What do you hate about your rifle?

[Oleg Volk]

I am looking for complaints about several rifle designs. If you have any one of these, please post which features or production aspects make you dislike the weapon, perhaps to the point of getting rid of it or sticking it in the back of the safe.

Vepr or Vepr K .308
Armalite 180B
Saiga .223 or 5.45

I looked THR and TFL archives, would like to have all down sides covered in one place. It is very likely that the rifle would be scoped, so experience in that area would be helpful.

 

[cslinger]

I have a VEPR II in 7.62x39 as you know and it is extremely similar to the VEPR II in .308.

I love AKs any of them really but personally I think the mag release is a design flaw. I don't care for rocking mags in and out. I prefer AR, type magazine releases.

From my experience with the .308 VEPR II the mags are pricy but well made and you can only get 10 round mags unless you want to have a conversion done.

Other than the negative reports about the owner of Robinson Armament I have really nothing but praise for all the products I have handled. Which include the VEPR II and VEPR 1.

Chris.

 

[dude]

pistol grips (yuck!)

 

[BusMaster007]

dude...!

From the Robinson Arms site:
http://www.robarm.com/

pistol grip -

no pistol grip (Kalifornistan version) - go to the site to see how it works...

 

[Kevlarman]

Cosmoline!

 

[dude]

..............those no-pistol grip abortions are funny!!


sad, but funny

I'll stick to my Garand, Carbine and my favorite SKS thank you

 

[BerettaNut92]

The flaky paint on my $1350 rifle.

 

[gun-fucious]

the .308 veprs need a very strong scope mount
http://www.valdada.com/vn/ior/04k

the one that they ship with mounts to the left of the bore and
i could not get it to hit a target at 50 yards
http://www.americansforguncontrol.com/vepr/vepr.html

i could also not mount an american scope between the rings
and have any fore aft ajustment. They were too close together

i bought another mount (NIMP 11) and played with shimming it
eventualy i got that one on target by using a 16 inch
adjustable wrench to twist it:
http://www.americansforguncontrol.com/vepr/

both of these mounts are too far back,
so the rear of the scope is really close to yer brow
with .308 its more of an issue
i think most of the mounts are really for the 7.39 AK ammo

i modified my NIMP 11 to hold a chunk of weaver rail
and got the scope's rear even with the end of the receiver
i still need to range test it.


vepr spare parts like bolts are not readily available
Red Star does make a vepr trigger

http://boards.guns.ru/ultimate/Forum16/HTML/000002.html
http://boards.guns.ru/cgi-bin/FF?action=topics&forum=Vepr&number=16&DaysPrune=1000&SUBMIT=Go
http://www.redstararms.com/uploads/BRC/vepreport.pdf
http://www.rbs.ru/vttv/99/Firms/Molot/e-vepr.htm
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/review/VEPR.htm
http://www.ultimak.com/pic5.htm

 

[m14nut]

no












select












fire!!!!!


















:banghead:

 

[Correia]

I love my Vepr K. It rides near the front of the safe.

But it is not perfect. The stock is weird. The angle of the butt is too sharp. I prefer a flatter angle. The pistol grip needs checkering, I wrapped mine in powerflex bandage. The handguard is to heavy for what it is. (works for me, but some people find it to muzzle heavy).

Sights suck, but that is normal for an AK. I'm still planning on making myself some Galil style peeps when I have the chance.

I don't mind the safety, as I can operate it with my trigger finger. Also there are after market mag catches which allow you to release the mag with your trigger finger.

I have not tried scoping it.

 

[Ian]

My only real complaint with my Vepr 1 .308 is the rear sight - I'd really rather have something more like a Garand or at least No4 Enfield rear sight. It should be mounted back on the receiver, be an aperture, and be adjustable. Of course, the loose receiver cover on AKs makes this pointless.

I'd also like some 20-rounds mags, but that's not a problem with the rifle design.

 

[goon]

I liked the way that my VEPR K 223 shot, but it had terrible balance, especially when you are used to deer rifles.
The AK design also destroys the brass when it ejects, so reloading is out. Not a big deal if you didn't plan on reloading anyway though.
If I had to choose a 223 semi-auto, I would most likely go with an AK-103 from AK USA, an el-cheapo SAR-3 (word is that they are quite a bit more accurate than the other SAR's), or an AR-15.
The AR-180 does have potential, but I am waiting a little longer to see if any big flaws surface before I would consider one of those.

BTW- the Galil has a reciever sight, so it can be done.