If Arsenal AK's are the best, which one to get?

[promiseofwar]

Hello fellow OKShooters! I was thinking about adding an AK 7.62x39 to my collection of must have guns and have a few questions. 1) Does Arsenal Inc. produce (alter) the best AK for the money? 2) Milled vs Stamped? 3) Bulgarian vs Russian? Thanks for your thoughts and input.

 

[Shootin 4 Fun]

It just depends on how much you want to pay.

 

[okla1911]

Not necessarily. You can find just as nice an AK almost anywhere, you just need to check it out first. Also keep in mind Arsenal's are known for having a really weak finish. So much so you can ONLY use CLP to clean or risk stripping the finish off. Milled if you want a collector's piece, stamped for a shooter. Don't forget the Yugo's AK's have the 1.6mm stamped receiver opposed to the standard 1mm thickness. I like Bulgarian (but I'm also a ((10)) nut, so I'm biased). The Bulgarians are going to have the standard interchangeable AK parts....bolts, carrier. Keep in mind milled parts aren't for the most part interchangeable with stamped ones. The SGL's (Russian) are converted saiga's, and if you didn't want a side folder I would say save some $ and convert one yourself. The SGL's have a unique bolt compared to the Bulgarian, Polish, DDR ect. As a result certain replacement parts are hard to come by. So all that said I own a milled SLR 101s & a stamped SLR 107 SF. Well, picking up the 107 tomorrow from SSP. The milled 101s has hands the smoothest action out of all the AK's I own or have owned in the past. Really nice shooter as well but it gets heavy when carried for long periods of time.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[cjjtulsa]

Arsenals are among the best you can buy now, but there have been rifles imported in the past that are just as good; depends if you want new, or go treasure hunting. The current (?) sale K-Var is/was running on the 107sf was a good deal, especially if you opted for the 4 Circle 10 mags for $20 a pop. I considered it, but chickened out. Have a triangle folder stock, and thought about picking up the poly folder model, so I could swap stocks if I wanted. Waited too long, and the polys are sold out. If you're in the market, and they still have some of the triangle folders left with the mag deal, I'd jump on it.

Okla1911 - is that SF of yours from the K-Var sale?

 

[okla1911]

Arsenals are among the best you can buy now, but there have been rifles imported in the past that are just as good; depends if you want new, or go treasure hunting. The current (?) sale K-Var is/was running on the 107sf was a good deal, especially if you opted for the 4 Circle 10 mags for $20 a pop. I considered it, but chickened out. Have a triangle folder stock, and thought about picking up the poly folder model, so I could swap stocks if I wanted. Waited too long, and the polys are sold out. If you're in the market, and they still have some of the triangle folders left with the mag deal, I'd jump on it.

Okla1911 - is that SF of yours from the K-Var sale?

Exactly! I didn't get any of the accessory's even though they were a great deal as I'm already stocked up. Just buy the poly stock separately, I intend to:

http://www.k-var.com/shop/AK-LSFB.html

Oh and to the OP: I have owned Romys, Poles, Russian, & yugo variants but always went back to the Bulgi's for some reason. Hmmm, How did I miss Chinese, Hungarian, & DDR? No matter, I'm at the end of my evolution of AK's.

 

[AKguy1985]

I'm an SGL-31 fan myself.

 

[Perplexed]

I'm an SGL-31 fan myself.

A fixed-stock version is at the top of my to-get list now, along with a round-butt 4" 1911.

 

[mouthpiece]

You can still pick up MAK90's for $650-700. 3 were available last week. 2 were already converted from the thumbhole stocks to regular stock and pistol grip. Also a Maadi had a cruder finish but just as well built gun. Both excellent AK's.
The AMD65 guns have shorter sight radius and barrel, the shorter sight radius being a drawback and barrel being a positive IMHO, but very well built guns.
These can be had for almost 1/2 the price of the Arsenal guns. Do some research and hold as many as you can.
Then make your decision.

 

[cjjtulsa]

I'd like an AMD-65, but haven't found one for the right price yet. I like some of the new Arsenals, but haven't spent the money there, either. The Chinese rifles are great, as are the 90s Bulgarian imports (Sa-93, SLR-95, etc.). I've heard good things about the Romanian SAR-1s, too. But my favorites are the Hungarian Sa-85m - especially the Kassnar pre-bans. Those are damned nice, but very pricey these days.

 

[promiseofwar]

Let's say you wanted to consider an Arsenal what is the difference besides the stock between the SAM7R and the SAM7SF? Thanks for the input on the other brands of AK, I will investigate them.