Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1467328
My story with an AK began when I was just a couple years old. As a son of the company's 1st sergeant I had almost unlimited access to the weapon storage and I loved to play with different guns. Of course, Kalash was my favorite toy, I knew all its versions and I mastered its assembly and disassembly. At the very beginning, I was even too weak to charge it – I put the stock against the floor and used my leg to move the bolt. Yeah, my daddy took good care of his sons. From other soldiers I heard those urban legends about AK rounds being ca- pable of penetrating railroad tracks or that you could put half a kilo of sand straight into the chamber and after reloading it will be running perfectly. That was my childhood. But I started to gain real experience with the AK platform when I was conscript soldier of the 1.PSK (1st Special Commando Regiment) – at that time, most of the Polish spe- cial forces units were semi-profes- sional. During the basic training, for my outstanding achievements in shooting I was even prized with 5-days pass! Honestly, that 48/50 score wasn't something impossible to achieve. During my service, I no- toriously heards rumors and stories about the superiority of the AK over the AR-15 family, mostly about the reliability. Same time, first groups of US Special Forces started to make visits in 1.PSK and launched the first common training. During one of the classes, we had to crawl a lot in sand and then we headed to the shooting range. When I was on the lane, I was unable to charge my rifle. Huge pile of sand inside the chamber made it impossible. Myth about the impressive reliability of AK was just debunked. Of course, it was my fault, so I had to return to the barracks running all the way. Then I decided to become a pro- fessional soldier of the 1.PSK and my next lessons were learned on the Polish 5.56 Beryl wz.96 assault rifle which I received after passing the selection course. I really loved it. It was 100% solid black and some say it was super-accurate. Naturally, after some time of use, we changed our mind, especially after my first deployment in Iraq, where we were working side by side with US special forces units. We envied them for their gear and guns – the M4 rifles with their almost unlimited capabilities for acces- sorizing. I made three deployments with the Beryl rifle, I mastered my manual skills of it and some limit- ed capabilities of sights or grips attachments appeared in meatine. US partners considered us as mas- ters of the AK platform and that was the reason why we were in- structors for Iraqi forces equipped with old AK rifles. During the Iraqi deployments we could witness what're the real terminal ballistics of the old 7.62x39 rounds. Believe me, no one would ever want to be hit with this bullet as the wounds were really serious. In the meantime our unit was brought under the umbrella of Pol- ish Special Forces Command (POL- SOCOM) and the Beryl rifles were ultimately replaced with brand new Heckler & Koch 416 assault rifles. But during another deployment, Afghanistan, we were training and cooperating with the local forces which were using the AK platform. We conducted multiple shooting and tactical training for them, all based on our experiences gained earlier. When I was on one training course in the United States, we were presented effects and ter- minal ballistics of multiple types of small arms ammunition. The recently unveiled (at that time of course) .300 Blackout rounds immediately reminded me of the 7.62x39 rounds. The .300 AAC/ Blackout (7.62 x 35 mm) rounds, has excellent ballistics and great performance and it is very easy to suppress. It is recommended for use in counter terrorist operations were the instant threat elimination is a priority. Side note – currently, Polish armed forces are not using other types of 5.56 rounds than standard SS109 with 62 gr rounds. There are no AP rounds or even heavier 75 gr (for improved stability and performance) in service. Les- sons learned in Iraq and Afghani- stan confirmed that the standard round was not capable of piercing the vehicle windows… The 300 BLK has similar performance to 7.62 AK rounds, which are overperforming the 5.56NATO SS109 rounds in the distances of up to 200 meters. And, what's important, Poland still has some stocks of 7.62 rounds, so it is www.fragoutmag.com