Waffen Works AK-74: A $600 gamble?

[Videsne]

I’ve been looking at getting an AK-74, and the Waffen Works variant is one that caught my eye due to the price. At $599 for a “B grade” stock, it’s a hard deal to pass up given some of the reviews of the gun. However, after lots of research, it seems like since they’ve switched to their own brand of receiver sometime this year, the quality of these has gone down significantly.

Has anyone had any experience with a RECENT Waffen Works 74? I’ve heard quite a few bad reviews of them, but are some of them decent, reliable rifles?

For the price, I might take a gamble and take my chances if some of them are turning out decent. And it seems like their customer service is pretty responsive, so maybe if I did get a lemon, they would make it right? (However, 100% AK reliability is a key concern of mine)

Does anyone have any experience with any of this? I’ve also been looking at the Atlantic Arms specific James Rivers AK-74, but it’s $200 more… And I’ve found very little in terms of reviews of it (and have heard bad things about James River builds in general).

What do you guys think?

 

[Jackal]

Where are the bad reviews? I've only ever heard good about them, which has been my personal experience. I have one of the B stocked rifles from Classic. Its an absolute beauty. Wood looked new, but it was all replaced anyway. Fit is on par with Arsenal and the finish is better (no sharp edges, durable steel finish, etc). Simply the slickest AK Ive ever laid hands on. Top notch build quality, accurate and affordable, get one. Barrel isnt hammer forged, but who cares, you will never notice a difference and the target will never know either.

 

[Videsne]

I've been reading that some of them have out of spec recievers which jam like crazy. Glad to hear yours is good to go. Makes me think that just some are bad eggs. When did you buy it? I've been looking at that same deal on Classic.

 

[Jackal]

I've had mine for roughly 4 months. Only have about 350rds through it so far, surplus and golden tiger. Its been 100%. I would assume a few bad reviews vs a boat load of good press is the way of most companies. Heck, even my recent brand new BCM AR has a few little uglies. The WW AK-74 makes my Romanian AK look like total garbage (but its been 100% as well).

 

[Fremmer]

I hear that classic is pretty good to work with if something turns out bad, and they sure look a lot nicer than some of the garbage that's on the market at that price right now.