Well, finally got a chance to take my Vz2008 to the range this morning. More on that in a minute, but first I have to announce I was able to get a non-wobbly sidefolding stock to it thanks to a fellow member of this forum. I had gotten one from elsewhere but it wasn?t as the seller described, it had about an inch wobble in all directions when folded and about half that when extended. I wasn?t happy as it was described as ?tight? but luckily a more honest individual offered to sell me one of his and since he was only a two-hour drive away I made the trip up to ensure it fit well. It not only did, but we had a great discussion about these excellent rifles! One of the things he asked me to do was post up my impressions once I got to shoot mine, so here they are?
Things didn?t start out well, I had the sidefolding stock on it and it was very stable, but after a few rounds I had a FTF! Urgh! Being a Kalashnikov enthusiast, I?ve never had a rifle not feed or eject. I dropped the mag, reloaded the round and put another 4-5 rounds through it when it happened again! Dang! Now I am not happy! I continued to experience feed failures through the rest of the mag, about 6 in total.
Now here I am thinking I have a bum rifle. That is irritating as everything looked good when I checked it out, and even my friend who sold me the sidefolding stock gave it the once over. I swapped out the stock for the wooden one I had and put in a different mag.
Success. Thirty rounds without a hiccup. I will admit the wooden stock does create a higher cheek weld as compared to the sidefolder (as expected), but it was also a bit less brutal on my cheek. I put the sidefolder back on and shot a third magazine with the same results, no FTFs whatsoever. I wish I had brought my fourth mag so I could see how it fired, but at least I now know it was the first magazine and not the rifle!
So, my thoughts on the Vz? Well, I also brought my Saiga SGL-20 since I just mounted a red dot scope on it so I could compare the two. I actually fired them one right after the other, and while the Vz was a great-shooting rifle; I have to admit the Russian AK had less recoil. I don?t know if it is the 74-style muzzle brake on it (I have a muzzle nut on my Vz), or if it is just a more modern design; but the Saiga was easier to keep on target with follow-on shots.
But the Vz2008 was more accurate with the iron sights at 25m. Granted, I had not dialed in the red dot yet; but even after doing so I had a somewhat tighter grouping with the VZ. Now, let me caveat that with the fact that I was faster re-acquiring the target with the Saiga; but I was impressed that I could get better groupings with the VZ using the iron sights especially since it?s a tad heavier (which should have given it the advantage in recoil, but it didn?t).
Overall I can?t be anything but extremely happy with my Vz2008! Other than the bad magazine, it shot great and was very accurate. I am very glad I was able to get a tight sidefolding stock on it as that is what the Slovaks in the 3rd Special Forces Regiment in Zilina carried when I trained with them. I want to put on of those Slovak brakes on it, most likely from CNC Warrior unless I can find a better deal from someone. I am happy that I finally was able to find one that I liked, the wood furniture really made a difference over the traditional ?beaver barf? although I will probably pick up a set of that just to have. Now all I have to do is figure out what was giving that one magazine the fits, hopefully I can get that sorted and the fourth one I have won?t have the same issues.
Cheers! M2
