooting the .223 Rem at 1000 yards. The little round is just so affected by the wind that it might make a snake shaped path to the target depending upon the winds that you are shooting in. I am sure that most people who have claimed hits at 400 yards were not lying but I do also belive that they would be hard pressed to repete what they did on another day.

The picture is a photo snip that I took off of the Hornady Ballistics Calculator. You can clearly see that past 200 yards the little round has to fight for every inch. You can also see that the energy drops to almost nothing at 400 yards. So this reinforces my previous statement that this round should only be used for punching paper at any range past 200 yards. It is the only responsible thing to do.

Now the data in the picture above is only a rough starting point. I have seen this program and others like it be fairly close. The problem is that as range increases so does the error in the ballistic calculator.

I just wanted to add this to my last blog so that you will all have the same ammount of information that I have. CHEERS

Pushing the .17HMR to its limits.

Over the last few weeks I have been doing a lot of research on the little .17HMR (Hornady Magnum Rimfire). I have read many claims of people hitting targets out to and beyond 400 Yards. Keep in mind that the .17HMR uses a 17gr. bullet that leaves the barrel at apporxamately 2550fps. A round that small will loose much if not most of its energy fairly quickly. The round was designed as a small varmint round and in that role it performs flawlesly out to at least 120 yards. Firing the .17HMR out of my Savage 93R17 BTV I have shot 200 yard groups in the 3 inch range. But I have always wondered what the maximum effective range would be for such a small round. I have no doubt that the round will get to 300 yards with a respectable level of accuracy but the 400 yard claim that I have heard and read seem a little far fetched. Elevation adjustments should not be a problem to 400 yards but the windage adjustments are another story all together.

From my personel experiance the wind is this rounds biggest problem. Over the "average" hunting distances (20-100 Yards) this round shoots like a lazer beam but after the 120 to 150 yard mark the wind deffently is a factor that must be considered before launching the shot. I belive this is due to the rounds rapid deceleration and its small size. At this point I have been unable to locate the B.C. of the 17gr Hornady V-Max that seems to be the most common loading. But if I had to guess it would be in the 0.120 area. This factor alone takes this round off the table for long range varmint hunting. Shooting the .17HMR at 200 yards feels like shooting a High Power rifle at 800 yards. You have to really adjust for the wind to get good solid hits. From my personel experiance if the average wind is above 10 mph and gusty then you should keep all your shots inside the 100 yard zone. If you do decide to shoot in higher wind you should wait for the lull.

So now that I have genericaly covered what hundreds of other have I want to get into the bread and butter of this artical. Why would you ever want to shoot such an underpowered round at great distances. For one there is no better way to learn to shoot in the wind than to actually go and shoot in the wind. Many if not most of us have range limitations that do not allow us to stretch out big guns out and get the practice that we need. So shooting a smaller round at closer distances can give us a the practice that we need. I would guess that shooting the .17HMR at 200 yards would be about the same as shooting the .223 at 400 yards and the .308 at 600 yards. So there you have it the biggest reason is triger time, quality trigger time. Also there is the monitary value of this practice. 50 rounds of quality centerfire ammo can run as high as $75.00 while the .17HMR is in the $12-15.00 range. Also when you factor in the drive to a range or shooting area where you can shoot to 600+ yards the gas alone can keep you from making the trip that weekend. Most places here in the midwest have at least a 100 Yard range within an hour of where you live. I have fired many diffrent rifles chambered for the .17HMR and they have all performed beyond my expectations in the accuracy arena. The biggest advantage here is that the rifles are reletivly cheap when you factor in the ammunition cost and the gains you will see in your long range shooting.

So I pose a hypothsis. "Is it possible accuratly and repetably engage targets to 400 yards with the .17HMR?" For this test I will be using a Savage 93R17 BTV with a Bushnell 4200 Elite 6-24x40mm Mil-Dot scope. I have ffound some prelimanry data that suggests that the .17HMR can be used for "target practice" to 400 yards. For me the proof will be in the targets at the end of the test. I will start at the 100 yard line to get a good solid zero and then move further back in 25 yard increments untill I can no longer reliably hit the target. The target will be a 12"x 12" steel plate that is suspened from a carrage that is high enough to get the target above the Oklahoma grass. Behind the steel plate will be a large piece of cardboard for plotting shots that did not hit the plate. So the entire background of the target is almost 3'x3' of target plotting area. I will attempt to shoot only on days where the wind is at least steady. Here in Oklahoma waiting for a nonwindy day is akin to waiting for the second coming of Jesus.

With my test results I will post all applicapable weather conditions (temperature, barometric pressure, altitude, density altitude, wind speed and direction in relation to the shooting position, lighting and direction in relation to the shooter, humidity), shooting position used and any supports used, scope adjustments in both 1/4 MOA clicks and MOA for both windage and elevation, my general feeling for the day (good day, bad day, etc)

For this to be a good test the results must be repetable at least in the same general weather conditions that they were gathered in. The only way to get repetable results is through keeping a shooting log and recording the proper information. I will share all the applicable info. This weekend I plan on at least getting this started. CHEERS