Which Yugo AK is close to Saiga in quality.

[Grim Peeper]

I want a yugo and I already did the saiga conversion and now I want something different but I'm very happy with the saigas quality. What yugo will come close to the saiga and be a great rifle. I was looking online and there are some availible in the $500 range. Also I've heard talk of different receiver qualities and thicknesses among yugos. So what should I get?

 

[Fishbed77]

They are apples and oranges in a sense, but both Saigas and Yugos are very good, provided you get a Zastava factory-built Yugo rifle like an OPAP or NPAP instead of a US parts-kit build. Also avoid the "1st gen" PAP rifles that featured a single-stack bolt.

The Saiga will have a chrome-lined, cold-hammer-forged barrel, while the Yugos will have a non-chrome-lined barrel. But that's the way the Yugoslavians always made them, and I've never heard of anyone having an issue with them.

The finish of the Yugo OPAP and NPAP will certainly look better than the paint over parkerization finish of the Saiga, but the Saigas do resist corrosion very well. The machining of the Zastava rifles is pretty nice for an AK.

Saigas have a 1mm stamped receiver, as do Yugo NPAPs. Yugo OPAPs have a 1.5mm receiver and RPK-style reinforcements at the front trunnion. Personally, I feel that all the thicker receiver adds is weight. Saigas tend to be very accurate AKs despite their light weight.

Most AKM accessories and furniture will fit a Saiga. Not so for the Yugo rifles. That said, companies are constantly introducing new products for the Yugo rifles due to their increasing popularity.

Bottom line - you can't go wrong with a properly-converted Izhmash Saiga or Zastava-built NPAP/OPAP in my opinion.

 

[Grim Peeper]

Thanks man that's the stuff I needed to know. As I said in my first post I already did the saiga conversion on a 7.62 saiga and I kinda just wanted a good stock Yugo for kicks and as a backup rifle. When you say single stack do you mean like on some yugo the mag well is set up for those wonkey single stack mags or did you mean that some yugos have funky bolts too with normal magwells.

 

[Fishbed77]

When you say single stack do you mean like on some yugo the mag well is set up for those wonkey single stack mags or did you mean that some yugos have funky bolts too with normal magwells.

Both. I believe there are still single-stack PAPs (with mag wells for single-stack mags) still floating around out there. Also, some early PAPs had single-stack bolts with mag wells opened up to accept double-stack mags. Just avoid these and go for the NPAP or OPAP variants.

 

[Grim Peeper]

How would the bolt differ in this instance? I don't understand how the bolt would matter in terms of single or double stack mags?

 

[Fishbed77]

How would the bolt differ in this instance? I don't understand how the bolt would matter in terms of single or double stack mags?

A single-stack bolt (shown at left below) is narrower at the bottom and may have trouble stripping rounds off a double-stack (standard) AK mag.




Here's a discussion from another forum on the subject:

http://www.theakforum.net/forums/30-yugoslavian/109962-zastava-pap-double-stack-conversion.html

To my knowledge, all NPAPs and OPAPs have a double-stack bolt and magwell, so it should be a non-issue.


.

 

[Grim Peeper]

Oh I see the area that strips the next round is stubbier. I plan on ordering from slick guns so technically even if I order a double stack configured gun I may still get a single stack bolt. I was seriously considering an underfolder

 

[Fishbed77]

Oh I see the area that strips the next round is stubbier. I plan on ordering from slick guns so technically even if I order a double stack configured gun I may still get a single stack bolt. I was seriously considering an underfolder

Not if you get an NPAP or OPAP. To my knowledge (as mentioned in my previous 3 posts), these rifles have double-stack bolts.