AK Underfolder question

[t-guns1]

Hello all. I tried to search about the Yugo Underfolding AK-47s imported by century arms and came up short.

I know I want an AK (cheap to shoot and I have 7 30rd mags + a 100 rounder I picked up from a guy). I had planned on the wood-stocked Romanian WASR for $320ish then I came across the Yugo underfolder for $100 more. I know Yugos are thought to be better from researching SKSes so I figured the same would hold true for the AK (plus the underfolder just looks different than your typical AK). The only real thing I found was a post by some more experienced members saying they didn't want to break the heart of a noobie who bought the Yugo Underfolder.

I was just hoping for some more info on the 2 before I made my purchase (and maybe a warning about underfolders if needed).

Hopefully this hasn't been talked about a hundred times and my searching skills suck!!

Thanks

 

[Cannonball888]

If the Yugo underfolder is anything like the Yugo car, don't get it.
I have a Polish underfolder by Lancaster and it's great. Lifetime warranty, chrome lined barrel, solid trigger pin retainer, polished bolt carrier, recoil buffer, single hook trigger group for light pull.

 

[Scott7891]

I see nothing wrong with them. The Yugo's are the best made AK's on the market. They have the thickest receivers which reduce friction, vibration, and are overall better quality. Plus they have gas cut-offs so if you manage to somehow get a grenade through all the bureaucratic red tape you can launch them. They also have night sights as well plus the original greande sights. The extra $100 is worth it compared to the generic WASR (the Frankenstein AK). It doesn't have the chrome bore but that only reduces accuracy so you will have a more accurate one. I also think they look nice but then again if I get one I would get the one with the fixed stock (comes stock with rubber butt-pad to reduce recoil). Cannonball88 what is wrong with the carbine?? I have one and I have had not a single problem with it and it shoots great.

 

[Correia]

If the Yugo underfolder is anything like the Yugo car, don't get it.

Big negative heck no on that comparison. The car and the rifle have nothing in common quality wise. The Century Yugo AKs are actually pretty nice. And original imported Zastava AKs are excellent, some of the best on the market.

 

[Frog48]

For what its worth, Military Gun Supply has Polish underfolders for $599. I saw them when I picked up my WASR, and they looked nice.

 

[Wise Lite Arms]

Polish Underfolders at MGS..

Thanks for the compliment!!
Wise Lite Arms manufactured (under contract) those Polish U/F AK's for Military Gun Supply. We also manufacture their AK pistols, PPS-43, PPSh-41, KP-44 and the DP-28.

 

[Jack A. Sol]

wise light. do you have a website and or sell to others than MGS?

 

[1 old 0311]

The Yugo is the best deal out there. They will do nothing but go up in price.

 

[uzimon]

considered a side folder?

my bulgarian, MILLED, sa93, with evil features added by global trades/arsenal, and ace folder (added by me)
http://www.mocospace.com/html/album/photoalbum-view.jsp?postid=301978

 

[JWarren]

Some people don't like underfolders. The downside to them as I see it is that they do have a tendency to develop a bit of "wobble" up and down. It won't affect the function of the rifle nor will it affect the accuracy of your shooting if you get used to binding it up.

According to some, you can't get a decent cheek-weld on the underfolders. Some find them uncomfortable to shoot.

I, personally, don't have any problems shooting an underfolder. I've never had any problems getting a decent weld to the stock in firing. While it IS less comfortable to shoot than a full stock AK, I don't find it to be UN-comfortable.


Mine is a Polish AK underfolder ordered directly from Vector Arms. It has a chrome barrel from before they are said to quit putting chrome lined barrels in them.



Oh... I almost forgot... One other drawback to underfolders is that they don't have a side scope mount attachment point. The underfolder mechanism prevents it. However, I should point out that there are plenty AKs that don't have this attachment point.



-- John

 

[W.E.G.]

Actually its only been talked about 99 times.

The "Yugo" Kalashnikov-type rifles are assembled by CENTURY.

Most of the parts are from former Yugoslavia. But, the functionality of the weapon is dependant upon the assembly technique. Assembled in the US at CENTURY. In Vermont.

Get the underfolder. Its an AK. The underfolder stock makes it more reviled. That makes it worth more money when the next ban comes around.

None of the US-assembled AK's are particularly accurate in stock configuration. If it functions without jamming (no way to know until you fire it) it will be as accurate as you have any right to expect an unmodified AK to be.

If you want an accurate rifle that rankles the gun-haters, get an AR-15.

 

[MIL-DOT]

definately get the yugo over a WASR. i recently got one from classicarms, and even considering the dinged rail on mine , it's pretty slick, especially compared to some *&%$@ WASR !!!! i got an under folder 'cause i always wanted one, but not till i already had a full-stock lancaster romy G and a siaga (converted, and my favorite !! ) also, as stated above, i expect them to get restricted further, enhancing value,so this is my "liquidator", 'cause i ain't gettin' rid of my lancaster or my saiga !!!!

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

From a Centrury-built Yugo underfolder owner:

The rifles are built on DC Industries receivers, which are actually quite good. That said:

The problem is the brand new barrels installed by Century due to the "new" ATF interpretation of 922(r) prohibiting the importation of barrels. The drunken monkeys at Century can't seem the get them installed right.

CLOSELY, and I mean CLOSELY inspect the rifle before you buy. I have had several problems due to the horrible workmanship at Century, and I am now on my THIRD rifle.

The first one had the gas port over-drilled all the way THROUGH the other side of the barrel (they drilled through BOTH sides) and gas leaked out from between the gas block and barrel when it was fired.

The replacement rifle (shipped direct from Century) had the front sight canted so far to one side there was no way to get POA on the target. Yes, the barrel was drilled and pinned this way! Evidence of absolutely NO quality control.

The third rifle (also direct from Century) seems to be "OK," but the entire barrel is rotated slightly off center. It puts the lead on target out to 50 yards (biggest range I have access to right now). I figured that was the best I was going to get.

Also, on all that I have seen, the night sights have been finished over, so don't expect them. The blade is there, but no phosphor.

 

[HorseSoldier]

I've got one of the Century underfolder Yugos, which has generally been pretty good, but with one major issue. On mine, one of the trigger hooks was preventing the trigger from resetting when it cycled. Took a few seconds to fix once diagnosed and good to go . . . except last time I had it at the range, it started doing the same thing again, with the same cause. Not sure how to approach a permanent fix on the issue. Which prompts me to say buy with some care and give a Century Yugo (or any other Century built weapon) a thorough going over before putting down $$$.

The main potential issue with a Yugo AK (depending on what you want an AK to do) is that there is minimal parts commonality between the M70s and other AKs. There are some aftermarket parts, scope mounts, etc., out there for the Yugos, but be aware that there are fewer options and such. (May not be an issue if you just want a bone-stock AK.)

As for assorted other pluses/minuses:

Non-chromed barrels won't make much difference in AK accuracy (or, put another way, my chrome barreled Krebs Tantal shoots much tighter groups than my Yugo underfolder by a wide margin). I don't think they're a deal breaker, but without chrome shooters should be quick cleaning with some of the cheaper AK ammo out there.

Night sights -- Like Mojo-jo-jo said, mine has the flip up panels, but zero glow in the dark paint or whatever they used. I suppose one could recondition them, but if I were setting up an AK (or other long gun) for night shooting, I'd just go with a red dot sight anyway.

Receiver -- Is heavier construction, making it more durable. Also makes the weapon overall somewhat heavier, but not too bad in that respect. It's lighter than a milled receiver AK or Galil, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Joe Demko]

I have one of the Century underfolders. No complaints. The night sights don't work. The thing is, I'm not enough of an AK scholar to tell you how they worked when they were new. It looks like they might just have once been painted with dabs of radium paint, like they did long ago in the US with watches. They don't look like they ever held little vials of tritium 'n stuff like modern night sights use. I don't know for sure, though.
In any case, mine works well and the non-functioning night sights and the grenade launching sight were just curiosities to me.

 

[Cannonball888]

I've even heard from AK vendors at the gunshows that Century has poor workmanship.

 

[dstorm1911]

Why get a Yugo? cause they are bout 10 times better than any scrap mix WASR and......... ya can thread this on

http://www.facsupplystore.com/proddetail.asp?prod=PAAK1012

Which will allow ya to use this

http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews2006/fore/index.asp

Which ya cannot do with ANY standard AK unless ya wanna trash the thinner 1 mm reciever and shear your front trunion rivets......

OH And Jwarren, here is your Underfolder scope mount....

http://www.p-a-distributing.com/parts.html

Go to the bottom of the page, works great with any underfolder only takes a half hour to install or less (I rivet em on in bout 10 minutes but thats with an end mill and correct riveting equipment for building AKs someone not equiped it'll take half an hour with a drill press etc..) ya can also screw mount it if ya wish, its a factory Serbian part. places the scope rail above the left sidefolder rail use with a Low pro mount like this one

http://www.kalinkaoptics.com/detail.aspx?ID=536


Or ya can just get a regular 1mm thick recievered AK and have fun shooting it but with all the dummy grenade options ya can make on your own as well as golf ball launchers etc....... WHY would ya limit yourself so?


BTW, Here are a few more links ya might find intresting

Zastava home page

http://www.zastava-arms.co.yu/english/kontakt.htm

And no ya can't import anything from em, Can only drool

Yugo Forward gas tube/ acc rail set by Ultimak

http://ultimak.com/m9.htm

here is the man to see bout custom AK wood, he blows away Iron wood designs

http://gripsnstocks.com/17.html

here is an AKFILES thread with some Yugo wood on an ORIGINAL Yugo Amigo he did recently

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27274

Still not sure? let me know can give ya some more reasons why Yugo over ANYTHING else for the $$ ya aren't going to get better, ya might spend a few bucks more and get prettier but ya won't get better functionality


Added a couple pics, one is the side rail for scope mounting the other is a M85/M90 with grenade ready courtesy of Zastava themselves

 

[Monkeybear]

I have a Yugo Underfolder. To me they seemed the best AK for the money. I would personally steer anyone interested in the direction of the standard stock ones. The underfolders are cool and all but in the end all we are going to do with them is go shooting and standard stocks are much better for that. If you have special needs such as riding an ATV or whatever get the folder, otherwise I recommend the standard.

JGSALES
has them for $429.

Centerfiresystems sells the bayonets for $35 and also carries lots of spare Yugo parts.

As for the nightsights, well I bought a set of tritium tubes off of Arfcom for $26 shipped for 5. A paperclip some lexan and some elbow grease got me a brightly lit green front sight and two brightly lit blue rear sights for under $30. Its pretty nice. There was a guy selling them for about $6 a piece a while ago, not sure if he is still around. I am sure you can find them somewhere though.

A M60 barrel bag is a perfect fit for the M70. It has two pockets, one for the cleaning kit/broken shell extractor/misc tools and another just the right size for the bayonet.