WHAT MAGNIFICATION IS BEST FOR THE AK’s 7.62 x 39

Here we are once more, one week closer to Black Friday, Christmas and New Year’s. It’s also a Friday and time for our weekly shoot-the-shit.

This week’s topic was going to be “How to identify a moron,” the last minute one of our less sophisticated readers suggested “Why I’m not the 40% of men with erectile dysfunction” – I assume in response to the recent  blast of Viagra commercials. Thank God, last minute, we got a question from a reader wanting some guidance on the proper level of magnification to use with an AK, so we thank him for that. As with all shoot-the-shits, you are free to make any unsupported statements, use profanity, insult anyone you wish or change the subject back to Viagra. You are free to do so without censure.

Here’s our take on magnified optics for the AK platform. The 7.62 x 39 cartridge was developed for barrier penetration and small enough were a large amount could be carried. Its external ballistics and bullet geometry were never intended for precision work – by precision we mean 1 MOA or less. That’s the reason why I like the supersonic 300 Blackout.

For a variety of reasons, the best you can consistently expect from your AK, operated by an experience shooter, is 3 MOA. Weapon tolerances and ammunition are simply not intended for precision work. If precision is your goal from Eastern European weapon systems we would suggest the SVD or similar platform. So, the objective for a magnified optic becomes a need to get a better view of what you are shooting at, and for that we suggest magnifications that give you a good field of view at ranges in the order of 300 meters to 600 meters and that you can do with a 4x to 6x. This may seem like a narrow range but you’d be amazed at how much influence these magnification levels have on field of view at typical effective ranges. You may also want to consider a Dragunov style optic. Ranging with a Dragunov reticle is extremely fast and surprisingly accurate.

Let us know what you think!

Have a safe and relaxing weekend with your buds and family. Get to the range and keep your skills current.