A Holiday Visit

When my mom called to set up plans for her trip down to the swamp, I asked her the traditional question; "Is there anything special you want to do while you're visiting?" I envisioned she might want to go to dim sum, catch a movie, something like that.

"Yes, there is." she replied, "I really want to try shooting the AK and see if I can do it."

"You want to shoot the AK mom?" I asked, as if my ears had somehow deceived me.

"If that would be OK with you..." she replied, trailing off with that that sad and most guilt-inducing pause which only a mother can summon.

I nearly spit my beer on the floor, "Sure, sounds good." I told her, trying to sound composed. "What's the interest?"

"You and Lily always make shooting sound so fun, and it's something I've never really done and am kind of scarred of. But I feel if I try it with you guys I won't be afraid of it any more." She told me.

"Right on!" I exclaimed, "But why the AK?"

"That's the one I see on the news all the time!" She replied...

Enter the BufferTech Recoil Buffer

The night before we were to go shooting, I received a recoil buffer for the AK in the mail from BufferTech. I had spotted their ad in Shotgun News which claimed their product could not only reduce felt recoil, but also extend the life of any gun by reducing wear-and -tear of the parts.

The BufferTech recoil buffer is a small, custom-molded piece of dense polymer which fits on the base of a weapon's recoil spring. When the weapon discharges and the bolt cycles, this new piece acts as an impact point, so instead of the normal metal-on-metal contact the high-impact polymer buffer absorbs the impact. The end result is less wear-and-tear on the mechanism and less kick / muzzle rise, which allows for a quicker second shot on target.

Buffertech makes these for a wide variety of pistols and long guns. It was so easy to install that I literally had it in place and the gun reassembled in about 5 minutes!

I was eager to see what this accessory would do the rifle. Would it be a slick addition or a waste of so many good pesos? Goodness knows, if it worked like advertised it would be great! By its very design, the AK has a rough action to the cycling mechanism of the bolt when it fires and reloads. If any rifle is in need of something to soften this action, the Kalishnikov is a prime candidate.

Well, without spoiling the rest of the article, let me just say that not only does it work, but I was so impressed that I will get these for every firearm I own which they make them for! I rattled through a magazine and the improvement was so noticeable that I found it amazing I had never heard of BufferTech before. Two thumbs up, guys! I can't wait to see what one of these recoil buffers will do for a shotgun!

On the Range

After a brief lesson in safely handling and operating the (unloaded) weapon the previous night, mom was game to try this out. We set up a target at about 30 feet and quickly reviewed how to load and sight in the rifle, then she got down to business...

10 rounds later, we did a quick review...she was shooting consistently high and to the left of the center. She was hitting the roughly one-foot circle about 60% of the time, and her shots that missed the were mostly within an inch of the circle's edge.

I have to say, we we were all kind of surprized - she hadn't been sure if she was even going to be able to hit the sheet of cardboard, much less the circle!

I told her to look towards the bottom of the big circle this next next time (a general rule is "look at the bottom of a ground target and at the top of an aerial target") and fire as quickly as she could once she felt she was on target. She was not to worry about the black circle at all...just get the shots in the big circle.

This brought her shots down, and right on the money as you can see, with several in the black. Her total was about 80% in the big circle, all shots fired landing within 12" of the center. Not bad for someone who's total experience with firearms before this consisted of shooting a shotgun once, 20 years ago...

Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was a "blast", if a bit chilly! She had so much fun that we're already planning to go shooting again next time she's down...

For that story - which happened years later - go here to read about Instinctive Shooting With My Mom

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