Hey AK guys

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HarryBear

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It's basically like the generation era(s) kinda like Glock does with all their gens..
Zpap are the newest, chrome lined barrels.
Misham (Mishaco) on YouTube has a segment on the history of all the Pap lines of Ak's. He's blind (Not that it matters) but, he has a wealth of knowledge on Ak's, he's a walking dictionary, like Rain Man and can tell just by feel of what he has.
Now granted these pap's are only specific to a certain AK that's not an AKM pattern (True AK pattern designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov) in the 40's. This doesn't apply to Russian Ak's, Chinese Ak's, Romanian Ak's, Bulgarian Ak's, and so forth. Only applies I believe to Yugoslavian now known as the country of Serbia Ak's. Someone chime in if I'm wrong. Pap's are just improvements over decades of function testing, battles, and inputs from consumers to produce a better product overall..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zastava_PAP_series
 
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joegrizzy

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the PAPs are a line of ak rifles produced by Zastava, a serbian producer of quality firearms to the military and civilian markets.
the PAP series is a civilian version of the M70 military ak rifle Zastava has produced for decades.
the designations are a combination of gen, (first model were just PAP, then NPAP, then OPAP, then ZPAP) and length. _PAPM70's or something like that are going to be rifles of whatever gen the first letter designates.

Pistol versions are imported based on the M85 shorter military rifle. so a _PAPM85 would be a pistol version of whatever gen the first letter designates. although these came in later, so not sure what gen they debuted, so there's probably only zpapm85s or whatever, but i digress.

it should be noted that all RIFLES are subject to 922r compliance when imported; which means they must have the special magical % of us made parts to be imported AS an assault weapon, which they are.
however, PISTOLS are not subject to 922r compliance, so if you buy a Zastava imported pistol from century or whoever, it has 100% serbian parts. this is true of all imported AK pistols, something to consider if you value this like some people do.

also of note is serbia's relation to russia. currently, i think zastava makes one of the best import ak's on the market for the price (they are basically half an arsenal bulgy or saiga), and we all know if things shake out more import bans could be possible. serbian and turkey are definitely on my "these guns are cheap and good and they may be banned from import ever again soon" list. who knows, but who knows, right?

also of note: the m70 was an unlicensed ak clone, so furniture usually needs work to fit. other parts are interchangeable afaik, but always check on part interchangeability.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zastava_PAP_series
the rifles are heavy, made from a thicker stamped receiver than most other ak's. this makes them a very smooth shooter, i've never shot one of their 5.56 ak's, but i imagine the recoil would be basically nothing. they usually feature things like the RPK style bulged trunnion, as far as i know always have the stainless bolt carrier, which looks cool and sets them apart a bit from other ak's. some of them have chromed line barrels, i *think* starting with the z pap.

you can find them in all sorts of variations, they are great guns.
 
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Sted-E Ed-E

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I thought it went pap, opap, npap, zpap…. The main things to know is the first paps were imported with single stack bolt which cause issues with double stack mags. All 3 generations besides the npap had 1.5mm receivers and bulged front trunnions (rpk style) and the zpap is the first generation to have a chrome lined barrel. As mentioned above you have to get “yugo” style furniture for them.
 

joegrizzy

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I thought it went pap, opap, npap, zpap…. The main things to know is the first paps were imported with single stack bolt which cause issues with double stack mags. All 3 generations besides the npap had 1.5mm receivers and bulged front trunnions (rpk style) and the zpap is the first generation to have a chrome lined barrel. As mentioned above you have to get “yugo” style furniture for them.
yeah this is correct. i always think it's like our alphabet, "n" comes before "o" but it's the opposite.

wait.....now i'm cornfused lol. i'm pretty sure it IS like our alphabet.....
 

joegrizzy

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There's gotta be more AK guys like "Brandon Herrera" and "Rob Ski" on this site.... They must all be at work
ak guys?
work?
:pms2:


heck i remember back in the day when the cheapest entry level AR you could get was a dpms or a stag for like $800, i asked on here about all the different $300 priced ak's, saigas, zastavas, wasrs/romaks. most people told me they were cheap junk that would explode and i should spend twice as much on an ar that is worth less today than it was then. but there were a few loyal ak truists out there who led me in the right direction thank goodness.

and, i will add the ar market only tanked because PSA literally destroyed the market with quality cheap AS #*!& ar's (there's really no reason to buy anything else unless you WANT it, if you NEED an ar, you just get a psa and build it). and now they are the largest US maker and seller of ak's, and their ak's *are* getting cheaper and cheaper. so who knows, in a few years US ak's might be dirt cheap again, but i feel the imports will never really go down.
 
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joegrizzy

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i think both rob and misham are in missouri. man i would love for one of them to stop by okshooters for a post, wouldn't that be something. i've had misha respond to a few youtube comments, he's way more likely to respond on his personal channel where he reviews all the model tanks and jets and star trek ships and whatnot lol.

i'm not one for e-celebs or whatever, but holy crap that dude has ridiculous amounts of knowledge and his firearm collection is incredible.
 

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