|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Article Written by: Ryan Jones | |||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
Introduction |
|||||||||
|
As the truck lumbered along the snow-covered roads that
Saturday morning I was starting to think this might be
a bad idea. The
weatherman had called for two inches overnight and it
was already pushing five as Zack and I made our way to Bowling
Green, Ohio.
Who would be crazy enough to go to a gun show in this weather? As Zack careened down the highway at a blistering 35 miles an hour, his knuckles white, he commented, “I hope the show is open when we get there.” I was just hoping the parking lot was plowed; I had already pushed the full size Ram Charger I was currently riding in out of a snow drift once that morning, and really was not looking forward to doing it again. When we arrived, much to my satisfaction, the parking lot had already been plowed. The lot was only about half full, in serious contrast to usual for a gun show day, when sometimes you will have to walk half a mile just to get to the doors. My hopes of finding anything worth while inside were remote. Luckily I was wrong. Within five minutes of walking in the doors I noted a thin man in his mid-thirties lumbering along with a rifle slung over each shoulder. Anyone who is a collector and goes to gun shows knows that half of the great deals are carried in on the backs of the fellow attendees, so I took another glance at him as he rounded the corner of a row of tables. That was when I saw it, a Hakim hung from his shoulder. I knew that Zack was in the market for one, so I reached for him as he strode in front of me. I frantically told him I had just spotted a Hakim and Zack wasted no time in finding and approaching the man. The usual questions were asked and a quick inspection took place as other attendees walked past looking for the next great deal. When I looked the rifle over I found it to be a serious oddity. The man showed Zack and I how the rifle worked (which is very awkward in my opinion) and how to strip it down (which is very simple). He also showed us where the safety is and produced the magazine. When inserted the magazine seemed to clank against the magazine release loudly. Pressing on the magazine release locked it into place and the clanking noise stopped. While I did not know much about the rifle, I did know how to judge the condition of such things, and I would say that it was in excellent condition. The bore looked great, all of the metal looked new, and aside from a scuff on the alien looking dustcover, overall it was impeccable. The stock furniture looked great, at least for a military surplus rifle. Zack quickly approached the subject of price meaning he was serious about buying it. I gave him a glance that said that it certainly passed my inspection. “Three hundred?” The man said over his glasses. Zack tried to play it cool, but I knew by the slight raise of his eyebrows he was boiling over with excitement on the inside, and reached for his wallet. |
|||||||||
|
History |
|||||||||
|
The Hakim (pronounced HA-KEEM) was the first rifle ever
produced by Egypt. It was the result of a
modernization effort after their very
significant defeat to the new state of Israel, in
1949. This effort was originally undertaken by King Faruok, but a military coup in 1952
removed him from
power. The modernization effort was continued by the army after
the coup by the new leader, Gamal Abdul Nasser. Some time prior to 1955, Egypt purchased the machinery and with the help of Swedish engineers set up the tooling originally designed to produce the Swedish Ljungman AG42 Rifle. The AG42 had been produced by Sweden during WWII to supplement the already prolific Swedish Mausers. Never intended to replace the Mauser the AG42s were issued along with the Mausers to supplement their low rate of fire. The factory was set up in Egypt and the original AG42 was adapted to fulfill the needs of the Egyptians. The caliber of the rifle was changed from 6.5x55mm to 7.97 (8mm) Mauser, reportedly due to the large amounts of 8mm Mauser ammunition left over from WWII in the country at the time. There were also other modifications to the AG42 to produce the Hakim, the rifles were different in appearance, however they operated in pretty much the same way. The Hakim served in the second Arab-Israeli war in 1956 and the third Arab-Israeli war (also known as the “six day war”) in 1967. Neither of these conflicts gave the Hakim or Egypt for that matter, any particular distinction. A large number of Hakims were reportedly captured in both conflicts and if that is the case, these rifles were either sold to another nation, destroyed or (hopefully) setting in some Israeli warehouse waiting for the next importer to find them. The Hakim was pretty much a reserve rifle during the six day war and was totally replaced by the Rashid, a smaller version of the rifle chambered in 7.62x39mm by the 1960s and the Egyptian Maddi AK47 derivative by the 1970s. |
|||||||||
|
Method of Operation |
|||||||||
|
The Hakim, like the earlier AG42, operates on the
“Direct Gas Impingement” system, later used on the
infamous AR rifle series. In this system, upon firing,
gas is bled off via a gas port, from behind the bullet
as it exits the barrel. The bled off gas is re-directed
back through a stainless steel gas tube and hits a
concave area in the front of the bolt carrier. This
unlocks the bolt, which uses a dropping wedge for
lockup, and propels it and the bolt carrier rearward.
The extractor on the bolt head grabs the rim of the
spent cartridge case and pulls it out of the chamber as
the bolt continues to the rear; the case is then ejected
via a fixed ejector. Once the bolt and carrier are
propelled fully to the rear and the empty case is clear
from the rifle, the return spring pushes the bolt and
carrier forward, stripping another round from the
magazine and locking it in place.
The Hakim’s gas system is adjustable via a small, spring loaded valve located on the top of the rifle. The valve can be used to regulate how much gas passes through the gas tube, and uses a head shaped like a slice of pie to tell the operator where it is set. Egypt in the 50’s, like Iraq today, was a huge ammo dump and variations in different lots of 8mm ammo is believed to be the reason behind this feature. |
|||||||||
The “Normal” setting for this valve is when the tip of the piece of pie is facing directly back at the rifle’s receiver (figure 2) and will generally allow the Hakim to function with about any 8mm round. To decrease the amount of gas used in the system, turn the valve clockwise with the rifle’s muzzle pointed downrange, to increase it, turn it counter-clockwise. A note should be added here to not adjust the valve counter-clockwise past the “normal” setting, as the valve will fly apart and is a bit of a challenge to get back together. The valve was designed to be adjusted with a special tool. TAPCO reportedly made reproductions of it a few years back, but one could likely be fashioned relatively easily out of a socket or other implement. |
|||||||||
|
Rifle Details |
|||||||||
|
The Hakim has an overall length of 47&3/4 inches (Nearly four feet!)
and an overall unloaded weight of just over ten pounds.
This is pretty heavy by any standard, and around the
same length as a Mosin-Nagant Model 91-30. It has a full
length butt stock that most American shooters would feel
comfortable using. Handling the rifle
has led me to realize that I
would not like lugging a Hakim through the desert.
The rifle uses a detachable ten round box magazine
for feeding, but like many of its contemporaries was
designed to use stripper clips as its primary method of
reloading. The magazine release, similar to that of an
AK47, uses a built-in locking device to hold it in place
once it has been properly seated into the rifle. An
unusual stripper clip charger is located on top of the
dust cover, which is used by first inserting the loaded
clip parallel to the rifle, in the grooves of it,
pushing the clip forward and then rotating it 90 degrees
so it is then seated on top of the magazine before
pushing down on the top cartridge to load the rifle. The
reason for this unusual method has never been
definitively explained to my knowledge. |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| The muzzle brake, front sight and bayonet lug. Note that the muzzle brake is machined integral with the barrel with the front sight dovetailed on top of it! | |||||||||
|
The barrel is 25 inches long and is machined with a large
integral muzzle brake on the front. The brake, along
with the rifle’s weight, makes recoil virtually
nonexistent. That said however, the amount of noise and
blast is very significant, when you touch off a round in
a Hakim, you feel the energy in the pit of your stomach.
I personally wonder how many deaf Egyptians in their
sixties are around due to this. The barrel also has a
provision for mounting a knife style bayonet that
attaches to the front of the brake and secures via a lug
on the bottom of the front barrel band.
The rifle uses a triangular shaped dustcover and bolt carrier in its operation, giving it an odd appearance. The dustcover is equipped with a brass deflector attached to its front (figure 4), which most shooters believe to be an operating handle. The cover was originally designed to be used by the operator grasping the grooves stamped into it approximately at its midpoint and moving it in the desired direction. Most shooters, however, use the brass defector as an operating handle and I personally cannot think of anything wrong with this. |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Note the Cocking serrations on the dustcover, the strange stripper clip loading apparatus on the top of the gun, and the brass deflector, which is commonly used to cock the rifle. | |||||||||
| Fit and finish is above average, especially compared to anything else that has come out of the middle-east. I once owned an Egyptian Maddi AK47 and it is hard to believe that it came from the same country that produced the Hakim years before. If this rifle were to be produced today in an American factory, I would not be able to afford it. There are virtually no tool marks on the majority of the rifle, whether hidden or concealed, and most of the parts appear to be milled out of blocks of forged steel. | |||||||||
|
Loading and Firing Procedures |
|||||||||
| The Hakim’s safety is a small lever that swings to the left (figure 5) and right (figure 6) side of the rifle, located to the rear of the receiver. The safely is seated in its own mechanism, which is removable for takedown. With the muzzle pointed downrange, flip the safety fully to the right for “safe” and the left for “fire”. The safety also plays an important role in the operation of the rifle, which I will go into now. | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
The rifles bolt, bolt carrier and dustcover setup are
very unusual by American standards. To operate the
rifle, assuming the bolt is forward, push forward on the
dustcover until you hear an audible click. Then retract
the cover, which will move the bolt and carrier to the
rear.
What happens next depends on where the safety is and if you have a magazine in place:
|
|||||||||
|
Field Stripping Procedure |
|||||||||
The Hakim is simple to take apart for routine
maintenance.
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
Further disassembly can be undertaken at this point, but
unless you have a real good reason for it, don’t go any
further. Be sure to pay special attention to the gas
port above the chamber. Also clean the gas tube by
squirting a gun scrubber in it or using AR-15 gas tube
mops (long pipe cleaners) available from anyone
who sells AR parts and accessories.
Reassembly is in reverse order. |
|||||||||
|
Shooting the Hakim |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
Zack Shoots His Prize from the Bench. |
|||||||||
|
On a mild Saturday, Zack and I made a trip to the range
to test the Hakim. The rifle was tested at 50 yards from
the bench for initial sight in and accuracy testing. It
was then removed from the bench and several hundred
rounds in total were put through the gun from various
shooting positions, some other drills were also
performed at distances ranging from 25 to 60 yards. We
were unable to shoot out to 100 yards due to time
limits at the range. Three loads were selected, all of them being inexpensive surplus. There were three reasons for this; first, anyone who owns a Hakim is unlikely to hunt with it, so tests of hunting ammo would probably be worthless to a real or perspective owner. Second, the gun was designed with military ammo in mind and I was interested in seeing what the actual accuracy of the gun was with these types of loads. Third, the Hakim was designed to be used with the variety of surplus loads in Egypt at the time of its introduction. As such I was interested in seeing if it would reliably function with these loads with the gas system set at the “normal” setting with no adjustment. Because we were accuracy testing at 50 yards, five shot groups were fired for accuracy. The rifle was secured to a Lohman site vice from the bench. The best group of the day came with the Yugoslavian 196-grain surplus load. It turned in this nice group of exactly one inch. |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
The other two loads were Romanian steel cased surplus
and Turkish surplus on stripper clips. Both of these
loads shot larger, more sporadic groups. We shot the Turkish
surplus very little as it very old and we have
encountered misfires, hangfires and other such maladies
with it prior and did not consider it worthy to fire in a
semi-auto.
The Romanian surplus was the only other load shot extensively in the gun and was the only load that caused the gun to malfunction. The load caused the magazine to fail to lock open after the last shot and also caused a loaded round to stovepipe out of the right side of the receiver. I personally believe that the rifle’s gas system would need a few clicks of adjustment to properly fire this round. I say this because Zack noted gas blowing in his face when firing off a string and the action seemed unnecessarily violent. We lacked a suitable adjustment tool and decided to conduct the rest of the testing with the Yugoslavian loads. |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| The only malfunction with the Hakim is pictured here. Note the Stove-piped loaded round near the open portion of the receiver. | |||||||||
|
The first thing I noted was that after an
extended firing session, the for-end did not heat up. I
stuck the muzzle end in the snow and noted it sizzling,
but my hand did not even become slightly warm. I also
noted that the gun’s recoil was almost non-existent,
when the trigger was squeezed; the gun made a horrendous
noise, but barely jumped. Because of the gun’s muzzle
brake, the weight, and gas operation, recoil was a
non-issue. Ejection was positive, with the empty cases
flying around fifteen to twenty feet forward and to the
right of the rifle, the brass deflector certainly worked
well. I also noted that the gun was not suited well to close-in shooting. During the conflicts the rifle was involved in, shooting of this type would be only somewhat likely. The gun was difficult to start swinging up from the low ready position and even harder to stop once it was where you wanted it. Compared to a FAL, AR10 or HK G3, it’s like shooting with a telephone pole. It is certainly a “battle rifle” if there ever was one. |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Zack taking a few shots offhand. Believe it or not the rifle had just fired as this picture was taken. If you can lift the Hakim, you can shoot it. | |||||||||
| The Turkish stripper clips we were using did not work for the Hakim, so we wound up loading individual rounds into the magazine through the top of the receiver. This worked out suitably and would work well for the casual shooter with a minimum of trouble. | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Lacking suitable stripper clips, the Hakim was loaded singly as shown here. Be sure to turn the safety on before undertaking this procedure. | |||||||||
|
One final note of caution here, ALWAYS TURN ON THE
SAFETY WHEN OT SHOOTING THE HAKIM RIFLE!
The bolt carrier moves forward with considerable force
and can ruin your day very quickly!
On the range, Zack attempted to clear the jam discussed earlier. He did this by pushing forward on the dust cover of the rifle until it engaged the bolt carrier and bolt with a click and then moved it back out of the way. What he forgot to do was flick the safety on before he moved the cover back and, while reaching into the receiver to remove the offending round, the bolt carrier and dust cover engaged the safety mechanism, slamming the bolt and carrier forward onto his thumb. This resulted in muffled clack, a string of profanity, the Hakim flung into the snow and poor old Zack hopping up and down, cursing and holding his swelling thumb. Lucky for Zack, I had the forethought to pack along a first aid kit in my shooting bag that day. I reached for it as Zack shoved his thumb in the snow while telling me in no uncertain terms how much it hurt. I dug the first aid kit out and just prior to treatment snapped a picture of the wound so others would heed the above warning. (Some just TALK about getting their thumb smashed, but Zack had the forethought to show us what it would look like! Everyone thank him now.) Be careful! |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Zack’s unfortunate case of “Hakim Thumb.” Be careful of that bolt! Turn the safety on to do anything to the rifle but shoot it. | |||||||||
|
Conclusion |
|||||||||
|
After handling the Hakim, shooting it, and having it
reside at my homestead for a few days for this article;
I have to say it is on my want list. It is a reliable,
accurate and serviceable rifle. The fact that I would
happily pay a bit more then Zack paid for his (a steal
at three hundred bucks) should make everyone aware of
what I think of it.
The Hakim does have its fair share of downsides. The gun is too heavy for anything other then plinking and maybe NRA High-power competition and it is loud as hell. I have seen used specimens where the previous owner cut the forend down significantly and deleted the handguard to reduce the weight. I have seen other Hakims that have had the muzzle brake cut off to reduce the noise. I would consider doing these types of modifications if the Hakims were stacked deep and being sold cheap, but now they have become rare enough to command premium prices. Don’t alter any Hakim! As I stated before, the Hakim is an interesting and fun to shoot rifle. I would own one myself, and that is the best compliment I can pay it. It would be a valuable addition to any surplus rifle collection. |
|||||||||
|
SPECIAL THANKS |
|||||||||
| I would like to give a special thanks to Zachary Ziviski, who contributed the rifle and the injured thumb. Without him, this article could not have be written. | |||||||||
| Article Written by: Ryan Jones |
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
