Thinking about an AK

[steelerballs]

I am considering buying an AK rifle. I am not too familiar with the AK platform. Please let me know what you would suggest or recomend.

The AK platform offers a great selection of quality rifles. I would buy one that will take a bayonet. If you don't care about the bayonets some of the higher quality AKs like the Sar 1, Mak 90 and Vepr x39 are excellent options. Don't be scared to buy the newer Century C39 V2 or the Ras 47. I've owned both and they are excellent rifles in my opinion. They both were extremely accurate, the fit and finish are excellent, and there were no FTE or FTF. Neither had any problems with excessive wear internally. Even the newer Wasrs are excellent rifles and most come with bayo lugs. Wasrs are known for a little mag wobble at times but are accurate and function flawlessly. If you use the Croatian BHO mags you will get a tighter fit. Good luck and enjoy the ride. You eventually will own several I'm sure. The reliability of an AK is unparalleled.

[borekfk]

If you can find one for a decent price, then go high end and grab an SLR-101/SAM-7 rifle from Arsenal. Those are very nice rifles. If not then the AK-63D is pretty common these days and is a good piece.

[Bang]

Grab 5. All will double by October 31st, and if we crash on November 8th, they will quadruple.

[esh21167]

OP, what is your budget? That will certainly be a factor.

[danhr]

You should buy *insert the kind of ak I own here*

[TOA]

My budget will be around $1000. Give or take. I have an AR I may sell or trade to fund this purchase so maybe a little more if needed.
It's not so much of the insert my model here type of question, nor have I received that type of reply.


I appreciate all the help so far.

[ianb1116]

For $1k, the world is pretty much your oyster outside of the Arsenal branded and the likes. I personally would not sell an AR to fund an AK purchase in the US as ammo for the AR is arguably more readily available if things realllllly went south. That being said, $1k buys a lot in the AK world. Check out DDI and Definitive Arms as well as Palmetto State and Atlantic Arms. Most should fall at or below your $1k price range.

Note: DDI, DA, and Palmetto are all-American made. DDI does build off some old polish kits.

[ontheborder]

Pickings for quality AKs is getting very, very thin. At this point grab an N PAP, visit SGAmmo and pick up a case of Barnaul or GT, and buy at least 10 mags -- the more mags the better!

There were 5000 mags available a few days ago and now down to 2000.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=MAK47P30

[danhr]

My budget will be around $1000. Give or take. I have an AR I may sell or trade to fund this purchase so maybe a little more if needed.
It's not so much of the insert my model here type of question, nor have I received that type of reply.


I appreciate all the help so far.

If your budget is 1000 give or take, then any day of the week and twice on Sunday, I would pony up the extra dough and get a sam7. I've owned a few AK's and handled , I don't know how many. There's a reason that my primary "truck gun", the first rifle I take to a rifle class, or the first gun I take to a competion is my sam7. Aside from my SPR AR, I prefer my sam7 over any of my AR's (the only reason i can't compare it to my SPR is because they are two totally different animals). It is substantially nicer than the WASR's, C39v2s, DDIs (but it is also substantially more). Now I'm not saying any of those are BAD rifles, because they aren't. I would even prefer it over my friends Rifle Dynamics ak. But that's factoring in price and bang for your buck though. A $2,000 AK custom ak is going to perform.

[esh21167]

Pickings are getting slim. If you want to stay under $1k, I'd look at the NPAP, WASR ($600-$700), and OPAP ($750-$800, maybe NOS or lightly used). You might be able to find a lightly used Arsenal 107FR for around $1k. It has a very nice side folding stock, which is about a $350 value alone.

I still say stick to imported rifles as your first choices. If you're OK with used rifles, maybe a Romanian SAR1 or a Chinese MAK90, each about $700ish. These were made during the Bush ban era and do not have threaded barrels or bayonet lugs if that's important to you. Most can be threaded though for muzzle devices.