A bit confused about my Yugo AK

[DukeNukem]

It's Century underfolder marked Zastava Kragujevac Yugoslavia on the left side. On the bottom of the receiver it says Century Int'l Arms Inc., the model #M70AB2T, caliber, and below that D.C. Industries Inc., St. Paul MN(D.C. Industries is the actual manufacturer of the receiver?)

What I'm mainly wondering about is that it doesn't have the bulges on the sides like the other Yugo underfolders I've seen. Is what I have some sort of normal variation? Or something that Century has improvised? Seems pretty normal other than that-- has the dimples, has the grenade lever that folds over the gas tube, has the little button at the rear left side of the gun that you have to use to get the top cover back on, stainless steel bolt, flip up rear sight, wood forend. Trigger says Tapco G2 on it. Grip is plastic. Don't see any markings on the barrel. Everything seems straight and well put together.

To confuse me even more the operator's manual from Century is for "WASR Type Sporting Rifles"--don't know if that's their standard AK manual or if it just got in the wrong box.

The other thing I'm wondering about is that the button that releases the folding stock is really hard to push. Is that going to loosen up with use?

 

[Shear_stress]

I've heard of this variation before, and there isn't much information about it. All I know is that there were few flat trunnion Yugos made. A very neat find.

Don't worry about the WASR manual. Century packages their guns pretty haphazardly.

Edited to add: found this link:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=4&f=51&t=109635&page=3

 

[nalioth]

Some surmise the slabsided Yugo M70s were 'transition rifles' from when they got their machinery to manufacture stamped AKs.

Others surmise that another commie satellite dumped a bunch of standard AK parts on to the Yugo government (aid package or something).

Bottom line is that they're a rarer variant of the stamped M70 (but don't shoot any grenades with it).

 

[DukeNukem]

I was surprised to find anything locally. I'd been planning to buy an AK soon, but didn't expect to be buying one yesterday. Figured I'd have to order one. Stopped into a pawn shop to see if they had any used AKs and the pawn shop turned out to be more of a gun shop. They did have one used AK on display and while I was looking at it the lady who helps run the store mentioned they had some new ones upstairs. Was able to check out a wood-stocked Romanian WASR, the Yugo that I bought, a poly-stocked Bulgarian, and they brought downstairs a longer barreled Saiga that I left in the box and didn't look at. Got the Yugo for $495--still don't know if that was a good price but I figured it was a decent price. Considered buying the Bulgarian--I think it was $569 or $579 and looked like it was pretty well made. I may even go back and take a look at that one again.

 

[Gord]

I just took a look at mine (got it from Centerfire about two weeks ago) out of curiosity, and yup, it's a slabside.

Cool. Learn something new every day...

Got the Yugo for $495--still don't know if that was a good price

Centerfire sells 'em for $500, plus shipping and transfer. I'd say you got a pretty good deal.

 

[DukeNukem]

Considering I know next to nothing about AK's, I think I did alright. I had originally been intending to get a fixed stock AK, but the Yugo just seemed like a more solid gun than the Romanian and the Bulgarian. I asked if they had a fixed stock Yugo but no luck. That the stock on the Yugo underfolder was more comfortable to me than the stock on the Bulgarian pretty much cinched it.

 

[Gord]

The WASRs I've handled felt rattly and cheap, but I guess that's to be expected. I'm much happier with my Yugo and my Saiga - mags lock up rock-solid on both, and I actually had to file my Yugo's mag catch down a bit to get it to lock up on the dozen Hungarian mags I bought from AIM. The Yugo has the 1.6mm receiver, too, so it's a bit heavier, but solid as a rock. I think I'd really have to work to kill the thing.

I wanted a folding stock to use as a truck gun, on ATV rides and to toss in a duffel bag for motel stays. I was a bit worried about the cheek weld, but it's no worse (or different) than the fixed stock on my Saiga; I have to use a "jaw weld" on both to get my head high enough to actually see the sights.

 

[FMJMIKE]