BAG Day 2007
Kim du Toit
April 16, 2007
6:05 AM CDT
Well, it’s that time of year again, when We The Peasants have to pay our taxes and buy our guns (the two activities are not unrelated—ask King George III).
This year, thanks to the generosity of a Reader, I was able to purchase something a little different, but which both pleased me and is likely to horrify the International GFW Set.
Allow me to explain.
As a rule, I am not a huge fan of 7.62mm NATO assault rifles—in no small part because of a certain exposure to an example thereof back in the days when I was still a citizen of the old Racist Republic. In addition, I find the recoil of most 7.62mm battle/assault rifles to be a trifle on the strong side—and especially so when, as is my wont, I send a couple hundred rounds downrange during a single range session.
Short version: it gets a bit much. It’s a big bang, and definite recoil. Times 200, and you get my drift.
Well, for ideological reasons, I’m not that interested in the AR-15/M-forgery rifles, because they are chambered for the underpowered poodleshooter 5.56mm NATO cartridge. If I’m going to buy an antisocial kind of rifle, I want it to be very antisocial—in terms of both the cartridge it shoots, and the reaction it elicits from Sarah Brady et al.
What’s left? Well, I enjoy shooting the 7.63x39mm Russian cartridge, because to me, it strikes a decent balance between the two NATO cartridges. Add to that the fact that the “39” is as cheap as all get-out, and you see where this is heading.
Now, one last thing. Being as I am horribly old-fashioned, I’m not that enamored of assault rifles in general, either. I think the battle rifle reached its absolute apogee with the M1 Garand, and everything that’s followed has been a step downwards: with the possible exception of the M-14, and it’s chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge.
Also, Garands are horribly expensive, and .30-06 isn’t a bargain, either.
One would think that I would get an AK-47, but I’ve had one, and while it was fun, it still wasn’t my cup of tea. I wanted, in short, a battle rifle.
You see where this is heading, don’t you?
What rifle resembles the Garand battle rifle in operation, but is chambered for the 7.62x39mm cartridge?
Correct: the venerable SKS.
Except that’s not what I got for BAG Day this year.
I had mentioned that I was heading towards an SKS for BAG Day, but Reader Matt had other ideas for me. ”I have a spare Rasheed floating around,” he wrote, ”and I think you’d far rather shoot that than a beat-up old SKS” or words to that effect.
Rasheed? What dat?
After WWII, the Egyptians took the Swedish AG-42 Ljungman design, and first made a full-sized copy thereof called the Hakim. Then they thought they’d create an alternative to the SKS carbine-sized battle rifle, in the hopes of selling it to the Warsaw Pact nations during the early Cold War. They made a model, called it the Rasheed (also sometimes spelled “Rashid"), and based its operation on that of the Ljungman rather than the SKS.
Well, that never worked out, and only a few thousand Rasheeds were ever made, and only a couple thousand ever found their way to the United States.
Here’s what it looks like:
Note the attached fold-out bayonet, for those occasions when a journalist or hippie may be in the area.
Like the SKS, the Rasheed doesn’t use detachable magazines. While the mag is detachable, it’s not designed for quick-change operation. Instead, the gun is loaded via SKS-style stripper clips, as seen in the picture.
I have mixed feelings about stripper clips. While they aren’t as convenient to use as a swappable magazine, they’re also far lighter to carry—which means that the range bag is a lot lighter, and if ever I have to hold off hordes of screaming [insert bogeyman of choice here], I can carry lots and lots of the stuff.
Also, with practice, reloading is almost as quick as with a mag exchange on, say, an AK-47. Yeah, you’re limited to ten rounds at a time. I don’t care. For one thing, it gives the barrel a chance to cool down a tad; and for another, if ever I had to shoot off thirty rounds that quickly at a horde of Goblins, I’d be in a lot more trouble than I could handle anyway. Ten rounds at a time is just fine for me. (Also, stripper clips = $0.75c vs. the cost of a magazine. Yes, I am a Cheap Bastard.)
Yeah yeah, yeah, Kim… but how does she shoot?
I thought you’d never ask. Gentle recoil, an excellent trigger (better than any SKS or AK I’ve ever fired), fine ergonomics… it’s a peach.
And accuracy?
Not bad, either. The targets below were shot from left to right in chronological order, ten rounds each, at 25 yards. The two small ones are 1.5” in diameter, the larger one 2.5”.
I’ll do a more detailed range report the next time I get out to a 100-yard range.
In the meantime, I have an inexpensive rifle which is cheap to shoot, reliable, accurate, and would irritate GFWs.
For a BAG Day purchase, that’s not bad at all.
And her name? You always name your old rifles.
Samia, or “Sammy”.
Heheheheh… Kim shooting an Ay-rab gun. Who’d a thunk it?
Gratuitous Gun Pics
