04-10-2008, 05:49 AM
| #1 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Colorado
Posts: 164
|  The Story of My SLR-95
Thought I'd share, because this never gets old in the telling...  This particular SLR-95 was owned by my Father-in-Law; he bought it back in '98 (IIRC), and promptly picked up a rather large amount of Russian hollow-point 7.62. He wasn't what I'd call a gun-guy, but he definitely knew his stuff when it came to firearms. Jim enlisted in the Army back in '67, and by early spring '68 he was flying as a 60-gunner, just in time for Khe Sanh. He also flew in support during the battle of Lang Vei. Shortly thereafter, his unit started hauling LRRPs around the country, and he got into some pretty nasty spots during that time. After his tour was up, he reenlisted and headed off to Flight Warrant school. He was back into the fight shortly thereafter as a Charlie-Model jockey. Fortunately for him (although he didn't see it that way), he came down with an extremely nasty case of pneumonia about mid-way through his 2nd tour, and spent the rest of it on a hospital ship. After being sent back home, he stayed in and flew UH-1s until he retired in '84. Fast forward to April, 2007. I'm in Iraq on my second tour, and I get a Red-Cross message. Jim's been diagnosed with cancer, and it had already taken hold in his throat, stomach, and liver. The docs gave him less than a month, and I was sent home on emergency-leave. Sadly, he passed away while I was in flight between Germany and Florida. Upon getting home, my Mother-in-Law, my Wife & myself busied ourselves with the unfortunate business of setting up his memorial. Once it was over, I had about a week left to visit and relax (relatively). During that time my Mother-in-Law was talking with me about Jim's guns; how he sold most of them, and that she wasn't sure if he had kept his AK. She told me that Jim would've liked for me to have it, if he hadn't sold it, and if she could even locate it. About two days before I was due to leave, I had a couple really bizarre dreams. In part of one, I had gotten up from our bed and walked into the living room. My inlaw's had just moved houses, so a lot of stuff was still in boxes. One box in particular was a sort of carboard closet with clothes-rack, and it was full of jackets and blankets. It was this one that I made a beeline to, and in my dream I reached into the box... and pulled out the SLR. Later when I woke up before everyone else, I went into the living room for my morning coffee. As I sat there still half-awake, the dream came back to me in pieces. Not really thinking that there'd be much in the box, I opened it and started rooting around in there. Lo & behold, there was the SLR-95! I instantly got a massive chill w/ the hairs on my arms standing straight up. I looked around the room (don't know why), and pulled out the rifle. Also in the box was an ammo can full of the 7.62HP. My wife and Mother-in-Law got up shortly after, and they were both surprise that I had found it. My Wife made a joking crack at me for tearing the house apart to try and find it before I left. Then I told her how I found it, and both her & her Mom got really quiet. They then decided that it was Jim's way of giving the rifle to me, and that it was also him fulfilling his promise to Linda (Mother). He had told her that he would let her know after he passed, that he had went someplace good. Linda was convinced that my dream was his way of telling her he was in Heaven (or the like). I'm not one to argue about such things, but it was definitely one of the weirder experiences in my life so far. Anyways, here's the SLR (along with one of my Mosin Nagants). It's in nearly mint condition, as Jim probably only fired 10 rounds for as long as he had it. It also came with two 75rd Chinese drums, and 8 30rd mags.  |
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04-10-2008, 04:05 PM
| #3 | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Colorado
Posts: 164
| Quote:
 Just waitin' on Ironwood to reup their supply of single-tang SLR stocks. | |
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04-10-2008, 08:37 PM
| #5 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 3,596
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I also prefer the thumbhole stock.
__________________ America: Love it and protect it or leave it |
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04-11-2008, 12:54 AM
| #6 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Colorado
Posts: 164
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Don't get me wrong, I really don't mind the sporter stock. It's very lightweight and is comfortable. It also happens to have the right length-of-pull for me, instead of feeling cramped or stretching me out and making my obtaining a good cheek-weld/sight-picture difficult. I'm still going to get an Ironwood AK stock, grip, and handguard; as well as a telescoping stock, Tapco M249-style grip, and a 5-rail handguard. Depending on what I'm going to be using the SLR for on any given day of shooting is what will determine which stock set gets fitted. |
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04-11-2008, 01:17 AM
| #7 |
| Senior Member   Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 5,504
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First off AnaxImpertor, stay safe over there and by all means, watch your 6. Secondly, welcome to the G&G forum. Also, what a great little story. Thanks for sharing it. I like the thumbhole stock also. Definitely worth keeping, but not on the rifle. I'd get the style stock that NRAJOE has on the one in the picture he posted. As for changing out the stock depending on what you're shooting/doing; Sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go through not to mention a good way to increase the odds of damaging it,scratching the finish or stripping screw holes/screws. Your gift/gun. Do with as you wish. Me, I'd pick one and stick with it. Not change it out depending on what I was doing or feeling that particular day. No matter what though, I'll say it again. Stay safe over there if you're still there or will be going back. I do appreciate all you and thank you all for what you are all doing. I just did a quick little Yahoo image search. It would appear, that stock is stock. lol How it comes. I thought it was an after market stock just put on it. Not how it was offered...See link. http://www.ak47world.com/images/slr95.jpg
__________________ I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6! Last edited by GlockMeister; 04-11-2008 at 01:21 AM. |
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04-11-2008, 06:07 AM
| #8 | |||
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Colorado
Posts: 164
| Quote:
I am aware of the possibility that swapping stock/pistol-grips frequently may pose the risk of stripping threads. If at some point I decide to change back over to the thumbhole/M4/Ironwood setup, it would happen rarely. During the bulk of the year for range-sessions, the Ironwood furniture would be the default setting. For hunting seasons, on the thumbhole stock would go. And if I should take it to a carbine/tactical weapons course, the M4 setup is my choice. With the thumbhole & M4 stocks, the 5-rail handguard is going to be residing up front, and I have a "scout-mount" to use with the Ironwood stock & hanguard. Whenever I do any disassembly/reassembly of my firearms, I always use a torque wrench to tighten fasteners. I avoid the "gutentite" method whenever possible, and I've yet to strip the threads off anything (knock-knock). Aside from the aforementioned furniture & optic-mount upgrades, the only thing left to get is a recoil-spring buffer. I've been told a few times that it would be a good idea to mount a standard AK side-rail optic mount, but I beg to differ. To drill the receiver and attach a side-rail would be going a bit too far in my book, especially when a forward-mounted "scout" optic or plain iron sights works fine for me. Quote:
They also offered a version with a blonde wood-fiber stock, and on both the pinned muzzle-brake was optional. Original Arsenal SLR-95s are very uncommon on the auction-block nowadays; and when they do come up, they're often being sold in the $700-800 range. Even with a milled receiver these are very lightweight AKs, mostly because of the plastic furniture. These SLR's also have a reputation of being very accurate; something I can attest to, and is also impressed upon other shooters who I let try it out at my range. Quote:
Still... I miss my M2 and being with the guys, running convoy security and doing cordons for 1ID. Them were the days... <sigh> | |||
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