AK Brands to Buy and to Avoid

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Dr. Sandman

Dr. Sandman

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I know this topic has been on THR before, but I have never seen it put quite like this and the gun world is constantly changing.

I am in the market for an AK-47. It must be brand new and current production. 7.62x39. I want a gun that can be easily obtained at a gun shop or show. Name the top 2 brands that you would buy in my position. Also, name 2 brands that you would avoid. Please defend you answers. Thanks very much in advance.
 
From an advanced collector of the things:

In factory made rifles available today?


Buy any.

Avoid none.


They are all *just* AK's. Hard to find any that are truly much better or worse than any others. Pick one. Buy it. Shoot it. Enjoy it.


Willie
 
What do you plan to do with the gun, and what are your expectations?

Personally, I buy an AK as a throw away gun so I go cheap. I have a WASR that I shoot more than any other gun I own, I have had the barrel glowing, I have never cleaned it, it have never oiled it, I have never done anything other than neglect it and it has yet to jam or give any problem other than 1 slam fire and 1 light strike. I paid less than $300 for it new back in the day, it is just a fun gun that I care nothing about and use it simply to waste ammo and let other people shoot.

Recently I decided I wanted a nice tricked out AK, would I even confided a WASR for that?..... Never
I'll either go Bulgarian or Krebs Custom, and I'll clean it, oil it, ect.
So like I said it depends on what you want to do with it, and what you expect out it. Like many things AK's seem to be "you get what you pay for" items, assuming your not buying an assembled kit gun....then it's anybody's guess.

From my limited experience I'd rank them
1: Bulgarian
2: Russian
3: Chinese
4: Polish / Hungarian
5: Egyptian
6: Romainian
 
I would say if it's a century parts build, don't buy it without checking it over first or even test fire it if you can. Ordering them is risky, cause you won't know if you've got a lemon or not until you've already paid for it.
 
Normally id agree with your century warning....but lately I've had much better luck with their builds. I think they either had a good streak or finally figured it out. The yugos and wasrs have been much better. That said. ...just cause I got lucky lately doesn't mean someone else will. Plus never under estimate getting older stock sitting around...even online.

So i guess I'm back to agreeing with your point about century.
 
Heed Carolina's advice. I bought a Century rifle sight unseen this summer and got burned.

To me, an AK is an AK. They aren't the kind of gun I'd throw money at. I don't doubt that the high-end ones are nice, but If I am going to be blowing a thousand bucks for one gun, it won't be an AK. Get a cheap WASR, and make sure it either works or has a valid warranty. Don't buy it it you can't confirm one of those things. Then just get a bunch of Wolf to feed it, and have fun.
 
Last edited:
Dr. Sandman said:
I know this topic has been on THR before, but I have never seen it put quite like this and the gun world is constantly changing.

I am in the market for an AK-47. It must be brand new and current production. 7.62x39. I want a gun that can be easily obtained at a gun shop or show. Name the top 2 brands that you would buy in my position. Also, name 2 brands that you would avoid. Please defend you answers. Thanks very much in advance.
Click to expand...
An Arsenal is a TOP one.
 
I'm a fan of Arsenal rifles. I recently purchased a SLR 107 FR (a Bulgarian AK) which I really like. I was a bit apprehensive about paying that kind of cash for an AK, but it is an excellent rifle. It feels more refined than other AKs I've owned and used. I also thought it was nice that all of the numbers match.

If money was no object, I would probably look into a Rifle Dynamics AK or maybe a Krebs, but those can be pretty expensive.

As far as AKs to avoid, I would not buy anything made by century. Recently I was in a local shop and every single one of the century AKs had canted gas blocks or canted front sights. Now they may have just had a bad batch of rifles, but you should be careful about the Century AKs. If you're on a budget it can be a option, but you really need to see the rifle in person to inspect it before you put money down on the gun.
 
Arsenals, VEPRs, Saigas, and imports from Norinco and Zastava are g2g.

Only buy Century from Atlantic Firearms.

Never buy I.O.

WaffenWerks are now good to go since DDI took over.
 
i have the wasr and am very happy with it. the tapco g2 trigger is a bonus, doesn't slap like some of the sks/ak i have shot. finish is rough if you can live with it.
 
The 'brand' I would buy would be the cheapest I could find. For me the WASR is the the way to look. paps are next and the F&F is very nice.
I would avoid any AK that breaks 6 bills. That includes quite a few AKs.

For comparison, I feel much the same about ARs.

You can spend as much or little on one as you see fit but, most people will never notice the difference. Frankly, you'll never wear it out in your lifetime.
 
The best quality AK I ever saw was an older Maadi. That was many years ago though and I'm not sure about their quality now. Still the one I saw was rock solid. I'd avoid the early Romanian models (pre-WASR). I had one that was not real good.
 
When I first became intrigued by AK's, I had probably 10 of them rather quickly. After handling, shooting, cleaning, and getting to know them all, I ended up with nothing but MAK-90's. One I wish I still had is a SAR-1. Let a friend talk me out of it.

I agree that there's a pecking order of quality in AK's, but just the worst one I ever owned was still quite good. And the Century Arms builds were among the sloppiest, so I never bought one of those.
 
Century Arms imports quality AK's. They get a bad rep because of their earlier days. I think Wasr's are junk and would stay away. If you do buy one, make sure it doesn't have canted sights or mag wobble.

I have a saiga and love it. I like saigas (izhmash converted), Arsenal, Vepr. Milled recievers are usually more accurate but often over stated in their superiority to stamped. If I was rich I would own one of every orgin cause I love me some AK's!
 
Current WASR's are fine. The older ones had a few issues but I have heard of no problems regarding fit, finish, reliability with the newer ones.

The new Century kit builds are fine also. There may be a problem child get through the QA now and again (I haven't seen any), but I have personally inspected a few and all those I looked at were fine. I bought one of the M70AB2T underfolders that are built using a M70AB2 kit and a new receiver and barrel. Mine works fine and for $550, I am happy with it.

Anything made by Zastava is good to go.

Arsenals are great rifles but are 2X the price of Zastavas and don't do anything any better than the less expensive AK47's except cost more money.

Romanian AES-10B's are one of the coolest AK variants out there. I just love mine.
 
For the money NOTHING beats the current batch of Zastava N-Paps. I picked one up for a 4th of July sale for $430 shipped. Even now they are still sub-$500 and that's with the wood furniture. Get one, you won't be disappointed.
 
highpower said:
Current WASR's are fine. The older ones had a few issues but I have heard of no problems regarding fit, finish, reliability with the newer ones.

The new Century kit builds are fine also. There may be a problem child get through the QA now and again (I haven't seen any), but I have personally inspected a few and all those I looked at were fine. I bought one of the M70AB2T underfolders that are built using a M70AB2 kit and a new receiver and barrel. Mine works fine and for $550, I am happy with it.

Anything made by Zastava is good to go.

Arsenals are great rifles but are 2X the price of Zastavas and don't do anything any better than the less expensive AK47's except cost more money.

Romanian AES-10B's are one of the coolest AK variants out there. I just love mine.
Click to expand...
yep, what he^ said. I'm fully aware that early WASR's had some serious issues, but Century finally pulled their heads out of their wazzoos and started assembling a decent product, years ago, in fact.
Most of the bad stuff you hear about WASR's is just repeated drivel some guy read on the internet or heard from some guy.
I've had 3 WASR's, over several years, and they've all been,solid,tight,straight and reliable, and the newer ones are quite nice, coming in with solid hardwood ( versus tha old laminated stuff) that refinished VERY nicely. They also currently seem to be including a nice OD green nylon sling, bayonet, full cleaning kit including rod, and often at or even under $499 (sometimes w/free shipping).
As stated above, those NPAPs are a great deal on a nice AK, but I prefer a chromed bore.
I've owned numerous AK's, up to and including a couple uber-premium Polytechs, and while they were obviously very well made, in my opinion, they just ain't worth the money. The fact is, if you have an AK that shoots striaght and reliably.....then you got an AK.
I love me some AK's, but spending $1000+ on one is just plain ridiculous.
 
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