Finally got to shoot it.
I got this out for last week's "Desert Shoot-a-palooza" and it's a hit.
After I shot it for safety, reliability and general concept observations, I set it on one of the tables with a pile of ammo and told the others to have at it.
Everyone like it.
Everyone shot it well.
No one had any negative input regarding the carbine.
So:
Very good condition Russian SKS.
Bulk and stripper clipped Russian military ammo.
Czech OKO red-dot sight.
High Sonoran Desert spring week!
1. The geometry of the set-up favors a larger optic or at least risers for smaller ones. The Docter and Meopta sights without risers were so low as to require me to hold my head at an unnatural angle. Others may fare better and I would rather have smaller sights myself so other avenues are still being explored.
2. The rearmost portion of the hinge of the loading gate is an annoyance and potentially minor scrape/cut for people who crawl up on optics as I do. It only takes a little attention to not do this but is worth noting. Not one single other shooter noted this as I did.
3. Loading bulk or stripper clipped ammo was simple enough taking the geometry into consideration. No double jointedness or undo attention was required and it could easily be done in the dark or while attending to other attention demands.
4. Muzzle climb and recoil were so minimal as to be essentially un-noticed. I enjoyed watching others shoot in relation to this. That said, the useless front sight and bayonet pivot will be removed and stored with the original bayonet and stock. It'll get a brake - though more as a muzzle protector than for the recoil or "climb".
5. The platform presented as a very solid and stable configuration allowing dead-solid hold on targets both stationary and moving. This is a known advantage of bullpup designs anyhow but worthy of note in comparison to firing another fine Russian, standard SKS at the same event.
6. The quirky appearing butt geometry worked out very naturally in its angle, plane, length and overall shape. These ugly geometry bullpups always surprise me that way.
7. Using the knuckle guard of the pistol grip as a fore-grip was natural and comfortable for everyone.
8. The open bottom of the pistol grip - which I speculated earlier, might be a problem - bothered no one, including myself.
9. The new stock interacted in no way whatsoever with ejected rounds.
10. Trigger action in pull quality and length was quite nice and that is without adjusting or tuning either consideration. It is very predictable and crisp. Overall, much better than any of my Chinese guns in their original state.
The overall height stands out as far as a practical consideration for me. While it came as no surprise in general, it did, however, surprise me in a particular application.
Fans and foes of bullpups note the overall heights as paradoxical factors relative to the beneficial gains in length.
"Sure it's shorter in length but damn, it's tall!"
I wasn't too worried about this, in particular, as I have no intention to use detachable mags.
I knew that the near mandatory optics would increase the height but when I went to put it into any one of my favored carbine soft cases - no joy.
It does, however, fit into the one I have particularly for an M-4 with optics and inserted mag.
As a plus in this regard - removing and re attaching the OKO over and over again continually resulted and a gratifying degree of "return to zero"... so there's that.
Up next is a good and simple side-sling set-up. It comes with one put is a bit too much of a nylon spider web for me.
Todd.
