I am looking to get into a AK 47 in the near future. I would like to know first hand knowledge of what is good, what is bad and what to look for. There seems to be so many variants and I don't want to throw money away. Any and all help would be appreciated.
Iv got a WASR and it is great! Dont listen to everything you hear about them. just check for canted sights, mag wobble, and a few more things. you can get them for around $450
The real high end ones are ones with milled receivers, and ones that are pre-922(r) that have all foreign made parts.
Arsenal, Inc. is pretty much the standard for domestically assembled ones.
Watch out for crappily-put-together ones, and ones that don't come with chrome-lined barrels.
Arsenal, Inc. is pretty much the standard for domestically assembled ones.
Watch out for crappily-put-together ones, and ones that don't come with chrome-lined barrels.
I think this is more of a budget question than anything. You can spend $400-$a lot, AK's run the gamut on pricing. My advice for a first one is to buy it from somewhere where you can visually inspect the workmanship of the rifle. Look at things like finish, quality of rivets, and front sights. I prefer chrome lined barrels as well, but these will generally be more expensive.
This is true,WASR's get a bad rap.Check what he says if you look at one
Milled is unnecessary weight and mostly for collectors,chrome lined barrels are disappearing since the ATF is requiring the kits that so many are assembled from have the barrel cut in half.Nothing wrong with a US barrel(what many builders are using) that isn't c/lined.This seems to be important to people because of the corrosive ammo on the market.The dreaded "corrosive" ammo is actually not that common in 7.62x39 but fairly common in 5.45.It is mildly corrosive with the primers being the culprit.I've seen tests where a rifle was fired several hundred rounds of corrosive ammo and allowed to sit for a month and only very light rust appeared.Just clean the thing and you'll be fine or only shoot non-corrosive ammo.In AK's it is generally that for a production rifle,the Arsenals are the best.The top rifles are kit builds by Jim Fuller,Elk River,etc.They can run as high as $1600+.
AMD-65 (with the AMD65Tech stock adapter) would be my suggestion. BTW what's your budget for this purchase?
Thanks "All" for the insight and commets. This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for. I'm not looking for the basement model, but I'm not going to pay $900 for one either. I want a good, fun shooter that is reliable. I think I want the all wood look and not any type of folder or pistol config.
Are gun shows the place to buy, or online (if so where do you guys recomend), or are there some good guns locally?
Again, thanks, and Donald i may take you up on the offer to shoot yours!
Are gun shows the place to buy, or online (if so where do you guys recomend), or are there some good guns locally?
Again, thanks, and Donald i may take you up on the offer to shoot yours!
For looking on-line, www.atlanticfirearms.com and www.rrcfirearms.com both have a pretty nice selection of AK models. They also offer a fair variety of price ranges.
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