Point Shooting With A Folding Stock AK-74

When one comes into ownership of a folding-stocked rifle of this type, the reason for this portrayal becomes obvious: It feels right. When the rifle is slung over the shoulder with the stock folded, muzzle pointing down, the rifle comes to the hands easily in this manner.

Because it felt so natural to me, I obtained a digital copy of the AKS-74U manual to see if it said anything about this. Sure enough, it did:

The accompanying text describes this method of point shooting thusly (thanks to Ensign Expendable of the Soviet Gun Archives blog for the manual and its translation):

Page 70:

51. When moving out to exercises and on march, the rifle is carried on its sling in the “by the sling”, “behind the back”, and “on the chest” positions (fig. 42). The sling must be adjusted so that the rifle does not knock on hard parts of the kit. The rifle is carried with a magazine inserted and the stock folded. The rest of the magazines are in the pouch. During breaks between exercises and at rest stops, the rifle is held by the rifleman “by the sling” or in his hands, and by a grenadier “on the chest” (fig. 43).

Pages 100-101:

99. To take aim while standing, you must:

1. If the rifle is in the “by the sling” position: half-turn to the right relative to your target, and move your left foot about shoulder width apart, as convenient for the rifleman, spreading your weight between both legs. At the same time, moving your right hand up the sling, take the rifle off your shoulder, grasp it with your left hand by the hand guard, open the stock with your right hand, grip the pistol grip, and energetically raise the muzzle towards the target.
2. If the rifle is in the “on the chest” position: take the hand guard with your left hand, and move it slightly up and forward. Take your right hand from underneath the sling, and throw the sling over your head. At the same time, make a half-turn to the right… (same as in part 1). (fig. 50). When a grenadier takes aim while standing, his rifle is, as a rule, “by the sling” (fig. 51). When the grenadier takes aim with his grenade launcher while standing, the rifle is moved to the “behind the back” position (fig. 52), for which the grenadier takes his grenade launcher with his left hand, takes the carbine and ring of the sling with his right hand, and moves the rifle to his back, after which he prepares for firing the grenade launcher.

Frankly, shooting the weapon this way is highly unpleasant, as the characteristic muzzle brake blows gas into the shooter’s face. I can only imagine the discomfort when shooting an AKS-74U with its 8″ barrel.

This technique, though it is in the manual for the AKS-74U, is not one I could recommend for distances above a few yards. I ceased shooting from this position due to safety concerns; while I think it’s possible that a soldier could practice enough to get reasonable accuracy at these distances, where would he practice? It’s reasonable to assume that better hit probability and speed could be achieved if the weapon were set to full auto instead of semi, but that doesn’t really mate well with the technique, as the shooter would have to ensure that he didn’t push the safety beyond the “full” position and into “semi”, and that takes time.

I certainly think this point shooting technique is better than dying because you couldn’t get your weapon into action quickly enough. I don’t think it’s better than anything else, though, and I think it provides a strong argument for single-point slings.

There is one last consideration: The manual specifically prescribes this method for the grenadier – i.e. RPG carrier – and the rifle isn’t his primary weapon. That doesn’t make the method any more effective, of course, but if the grenadier is using his RPG-7, and has to switch to the rifle, this is the natural way that one would do that. Hopefully for any grenadiers thus taught, their targets were not so far away!