{"id":10248,"date":"2022-03-08T15:04:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T20:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=10248"},"modified":"2022-03-31T18:33:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T22:33:25","slug":"how-to-use-an-ak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/how-to-use-an-ak\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use an AK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/shooting-101\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6392 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner.jpg\" alt=\"Shooting 101 Series Banner\" width=\"750\" height=\"159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner-600x127.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner-350x74.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>We&#8217;ve had some requests to add the AK or Kalashnikov-style rifles to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/shooting-101\/\">Shooting 101 series<\/a>, so that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re covering today. The AK is a pretty easy gun to learn how to operate. But if you&#8217;re new to shooting, or if you&#8217;ve suddenly found yourself in possession of an AK for the first time, you could probably use a few pointers. We&#8217;re going over the absolute basics of how to safely load, unload, aim, and fire an AK type rifle or carbine with step-by-step instructions and a live fire demo at the end.<\/p> <p>Details are in the video below or scroll down to read the full transcript.<\/p> <hr \/> <div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p> <noscript class=\"idle-load\"><div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding:56.25% 0 28px 0;position:relative;\"> <div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;\"> <div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_9z99x56o75 dnt=1 videoFoam=true\" style=\"height:100%;position:relative;width:100%\"> <div class=\"wistia_swatch\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;transition:opacity 200ms;width:100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/9z99x56o75\/swatch\" style=\"filter:blur(5px);height:100%;object-fit:contain;width:100%;\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" onload=\"this.parentNode.style.opacity=1;\" \/><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/noscript> <\/div> <p>Hello everyone, I am Chris Baker from LuckyGunner.com. It\u2019s been a while since we added anything to our Shooting 101 series. I\u2019ve had a few requests to cover the AK or Kalashnikov style rifles, so that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do today.<\/p> <p>The AK is a very simple and straightforward rifle to operate. But if you\u2019re new to guns or if you\u2019ve suddenly found yourself in possession of an AK for the first time, you still might need some help getting started in the right direction. There are several different methods for doing just about everything I\u2019m about to show you. My goal isn\u2019t to cover it all, I just want to help you grasp the absolute basics so you can use and handle the rifle safely.<\/p> <h2>Safe Gun Handling<\/h2> <p>Before we get into the specifics, we need to start out with a few guidelines for safety. Safe is a relative term. Anything we do with firearms is inherently dangerous. Every time you pick up a gun, you are making life and death decisions, whether or not you realize it. We can reduce that risk by following the four basic rules of safe gun handling. There are different ways to phrase these rules, but here\u2019s my summary:<\/p> <p>Treat all guns the same way you would treat a loaded gun. You cannot ignore the other three rules just because you believe a gun is unloaded.<\/p> <ol> <li>Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. That means, if it were to fire, it\u2019s not going to hurt anyone who doesn\u2019t need to be hurt and it\u2019s not going to damage anything you can\u2019t afford to replace.<\/li> <li>Keep your finger away from the trigger until you are ready to shoot something. Pretty straightforward, but that\u2019s the one people seem to have the most trouble remembering.<\/li> <li>Anytime we\u2019re holding the gun but we are not actively aiming at a target and preparing to fire, we need to have our trigger finger straight and glued to the side of the receiver. We don\u2019t just want our finger off the trigger, we want it as far away from the trigger as we can reasonably get it.<\/li> <li>Know what you are shooting at and what is behind it and around it. That goes for the shooting range or anywhere else you might need to use your gun.<\/li> <\/ol> <p>There\u2019s a lot more to using a gun safely than just these four guidelines, but if you follow them, you greatly reduce your chance of unintentionally hurting yourself or someone else.<\/p> <h2>How to Clear an AK<\/h2> <p>Whenever we handle an AK, or any gun, the absolute first thing we need to do is clear it. That means we\u2019re going to check and see if it\u2019s loaded, and unless we plan to fire it right away, we\u2019re going to unload it.<\/p> <p>Pick up the gun with your dominant hand on the grip. Tuck in the buttstock under your armpit. That\u2019s going to help support the rifle while you perform these manipulations.<\/p> <p>The first step is to remove the magazine. The magazine release is this paddle just in front of the trigger guard. Grip the magazine with your fingers and use your thumb to press the paddle forward. That will allow you to pivot the magazine forward and then down.<\/p> <p>Set the magazine aside. Now you need to open the action to see if there\u2019s a round in the chamber. On the AK, the action will not open if the safety is on. So make sure the safety selector is in the down or fire position. Pull the charging handle sharply to the rear. If there is a round in the chamber, it should eject. Hold the action open. The AK does not have a bolt hold-open feature, so you have to hold it open manually. Visually inspect the chamber to double-check that there is no cartridge in there. Then you can ease the charging handle forward. And put the safety selector back in the safe position.&#8217;<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10257 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure.jpg\" alt=\"clearing an AK\" width=\"750\" height=\"1174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure-287x450.jpg 287w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure-654x1024.jpg 654w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/clearing-procedure-350x548.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>I like to keep my primary hand on the grip as much as possible while I perform these operations. Since I\u2019m right-handed, that means I have to rotate the gun 90 degrees and use my left hand to grab the charging handle. If you find that difficult to do, you can use your left hand to support the rifle by the hand guard and run the charging handle with your right hand. If you\u2019re left-handed, you don\u2019t have to rotate the rifle and you can simply use your right hand to run the charging handle.<\/p> <p>Now that you have cleared the gun, you can do whatever else you need to do with it like clean it, or put it away.<\/p> <h2>How to Load an AK<\/h2> <p>In this case, we\u2019re going to load it, so put down the rifle with the barrel pointed in a safe direction. First, you have to load the magazine. Hold the mag in your non-dominant hand and insert the rounds into the mag one at a time. If you have trouble with this, it might help to brace the bottom of the mag against a solid surface. AKs come chambered in a few different calibers. Make sure you\u2019re using the correct magazine and the correct ammo for your rifle. Today, we\u2019re using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/rifle\/7.62x39mm-ammo\">7.62&#215;39<\/a>, which is the most common chambering for AKs.<\/p> <p>A standard AK mag holds 30 rounds. Once it\u2019s full, the next cartridge will not fit.<\/p> <p>Now, since I don\u2019t actually want to load the gun here in the studio, I\u2019m going to switch to my magazine here that has dummy rounds loaded in it.<\/p> <p>Inserting the magazines can be a little tricky until you get the hang of it. The key is to hook the little lip here on the front of the magazine in the receiver before you try inserting the rest of the mag. Angle the mag so the bottom is pointed the same direction as the muzzle. Find the magazine well and hook in the front. Then rock in the mag until it clicks into place.<\/p> <p>Give the magazine a little tug to make sure it\u2019s in there securely. Sometimes the back of the mag will rock into place, but the front is not actually hooked into the receiver, and then the mag falls out and you look like an idiot. It happens to every AK-user at some point, but if you give that mag a little tug first, you can catch your mistake.<\/p> <p>Now, the gun is not quite ready to fire yet. It\u2019s loaded, but we need to get a round from the magazine into the chamber before it will fire. Move the safety back down to the fire position. Pull the charging handle sharply to the rear, and this time, do not ease it forward. Release the handle and let it go forward on its own. Now, if I were to pull the trigger at this point, the gun would fire. But I\u2019m not quite ready to fire it, so I\u2019m going to move the lever back to the safe position.<\/p> <p>When the gun is on safe, the trigger will not do anything. But you never want to rely on the safety to prevent the gun from firing. We still have to keep it pointed in a safe direction and keep our finger away from the trigger.<\/p> <h2>How to Fire an AK<\/h2> <h3>Grip and Stance<\/h3> <p>Before we fire the gun, we need to get into the proper stance. This isn\u2019t very complicated. Just assume a typical athletic type stance. Your feet should be roughly shoulder-width apart with the dominant-side foot slightly behind the support side. Square your shoulders to the target. Lean forward slightly at the waist and bend your support side knee. This will put your body weight forward so the recoil of the rifle doesn\u2019t push you backwards.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10256 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance.jpg\" alt=\"AK stance\" width=\"750\" height=\"763\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance-442x450.jpg 442w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-stance-350x356.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>On the rifle, place your firing hand as high up on the grip as you can get it. Keep your index finger straight and up here well away from the trigger. Place the stock in here, off of your actual shoulder and more on the edge of your pectoral muscle. Point your elbow at the ground and not out like this.<\/p> <p>Now, grab the handguard with your support hand. I do not recommend gripping the magazine.<\/p> <p>With the stock still on your shoulder, pivot the gun down so it\u2019s pointed at the ground just in front of the target. This is the low ready position, and it\u2019s the default position you will use until you\u2019re actually ready to shoot the rifle.<\/p> <h3>AK Safety Selector Manipulation<\/h3> <p>When it\u2019s time to shoot, bring the gun up to eye level, and as you do that, disengage the safety. The standard safety on the AK can be difficult to manipulate without completely removing your hand from the grip. There are some aftermarket safety levers that make it much easier, and I\u2019d highly recommend installing one of those if you can.<\/p> <p>With the original safety, the technique I use is to leave my thumb hooked around the back of the grip, shift my hand forward, and use my middle finger to move the safety. The safety on this particular rifle is very stiff, but some of them are much looser and easier to move. If you\u2019re shooting the gun left-handed, you really don\u2019t have any choice but to take your support hand off the handguard to operate the safety lever.<\/p><p><\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10259 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation.jpg\" alt=\"AK safety selector operation\" width=\"1028\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation.jpg 1028w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation-600x448.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation-1024x765.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation-768x574.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/ak-safety-manipulation-350x261.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1028px) 100vw, 1028px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>Here in the US, the vast majority of our AKs have a two position safety selector: safe and fire. The fire mode is semi-auto only, which means every time you press the trigger, the gun fires one round. A true military-style AK has a three position selector. For those guns, in between safe and fire, there is a full-auto position. On full-auto, the gun will continue firing until you release the trigger.<\/p> <p>Full auto guns are a lot of fun, difficult to control, and heavily restricted in the US. If you happen to be in possession of a full-auto AK, I suggest firing the gun on semi-auto mode when you want to actually hit your target.<\/p> <h3>Using the AK Sights<\/h3> <p>Okay, so disengage the safety as you raise the rifle to eye level. Get your cheek planted firmly against the stock. As much as possible, move the gun to your face, don\u2019t move your face to the gun. You may have to kind of shrug your shoulder to accomplish this. You may even need to crane your neck down and forward. What you really don\u2019t want to do is lean your head over to one side.<\/p> <p>Now, you can line up the sights with the target. Most AKs have a very simple set of iron sights. There\u2019s a notch in the rear sight and a post in the front. Look through the notch and focus your vision on the front sight. You may have to close one eye to do this. Line everything up so that post is in the center of the target. The post should also be inside the notch with the top of the post even with the top of the rear sight.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10254 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight.jpg\" alt=\"AK sight picture\" width=\"1200\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight-600x336.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/AK-sight-350x196.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>The sight will wobble around a little bit and that\u2019s okay. You won\u2019t be able to hold it perfectly still when you\u2019re shooting from a standing position.<\/p> <p>The rear sight on the AK is adjustable for elevation. You can move this slider up or down based on how far away the target is. The markings on this sight are in hundreds of meters. The setting down here marked \u201cD\u201d may have some other symbol on your sight. That is the \u201cbattle setting\u201d and it\u2019s roughly equivalent to a 250 meter setting. You can leave your rear sight here most of the time. For a 7.62 AK, at any distance between zero and 300 meters, your rounds should impact no more than roughly seven inches (18 cm) above or below your point of aim.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10255 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment.jpg\" alt=\"AK rear sight\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/rear-sight-adjustment-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>Okay, so back to shooting the rifle. When the gun is pointed at the target with the sights aligned and the safety off, you can move your finger to the trigger. Press the trigger to the rear with steady even pressure and\u2026 bang. Congratulations, you\u2019ve just put a hole in\u2026 something.<\/p> <p>In the blink of an eye, after the gun fires, the bolt will move to the rear, a spent shell casing will fly out of the ejection port, and a new round will be loaded into the chamber. Press the trigger again to fire another round, and you can keep doing that until you run out of ammo or you decide to stop shooting. In either case, anytime you stop shooting, take your finger off the trigger, engage the safety, and go back to low ready.<\/p> <h3>Reloading an AK<\/h3> <p>When the gun is empty, you will hear a click instead of a bang. That means it\u2019s time to reload. If you don\u2019t want to drop your empty mag on the ground, you can remove it just like we did when we cleared the gun. Grab the mag, press the mag release, and rock it forward and down. Get your new mag, insert it, and rack the charging handle to chamber a round.<\/p> <p>If you\u2019re in a real big hurry and you need more ammo in the gun as fast as possible, you can perform an emergency reload. As soon as you get the click telling you the gun is empty, tuck the buttstuck under your armpit.<\/p> <p>Grab your new mag with your support hand. A lot of people use the new mag to slap the mag release and force out the old mag. I prefer to use my thumb instead. Get that old mag out and let it drop. Then insert the new one, chamber a round, and you\u2019re ready to go.<\/p> <h2>Live Fire Demo<\/h2> <p>Okay, that was a lot to cover, so I\u2019m going to go over it all again with a live fire demonstration.<\/p> <div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p> <noscript class=\"idle-load\"><div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding:56.25% 0 28px 0;position:relative;\"> <div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;\"> <div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_zuec0mp7xn dnt=1 videoFoam=true\" style=\"height:100%;position:relative;width:100%\"> <div class=\"wistia_swatch\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;transition:opacity 200ms;width:100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/zuec0mp7xn\/swatch\" style=\"filter:blur(5px);height:100%;object-fit:contain;width:100%;\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" onload=\"this.parentNode.style.opacity=1;\" \/><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/noscript> <\/div> <p>I hope you guys found that helpful. If so, the next time you need some ammo, be sure to get it from us with lightning-fast shipping at LuckyGunner.com<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve had some requests to add the AK or Kalashnikov-style rifles to our Shooting 101 series, so that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/how-to-use-an-ak\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[96,20,89,326],"class_list":["post-10248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shooting-101","tag-ak-47","tag-home-defense","tag-rifles","tag-shooting-101"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Use an AK\/Kalashnikov Style Rifle [Shooting 101 Series]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The AK is a pretty easy gun to learn. 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