AMD 65 or CA Saiga?

[dsmith8504]

I've owned a Romanian AK for a decade now, but ever since I bought it I've always eyeballed AMD 65s and Saigas long before I ever saw a converted one. Classic Arms has had converted Saigas for a while now. Through the grapevine I've been told these have been converted by a local gunsmith. Quality issues ever been addressed with their Saigas? Also I'd be just as happy with the AMD 65. I'm not worried about the wire stock or the forward handgrip. I'm in the mood for a new AK and can't put forth the money for an Arsenal. Which one would you choose? Oh yeah I'm talking about an FEG chrome lined barrel one, not CAI.

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

I've been eying those classicarms Ak's too. I don't have any personal experience, but I have not heard of anyone screwing up a Saiga conversion too badly. I would assume that anyone who has done a couple would produce a decent one.

 

[Cecil Sharps]

i'd get the amd over a conversion. They are fun shooters

 

[AethelstanAegen]

I really like my TGI built AMD-65. It's a lot of fun to shoot and I think "problems" with the wire stock are over exaggerated (I have no problem quickly acquiring a sight picture..it just takes a little bit of practice).

 

[dsmith8504]

nice aks. that's gotta be awkward with the sling like that. have you ever seen an echo 93 sling mount?

http://www.echo93.com/#!purchase

I also have to agree about over-exaggeration with wire stocks. i think a lot of it stems from people reading forums too much and feeling like experts, but who am i to judge. it does clog up info with dreck though. i'm more concerned about how everything fits. i heard they had some minor problems with the flash supressor popping off the welds which doesn't concern me greatly, but is it rattly in general? how is it with a steel mag?

 

[dsmith8504]

well classic arms just raised the price of their converted saigas again and pulled their surplus of factory saigas so that confirms my purchasing decision. $480 now. not horrible, but i don't think the better value lays with the saiga anymore.

 

[AethelstanAegen]

i heard they had some minor problems with the flash supressor popping off the welds

I've heard this as well, but I haven't had any problems with mine and I think you'd have to try pretty hard to pop off the muzzle brake on mine. Another note, I don't think flash suppressor accurately describes the brake on these...more like flash enhancer...you get some awesome fireballs given the short barrel...haha.

but is it rattly in general? how is it with a steel mag?

I wouldn't call them ratty at all. The finish seems about on par with an arsenal/saiga finish (ie that black paint like finish, which frankly I like tha parkerized on my Interarms more). All the parts, less the trigger assembly are matching numbers and so the fit of everything is very good (I certainly have no complaints there). Metal mags work without any trouble (I don't think I have a picture on hand, but most of my mags are metal and all work great). I've heard people say it's hard to get a 30rd mag in the foregrip but I certainly haven't had any problems with it (I honestly only have troubles with the 20rd Tapco mag it came with). I like the bakelite mags since they're simply lighter, I like bakelite, and they're easier to change the floorplate on to ensure 922r compliance... which is in my mind the one draw back to the AMD-65 (2 mag parts have to be US made for compliance, though that's not a huge issue and it's up for debate if the end owner needs to worry about it, but I like to cover my bases).

that's gotta be awkward with the sling like that. have you ever seen an echo 93 sling mount?

It's not as awkward as it looks, but that said, I wish it did have a rear sling mount, so I appreciate the link to the echo 93 mount...I'm going to look into getting one, the only potential problem I can think of is the stock release botton is on the bottom of the receiver (I'll send them a messege to ask about what would work).

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.