AK 103 - The last 7.62x39 by Mikhail Kalashnikov (Feat. Vladimir Onokoy)

This episode was brought to you by Slate Black Industries. For M-LOK grips and accessories, visit slateblackindustries.com. In the early 90s, the AK-74M rifle outlined the basis for the new AK-100 series, of which the Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 103 would be one of the most successful commercial variants. Welcome to Nine Hole Reviews. Today, we examine this Kalashnikov manufacturing success story and hear directly from the Russians on some details pertaining to this Russian black rifle. The rugged, compact and easy to control AK-103 in calibre 7.62x39 was an answer to many Middle Eastern contracts that the Kalashnikov had designed for an easy manufacturing layout. The 103 is but a single model in the AK-100 line, which in turn was a smart method of maximising interchangeable parts to manufacture various configurations of different calibres on one single AK-100 assembly line. To fully appreciate how this came about, we should pull back and look at the development of the Avtomat Kalashnikova. Before the AK-100 series, Russian military rifle manufacturing had a litany of different models with different configurations. Mainly the AKM, the AK-74 fixed stock, the AKS-74 and the AKS-74U folders. Muzzle devices, different. Front sight block, different. Gas block, different. Handguards, different. U-model gas tube, different. Barrels, different. Stock and rear trunnion, different. Bolt and bolt carriers, different. Nothing was interchangeable. Finally in the 90s, it just returned to the drawing board with, oh yes, Mikhail Kalashnikov himself, and the series would be his final design. The idea of the AK-100 revolved around the manufacturing process. To have a single assembly line manufacturing all variations with minimal swapping of parts. All new variations used the 5.5mm trunnion and the folding fixed stock, the same receiver, same handguards, same bolt carrier and the same fire control group. The only variations for calibre came down to the barrel, bolt and rear sight base. The only variations for long rifle or short carbine configurations came down to rear sight sleeve, gas block and front sights. Outside of the muzzle device and the variation components, every major model of the AK-100 series could be manufactured on the same assembly line with few interchangeable parts. And thus, the AK-103 was born. In short, this was an updated AK-74 with a durable polymer furniture, with a highly effective muzzle brake, chambered in 7.62x39. Today what we have here is a Saiga to AK-103 conversion since we cannot obtain full AK-103s in the US. Saigas are made on the AK-103 lines with additional steps to make them hunting type rifles. However, I spared no expense in working with our gunsmith Mike and sourced the original AK-100 series components to return the Saiga back to its original format. Mike took the Saiga and installed the AK-100 series stock and 5.5mm trunnion, re-welded the extra Saiga trigger holes, installed the stock retaining hook, military type safety selector, replaced the gas block and front sight block with proper AK-100 series components, and milled a US muzzle device and marked it to spec. Mike also installed a pistol grip reinforcement plate that is a standard feature for Russian folding stocks. He retained the bolt holding device that comes with Saiga rifles. So here we have a Russian factory built AK-100 series 7.62 rifle with all the intended AK-103 features restored for us to properly evaluate what we consider as one of the best factory rifles to work within a 7.62x39 rich environment. We borrowed a Romanian Wasser from Small Arms as a stand-in for the AKM to compare with the AK-103. First impressions. Most notably, the AK-103 is butter smooth compared to the gritty Wasser. Machine work on the AK-103 is well executed. The stock locks open solidly and is tight when folded shut. The AK-103 actually uses a thin stemmed 5.45 style bolt instead of the usual AKM thick stemmed bolt despite being the 7.62 caliber. When compared side by side, this is clear. The AK-103 extractor is also visible from the bolt, like a 5.45 AK-74 bolt rather than an AKM bolt, and an improved AK-100 push button recoil spring is used. The AK-100 series pistons also lack gas rings to speed up manufacturing, and when compared to an AK-74, you can see the different length of the muzzle brake collar. The pistol grip reinforcement plate is also a standard feature now since all rifles have folding stocks. But how does it shoot? We're glad you asked. Taking the rifle to 100 yards, we did a standard 9 shot group with Bernal military type 7.62x39 ammunition. With 8 out of the 9 shots, the rifle printed a 3.1 MOA dispersion, while a 9th shot stretched it to 3.9 MOA. This is an above average but fairly average nonetheless group for the Kalashnikov family. So how does the AK-74 style muzzle brake affect close range engagements with a 7.62 caliber? What do you think? Pretty good, I think. A couple charlies, but mostly everything center mass. I don't see any others off, so pretty good Very smooth. This one, the gassing on it and everything, it's come together really well. Feels clean, smooth. Not like, you know, sometimes you pick up AKs and 7.62 and depending on which one you get, it might feel like you're getting hit with the freight train even though it's only a 7.62x39. This one, quite on the contrary, very smooth. And then with something like the 2x power ACSS stock from Primary Arms, really easy to track. So you just use two eyes open and you're still basically seeing everything through the reticle. The other thing that I really like about running some sort of an optic in order to control recoil is it allows me to put my thumb over the top of the gun, just get better control over what's going on. Getting that type of a grip means that I'm basically taking the same ergonomics that I have off of an AR platform and applying them to the AK, even down to how I'm holding the grip of the gun. Makes it a lot easier to control recoil and get a nice center mass grouping going on on the target. It's a little bit harder to do two times than just a pure one power dot at 15 yards like that, but all things considered, it's still way easier to track some sort of a reticle than it is trying to track iron sights when you're shooting at that speed, at least for me. And that's taking into account even things like that Henry does where he stacks the front sight over the rear sight adjustment, which he'll demonstrate here in a So the way the Russians designed it, they wanted the soldiers to put it on the P setting for battle sights. That works if you're shooting at a point target, but not really when you're shooting at a close-up reflex type of shooting. So what I do, I put it on 1 for the 100 meter, so that clears my rear leaf to where I could see the two nubs that hold the rear sights. And I use the rear sight almost as the reference point and the front halo as the front sight and entirely neglect where the front sight post is. And that turns into almost an EOTech effect when I'm running up close. Is it faster than a red dot? Absolutely not. But is it better than using the P setting if you don't have anything else on hand? Your mileage may vary, but it is for me. Gas it up. Yep. Ready? And so there you have it. How to shoot Kalashnikov iron sights a little closer than what they were designed for. We found on the practical accuracy side that the AK-103 seems to score in the middle of the pack with iron sights, but the ballistics of the 7.62x39 is likely the crux of its limited performance in wind. Once we put the 2x optic on the rifle, we were able to much more effectively establish wind drift. We consider this package as an effective rifle system for usage in the Middle Eastern or tropical climates that have ample 7.62x39 type rifles. And on that note, we spoke with the Russians on the practical development of AK-103. Introducing Vladimir Onokoi. When we talk about this weapon, I think it's important to talk about the name, because unlike some other Russian weapons, it doesn't come from the year when it was inducted or went into mass production. AK-103 and the entire 100 series was named after the production facility 100, which is even now a primary small arms production facility in all of Izhevsk. Another name for this particular weapon is 6P45. It's the official index given to every small arm in Russia, so sometimes you would hear about 6P45. It's not always AK-103. Over the years, there were many different versions of this particular weapon. There was one with a triangle folding stock, with a non-folding stock. There was one with a picatinny rail on top of the receiver cover. The picatinny rail was from a 6663 modernization kit, which some people call a Ratnik modernization kit, which cannot be further from the truth, but that's a story for another time. But most of those modifications, they didn't have their own name. They were just developed for specific contracts and specific requirements. So one modification that actually has its own name is an AK-103 with a three-shot burst mechanism. It's called AK-1032. One more thing you don't think about when you look at AK-103 is the muzzle device. And I really never thought much of it until I started shooting the older AKs from the 50s and 60s that didn't have any kind of muzzle device. And frankly, the first time I shot that older generation AKM, or I think it was a Type 3 AK-47 or AK, that's a story for another time, how to properly call them, I almost shot the ceiling. I just didn't realize how much this muzzle device actually tames 7.62x39. And the first time I shot the untamed AK, it was an interesting experience. It took me some time to get used to it, but the simple muzzle device actually was very difficult to develop because Russian Army always has a very strict limit on how loud your weapon can be. In fact, there is another muzzle device that is even written into documentation with AK-103. People don't see much of it. It's ATG, which is a suppressor. It was, and it's still being used in many different units in the Russian military and perhaps in some other places. When it comes to accuracy, I think the results that were achieved by Henry are pretty typical. I had some really good groups over the years with AK-103. I did a lot of accuracy testing. And one thing to keep in mind when you're testing weapons outside of the US is that the match-grade ammo isn't just unavailable, it's not a thing. So every time you're testing an AK, you have to think, you know, what kind of accuracy the ammo is capable of, and then, you know, try it with different types of ammo, different types of bullet weight. I remember a really good gun writer in South Africa told me a story when he shot a pretty famous European brand ammo. It wasn't Russian ammo. He picked up the brass and he reloaded the same ammo and shot the group again, and his group shrinked in half just because he, well, reloaded the ammo and made it to his quality standard, not the factory quality standard. So again, ammo is something you should experiment with in a safe way, and then you will be able to reach the full potential of your AK. Another thing that I really love about 103, and not many people actually talk about it, is the life of the barrel. Over the years, many tests were conducted, and the exact life of the barrel was never really accurately determined. I know of a few documented cases where the shot count went over 50,000 rounds, and it was still shooting pretty well. I mean, it's so ridiculous people don't believe me, and every time I say that I have to provide the sources and everything. So to this day, I don't really know what the actual life of the barrel of AK-103 is. A lot of interesting tests were done. The guys at Kalashnikov Media, they shot over 1400 rounds for the AK-103 continuously in one take, and the weapon was still functioning, and it was still accurate enough. So it is something that people don't really think about, but you know, if the world was ending, and I had to pick a gun that would serve me for another 30 or 40 years, I would probably pick something in 7.62x39, because the life of the barrel is, well, ridiculously long. I was lucky to spend a lot of time with AK-103 in multiple countries, primarily when we were participating in trials and testing this weapon in every conceivable way. And it is a weapon that will never give up, and the weapon that never personally let me down. So in many ways, it is remarkable, and perhaps most obvious and the most striking feature is the reliability. I know everybody talks about AK reliability, and when we actually see that out of 15 weapons, only one is capable of firing after a certain test, and this weapon is AK-103, oh believe me, it is it is incredible. Once after a test in the desert, I literally had a line of guys who wanted to clean my gun, because they were so excited, they couldn't believe it actually worked. Obviously every weapon has a limit of reliability, but frankly, most tests I've seen all around the world, they never got close to the limit of the AK-103. Typically when I have to shoot 103 a lot, to make it more comfortable, I use the rubber butt pad from the Underbarrel Grenade Launcher, GP25, GP30, GP34. It's like a five dollar fix for many people. It would be a pretty good option, and you retain the durability, you retain the ability to fold it to the left side, you're just making it slightly longer and a bit more comfortable. So just something to think about for some shooters. And obviously in this day and age, you can't talk about the weapon, and not talk about the accessories, scopes, and rails, and everything. So the standard 103 right now, almost always has a picatinny rail in the bottom of the handguard, and one on the right side of the handguard. When you're using forward grips, lasers, and lights, it's not quite enough. And that's exactly why the 200 series was developed, that's exactly why AK-12, AK-15 was developed, and I guess it's a story for another time. Thank you for your time, and enjoy this nine hole review like I do when I watch them. So as the last AK series rifles that General Kalashnikov would design, the AK-103 was an advancement, not necessarily in terms of accuracy, but more so an advancement with usability, and more importantly, manufacturing capacity. At the end of the day, if you design a perfect rifle, but fail to mass produce it, it is but a science project for others to copy. However, if you can manufacture an extremely effective rifle at a lower cost, and a mass quantity, you can influence nations. And General Kalashnikov, indeed, influenced nations. Thanks for watching the AK-103 episode. Now, I really enjoyed making it specifically because we had to focus a little more on the manufacturing procedure than just the rifle itself. And precisely the manufacturing procedure is what makes the AK-100 series interesting, and that's actually got a lot of relevance to 2020, when there's multiple American rifle companies rolling out their version of the AK-103 clone. It's expensive to make a Kalashnikov, it's expensive to establish that type of assembly line, and we don't have that type of assembly line in the US pre-established for the Kalashnikov series rifles, which is why it's interesting. Because while overseas, there's a market for companies to stamp out these rifles, in the US, on the other hand, we have a vibrant parts kit building type of market for companies to remanufacture rifles from parts kits. What we just saw here, this is not a factory built AK-103. This is rather a Saiga that was from the AK-103 line, built together with AK-103 parts. Now, in the past, in one of the early episodes of 9 Hole Reviews, well, actually the first Practical Accuracy episode, you see us shoot what we labeled an AK-103. Probably not nearly as close as a current one that we just saw. That was actually a rifle that I personally put together a long time ago with a Saiga 7.62 rifle and a lot of AK-74 parts. Now, that particular rifle, I traded off to William, aka Mishiko, at Ozark Bear Arms, who later filmed a video detailing the differences between my home build versus an Arsenal SLG rifle, which, again, is very similar to what I'm talking about, a US company taking foreign parts kits or a foreign rifle, a hunting version of the the 103, and returning it back into something like a 103. Now, if you're interested, you could watch William's video on his channel, Mishiko. Right now, in 2020, as we progress towards the latter half of the year, we've seen Palmetto State Armory and Kalashnikov USA both show their new versions of the AK-103 clone. Now, we don't have any experience on either one of those two AK-103 clones, but if you're coming to this video from the future, leave a comment down below to tell us how yours is. We're very curious to finding out. The most interesting thing that I found from this is that the Soviet, well, the Russians, took a Soviet facility, used an American idea of an assembly line, and in fact, decreasing the amount of interchangeable parts to make a pretty good product, and sold it as capitalists through the world, where us in America, because we can't have it, would find our way to buy these things. And the funny thing is, that outlines the best way of selling something to Americans, is to tell Americans that you can't have it. And therefore, I'm out here today to tell you that Slate Black Industries' new single-slot M-LOK grip panels, you cannot have, because they are mine, and so you cannot buy them. Cut, cut, cut. Henry, what are you doing? Why? Okay. So I precisely find this interesting, because the best way of selling something to Americans is to tell them that they can't have it. And that's why America, any American out there, you cannot have my Saiga converted to 103, the all-original Russian-made. You cannot ever buy this, even though my email is listed. Cut, cut, cut. Have you heard of YouTube rules? Come on, Henry. What problem is? Cut, cut, cut.