Military Equipment Accessories: Ukrainian Kalashnikov Add-ons

In general, the above is true. But what if we like our AK, don’t want to modify it heavily but a 21st-century optoelectronic device is required? What if we want to reduce the weapons’ recoil and muzzle rise to make the fire more rapid and accurate? In other words, how do we polish it but keep the soul intact? Ukrainian-based Military Equipment (ME) can help. It specializes in manufacturing and selling of the accessories for hunting and sporting firearms, including gear designed especially for IPSC competitions. The company was founded in 2009 in Kharkiv and, since then, managed to develop and introduce a wide range of weapon accessories such as bags, cases, magazine loaders, cleaning equipment, optical mounts and aiming devices.

The product boxes have a catchy print on them – „Precision – Speed – Comfort”. Is this motto going to fulfill our expectations? Via the ME’s distributor – militaryequipment.pl – MILMAG received some of their parts and accessories for testing. Supplied items were destined for AK/AKM rifles and included upper receiver cover with integrated mounting rails, magwell attachment, a handguard with a gas tube cover, enlarged cocking handle and 5 types of muzzle devices.

After fitting the abovementioned accessories, the sense of the weapon changed significantly. There were no modifications to the internal’s of the rifle but the shooting experience was of the different, and much better, weapon.

Ukrainian ME (Military Equipment) specializes in manufacturing and selling of accessories for hunting and sporting firearms

PAC-47 Hellpup rifle with ME accessories attached. The 30-round, transparent magazine is a new product

Kit contains a cover with an integrated mounting rail, a support to join the cover to the sight base, and a return spring mounting plate with an enlarged tooth. According to the manufacturer, the modified tooth helps with disassembly process but we could not find a significant difference.

The cover mounting system is interesting and similar to the solution used in AKS-74U 5,45-mm sub carabine. Cover mounts to the sight fixing holes and the sight itself does not disappear, as in similar accessories, but is moved to the support. Two bolts enable the user to achieve fitment for the particular firearm.

The described solution has many advantages. The AK/AKM gets a normal, top mounted accessory rail. There is no need to remove the original front sight – cover swivels up to access the weapon’s insides and there is no problem with disassembly.

Fixed mounting points guarantee, that there is no need to adjust the additional optics after cleaning. Moreover, original iron sight are still usable. Just the front sight needs adjustment after the cover is fitted.

It’s important to loctite the mounting bolts of the cover or there will be some movement. Initially, after just a few dozens of shots, the optics will go out of alignment. If the shooting continuous, the whole cover can just drop off. The same goes for the sight mount arm bolt. Without loctite, the rifle will soon need re-sighting.

We have some doubts about the finish of the product. Both exterior and interior have very visible mill marks. On one side this could have been done to lower the production costs. On the other – it could have been done on purpose, to match the rough feel of the AK. Anyhow, this does not affect the working of the cover – it’s just aesthetics.

Another ME accessory is the handguard/gas tube cover replacement set (catalog number ME900001). Right out of the box one advantage is clearly noticeable – it’s made of aluminum so it weighs just 185g. The handguard allows for comfortable and sure grip and when fitted, it moves the rifle center of gravity towards the back. This removes some weight from the forward arm. Top of the gas tube cover has a full-length Picatinny rail which can accommodate an optoelectronic sight. This, however, takes the sight a bit too far from the shooter’s eyes. Handguard has KeyMod mounting holes on both sides and the bottom. This allows for further accessories to be fitted to the firearm.

The assembly of the kit is quick and trouble- -free. I tested it on the normal AKM and od the PAC-47 Hellpup, p roduced by P ioneer Arms Corp. from Radom. Lugs that attach the handguard to the upper receiver and the front right have some adjustment built-in. Not a lot, but just enough to fit it correctly. The biggest problem I noticed is the quality of the included mounting bolts. After a couple of assembly/disassembly activities, I managed to strip the threads (just the bolts, not the threads in the handguard). It’s not a big issue and replacements can easily be sourced. The whole set costs PLN750 (EUR180).

Another practical item by ME is the magazine well attachment. It’s catalog number is ME470001 and costs PLN170 (EUR40). It expedites the magazine changes by guiding the new mag into the socket. It’s made from polymer and looks like a shaped frame that goes on the original mag well. The steel bracket is located at the front of the accessory and this element locks on the front of the stock magazine socket. Next, the frame has to be adjusted and then a bolt fixes everything together.

The manufacturer really wanted to make this accessory stable, so the rear of the frame is placed inside the trigger guard. Surprisingly, this does not affect the operation of the trigger. The funnel is useful but it has two disadvantages. The tested one wasn’t universal and while it worked with the AKM’s and AKM clones it did not work with an AK with a milled chamber. Despite the frame being designed correctly, there was a problem with the fire selector lever. Funnel interfered with it and prevented the last couple of millimeters of movement of the lever.

The accessory was tested with the standard steel AK mags and with quite a few types of polymer mags, which usually are a bit wider (due to the material used). Almost everything worked correctly. The only problem was with the IMI Systems AK-A1 mags which turned out to be too wide. This, however, wasn’t completely unexpected as we had problems with the width of this mags before and there were issues occurring even without using a magazine funnel.

The ME460001 is an enlarged charging handle. It’s made of stainless steel, weights 70 g and is shaped like a cylinder. The length is 29mm, the diameter is 19mm and it costs PLN150 (EUR35). Assembly is simple. It goes on the original handle and is fixed in place with an Allen bolt. It has enough adjustment to be compatible with every Kalashnikov based firearm.

The handle is textured and the grip is very positive. The depth of the texturing is just right. It works fine with a naked hand but is grippy enough to be used with gloves as well.

The fixing bolt should be loctited during the assembly process to prevent it from vibrating loose and disappearing while shooting.

A short and uncomfortable stock is one of the AK/AKM flaws. Perhaps, in 1940, it was sufficient but nowadays, when people are generally taller, it’s not working so well. With the shooters height increase, a need for another Kalashnikov improvement appeared.

One of the ways to improve on AK stock is to fit an adjustable, M4-style one. It’s not ideal as the stock axis is a bit off but at least it allows the user to adjust the length to the shooter’s anatomy.

To fit an M4 stock to a rifle from behind the iron curtain an adapter is needed. ME presents a ready-made solution for this. It’s the ME400010 accessory and it costs PLN390 (EUR92). Typical of ME products it’s efficient but rather crude. The adapter, base for the M4 tube, is turned and milled from a single piece of still. It’s pressure fitted and secured to the upper receiver with a single bolt. This is enough to prevent the adapter from sliding out. I would risk saying, that the bolt is more of a psychological comforter. I had to use a hammer to take the accessory off.

The adapter worked perfectly with an AKM rifle but fitting to the Hellpup required some fine-tuning with an angle grinder to remove some material from the top. What’s important, it still worked with the AKM after this butchery. It worked so well, that a large lever and a hammer were still required to remove it.

The adapter’s length is 42mm so the base od the M4 stock will be spaced from the upper receiver by this much. Lower users need to take this into account but they are probably not so worried about stock’s adjustability anyway.

We had five compensators provided for testing. The devices were tested and compared with a factory muzzle device. Four of the tested were the muzzle brakes while the fifth was an effective flash suppressor. Ukrainian devices were tested during the night and over winter and were judged subjectively by the shooter’s impressions. Initially, we were a bit worried about the finish (or lack of it) of the devices and their vulnerability to corrosion. In the end, despite lack of cleaning, there was no rust present. Every device is made of quality materials but the looks are on the crude side – contrary to American manufacturers like Noveske. The price, however, justifies the looks.

It’s important to mention, that some of the devices had to be used with the ME45005 adapter. It allows for fitment of the 14×1,5 mm threaded accessories on AK/AKM’s 14×1 mm thread. The adapter costs PLN80 (EUR19).

We tested the Strela device first (ME450028). It’s a compensator designed for 7,62×39 mm ammunition and costs PLN290 (EUR69). There are other models for 5,45×39 mm, 5,56×45 mm/.223 Remington or 7,62×51 mm/.308 Winchester ammunition available.

At the first sight, Strela is a big hunk of steel and resembles the muzzle brake from M82A1 Barret rifle. The dimensions are 81 x 35 x 26 mm and when fitted, it looks heavy and cumbersome. It can be defined as a dual-chamber, action compensator, fitted with a 24 x 1,5 mm right thread. It requires the beforementioned adapter. All these supposed flaws go away when the shooting starts. The reduction of muzzle rise is very noticeable and the firearm is much easier to aim and use. Strela allows for rapid and accurate fire as the aiming time is much reduced. Device masses at 125 g and does not put much weight towards the barrel – less than all the other tested devices. Strela is definitely our number 1 of the tested muzzle breaks.

vaxME 450017 Tornado was the second muzzle device tested. It’s retailed at PLN480 (EUR115) and the available variants are similar to Strela.

Tornado weights 96 g and the dimensions are 71 x 25,8 mm. It requires the adapter as the thread is 24 x 1,5 mm. It definitely increases the tactical look when placed on an AK rifle. Tornado exhausts gases very efficiently, almost as good as Strela. From the shooter’s point of view, there is one flaw – the angle of the exhaust openings. When shooting, gases are hitting the user’s hands. It’s the only issue we found and the reason why Tornado lost out in a race to 1st place.

Wichr was the third device tested. Militaryequipment. pl sells it at PLN290 (EUR69) and the dimensions are 73 x 31 mm. Weight is 103 g. Wichr is a 3-chamber compensator and uses 24 x 1,5 mm thread so requires the adapter. Our impressions were… well… bland. It cancels the recoil by a tiny bit, but there is nothing to set it apart.

The last tested device does not come from Ukraine but from Bulgaria. We included it in this test as it was sent to us together with ME products. Vokil Tactical System Manis costs PLN260 (EUR60), has a mass of 190g and uses 24 x 1,5 mm thread (adapter required). Dimensions are 73 x 31 mm. According to the manufacturer, first part of the combustion gases is exhausted by the 5 opening on the top of the device – this supposedly reduces the muzzle rise. Another 2 openings serve as a muzzle break and reduce the recoil. There are additional 2 holes placed at the 45-degree angle which reduce the recoil a bit more. Recoil reduction with Vokil Tactical device isn’t as pronounced as with the first 2 devices we described. The blast of gases, however, isn’t noticeable by the user. It’s a great advantage for hunting or target shooting but not that important for dynamic situations.

ME Połumjagasnik Prizrak (ME 450008) falls into a different category and it’ looks are inspired by Noveske KX3.

Ghost, as it’s best translated, consists of the internal chamber and conical tip which widens towards the front. It’s a very effective solution as most of the stray gases burn in the chamber and the funnel-shaped tip conceals the flash.

Flash suppressor is quite heavy and large. It weights 190 g and measures 92 x 36 mm. The size, however, does not negatively affect the weapon handling. It does not require an adapter as it uses the 14 x 1 mm left thread. The price is PLN330 (EUR78).

Together with ME accessories, we received the newest version of AK/AKM magazine developed by PA-KO. Manufacturer modified the magazine quite a bit in 2016. Changes included removing the bottom tab, reducing the bottom footprint, changing the shape of the top tooth and the jaws. Additional openings for 10, 20, and 30 rounds were added. The main differential is the material. The current model is made of Lexan (transparent polycarbonate). Empty magazine weights 175 g. The previous, not transparent 2016 version is 190 g and the classic steel mag weights 333 g.

The openings in the previous, black, version were a bit questionable – narrow and hard to use when checking the ammo count. There was no problem when the magazine was on the table but when firing, the shooter had to look under the upper receiver to check the ammunition. Additionally, the „10” opening was placed behind the magazine release. The new version still has these holes but they are more for drainage. Ammo count can be checked easily thanks to transparent Lexan.

The top tooth is reshaped and lengthened by 2mm. Side walls at the front of the mag are 1 mm wider. In theory, this should improve the handling but I didn’t notice any significant differences compared to the previous variant. There were no problems with feeding the ammunition. We have to say that the PA-KO magazine is one of the best polymer mags available on Polish market today.

This article was originally published on MILMAG 02/2018