AK purchase advice

[senorlinc]

looking to build up the arsenal before the wacko liberals take power next year...have already picked up a hi cap 9mm and .40 to go with my .45 and am in the final debate between a mossy 590 and rem870. next piece of the puzzle is an ak variant. there are so many out there and i know there is alot of junk. need help sorting it all out. dont want to spend a ton of money but not hearing good things about century and mixed reviews on wasr's...wouldnt mind spending more bucks to get something that will last and function. hear good things about norinco and arsenal but they seems to be on the other end of the spectrum cost wise.....pls advise..thanks

[sjl127]

I picked up a romainan for 380 2 weeks ago. 2 steel mags, bayonet, sling, canvas pouch. Why spend more? These things keep on shooting.

[scoutjoe]

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/rifles-42...e-pick-ak.html

about 4 posts down on the first page....some of this has already been hashed out.

[Garpman]

First thing is to clarify the confusion on what Century does, as I see a lot of people speaking of WASR and Century and "x" seperately. Century imports rifles and parts, they then either put them together/modify "X" country of origins rifles with the requisite compliant parts, then they market them for sale. In some cases, Century farms out the work of the assembly, but they were still responsible for the importation.

So when you mention WASR, it comes with the label Century as well.

It gets a tad more confusing when people ask which country's AK was "the best"? Well, there are differences in quality among the varying AK variants, this question cannot really be answered in terms of our choices. Because there is a import ban, you don't have complete rifles (receivers from "x" country) you really are dealing with the quality of "x" nation's parts, which there are differences, but the pitfall here is that MOST of them are assembled or modified by Century Arms, whose poor quality control in the assembly effect the overall build.

So, even if you see Yugoslavian variants, Polish Tantals, Hungarian rifles, Romanian rifles, they all had something to do with Century, and that is where the quality is really lacking, because the people at Century don't exactly put forth the skill and effort into their builds, or modifications, or whatever they did.

However, they offer the least inexpensive prices, and a good degree of AK variations. Therefore making Century stuff a good budget AK with many choices of AK flavors from around the combloc.

For your price range, I would then recommend you get one of the Yugoslavian variants offered (but not built anymore) by Century Arms.

If you can find any, I also would recommend the Romanian SAR series of rifles (not to be confused with WASR series). There are also some earlier imported Romanians that are good.

Then again, I can't say there is anything wrong with any of the WASR rifles, just as long as you make sure you can look it over in person for canted sights and gas blocks. These by the way, were poorly put on at the factory in Romania and not by Century. Romy rifles (even real ones) are at the low end of the totem pole of the AK family. Other than that, they are the economy AK style rifle that will work fine.

Hope that wasn't confusing and it helps you.

[senorlinc]

GArpman--thanks for the post. it was quite informative...i guess my shopping / purchase should be done in person and not on the internet though i woul dneed a manual to figure out if a gas block was messed up....

[Kaos]

Smart move on preparing for the worst. I plan to invest in an AK and start stocking up on magazines.

[Slotimus]

bought a crappy WASR-10 yesterday as thats all the moola I could get together for the time being.

edit: I was unsure how to check gas block and FSB cant at the store but now that I am looking at it, it has some... I guess I got lucky that its not REALLY severe. I hope it shoots ok.

[senorlinc]

saw a norinco mak 90 shooter today...looked squeeky clean and had a standard pistol grip and wood stock-not the thumbhole...$400, seems like a deal....

[Garpman]

That is an amazing deal. Just make sure after you get it, that whoever did the conversion followed the silly 922(r) law, the rifle cannot have more than 10 foreign parts in it.

Are you sure it's a MAK 90 and not a pre ban? If it's a preban, if it doesn't say "sporter" or MAK 90 on it, if it does say Type 56, or 84, or AKS 7.62...run back and get it now!

[senorlinc]

looks like its an official sporter model...looks nice though but there is now a bid
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...?Item=90667571

thanks for the heads up on what to look for