I find that all operations on the gun must be done with the right hand.
Reloading and charging should be done with the left hand. Theres no need to remove the right hand from the grip for anything either.
No matter when you reload an AK, if you do a mag swap, you ALWAYS stroke the charging handle. That way, the gun is ALWAYS loaded when youre done. I dont know how many times I've been told that the lack of a hold open device is a bad thing (which its really not), and slows you down (which it doesnt), but at the same time, on a number of occasions, I've had M16's and AR's that were empty after a mag change, because the bolt went home on an empty mag, and it simply appeared the gun was still loaded when the mag was swapped.
One of the few problems with the AK's, that is actually usually generated by using your right hand to do the reload, is a specific mag malfunction that is not at all a good thing. If you've had one, you know exactly what I'm talking about, if you havent, be glad you havent.
What happens is, when rocking the mag into the well, the front of the mag, while somewhat in place, really isnt, and when the mag is rocked to the rear, it will lock up. Problem is, the mag is not positioned properly, and is now sitting to low for the bolt to strip a round off the mag. When you go to remove the mag, you'll find its now jammed in place, and will not come out, no matter how you pull on it. The easiest, simplest, and fastest way to deal with it, is to place the butt on the ground, mag away from you, while holding the rifle by the barrel, and kicking the mag out.
The above rarely happens, but does tend to happen more often, if you hold the rifle with your left hand, and reload using your right, the way the Russians used to instruct their troops to reload. I had this pointed out by someone who was in our military and learned about it back in the 60's in a weapons familiarization course, using Russian guns and manuals. I had never had the problem, as I never used my right hand to do the reload. After I was told about it, I had to actually force it, and I wish I hadnt. Nothing like forcing yourself to learn a bad habit. On the plus side, I do know what to do with it now, now that I know.
As far as accessories: using the side-rail on an AK, its fairly easy to mount optics on the rifle, with the added bonus of them being quick-detach with excellent return to zero.
While the side rails do work, and work well, they are not the best when it comes to mounting the optics in a position that makes for natural shouldering and shooting. Most everything sits WAY to high, and to far back, forcing you to fight the gun to shoot it.
The best thing I've found so far in that respect, has been the Ultimak/Aimpoint combo. The Ultimak replaces the upper handguard with a railed gas tube, which so far, is the only one I've seen or found, that sits low enough to allow a red dot to cowitness with the stock iron sights. With an Aimpoint on a low ring, this is easily done.
Using the above, the rifle shoulders and shoots, just like it does with the iron sights alone, and is very natural to shoot with. You get the same cheek weld you do with your iron sights, with your head down on the stock and forward. You can easily snap shoot targets out beyond 100 yards, and shooting close up, is very fast and natural as well.
As benEzra said, the downside of it all, is that a stamped AK, with a 30 round mag, and an optic is in the 10lb+ category. Most of that weight is up front as well. That makes your supporting hand the majority load-bearing hand. It doesn't take too long before fatigue makes it difficult to hold the rifle steady (since your basically holding 10lb in your weak hand, and trying to keep it rock steady).
Yup, your right on weight wise, but I disagree with the weight being a bad thing. If your reasonably fit and shoot on a regular basis, its all pretty much a non issue. The added weight forward actually "steadies" your aim, just ask anyone who shoots competition. Also, if youve shot competition, you know you "cant" hold anything, "rock steady", and shouldnt try.
If your AK's sling is set up properly, and being used as it should be used, it supports the rifle while being carried, even in a ready position, and helps relieve most of the weight.
Carried this way, you also get two options at employing the selector. The first, is from a more relaxed cradle type carry, using your right thumb,with your fingers wrapped around the front of the mag. The other, is using the middle finger of your right hand while its on the grip, as you would normally do from a ready position. Using the first method, the selector can also be taken off with no sound, so that complaint is also removed.
I have a couple of AK's and AR's. The one thing I've found, especially using guns equipped with red dots is, when shot in the same fashion, realistically, at realistic distances, they both shoot very similarly, and the hits on target look very much the same.
The AR's are for sure, the better target rifle, especially when using the iron sights. While the AK's generally are not all that great at bullseye type "target" shooting, they are still more than capable using only their stock iron sights, if your are capable as well. Its generally not the guns fault if you cant shoot it.
I think a lot of the problems when people compare accuracy is, they are not realistic in their comparisons, nor are they realistic in their own abilities.
