AK 74 (worth getting?)

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Rule3

Rule3

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Got the urge for a AK 74 (seven four) Have a a AK 47.

This may pass over night:D

Seems the prices are at or above some AR 15's!

Is it worth spending the money on a higher priced one (around $1,000) vs the $500 to $600 versions.??

To me the main difference is a chrome lined barrel.

The receivers are mostly all stamped anyway and Bulgarian or Russian and the rest of the parts are installed here and mostly Tapco or similar.

So is, say a Siaga, Aresnal worth the money over a Bulgarian, or CIA??

I mean the tolerances are not tight on any of them;) So what does the extra money get you.??

Would be just range plinking, blasting and something I will not reload! I am not dealing with reloading another caliber.:)

So any AK 74 fans out there, is it even worth getting of just stay with my 7.62 x39 rifles of other designs?

Thanks
 
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My understanding was the biggest advantage was the surplus ammo for the 74 was inexpensive thus allowing you to'practice more often with it. I know folks who have them and are quite happy with them.
 
The 5.45 surplus supply is drying up. 7-8 years ago it made sense to own one when ammo was plentiful and cheap. Unfortunately the Russian/Bulgarian etc. will go away before you know it. I wouldnt buy one at this point.
 
I wouldn't because the ammo is never going to be as common as .223/5.56. 7.62x39 is different because there are so many AK's and SKS' out there that it will never be out of demand and there will always be a huge supply of it.
 
there was this little thing the ATF did last year called a 7N6 ban that all the AR fanboys and fudds couldnt care less about, this is what gave the ATF courage to try to ban M855 ammo.. anyway, that 7N6 ammo is what made AK-74s so cheap to shoot as that ammo you could get an absolute ton of ammo for dirt cheap.. but thats changing as no one seems to care enough to fight back against something quite frankly the ATF abused its authority to do in the first place.. so you can thank the (if it doesnt effect MY rifle) mentality for that one

AK-74s though, if you build them yourself (you can buy a parts kit and all the tools you need to make your own for less than it would cost you to buy a completed one) if you do this, 5.56/.223 easily fits the AK-74s bolt face and with a set of bulgarian 5.56 mags you can convert them to 5.56/.223 and 300 blackout
 
The 74s are better shooters then the 47s IMHO. You can still buy and stock up on surplus ammo and there is plenty of wolf available. I'm betting you will see someone step up and fill the gap.
 
I can still buy a bunch of the surplus ammo (corrosive) but as mentioned that will be gone soon.

It is a fun gun to shoot but I suppose serves no real "purpose" for me.

My main question though is there really much, if any difference in $500 VS $1,000 versions??
 
if wolf can sell a fringe cartridge like 6.5 grendel at $0.37/rd that really only have a small number of AR-15s chambered for it, then you can bet theyll continue to sell 5.45x39 steel case ammo at fairly low prices.. which is a much more widely used cartridge
 
As much as I love 5.45mm and the AK-74, if I were buying an AK today it would be a 7.62x39mm version.

Just FAR more ammo availability. Several American ammo companies now load 7.62x39, and there are more foreign sources than just Russian and the Ukraine. I don't see affordable 7.62x39 going anytime soon. But cheap 5.45x39 is very dependent on importation, and with all the craziness in eastern Europe right now who knows? Heck, 7.62x54mmR Mosin Nagant ammo is no longer being imported. That used to be a VERY cheap round, but it to has always been super dependent on importation since it's only coming in from one or two countries.
 
I know the ballistics, I do not intend to shoot anyone with it, my question was the cost vs "quality" of brands. To me all the internals are probably the same but I do not know. The receiver is the main thing. Most now are stamped, used to be some milled ones. The barrel either chrome or not?
 
depends on who makes the barrels, most chrome lined, some not, some melonite/nitrided

im planning another AK-74 build in the near future, but in .300 blackout.. i like 7.62x39, but the .300 blackout maxed out with a quality powder can achieve the same ballistics but use much more commonly available reloading components.. may cost more than steel case x39 from wolf, but you will have a much higher quality end product at a much lower cost than the equivalent quality x39 ammo

anyway, something else most people wont mention is that you can actually make 5.45x39 ammo yourself for REALLY cheap.. and i mean 5.56/.223 cheap because you can actually take .223/5.56 brass and reform it to 5.45x39, run your .224" bullets through a .221" sizer and load

but as to whether the barrels chrome lined or not, depends on who's making them, most ive seen were
 
5.45 used to be the cheapest centerfire out there. During the panic, you could have traded it round for round for .22 lr. Also, some of the more paranoid like it because it does better against armor.

It really made a lot of sense when it was hilariously cheap. It was so cheap they had to ban 7N6 from import. Now that it's about the same price as the other calibers, it's a more difficult decision. It tends to be a bit more accurate, flatter shooting, and recoil a bit less than 7.62x39. However, availability is poor, it's less suitable for hunting, and milsurp magazines are expensive (but Tapcos are cheap). It depends on your priorities.

A Saiga, Vepr, or Arsenal will have been built at an actual AK factory with matching numbers, a chromed bore, and with a known level of quality. Almost everything else was reassembled from chopped up surplus parts kits with varying levels of care and usually the right caliber barrel. Kit build quality ranges from custom grade to severely defective.

Back end converted Saigas can also be found for about the same price as a Century kit build.

Honestly, you missed the boat. Unless you have an overwhelmingly compelling vision of a 5.45 DMR, you should pass.
 
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AK-74 & Huldra upper for M-4

I got both as the ammo was SUPER CHEAP, so a friend and I both got the ammo PRIOR to getting the guns.

Now its twice the price [ or more ] so I will shoot up my supply [ in 2 lifetimes ] and then sell the guns.

LOVE the round and its accurate enough for anything I use it for [ woodchucks & yotes ].

Was tempted to try it on hogs, chance has not come up yet.
 
The three that are worth buying IMO are the arsenal models (sgl, slr), the vepr, and the saiga.
 
Still lots of ammo out there, I'd like to see it show up in brass cases boxer primed but!!! They are fun to shoot

2013-03-30_18-47-28_808_zpsb1d1e92f.jpg
 
I have a Saiga that I like in 7.62, I am interested in the more effective 5.45 round but at the current cost it makes a lot more sense to get an AR. Once you get beyond 4-500 the AK loses it's appeal to me.
 
It started off as an unfired all numbers matching Bulgarian kit. It was built by good friend on a Nodak NDS-2 fully heat treated receiver. The barrel is a US made non-chromed lined from Curtis at AKBuilder. I have shot <200rds through it since the build.
Not a adjustable gas tube.
Rifle has a ST type bullet button as required by CA law.
 
d2wing said:
I have a Saiga that I like in 7.62, I am interested in the more effective 5.45 round but at the current cost it makes a lot more sense to get an AR. Once you get beyond 4-500 the AK loses it's appeal to me.
Click to expand...

Aside from the cartridge itself this is the how I look at AKs. I would deduct $ for a 5.45x39 version.
 
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