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AK best to worst.

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So I am on vacation in Pennsylvania and found a gun store that is fully stocked with guns and ammo. Ammo is just stacked everywhere. No shortages whatsoever. They have AK's, I want an AK, preferably with plastic furniture. They have them from 2K to 400 dollars. I am looking for one that will eat anything and be reliable. What are the IBB's best to worst rankings? I am assuming Kalishnikov, USA would be the best but I saw some that were Century, Arsenal, Vasta -something or other. Going back in a day or two to make the purchase.
 
can you buy a rifle in PA if out of state? Not to sidetrack but I've ran into some many stupid issues with that before.

Anyways I have a Zastava Pap m92 and it's been excellent. I thought the C,A, and V versions were on the lower ends but could be off there.

Go watch some AK Operators Union or Brandon Herra on Youtube.
 
Weasel said:
can you buy a rifle in PA if out of state? Not to sidetrack but I've ran into some many stupid issues with that before.

Anyways I have a Zastava Pap m92 and it's been excellent. I thought the C,A, and V versions were on the lower ends but could be off there.

Go watch some AK Operators Union or Brandon Herra on Youtube.
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I can. Very refreshing to walk into a gun store with no homemade rules and are actually excited about making a sale. They literally have 2 floors of guns, guns in boxes stacked in the aisles along with cases of ammo. I saw one short little AK with the funnel looking flash hider (or whatever it is) and liked it. Probably blow my ear drums out but it looked fun. Also bought 50 lbs of tannerite for 59.00. Never messed with it before but we are blowing something up when the rain stops.
 
DICKWEED said:
So I am on vacation in Pennsylvania and found a gun store that is fully stocked with guns and ammo. Ammo is just stacked everywhere. No shortages whatsoever. They have AK's, I want an AK, preferably with plastic furniture. They have them from 2K to 400 dollars. I am looking for one that will eat anything and be reliable. What are the IBB's best to worst rankings? I am assuming Kalishnikov, USA would be the best but I saw some that were Century, Arsenal, Vasta -something or other. Going back in a day or two to make the purchase.
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Where you be?
St. Mary's?
I know of a store there and that sounds like it.
 
There is a place in bradford for full auto shooting and remember to go to bell's in kane for there Greek sausage
 
Good to know. Eating at my sisters house tonight. Tomorrow we have an appt with the realtor and lawyer to get closer on this 762 acres and then Back to St Marys for another gun purchase.
 
As for ak, pretty much they will eat anything.
I always go mid range price.
That shop is great and very honest.
 
kalashnikov usa can be trash
aks are funny in that the US made ones are generally worse than the european ones

like romanian ones used to be regarded as poorly built crap, but now they're pretty high up there
same with zastavas because they never did chrome in the barrels, but they're good quality guns otherwise

I likes me some short barreled x39
an 8" AK with a pistol brace for a stock is a pretty nice setup for a truck gun, just make sure to pack muffs with it lol
 
[486] said:
kalashnikov usa can be trash. KUSA is in its infancy, and is struggling with cost cutting measures that are plaguing quality. I'd avoid for now.
aks are funny in that the US made ones are generally worse than the european ones. Absolutely, unless they're made by someone who knows what they're doing.

like romanian ones used to be regarded as poorly built crap, but now they're pretty high up there.
same with zastavas because they never did chrome in the barrels, but they're good quality guns otherwise
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IMHO, you can't go wrong with a Bulgarian (arsenal) Zastava or WBP factory built rifle.
[486] said:
I likes me some short barreled x39
an 8" AK with a pistol brace for a stock is a pretty nice setup for a truck gun, just make sure to pack muffs with it lol
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gozuki said:
Absolutely, unless they're made by someone who knows what they're doing
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nononono
I don't mean foreign-parts US-assembled guns, I mean US-parts, US-assembled guns

like US bolt, carrier and trunnion, that gun's prolly gonna be trash no matter who built it
 
Avoid us made guns if you can.
The zastava guns are probably as cheap as I would go now.
Arsenal are Bulgarian and are top notch guns, but command a premium. For a first gun I would go with a 16"bbl. With a folding stock they can still be pretty short.
I would not get a century. No experience with kalashnikov USA. They had some issues when they started up a few years ago. As others have said, avoid cast trunions like the plague.

How much do you want to spend?
 
Are the PSA AKs piles of shit?
 
I wouldn't know how to spot a cast trunnion vs forged. I am going to sneak back up there today and go through the different ones. I know they had some on the rack that were 1200.00 and I was surprised because I didn't know an AK could cost so much. I am torn between going for the classic look vs modernized with plastic furniture and a picatinny rail for an optic. The few I picked up had pure shit for sights.

It is odd that while I was in the military and actually carried an AK, it was just a tool and I had no interest in actually owning one. Now 10 years after retirement, I am interested. In Afghanistan and Iraq, these things were a dime a dozen and we turned in so damned many just to be blown up by EOD when they had their next range day. Same with RPG's. Just everywhere. We carried thermite grenades on the vehicles in Iraq to destroy them when we found a cache. Now I sit around thinking how I should have been stripping the damned things down and boxing up the parts...
 
DICKWEED said:
I wouldn't know how to spot a cast trunnion vs forged. I am going to sneak back up there today and go through the different ones. I know they had some on the rack that were 1200.00 and I was surprised because I didn't know an AK could cost so much. I am torn between going for the classic look vs modernized with plastic furniture and a picatinny rail for an optic. The few I picked up had pure shit for sights.

It is odd that while I was in the military and actually carried an AK, it was just a tool and I had no interest in actually owning one. Now 10 years after retirement, I am interested. In Afghanistan and Iraq, these things were a dime a dozen and we turned in so damned many just to be blown up by EOD when they had their next range day. Same with RPG's. Just everywhere. We carried thermite grenades on the vehicles in Iraq to destroy them when we found a cache. Now I sit around thinking how I should have been stripping the damned things down and boxing up the parts...
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I have been told that guys in Nam bought large stereo speaker took the back off and loaded them up and shipped them home. Of course back then you weren't thought to have a decent system if you didn't have 4 foot tall speakers :laughing:
 
Aisin said:
Are the PSA AKs piles of shit?
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I have an AKV, AK 9mm and it's been great.

DICKWEED said:
I wouldn't know how to spot a cast trunnion vs forged. I am going to sneak back up there today and go through the different ones. I know they had some on the rack that were 1200.00 and I was surprised because I didn't know an AK could cost so much. I am torn between going for the classic look vs modernized with plastic furniture and a picatinny rail for an optic. The few I picked up had pure shit for sights.
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yeah they have jumped in price alot. And I'm sorta the same on the AK. My all-time favorite are the Swiss 556/553/552 version and leaned AR stuff earlier on. Then at some point the AK big got me and I'm still buying them in various configurations. I got 4 blanks a few weeks ago and have no idea what I'm gonna do with them, 2 6.62 and 2 of the 5.45 version.
 
I'll second the others...

Avoid anything US made that is cheaper. Sub $1k is cheaper these days.

Bulgarian Arsenals are among the best you can buy these days unless you go to a boutique builder (Rifle Dynamics, Occam, etc). Under $1500 would be a good deal on these, they seem to fetch $2k+ on GunBroker.

The Zastava guns are a good "first AK" option and seem to be consistent quality. Under $800 would be a good price here.

The days of sub-$400 Romy WASR's are long gone. Most options these days are decent at the worst, none are terrible. I say get a 7.62x39 gun as the ammo is more common, but a 5.56 gun would be a good option too for more domestic ammo options. 5.45 is sweet but harder to find ammo and mags.

Yes, one could get a nicer AR pattern gun for the same price. Fact of life.
 
Yotota said:
Yes, one could get a nicer AR pattern gun for the same price. Fact of life.
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this
AKs are actually horrendously expensive to make, just cheap surplus parts kits kept the cost down for so long

when the rifles these kits came from were built, they were built by a country where defense spending was absolutely no object. They could be starving for want of grain but those AKs would have still been rolling off the lines in as high of QC standards as ever.
 
They might be expensive to make but they sure don't feel like it. :flipoff2:
 
[486] said:
this
AKs are actually horrendously expensive to make, just cheap surplus parts kits kept the cost down for so long

when the rifles these kits came from were built, they were built by a country where defense spending was absolutely no object. They could be starving for want of grain but those AKs would have still been rolling off the lines in as high of QC standards as ever.
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Ebs said:
They might be expensive to make but they sure don't feel like it. :flipoff2:
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Haha even the cheapest AR has decent quality cast upper and lower receivers, so they still look and feel smooth and ergonomic. Material quality is a huge difference though especially when comparing cheap new production ARs with surplus parts kit AKs or European import AKs. A cheap $500 AR will be shot to shit in less than 5k rounds and the barrel will be punching buckshot pattern groups, whereas the AK will be humming along and asking for all the abuse you can throw at it.

AKs we're designed in 1940s Russia and ARs were designed in 1960s America where everything was getting the cast/smooth treatment. Forged AR and AK receivers are the best of course, but I will take a stamped steel gun over a cast aluminum gun all day every day.

They're all just tools at the end of the day. I don't own anything just to own it, it's for a purpose even if that purpose is 99% "shoot shit because shooting shit is fun".
 
I ended up buying the Kalashnikov USA one for 1K. I just didn’t see the point in buying the arsenal one for an additional 1K. Bought a couple mags and 1K rounds. If it doesn’t run then I will get the arsenal one when I get back home. Going up on the mountain in a bit to melt the barrel off of it.
 

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Just ran a couple hundred rounds through it and I like it. That muzzle break demands good hearing protection and it throws a huge fireball as well. Pretty much what I was looking for, just a gun to throw rounds out of for fun and maybe throw in the truck or keep on the tractor while bush hogging. Going to order a suppressor and an Arsenal one when I get back home.
 
DICKWEED said:
Just ran a couple hundred rounds through it and I like it. That muzzle break demands good hearing protection and it throws a huge fireball as well. Pretty much what I was looking for, just a gun to throw rounds out of for fun and maybe throw in the truck or keep on the tractor while bush hogging. Going to order a suppressor and an Arsenal one when I get back home.
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Get a milled one. More $, but so nice.
 
The best suppressor for the ak IMHO is the dead air wolverine. It's externally a copy of the Russian ak suppressor, but internally much better and built to deal with the non concentric muzzle threads of some aks.
Hopefully the kalishnikov USA gun works well for you. No experience with them.
I have been moving away from aks, am down to just a few. They made a lot more sense when you could get a parts kit with the original bbl for 90 to 250$. I am currently tempted to sell off my last 7.62 akms and buy a milled arsenal to pair with my Bulgarian 74 and be done with aks.

A sig 550 series rifle is not an ak. Bolt has ak influence, but it has an upper and lower like a ar or fal. We have discussed this before.
Now a galil or valet is an improved ak.
 
DICKWEED said:
Just ran a couple hundred rounds through it and I like it. That muzzle break demands good hearing protection and it throws a huge fireball as well. Pretty much what I was looking for, just a gun to throw rounds out of for fun and maybe throw in the truck or keep on the tractor while bush hogging. Going to order a suppressor and an Arsenal one when I get back home.
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make sure you get the right suppressor, that guy has the wierdass big ol' threads on the front sight block and none on the barrel itself
 
aron82 said:
The best suppressor for the ak IMHO is the dead air wolverine. It's externally a copy of the Russian ak suppressor, but internally much better and built to deal with the non concentric muzzle threads of some aks.
Hopefully the kalishnikov USA gun works well for you. No experience with them.
I have been moving away from aks, am down to just a few. They made a lot more sense when you could get a parts kit with the original bbl for 90 to 250$. I am currently tempted to sell off my last 7.62 akms and buy a milled arsenal to pair with my Bulgarian 74 and be done with aks.

A sig 550 series rifle is not an ak. Bolt has ak influence, but it has an upper and lower like a ar or fal. We have discussed this before.
Now a galil or valet is an improved ak.
Click to expand...
Valmet
 
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