VolkStudio Blog

Vepr Hunter .308

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Oleg Volk

This rifle is positioned to compete with rifles like Remington 750 Woodmaster. The price, the weight and the other features are fairly similar. Vepr seems like a more robust design overall.

Posted in rifle | Tagged 308, Vepr | 8 Comments

Another photographer at work

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Last weekend, another photographer and I worked with the same model. While they were busy, I took snapshots of the shutterbug at work.

Posted in camera and lens, interesting people | Tagged Canon, cute, fishnet, stockings, woman | 17 Comments

Some of the people I photograph are not familiar with firearms. I try to remedy that, both to have more versatile models and for their benefit as well. I taught the basics to two last weekend, both times using suppressed P22 and SU22. Both girls are left eye dominant but right handed, so the red dot on the SU proved very helpful. Variable length stock and very light weight of the carbine also helped. Hearing protection was used because we shot supersonic ammunition from a blowback gun, and because the sound of bullets impacting on tin cans at 15 to 25 yards can be quite loud. Standing, sitting, squatting, kneeling positions were covered.

Posted in ammunition, rifle, self-defense, sound suppressor, training, weapon | Tagged keltec, red dot, SU22 | 4 Comments

What a grimace!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Photographer Chryseis Dawn

Posted in humor, interesting people | Tagged expression, girl | 1 Comment

What to get for someone who has everything?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Buying presents for many of my friends is hard. They can afford anything I can get them, and their kids are usually well taken care of as well. But I find that truly custom gifts — photographs, knives, other works of art — work very well. This was made by my friend Nikolay for another friend’s seven year old daughter.

She will have plenty of use for it — whittling wood, opening plastic packages, cleaning fruit, hopefully not self-defense — and it will last her a lifetime. The steel came from a railway car coil spring.

Posted in knife | Tagged custom, gift, hand-made, present | 4 Comments

Afraid of gun accidents? Train your kids!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Project Appleseed | Say Uncle (his daughter in the poster) | Henry Mini Bolt

Posted in interesting people, training | Tagged 22LR, Appleseed, camo, girl, Henry, safety, youth | 7 Comments

New Facebook “Like” button

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Cute shirt from Endo Apparel. Hat tip to Sayuncle.

Posted in humor, pistol | Tagged blue, facebook, Glock, like, tshirt | 5 Comments

Various Vepr rifles

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Above, Robinson 5.45×39 conversion. All examples below are current Wolf Arms imports.

.308 Vepr Hunter with an EOTech. The shooter above is 14 and handles it easily. I think this is my favorite variant, as I prefer crossbolt safety to the traditional AK lever.

In 7.62x54R, with Cobra red dot.

Posted in interesting people, rifle | Tagged Vepr, Wolf Arms | 1 Comment

Gemtech Halo

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

There’s something to a suppressor that fits on any A2 flash hider.

Posted in rifle, sound suppressor | Tagged AR15, gemtech | 2 Comments

What short sight radius!?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

AK rifles are generally faulted for short sight radius. With Tech Sights, that’s no longer true. Their solution is a rock-solid rear aperture attached to the receiver, not to the dust cover. Dis-assembly is by removing a cross-pin. I first encountered Tech Sights sights on 10-22 rifles at Appleseed training events. They are the standard sight upgrade there.

I think it’s a worthwhile upgrade. They make two versions, one with a single aperture and another with a two-aperture flipper.

Posted in rifle | Tagged AK47, aperture, Appleseed, man, rifleman, Tech Sights | 7 Comments

The nicest wood I’ve ever seen on an RPK derivative

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

One of the rifles I tried out last weekend at WPA in Knoxville. Ten-shot .308 with mild recoil. Optics or Picatinny rails mount on a left-side rail with return to zero.

Posted in rifle | Tagged 308, russian, Vepr, WPA | 4 Comments

Why would bullets from a Walther P22 keyhole?

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I normally teach new shooters with a Walther P22. It’s small, light, acceptably accurate and runs fine with subsonic and standard velocity ammunition.

Last weekend, all subsonic and standard velocity ammunition began keyholing quite severely. At 5ft, the spread was several inches and all bullets impacted the target sideways. At least I had no baffle strikes. High velocity ammunition works just fine, but it is much louder and less suitable for teaching.

Walther tech support wouldn’t guess as to the cause. I am baffled also. Any ideas?

Posted in advice requested, ammunition, pistol, sound suppressor | Tagged 22LR, keyholing, Walther P22 | 31 Comments

How to shoot 7.62x54R and not feel much recoil

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Just back from Knoxville where I got to hang out with Sayuncle, Dennis Badurina, Evie (in the video below) and several new friends.

Went to shoot with WPA. Based on the experience, I now want an ITT hydraulic stock buffer on every gun I have! As for the Veprs, I am torn between 7.62x54R to make use of the 5K+ rounds I have on hand and .308 for the access to a greater variety of modern loads.

Posted in ammunition, interesting people, rifle, weapon | Tagged 7.62x54R, range, recoil, shooter, Vepr, video, Wolf Performance Arms, woman | 13 Comments

Getting a sidearm for carry — help a girl out

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Oleg Volk

An acquaintance in Florida is raising funds for the side arm, the training and the government permission to carry it. Help her out if you like. I think it’s worth doing.

Posted in pistol, self-defense, weapon | Tagged fund-raising | 9 Comments

Angled mag carriers

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Oleg Volk

One problem with magazines in upright mag carriers, especially for women, is getting jabbed in the ribs. Kathy Jackson, the editor of Concealed Carry magazine, showed me her mag carrier by Desbiens Gunleather. It works well.

Posted in holster | Tagged angled, leather, mag carrier, magazine | 21 Comments

RMR30 accuracy

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Keltec RMR30 configured as shown (Gemtech 22wmr suppressor, Magpul BUIS, Primary Arms 3x scope) fired at 30 yards yielded this group of 8 shots. The carbine was rested on my camera bag. Each grid square is 1/2″, the group is exactly than edge to edge. Minus the bullet diameter, we have a group under 0.3″ at 30 yards, so a little under 1MOA. 3x prismatic is not a target scope, but it’s fast enough in use for hunting and full daylight illumination is very useful.