Why does everyone crap on Century Arms?

I have an old post ban, (now post-post ban?) Wasr-10 that was imported by Century, only thing century did was hog out the 10rd mag well to accept standard 30rd mags. and grind off the bayo lug, that work looks like it was done by an angry beaver with a 4" angle grinder but it functions just fine. cost me just over $200 back then and has been a great beater AK. the import markings are annoying also.

I would be very weary of any of their work, they are a low margin operation who operates on quick high volume turn over.

David Hoback said:

You need to understand the phenomena of “Fake” reviewing. In the world of the “interwebs” came people who have NEVER touch the product, yet they will bash it AS THEY HAVE READ! It’s actually a sort of brain disease, where these people actually BELIEVE they are helping others by lying that they have had bad dealing with said manufacturer.

While many of the accounts are accurate (remember Century was HIGE!), I’d bet close to 50% were these Fake Interweb Revewers.

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Even if fifty percent of the reviews ranged from unfair to outright fake (a number which doesn't remotely pass the sniff test) - that still leaves a pretty sizable mountain of folk who got fundamentally crapped on by Century, in numbers an order of magnitude greater than any other manufacturer. It's just that simple, no matter how much folk wanna re-write history from their perch in 2020. And if the intention of this comment is to tell the folk that lived the joy of a CAI-made rifle, as captured here in the pages of THR since 2002, that we are somehow not reliably relating our experiences - well, my response to that would be pretty NOT on The High Road at all.

So let's cut to the chase - the reason that CAI gets crapped on in the gun community is because of the way that they crapped on the people who bought their guns and experienced issues due to shoddy construction / poor parts quality. CAI made themselves quite a reputation for failing to stand behind their product, for failing to address known quality issues, and for being willing to take folk's money and then treat them as suckers. They didn't need to poop on their consumer base (look to KelTec as a small innovative company with sometimes-questionable parts quality, and yet who will stand behind their product and make it right), and yet they chose to do so as a matter of standard business practice. Not only did they make stuff that was potentially gonna be crap (and you didn't know until you bought it whether you got a serviceable one or not), but they then made a habit of telling their customer base that they really didn't care if you didn't like the fact that your 'new to you' CETME or FAL or whatever was fundamentally a paperweight and not a servicable weapon.

For the record - I've owned six (6) CAI-manufactured (not just imported) guns and four of them were either at best poorly made or more commonly represented outright crimes against metal that either required considerable gunsmithing to make safe/reliable (FALs and CETMEs) or that needed to be literally scrapped (the 'CAI remanufactured' M48 boltgun being the poster child for that). I'm not even including my two early WASR-10s in the CAI-manufactured category, because CAI's only real contribution there was to hog out the magwell with a dremel.

So - would I buy a CAI-imported gun? It's probably GTG, even as it's also probably not a jewel in the making. Would I ever again buy something CAI-manufactured? No friggin' way, no matter how much I'm tempted (looking at you, C93).

Look it up and decide for yourself: "RAS 47 1000 rds Down - True Lies!" Youtube (or link) for his "AKOU Channel" videos.

If headspace etc remains within acceptable limits, he will test most rifles to 5,000 rds.
Cheap, softer commercial steel never lasts very long in his tests; he shows us the premature wear when seen on receiver components.

* Imported by Century is totally Different than........... "produced"/"contracted" by Century.
Don't be confused.. And don't confuse the MISR 90 (Century sometimes installed a second barrel in these MISRs-but No 2nd headspace check!) with the very high-quality MAK 90.

All four of my AKs were imported, as was my other 7.62x39 rifle, the Czechpoint VZ-58. I choose paying More money--but not worrying about quality of steel and component design/assembly. This promotes better sleep.

>> ** "mishaco" on Youtube: by far he seems to be the most knowledgeable AK guru ever seen. Very astute gentleman, and also an extremely seasoned FFL.
The stats (alone) he can quote on various types is quite impressive, not only "Compare and contrast, single-spaced, two pages by Monday".

Ignition Override said:

>> ** "mishaco" on Youtube: by far he seems to be the most knowledgeable AK guru ever seen. Very astute gentleman, and also an extremely seasoned FFL.
The stats (alone) he can quote on various types is quite impressive, not only "compare and contrast".

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... and also as a person blind from birth amazing as a firearms expert. Watching him feel his way around a rifle and being able to distinguish one obscure variant of a make and model from another is just awe inspiring.

( and he's a cat person, which always goes good with me. )

wiscoaster: Oh yes-and I intentionally excluded the fact that he is blind. This might have closed many minds before mishaco's amazing knowledge has a chance to "shine".

Cats: we really enjoy our pair of mysterious beasts also.

I have one of there AKs. It has run great. Decent accuracy. Keeps on running. Took a chance and it worked out for me. Love mine. Wouldn't sell it. Unless offered $1200.00 then I would get rid of it.

I have a Century built VZ2008 I purchased years ago back when they were $400 new with 5 VGC surplus mags & bayonet. No issues with build quality or reliability. Then a few years ago purchased a Century built AK63 DS (Hungarian kit built underfolder). Same, built properly, accurate, no issues.
Yes, Century has built some junk. Not sure if it was the builder’s fault or poor quality parts kits. Gotta do your homework. I can make a long list of bad Century builds and if you’re not sure, pass. But Century subs their builds out so there are a few diamonds out there.

Bought new . Hasn’t missed a beat yet . 6-700 rnds. 4 lb. trigger breaks nice and clean . I would buy it again .

My only experience with Century was a good one. A few of their employees brought over about 30 full auto versions of various AKs for us to test shoot prior to our overseas tour. All the rifles were well maintained and quality builds as far as I could tell. To this day whenever I get an urge to look at getting an AK, I look at Century's prices first. I have yet to get one though.

For me, I had a Century C93. Ran good, only had one malfunction in the 150+ rounds I had through it.

I didn't keep it though. Was not keen on 223, and the 40 round magazines that came with it. 20 and 30 round magazines, at that time, ran around $50 apiece.
Very cool rifle. Some pangs of regret come and go, but oh well. Past is the past.

Early issues with just 1,000 rds.
One of their US-made AKM brands depicted here (made-not imported & intact).....and as is normal for him, Rob tested this Century creation to 5,000 rds. while checking bolt lug Premature wear, headspace, trunnion wear etc, and limiting the barrel temperature.

The Century C-93 might have been a very cool rifle to own. Always loved the no-nonsense, Euro-military looks of any HK rifle (and most HK handguns)- not just due to some Foxy German State Police (women) who patrol a Bahnhof or Flughafen with MP5s. Google those photos.

But reading about how many problems (also via owner pm's sent to me), were caused by Century's "bolt grinding" or such -- to create temporary, correct headspace with the rollers?--convinced me beyond any doubt that only guns Imported by Century would allow much more confidence.
I simply didn't want a used gun (unknown prod. date) which could easily need unusual maintenance-and a warranty which began when it departed the factory. Consumer protection laws must have massive loopholes.

One time a few years back, when I was up in Daytona for BiketoberFest, I walked into Florida Gun Exchange in Port Orange, which is aptly situated across Ridgewood Ave. from "The Last Resort", one of the few remaining true biker bars. Location is everything they say... At any rate, I had some time to kill, and was amazed that they were unboxing a shipment of various AKs. I handled a few, chose the AK63D folder, and walked out it after the background check was thru.

Minor issues only. The "flash director" was a little weird fitting, but that's fixed with a few minutes work on sandpaper. The finish on the wood was terrible, but that got easily corrected. Other than that its ok, trustworthy to go bang. Will it survive drops and being run over by a semi? I don't care. Will it self destruct after 8000 rounds? I don't care, the barrel will be shot out by that time anyway. I'm sure it will out live me, and when I'm gone, I just hope it doesn't end up in the hands of some untrained,cloth head covering insurgent, shooting it over the top of his head to clear some sand dune, not unlike a taunting teenage girl on the Jr. High School playground.

I bought it because I wanted something that would shoot alternate ammunition to .223 should things get serious and .223/5.56 get really really hard to get. A couple of those big ham-can ammo packs... and it gets taken out and shot oh... maybe once every two years, just for a function check. No issues at all.

wesmonster:
I'm sincerely glad that most of Century's VZ 2008 rifle have worked out quite well for most of you guys, and a few gals.

After the initial batch (?) their subcontractor(s) seems to have corrected the "bolt tab" issue.

Lambasting the “drunken monkeys” at century arms goes back to literally the dawn of the Internet. It is on based on fact and is an observation old enough to vote now. Saying the bad press is a new phenomenon is outright comical.

Any company that rechambers an MAS 36 to 308 by shortening the chamber end of the barrel and then cutting the back of the forend and retaining hardware off in a chop saw to accommodate the change deserves the ridicule

I can remember opening up one of the very early century AR builds. They for whatever reason converted m16 bolts to AR15 bolts. The tool they used was clearly a bench grinder

the AK platform has proven to be Century’s saving grace. Because apparently even an alcoholic primate can assemble a functional one most of the time.

Nothing wrong with Century. Even poor people deserve to have guns.

dranrab said:

Nothing wrong with Century. Even poor people deserve to have guns.

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That’s what Hi Points are for, at least those work more often than not.

dranrab said:

Nothing wrong with Century.

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Bullfeathers. Are you not interested in reading and learning, or are you just trying poke a stick in the eye of everyone that's been screwed by them?

dranrab said:

Even poor people deserve to have guns.

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brunowbe said:

That’s what Hi Points are for, at least those work more often than not.

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Exactly so. It's not about the amount of money involved - it's about taking customer's money and (for those guns 'manufactured' by CAI and not just imported) shamelessly delivering what is likely to be a steaming pile of dung in exchange.