Currently, I’m leaning toward a 16" KS-47 but am looking for suggestions for considering the 8.5" or 10.5". I see the new AK-10x series makes heavy use of 12.4" barrels, but there are no purchase options for that length at PSA. Just about ready to pull the trigger on one…
What am I going to use it for? Good question as most of my guns are sitting in the safe, but it’s a good tool to shoot cheaper ammunition, “training”, and as a SHTF gun. Plus, it’s an AR platform that I know a lot more about than AK.
I purchased a 10.5 inch KS-47 and an extra barrel with the intent of changing it to a 12.5 or 13 inch barrel. However the 10.5 inch was so accurate, easy to carry and maneuver that I never changed it. No regrets on the 10.5 inch. On the contrary my KS-47 quickly became King of the gun safe and was my “Go-to” gun for everything. Easily one of the best guns I ever purchased.
That’s some good food for thought from y’all. 7.62x39 isn’t a “long-distance” cartridge anyway, and probably reaches 75% of its max velocity at 10 inches (wild guess). Some rough data I found this morning shows the 10.5" @ about 2000fps, 12.4" @ about 2150fps, and 16" @ about 2300fps (youtube testers with varying conditions).
Thinking out loud: I’d imagine there’s a pretty big fireball produced with the short barrel. With a good flash hider (or suppressor), you could eliminate that. Also, the Russians probably didn’t pick 12.4" (31.5 cm) length out of the blue, but that’s not available - although 10.5" was mentioned as very usable.
I think I’ll switch my order to the 10.5" setup and get 16" replacement parts (like dbwchas) in the future.
I like the 10.5……it’s quick & handy. Plus when you put a suppressor on it….it only gets out to about the 16 inch mark. Putting that same suppressor on the 16 inch barrel puts you in the 22 plus inch length.
After you get used to the hard hitting 7.62x39…… it s hard to go back to the diminutive 5.56. Love that KS-47 !
The 7.62x39 is anemic as it is, you want to put an already medium power round down a short barrel?
Remember a real Krinkov is in 5.45x39. Have you explored your options with a 5.7 PCC?
Here are some “Real World” results from the 7.62x39 just a month ago.
Do not under estimate the power of the 7.62x39. Each was killed quickly with a single shot.
That 7.62x39 is powerful and accurate inside of 250 meters. The average Joe can easily manage accurate hits. 300 and beyond are capable……but usually more marksmanship skill than “Average Joe” is required to constantly hit at those ranges………and YES this can be done with the 10.5 inch barrel . It IS capable.
I don’t have any 5.7 or 5.45 ammo so they’re out of the question, unlike 7.62x39 which I have enough to do some training. I remember 10 or 15 years ago they were selling 5.45x39 in cases of 2000+ for about $150 or $200. I should have bought a few.
As for the Krink, this is a very cool article on how it came about. Although it’s one of the coolest weapons around, its effectiveness isn’t end-all/be-all; however, its value is crazy high. It does very well for what it was made for.
The KS-47 is perfect with a 10.5" barrel for me. Not really expecting to go out past 200 yards - even with my SKS, which has a 20" barrel.
A while back I saw a thread where you showed how to add the grip panels - didn’t really pay much attention at that time, although, I thought it was pretty nice. Where did you get those panels and the dye you used to stain them? Very functional now that I’m actually paying attention!
Any grip panels will work.
I destroyed my original set removing them when I replaced the handguard.
I got new ones “Clearance” priced $10 for each panel at VZ grips. They were on clearance because the color was hideous……who would buy those? I used black “leather dye” and they absorbed the color easily.
It was a great “Cheap” fix. Win win !
I felt that the original handguard was a little too short….and I was not comfortable “working” the gun. I replaced it with a 10 inch handguard…which was the perfect length ….so new grip panels were needed.
7.62x39 does a lot better than 5.56 in short barrels. The difference in velocity between then 10.5" and the 16" not very significant. I wouldn’t personally drop down to the 8.5" however.
I agree - 7.62x39 does darn well out of 10.5". The “modern” AK-100 series with short barrels are at 12.4 inches (31.5 cm). I’m sure the Russians did some optimization to come up with that length (muzzle velocity appears to be roughly 94% of 16" mv). If that length were available, that’s what I’d get. Perhaps when PSA makes an AK-104 we can look at getting that barrel for our KS-47, although they’re probably not interchangeable.
I picked one of these up several months ago and just got my form 1 back. Haven’t put it on the chronograph yet, but break-in plinking I didn’t see a dramatic difference in drop inside 300 compared to my yugo m72b1 with 20" bbl. Mind you that was all with irons as I still haven’t settled on an optic yet, but 7.62 doesn’t seem to suffer much from the 4" reduction.
Just picked up a lower and am leaning towards the 16" due to potential political climate, but I can attest that 7.62 x 39 performs well out of a 10.5" barrel. Anything shorter although capable, it becomes less fun (or more fun for some) due to the huge fireball that comes out the muzzle.
I couldn’t decide between the 2 so I ended up getting both barrel lengths. My dream KS47 build is to buy a 16in barrel from PSA, have it turned down to around 13.7in, pin and weld NOX muzzle device on, then put that in a Gibbz arms side charging upper. True Perfection.
