[rangeshooter]

My son and I each purchased an AK-47, (you know, just to have one)reasonably priced, mine a WASR type, his a GP75, both Romanian and the only fun we had was shooting em from the hip. Do all AKs beat the "H" out of your cheek or side of your face. Thought I'd have black eyes this morning as I shot one magazine from each side yesterday and one from the hip. That kick into the face, never experienced that before from any large caliber rifle.
PS We have now finally, yes finally, completed filling 24 military surplus ammo boxes (half the 50 Cal boxes, half the smaller ones). Boxes are in very good shape. My question is on longevity. These boxes have that rubber ring around the top edge, so assume they seal good, and they are stored in our house where humidity not a problem at all. Stuck a couple dessicent packs in each box also. This is my permanent ammo and I have every caliber I need. Can I leave these boxes alone for a couple decades or more, until I'm not around anymore, at which time I'd guess my son will probably open them immediately. Also, some of my ammo is in the 500 round bags you get off the internet. Will the bags of ammo, with cartridges sitting on cartridges, i.e., nothing between the cartridges, just a huge bag of ammo, will they deteriorate faster than if they were in regular 50 or 20 round boxes?

My face is sore.

[robocop10mm]

#1 - If you do not have a proper "cheek weld" they can pop you pretty good. You should have your cheek (the one on your face) pressed against the stock when firing. If you have a gap between your face and the stock, the rifle comes up to meet you. With the proper cheek weld, your head moves with the gun and does not bruise.

#2 - I have ammo I loaded over 25 years ago in college that was sealed in ammo cans. It shoots as good now as it did back then.

[c3shooter]

Re: Black eye- can't help you there- but I have one heavy caliber rifle that was doing that to me- and I realized it was my thumb leaving the visible mark on cheek right below eye. The thumb my cheek was snuggled up to on my right hand- shooting some really hot 8mm Mauser (from Turkey)

Re: Ammo- the three enemies of ammo are moisture, heat, and liberal politicians. For long term storage, the keys will be COOL and DRY. Do not put it in your attic, or the garage if you are in Tucson AZ. A subset of those two is CONSTANT- temps going up/down/up/down not good. Your containers should work well.

Ref: rifle- am refraining from posting WUSS !!! - but seriously, the AK is a very light rifle- and even with relatively small cartridge, it kicks. Hold it tighter, kicks less. If you are not accustomed to a straight line stock, recoil will be different from what you usually expect.

[Quentin]

I was suprised the first time I fired my WASR-10, I expected it to kick more like a 30-30 - but it has a pretty soft recoil, much less than my Marlin 336C. I'm sure if you adjust your hold you'll find that it's not bad at all.

[JonM]

ive found the ak47 to be extremely unpleasent to fire but never got shiners from them.

[DrumJunkie]

Hmmm. I never thought the AK rifles had all that bad a recoil. Yeah you have to hold on to it. But even my M70 just has the standard metal under folder stock.

[jpattersonnh]

If you doubt the seal on your cans... put a ring of silicon around the top at the gasket and put a hand warmer to evacuate the oxygen. It will be found 100 years after your gone in perfect condition.

[Last Crow]

My better half shot mine last summer. I made sure she was holding it tight on her shoulder. She didn’t think it was bad. The simi rifle I think kicks the most is the M1A.

[rangeshooter]

Three things that can harm ammo: moisture, heat and liberal poopheads or something like that. LUV IT. So I won't be opening the military surplus ammo cans at all, I even lightly sanded and spray painted them with a rust inhibitor spray, Rusoleum, look good. Anywho, will look intro some type of rubber deal for the AKs stock, as I needed to have my cheek right on the stock in order to see the sights properly, both sides. Was really looking forward to hitting the 15 x 15" target at 300 yards, after some zeroing in. My son loves both of them, as far as me, probably near bottom of my shooting list unless. . . . .Took me 20 months to get those cans filled told the kid (age 26, kid?) that I don't want them opened and give some reason like, "but dad, I'll refill them, I was just in a hurry" today's generation, always in a hurry He's been instructed to buy an NRA membership yearly, and to also donate at least $25 a year. And no screwing with the semi/fully auto workmenship. My face is sore. Did I mention my face is really sore to the touch.

[Mannster]

Hmm. Interesting. I've never thought of the AK as having much of a kick. My wife (not much of a shooter) said it is fun to shoot.

Get your shoulder into it, lean forward a bit and squeeze away.