Century AK-74 (NDS-2) quick review

[Flyboy73]

I picked up a Century Arms NDS-2 a few months ago and finally had a chance to try it out. I ended up changing the furniture to a KVAR set. I am pretty happy with the fit and finish of the gun. I put 20 rounds through it with no malfunctions. I will put some mpre rounds through it in a few days. Was only picking off cans at 20 yards but seemed to be pretty on, maybe a little low.

Brion

 

[wideym]

I also picked up a Century AK-74 a couple of months ago, and like you I also changed out the stock set to a KVAR stock set. The only real problem I had with the orginal stock set was the forearm which was pretty crappy. I really like the feel and finish of the KVAR stock set though, plus the buttstock cleaning kit trap is nice.

 

[Flyboy73]

I didn't care for the look or the feel of the stock handguards. Wonder why they didn't put a beter set on in the first place.

Brion

 

[Chris95]

Next time you try it out shoot at a longer distance, 50-75 yards and look for keyholing on your target (oval holes instead of circular) I would be willing to bet you've got a green mountain garbage barrel. If there is keyholing look at the sportsman's guide they have original bulgarian military barrels.

 

[nathan]

Those Green Mtn barrels are pretty much whats on those Century made AKs. But its better to have an original one.

 

[wally]

Wonder why they didn't put a beter set on in the first place

They are trying to hit a (low) price point.

look for keyholing on your target (oval holes instead of circular)

Unless your target is cardboard or stronger you'll almost always find this if you look when shooting paper targets.

 

[happygeek]

(Quoting myself from the other THR)

Finally got the nifty tool in for zeroing the AK and got it out to the range yesterday. It would seem that all the complaints on teh interwebs about canted front sight posts weren't BS.







If you click on the pics and blow them up you'll notice how I had to adjust the front sight almost as far to the left as it'd go to zero the rifle. It looks weird as hell when you're aiming down the sights as shown in the middle pic. It's all good though, the rifle is now zeroed, it functions fine, and hey, what do you expect for $370.

The scope mount for it also came in. I went with a $30 mount from Amazon that mounts to the rail on the side of the receiver. I slid it on the rail and tightened it down to see how it was and it feels pretty solid. I'm looking to order a magnified scope and/or a red dot and then I can see how accurate the rifle is. I am not used to open sights on a rifle at all and I think this thing would be a LOT more accurate with a scope. Even with my mediocre shooting though it still had no trouble hitting a man size target at 150 to 200 yards once I got it zeroed.





This time I cleaned it out with the Break Free Bore Cleaner Foam the gun store guy recommended and hot water as soon as I got home. I'll keep an eye on it over the next week and see if that's a good way to go about it.

Got back out to the range with the AK74, this time for some slow aimed fire at known ranges. First thing I did was try it at 200 yards.



10 out of 10, 2 in the X, all inside the 8 ring. I was honestly impressed. I'm not exactly a great shot and this is my first rifle with pistol style sights. I can't wait to get a magnified scope in and see what this thing is capable of.

So far the only issue I have noticed is the front sight post being off, but not so much that it can't be zeroed. I wasted $15 getting a front sight tool from Cheaperthandirt.com when it turned out Centerfiresystems was selling the same thing for $8 It was not zeroed from the factory, barely on the paper actually.

Next step is to get a scope to go on that mount I got and then get a new stock like what the OP did.

Before I got this rifle I read a LOT of bad things about Century online, but also a good number of other people saying that CAI had fixed a lot of their problems in the last few years. I was honestly worried this thing wouldn't even function out of the box, but I took the $370 plunge and it seems to have worked out fine.

Last I checked Centerfiresystems.com is still selling this model, except now it's $400 and comes with 4 mags and a bayonet. They were still offering free shipping.