Hi everyone. I'm "Rail Driver". I was invited here by "Reaver" and after looking around, I like the place. I live in Tallahassee, FL and have been into guns for a long time, and just started getting into prepping.
Anyway, on to the good stuff... Reaver said I should post this here after I got acquainted with him while looking to trade off my Draco Mini (still available for trade btw) and we got to talking about stuff.
When operating a semi-automatic or automatic rifle as a right handed, right eye dominant shooter, the AK style (and AR-15 style, more on that later) rifles can be a bit clumsy when it comes to mag changes, clearing jams, and charging the rifle due to the location of the charging handle.
Well, a buddy of mine showed me a great solution. Simply move the charging handle to the left side of the bolt carrier and cut a slot in the dust cover for clearance. It lets you run the rifle without ever leaving a firing position if need be, and you don't have to worry about brass hitting you in the face or anything.
After moving the charging handle to the left side and as far forward as possible on the carrier, it's much faster and easier to not only maintain a sight picture on your target(s), but to return to firing capability.
When in a firing position, it's simpler, faster and safer to drop the empty mag, seat a fresh one and charge the weapon with the off hand while maintaining eyes and sights on the target than it is to rotate the rifle and do the same, thus losing sight picture and taking your eyes off the target, as well as moving out of a firing position.
If you're of a mind to (and I plan on doing it this way on my next AK) you can use a small piece of stock, or build up a weld and mount the charging handle in a vertical orientation on the left side so you can still hang the rifle in a wall rack properly without punching a hole in your drywall (yep, I did it... my girlfriend was quite upset with me until I fixed it).
I also like to leave enough material on the right side for my safety lever to engage to act as a bolt hold open. This makes mag changes at the range (or showing an empty chamber at ranges that require it) a little easier as well.
I'll be converting a Saiga AK in the near future and will be performing this modification. I will take photos of the process and update this thread when I've got them.
*Also, this modification will work on left handed rifles by moving the handle to the right side instead, and has the same effect.