Bulgarian AK-74 by CAI

[Mity2]

Man, that sucks. I know from everyone that said their new one didnt keyhole, I have yet to read anyone shooting enough rounds to get them hot enough to keyhole. I think we are going to find out about many more people with junk barrels on ther 74's.

My tantal was so called newer 1:9 twist barrel(older one was 1:7..Or it might be backwords.. its been a while)that supposed to not key hole.
Mine took 3 magazines for it to start keyholing.

I used Hotshot 70gr ammo(which I don't even see it in their catarog anymore), thats CAI warrenty rep told me that wont key hole when I called their warrenty dept.
I tried, and still keyholed just as bad. As well as 60 gr Silver Bear and 60 gr Wolf too. and some burgie surp. They all keyholed after a 3 or 4 mags


Anyhow, I'll never understand why people continue to buy from CIA to this day. I guess its because people keep posting all over that the "CAI fixed their Tantals and Mine works fine".......
congrats goes to those few lucky one and having a working CAI Tantal. And I know that the there are CAI builds guns out there that did not have the inherent issue of incorrect barrels quite like their Tantals did, so of course there are satisfied customers out there who swears by them. And they dismiss claim from unlucky folks like myself as since Century is the biggest importer selling to the public, and since they sells/sold thousands of Tantals, there are always bound to be few dozen unhappy folks that were not happy, some are just whining some are very legit or something like that.

I've seen a couple keyholes firsthand, and none that didn't because those people never touched another CAI product again. You build a gun that sends bullets downrange sideways and you have the gall to say that it's the way the bullet is designed, or bullet Im shooting is wrong or not what they specify. The choice to use incorrect barrels is the sign of a company that cares more about a quick buck than the product that they don't stand behind.
So, congrats on having a non-keyholing CAI Tantal to those lucky folks out there thats posting all over the net, thats giving people the wrong impression that CAI acutaly fixed the tantal issue. Those should be buy a lottery ticket, as lucky as they are.

Personaly, I think these people are CAI sales rep trying to get rid of remaining Polish Tantal inventory by tricking people to think that they fixed the issue...

Just my thought

[Steelblitz]

Funny you mention that whole keyhole disaster, I've been reading posts lately again where people are believing that the rounds are supposed to tumble.

[nfafan]

<snip>

Front trunions on the TGI and centiry builds are nuetered of the bulgarian circle 10 logo and orginal serial number.

<snip>

WTF... selling them as Bulgies - but grinding away any trace of origin. Shit.

[Huggy]

Funny you mention that whole keyhole disaster, I've been reading posts lately again where people are believing that the rounds are supposed to tumble.

Yeah, they are, but only if you're a mall ninja because they're modernized throwing stars.

[SkullBone]

Guns and Ammo has a special AK issue out with an article on the Century Bulgy 74. The claim is chrome lined with a 1:8 twist new barrel.

[Asmodeus]

Why are people confusing the Tantal's with these rifles? Can any of the naysayers point to any documented claimms of keyholing issues with these newer guns?

[Mity2]

Why are people confusing the Tantal's with these rifles? Can any of the naysayers point to any documented claimms of keyholing issues with these newer guns?

I know its not Tantal. And I can not say without the shadow of doubt that newer ones don't keyhole.
Its your hard erned money. Spend it on what you want.

All I'm saying is that the CAI Tantal with GM barrel in any rifling were, regardless of CAI admitting or not, a disaster.
I don't care what they say or what you read - projectile from these guns should not key hole. regardless of how many rounds you fire, weight of projectile, or how hot barrel gets. Or certainly was NEVER designed to tumble before striking the target as tey claim.

My only hope is that - for the sake of all of prospective costomer, who actualy believes that the CAI puts out good product, and stand behind what they puts out - that the CAI learned from Tantal disaster to use different barrel manufactur to outfit their 5.45 guns with proper barrel.

[Steelblitz]

Why are people confusing the Tantal's with these rifles? Can any of the naysayers point to any documented claimms of keyholing issues with these newer guns?

On the akforum.net there has been some people from this recent group buy from CFS that have had their 74's keyhole they reported.


Anybody want to sell me some 5.45 ammo tomorrow morning in Dillsburg before I hit the range? I'll see if my two CFS 74's keyhole or not and report back. I can also trade you some 7.62 if you like.

[mak47]

Here's what I know for sure about these, and the Tantals.

First, these are not Tantals being discussed here, that is a different gun, different barrel, and different era. The infamous keyhole issue with them has been discussed at length on a million different forums.

Despite internet myth, the issue was related to out of spec barrels on the Tantal--not specifically the "wrong size" barrel. First they used a 1:7 twist, then a 1:9. These are not identical to the original 4 groove, 1:8 spec AK-74 barrels. Chrome lining has nothing to do with it. In my experience the 1:9 barrels performed acceptably, but didn't deliver exceptional accuracy.

Now, it seems that Century is using the appropriate 1:8 twist barrels on a new run of Tantals, as well as on their Bulgy AK-74's. Where that barrel comes from I have no idea, but it is definitely not chrome lined, and it is US made.

The link posted by another member to the Green Mountain site is advertising a 7.62x39 barrel, not a 5.45x39. There is nothing on their site indicating any kind of specs for that barrel--if they even make it. Only Century's site gives specs for their various guns--and does not indicate the supplier of the parts.

As for corrosive ammo in a non-chromed barrel, I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you clean afterward, you should be fine. It's not like it's made out of pot-metal.

I have several '74's. One is chromed, one is stainless, another is moly. They all get fed corrosive ammo on a regular basis and none of them show any signs of corrosion.

If there are still some of these around in a few weeks, I'll grab one and post a detailed report, but I doubt there will be and it just isn't in the budget right now.

Despite the bad reputation, Century is a pretty up front kind of company. Anytime I've contacted them about technical info, they've always provided it promptly. Anytime a gun has had a quality issue, they've fixed it. On their site, they list separate model numbers and barrel specs for their various Tantal incarnations--but only one for the Bulgy 74. I can see no reason they would be lying about this, especially in light of all their bad press from the Tantal situation.

I'll get ahold of someone at Century and find out the exact specs and who the supplier is for the barrels (hopefully they'll tell me) and will post any info I receive.

[mojo]

I'm saying both. A few people have ended up with the more sought after 3 digit serialized 74 parts. That is a likely indicator of Russian parts unlike the 4 digit Bulgarian way of marking 74's, but since russian military parts are not allowed to be exported to the USA, I'm not saying nothing. Kind of like how we ended up with the large amount of plum 74 mags recently that are painted black over a plum mag with a made in bulgaria sticker on it. The Russian star or triangle aresenal mark is ground off before painting them though, but they are all Russian, Bulgaria didnt use anything plum.

If you got Ruskie parts ... than that's great! Congrat on scoring that.