What is the best AK47 now available?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

ShootAndHunt

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
241
Now being the proud owner of an AR (a Bushmaster XM-15 E2S A3, thanks a lot to you guys' great information, it really made me to make my decision easier and with much more confident), I begin to think about get an AK47 to get my AR accompanied. These two are the most famous battle rifles, and I really want to have them both:D

The problem is: there are now too many brands of AK in the market, and unlike AR, where the quality of every brand is well known, I have no any idea which AK47 is the best ?(by best I mean you think it is a good rifle with quality and worth of the hard earned money you spend on it). To make things worse, I heard a lot of bad things about the AK now in the US market, such as canted sights, quickly worn out parts, and many are made from different and incompatible surplus parts. All these makes me wondering: Are there any good quality AK47 that I could buy?:confused: and where I could find them:p

Please help me on this, I really have no idea after just doing a initial research of current AK47 rifles, too many bad things seen:what:
 
I am in the same boat I think am looking for a veper k to get rid of my AK itch. Or for about 700 you can get a class 3 with an american receiver and then just add drums.

Oh. you left the FAL out of your gun collection.
 
I think the general concensus is the Arsenal Inc SA-M7 and the AKUSA offerings are about the best. The SA-M7 has a milled receiver which will make it heavier though.

The VEPR is on up there, but I hear they're pretty unbalanced and I don't like the bastardized stock/handguard setup...
 
I'm a big fan of Vepr rifles. However they are not traditional AKs. They are built on a heavier receiver (RPK) and don't really look or feel like a regular AK. However they are remarkably good shooters.
 
I own a VEPR K and have experience with an SA-M7 as well... both are fine choices. The VEPR is a little heavier, but "built like a tank" is the understatement of the year when describing it. The SA-M7 is balanced a little more to the rear. (lighter barrel). The VEPR uses the slant cut RPK receiver, so aftermarket furniture options are minimal. A folding stock from RA is supposedly in the works though, for when the ban goes down.

I don't think you can go wrong with either. VEPR if you want an RPK tank, SA-M7 if you want a more traditional AK.
 
Hmm, I didn't expect this question got so few replies:( . I believe many guys in this forum have handful information and valuable experience about the AK47 rifle.:p

By the way, I am not calling out the AR and AK battle in this forum again. I just want to get a good AK to keep my AR acompanied.

Come on, please give me some advice.:D
 
I have had a couple dozen or so AKs. Lost count actually, but I think that is close. Chinese, Egyptian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Israeli (Galil), US assembled. I would rate them as follows (again based only on what I owned):

Best: Krebs KTR or probably one of their other varients. The KTR is pretty much the AK taken to the ultimate configuration. My KTR is my favorite .223 caliber rifle period. Mine is the Vepr derived gun, which leads me to...

Second: Vepr. I don't care if an AK looks like an AK. The Vepr does not. What it does do is shoot far more accurately than any other AK I have owned. I have had three .223 caliber Veprs and all were tack drivers. My 7.62 VeprK is as well. They run 100% (after all this is an AK), and the extra mass makes for tremendous recoil reduction. I don't mind weight--my favorite rifle is the M1A.

Third: Saiga conversion or Bulgarian derived AK. I like Russian AKs as they tend to have the revisions made over the years by Izmasch. I also prefer a stamped receiver for reasons I won't get into here. My Saiga conversions have all been accurate and 100% reliable. Perhaps not as accurate as a Vepr, but close. I know some like milled receivers, so the Bulgies would have that. I found them less accurate than the Vepr or Saiga, but YMMV. The Bulgie finish looked good but wore poorly. The quality of parts was excellent. Personally I think the Bulgies are a bit over rated. Mine did not really shoot any better than...

Romanian: I have had SARs, WUMs, and recently a custom WASR. All were 100% reliable and suprisingly accurate. The finish ranged from crappy to good. Some had trigger slap that was easy to fix. The wood sucked on most. One thing going for them is they were cheap. A few upgrades and they made fine rifles. For the money I think the best cash deal right now is Ohio Rapid Fires WASR conversion at $350. They convert it to double stack properly (drums fit), shorten the barrel if you want, add a 74 or 102 brake, and refinish. If you want .223 and 5.45, Romanian AKs in those calibers have worked fine for me as well.

After that, well I suppose Chinese then Egyptian. I just don't like Chinese AKs that much. Many of the parts are off dimensionally from European AKs. I never had one that was remotely accurate. They had goofy looking furniture. No thanks. Egyptian? Ugh. Looked like they were made in tents. I am talking post-ban guns here in both cases. Of course a Galil is up at the top but good luck finding one for less than a small fortune. I have handled Hungarian and Yugo AKs. Impressive, just never found one at a price I liked.

One final comment is that many of the US build guns are very nice, placing high on my list if done right. Just be careful who you buy from. Arsenal and Global make good stuff, as does ORF, InRange, and some of the other custom builders. I had a 74 from one of the less well known fellows and so many things were wrong with it I don't know where to start. Getting a custom one can set you up with something different, and if you want a folder some builders make those that are easy to restore to functioning once the ban expires.

Hope this helps, and best of luck to you! AKs are fine weapons, and very addictive!

GR
 
I heard some good comments about it, but I happened to see some bad comments about it too, see the link www.ak47world.com/images/rifles.html
I don't know whether it is true. I asked my local gun store, and they never heard of Arsenal
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favor and never read that jackass' crappy webpage again. And for the love of God don't spread that idiots crap info around the net by posting it anywhere.... He's gotten the crap ripped out of him on the various real AK sites.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot, Grayrider!

That is really valuable information and experience, great and detailed! Thank you for sharing it with us.

I really admire persons with a big collection of firearms. I am fairly new to this, but I found I start keeping buying them when I have enough money (or find a good deal), and I buy lots of ammos, optics, accessories, ... etc. Moreover, there is a long and still growing list of what I want to have. Sometimes I just thought, isn't it really something?:D
 
Build your own! :D It will end up costing you about the same as a WASR-10, but you'll have a much nicer rifle if you do it right.

It was much easier than I thought and I'm happy with how it turned out:
AMD63-Done1.jpg

I've got an AK-74 kit from K-Var (the Arsenal Inc. people) now that I'm just waiting to get started on as soon as my FFL gets the receiver in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
Best AK47?
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
Kestrel
K
J
  • Locked
AR15 vs AK47 vs Mosin Nagant
Replies
2
Views
1K
nalioth
N
4
  • Locked
Best AK to get Now for Good Price?
Replies
12
Views
576
possum
P
J
  • Locked
Looking for a decent AK47, what to look for?
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
Sam1911
S
H
  • Locked
BCM/Colt Equivalent AK47?
Replies
2
Views
496
Jackal
Jackal
Back
Top