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  • Bay Ranger

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    I think that I am beginning to contract the AK "bug". Never having had one or know much about them, I am looking for some advice on what I should be looking at in terms of quality, characteristics, features, etc. I see a wide range of prices, as well as weapons made in the U.S. and abroad. Where do I start? Should I start with an "el cheapo" before making a more substantial investment or should I go "pretty good" to start with?

    Recommendations?
     

    Fear21

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    I think that I am beginning to contract the AK "bug". Never having had one or know much about them, I am looking for some advice on what I should be looking at in terms of quality, characteristics, features, etc. I see a wide range of prices, as well as weapons made in the U.S. and abroad. Where do I start? Should I start with an "el cheapo" before making a more substantial investment or should I go "pretty good" to start with?

    Recommendations?

    I'll give you the best, most concrete piece of advice possible on your first AK: buy Combloc. Ignore shiny marketing, pretty wood and whizzbang catch phrases like "golden standard" or "American made."

    Characteristics - an AK is an AK (provided you buy ComBloc). There are some slight design differences depending on what country it comes from, but your basic components will all be the same. The exception to this is perhaps the Yugo / Serbian AKs. They use proprietary furniture, different furniture mounting setups, different scope rails, etc etc. I wouldn't recommend a Yugo as a first AK, personally. There are a lot of reports of soft receivers in the NPAP series, and OPAPs are getting harder and harder to find.

    Quality - if you can find a Saiga or VEPR, that will net you Russian AK "street cred." They're nice AKs and will hold value forever. Arsenal puts out bomb proof sidefolders as well as the fantastic milled SAM-7 series. Chinese imports like the MAK90 or PolyTech are great rifles, though PolyTechs are more in the collector realm these days. Hungarian imports are very nice, but hard to find. Romanian imports like the WASR or SAR series won't be as pretty, but they are absolutely fine and will last longer than the next five generations of your family. Be aware that any AK can be the victim of canted barrel components. Generally, this is nothing more than a cosmetic problem; the rifles will still zero just fine.

    If you "think" you've been bitten by the AK bug and are not 100% sure, I'd suggest a WASR. Price is middle of the road ($500 - $600), quality is good but just a bit rougher than something like an Arsenal. If you don't like it, you won't be out a grand and could easily resell.
     
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    JoeCorrado

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    Whatever you do, don't buy an American made AK! Fear21 said everything that needs to be said. There's several of us here that are into AK's and would be more than happy to help you out. Fair warning though, they're very addictive!! I said I would never buy one for several years and in the span of less than 3 years I've bought 10. Just a heads up.
     

    Loki

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    Fear and Dan said it - buy a WASR and do not look back.

    AK's are addictive, but in a good way.
     

    SC-Texas

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    What do ya'll think about the Mod Outfitter's AK?
     

    Dan1612

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    Having said that. A SAM7 is about as fine an AK as you can get.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    Bay Ranger

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    Thanks for all of the advice guys.

    Next question, any particular on-line or local dealers that I should be checking out? Any particular dealer keep a better inventory and have consistently better prices?

    Are the rifles that come from the COMBLOC hit or miss in terms of when they are available here for sale?

    Lastly for now, what are your thoughts on a 7.62x39 upper for an AR?
     

    Fear21

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    Thanks for all of the advice guys.

    Next question, any particular on-line or local dealers that I should be checking out? Any particular dealer keep a better inventory and have consistently better prices?

    Are the rifles that come from the COMBLOC hit or miss in terms of when they are available here for sale?

    Lastly for now, what are your thoughts on a 7.62x39 upper for an AR?

    Yes, imports can be spotty. I know Arsenal in particular is having a dry spell right now with their stamped guns (SLR series). Saigas and VEPRs are now banned via the sanctions, sadly. WASRs are pretty much a constant. SAM-7s are available but pricey.

    I've always bought or transferred my AKs through Nate (Little Jack's Guns) here on the forum. As for online, Atlantic Firearms typically has a decent inventory, but you'll more than likely be paying a higher price with them. For what it's worth, their customer service is top notch and if anything goes wrong they fix it immediately. Prepper Gun Shop and Tombstone Tactical are decent online places as well.

    As for the upper - everything about a 7.62x39 AR revolves around the magazine. From what I understand it can be difficult to find mags that work well, but that may have changed. I think FrankT has a couple of x39 uppers, he might be able to answer better.
     

    Red

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    All great tips man. Combloc is def way to go. Nothing wrong with a wasr as first AK. If you like shooting it even a little you will buy more. Dispel the inaccuracy myths, the AK is accurate enough just remember you have to zero it to you. Everyone’s xheckweld and sight picture is different.

    As far as mags get em while they are still plentiful and cheap. Maybe 10 or so euro mags and you’re good. This is what I got to lead them https://podavach.com/ it loads everything from AR AK74 AK47 mags. Takes about 10 minutes if that to load up 7 mags and hit the range. Bout 90 bucks but worth every cent especially if you already have an AR, then you’re gonna get an AK then I’m sure you’ll get an ak74.

    Combloc combloc!! Have fun wi5h it. They are fun.
     

    DSPLCD1

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    The Pawnshop across the street from the Wal-Mart on 29 had a Russian Saiga on the shelf for 650.00 on Saturday.
     

    Cstokes91

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    Okay wall of text in-bound:


    My Personal Experience
    I'll start out by saying what I've owned has been an RAS47 and a newer WASR. Both guns ran great without a single FTF, FTE, or wear issue. I shot around 1-1.5k rounds through the RAS47 and I'm at around 250-500 on the WASR. I sold the RAS47 to fund the WASR and have never looked back. I personally purchased the RAS47 before the wealth of data on them came out online and promptly sold it when it seemed like they weren't as good as they seemed upon buying. I've also shot an NPAP.

    From Research

    American AKs
    Okay, this part is going to be a little longer. I recommend to steer clear from any AK47 manufactured in America. RAS47/IO/Palmetto... all a pile of shit. They can dress them up real nice and say what they want at every gun shop but from some videos/testing/owners there has been a wealth of material out there to show that they have a higher than desired failure rate. I will also admit that this is their first run so maybe they'll do better in the future. The RAS47 imo has the biggest chance since the barrel on it is solid... the main weakness is in the receiver... specifically the trunion.

    Budget AKs (both are stamped)
    What I'd recommend to you is to think hard on what you want to do to your AK. There are two AKs that strike my mind for the budget - that's a (Century Arms) WASR and (Zastava) NPAP. Both AKs are solid AK47s. The WASR is made in Romania and has had a few years to make them better. If you buy a newer model of the WASR, they have removed a lot of their first iteration issues (fierce magazine wobble and common canted sights). I purchased a WASR this past year and the sights are straight and the magazine wobble is non existent. I also really love the wood furniture put on it but I will note that it is soft wood so it'll show dings easier than other furniture that I've felt. The WASR can fit standard AK furniture so you have a ton of options for aftermarket furniture if you want to tacticool it up with magpul furniture or you have a ton of options for really nice wood furniture. Finally, the WASR has a chrome lined barrel so overall better quality and also this helps if you deal with corrosive ammo which admittedly isn't too common anymore. The other option I mentioned is an NPAP. The NPAP is a Yugoslavian made AK47. It has really nice furniture; however the furniture is specific to it and you cannot use standard AK furniture. That said, there are some options out there for it but it is definitely more limited. The NPAP is commonly 100 less than the WASR. I've also heard some accounts that it has a bit more cheekslap than other AKs but when I shot it I didn't have that issue.

    Okay, so once you get past those AKs you have a few choices to make when you get to the next price point.

    700-1000 -

    I've seen some VEPRs (banned) that the "hunting rifle version for 1000. These can only fit 10 round mags without modification and have a thumbhole stock to make the libs of 5-10 years ago happy (I think you have to put a little plug in the hole these days in cali). You can convert this rifle to fit standard mags without too much trouble. They are fairly hard to get right now.

    Saiga's (converted) are also usually in the 800-1400 range if you can find one. They used to be cheap 200-400 but then sanctions (bans) happened and their price went up from there. They are great Russian made AKs.

    Arsenal SLRs - stamped, solid AKs for the money. They are still being imported as far as it goes when there aren't huge military contracts.

    MAK90 (banned) - Another really solid AK for the money. Red has one for sale atm for 1k. They have a thicker receiver and built like a tank.

    1200+

    Arsenal SAM7 - Milled, higher accuracy and overall great AKs. Still being imported.

    VEPR (Banned) - They are still out there and the folding stock and fixed stocks are fetching a premium right now. Russian built and stamped.

    Polytech (banned) - Great Chinese AKs that were banned. These fetch a premium but are very quality.

    Galil - Some would argue that these aren't a true AK (and they are probably right) but I'll give them an honorable mention. Highly customizable AR style AK made from Israel and they are very high quality.



    So yeah, there's everything that popped in my head just now. I'm sure I missed something and might have gotten a few details mixed up but everything there should be mostly correct.

    EDIT - https://www.youtube.com/user/AkOperatorsUnion

    Check out this guys channel - wealth of torture tests, information, and advice. He has a video for most of the AKs I've mentioned and is very respected in the AK community.
     
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    Red

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    Hmm weird..... but a little different if you really look at the OP of each but hey not here to hijack this OPs thread so carry on.
     
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