AK: regular magazine vs. drum

[Prapor]

I own a Kalashnikov myself, as do quite a few of my friends, patriots that we are

Recently, on advise from a trusted man I adapted my AK to use drums instead of regular 'horn' magazines. Many here are doing that. Here is why.

Most 'horns' available here are regular size, that carry 20 shots

A more rare 'extended horn' gets you 40.

But a drum

gives you 75!

Here's my AKM

What do you guys think? Drum or horn? Any AK owners here, or anyone who's ever fired one? Or other guns too. I've seen a M-16 with a drum not too long ago...

 

[senojekips]

I only have a little experience with the Thompson SMG in this respect, and only in peacetime.

I thought that the drums were great when impressing friends with full auto fire demonstrations, but in every other situation Ifound that I preferred the 30 round "Stick" magazines. It drums were noticeably heavier, slow to load and made the weapon clumsy to handle. The clumsiness was probably the deciding factor for me.

 

[Prapor]

I only have a little experience with the Thompson SMG in this respect, and only in peacetime.

I thought that the drums were great when impressing friends with full auto fire demonstrations, but in every other situation Ifound that I preferred the 30 round "Stick" magazines. It drums were noticeably heavier, slow to load and made the weapon clumsy to handle. The clumsiness was probably the deciding factor for me.

Well, true, when you need to reload fast, the drum can be heavy and a overall pain in the arse. And, also, I found that it causes the gun to shake too much, which means far less accuracy.

But I still like it for the sheer firepower it generates. You essentially convert a semi-auto assault rifle into a full machine gun.

That is why PPSh is also still quite popular here

 

[senojekips]

The PPSh is a truly classic weapon of it's type, cheap, easily made, and very effective. I know they did take a stick magazine, but have only seen them in a few books. One of the worlds most easily recognised weapons.

 

[Prapor]

The PPSh is a truly classic weapon of it's type, cheap, easily made, and very effective. I know they did take a stick magazine, but have only seen them in a few books. One of the worlds most easily recognised weapons.

Like that? Yeah there are a few.

Actually, people here these days often make 'cut off' portable weapons out of the PPSh

lol Like an UZI, but bigger caliber...

We Cossacks often cut off the shoulder end and put a big silncer/flame suppressor on the barrel

Yes, we love that gun... The whole country does, even after almost 70 years. :-o

 

[A Can of Man]

Where do you guys buy these things?
Do you export?

 

[Prapor]

Where do you guys buy these things?
Do you export?

There's these guys who call themselves 'Chernye Kopateli', 'Black Diggers', because that is what they do, dig up old weapons. They know where all the worst battlefields of the Great Patriotic War/WWII are located. They find PPShs, German Shmeisers, all sorts of pistols, get them all in working order, and sell them. They are not just in Russia, there are 'Black Digger' groups in Ukraine and Belarus too.

http://kp.by/online/news/201152

You'd be amazed what some of these boys have for sale...

P.S. Happy Victory Day, all.

 

[A Can of Man]

Holy Schizz!!!!!
That is insane.
If I come across folks who need these sort of things I'll hit you up!

 

[muscogeemike]

I own a Kalashnikov myself, as do quite a few of my friends, patriots that we are

Recently, on advise from a trusted man I adapted my AK to use drums instead of regular 'horn' magazines. Many here are doing that. Here is why.

Most 'horns' available here are regular size, that carry 20 shots

A more rare 'extended horn' gets you 40.

But a drum

gives you 75!

Here's my AKM

What do you guys think? Drum or horn? Any AK owners here, or anyone who's ever fired one? Or other guns too. I've seen a M-16 with a drum not too long ago...

My understanding is that the main reason the 7.62 mini gun isn’t used much in ground ops is the weight of the ammo required to feed it.
I think weight may be a factor in using this drum mag in a tactical situation, also there is the time required to re-load the drum and maybe its size might be a problem.

 

[A Can of Man]

but 75 rounds means less reloading!! WOOOOOO!!!!

 

[Prapor]

but 75 rounds means less reloading!! WOOOOOO!!!!

That is the idea, yes

And, for the record, I don't personally know any Black Diggers, though I have done dealings with them. Through mutual friends. That is how you do everything in this country. :wink:

 

[Korean Seaboy]

Ah, the PPSH. It's my favorite WWII gun, reliable even after almost 70 years. The North Koreans still use it you know.

From what I know, the PPSH had unmatched firepower, was incrediblely cheap. Although it frequently jammed and had reloading problems, it was nevertheless admired for its low recoil and the superior firepower.

From what I remember, the PPSH was made as a cheaper variant of the PPD (along with simpler parts), and was inspired from a Finnish submachine gun, the Suomi 31. It was the most widely used Soviet machine gun during WWII. An even cheaper version, the PPS was produced, but after the war.


These facts are admirable, but my personal atttachment to the PPSH is because of the drum magazine. I don't know why, but it makes the PPSH seem unique.

 

[Prapor]

Ah, the PPSH. It's my favorite WWII gun, reliable even after almost 70 years. The North Koreans still use it you know.

From what I know, the PPSH had unmatched firepower, was incrediblely cheap. Although it frequently jammed and had reloading problems, it was nevertheless admired for its low recoil and the superior firepower.

From what I remember, the PPSH was made as a cheaper variant of the PPD (along with simpler parts), and was inspired from a Finnish submachine gun, the Suomi 31. It was the most widely used Soviet machine gun during WWII. An even cheaper version, the PPS was produced, but after the war.


These facts are admirable, but my personal atttachment to the PPSH is because of the drum magazine. I don't know why, but it makes the PPSH seem unique.

Well, no, it wasn't unique per se.

First, the Americans already had the Thompson gun by then.

And second, there was also Dyogtarev's Machine Pistol, the PPD-40

PPDs are rarer to find than PPSHs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPD-40

PPD-40 was too complicated and expensive to mass-produce, and although it was used in action in the initial stages of World War II, it was officially replaced by the superior and cheaper PPSh-41 by the end of 1941[2]. Approximately 90,000 PPDs were manufactured.

 

[MikeP]

Drums are heavy, unwieldy, slow to load, and cause wear to the locking area.
You would have heat issues with sustained use.

Stick mags can be loaded in seconds using strippers.

Spend some time in the Infantry and you get a whole different take on the weight issue.

I might carry one, but would not load myself down with several..

 

[Korean Seaboy]

Prapor: Yes I knew about the Thompson (yet didn't it use the regular magazine instead of a drum until the PPSH came in?). I also knew about the PPD, which I mentioned. Yet the reputation of the PPSH, and the love of it by Soviet soldiers, along with its wide use makes it unique. The fact that it is one of the few guns to use the drum adds more to its mystique

 

[LeEnfield]

MikeP ... has covered what I was going to say on this matter. With a drum you hose an area down hoping that you will some one, with a magazine you just might take a bit more time for an aimed shot. Still you have carry all this stuff on your back and there is often a limit that you can manage to carry.

 

[5.56X45mm]

I own a Kalashnikov myself, as do quite a few of my friends, patriots that we are

Recently, on advise from a trusted man I adapted my AK to use drums instead of regular 'horn' magazines. Many here are doing that. Here is why.

Most 'horns' available here are regular size, that carry 20 shots

A more rare 'extended horn' gets you 40.

But a drum

gives you 75!

Here's my AKM

What do you guys think? Drum or horn? Any AK owners here, or anyone who's ever fired one? Or other guns too. I've seen a M-16 with a drum not too long ago...

I own a AK Series Rifle. The Drum Magazine you have pictured is the same I have. It's made in Romania and is a copy of the Chinese RPK Drum.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture.

Anyways..... I have one drum, twenty 30rd mags, three 20rd mags, and three 40rd mags. The 40rd mags are quite common. They were made by the USSR for their RPKs. There is a Warsaw Pact designed drum mag but they're a little on the rare side. The 20rd mags were made by Hungary for the AMD-65 when issued to tank crews.

I got the drum mag for two reasons. One, they were on sale for cheap and two, they make a excellent tool for a break contact rifle. When I travel I take the AK with me with a drum mag and my three 40rd mags. Got plenty of power in a small package.

My plan is simple... use the drum and if that runs out pop in a standard mag.

 

[KJ]

For the AK5 the drum were all but useless.
The drummag often had feeding problems.
All it took were a slightly sloppy reload or snagging it on a brush and thus moving it a few mm and your weapon would malfunction.

We allready have the Minini for a light machinegun and have more use of the AK as what it was intended as, a carbine/assault rifle.

Furthermore I would rather carry more mags that I can spread out all over my pack (thus dispersing the weight) then hump for long distances lugging a heavy arsed drum in my hands.
A few hours of movement and the stamina requiered to carry a drum will start to effect your accuracy when you actually need to employ your weapon to maximum effect.. ie: hitting your target.

But it does look cool on them posing like a badass picture.

The PPSh is a different matter.
I know the finns went to great lengths to retrieve them of fallen enemies to employ them themselves as they outperformed their own weapons.

KJ sends..

 

[84RFK]

The PPSh is a different matter.
I know the finns went to great lengths to retrieve them of fallen enemies to employ them themselves as they outperformed their own weapons.

KJ sends..

Outperformed what and how?

OK, they outperformed the cyclic rate of a Moisin Nagant rifle, they had a slightly longer range than the 9mm. used in Suomi KP31, and they generally didn't jam up due to generous dimentions in the mechanism.

But personally I'd choose the Suomi KP31 over the PPSh anyway.

Might add that I have no experience what so ever with the Suom drum-magazine, only the "coffin-type" wich worked well for me.

 

[Yossarian]

Drum seems a great place to start, after that if your still in the heat, standard box mags from then all out.


But this thread does remind me of that particular incident in North Hollywood....

As for the morons involved... (Niether was on par with say Dillinger, also a user of drum magazines for era weapons) all I can say it I firmly believe, that it was a very innapropriate use of ammunition...

Just seems that a drum magazine seems for more impractical uses than for standard use on this type of service rifle...

Just my thoughts