AK-47- What to look for?

[woodstock]

This the kind of advice I am looking for. Thanks Woodstock!

You're welcome! They are all over the place in price last several months, have seen them from 400-650. Last time I was in Adventure outdoors(few months) they were around 425 or so. Can't remember the price at cherokee pawn, you can call and ask, probably worth the trip.

 

[Bulldawg165]

I'm interested in this as well as I was thinking about saving up for one. I may have to start my own thread when the time comes but at least one of these questions will hopefully be helpful to the OP as well. How much would a good quality, durable and reliable ak-47 cost? I'm not talking about the top of the line, just a good bang for your buck that I wont have to worry about falling apart on me as long as I take could care of it. Also, are they like ARs where you can buy different uppers and swap out the caliber you're shooting in a few minutes or would you have to buy a whole new gun if you wanted to shoot different calibers?

 

[mel22]

I'm not an expert, but I've learned a few things along the way and I'd like to help by sharing some of the basic things to look for.

Problems to look for (some are rarer then other's)

1. the front sight.... (this is the most common problem) Place the but on the ground and look down the rifle, look to see that the front sight, gas-block, and receiver all line up straight. Is the front sight or gas block leaning to the left or right? This is called a "canted front sight" or a "canted gas-block". This can be a sign of a bad build, but not always... My I.O. had a canted from sight, but the rifle was fine, I had it fixed and now the rifle is great. Depending on how badly it's canted, the front sight could cause you to not be able to sight in the weapon, and the gas block could effect the operation of the piston over time and is a more in-depth fix.

2. rivets.... (not very common) Look at the rivets on the receiver. They should be flush against the receiver without dimpling the metal. If you see any rivets sticking out or that have dimpled the receiver, this is a clear sign of poor craftsmanship and a sign that there could be some very serious internal problems. I'd steer clear of these.

3. Mag wobble... every AK I've ever seen has some mag wobble and people go back and forth about whether or not it matters. Where this argument comes from, and where it becomes an actual problem, is with the rifles imported during the '94 AWB. During the AWB, AK variants were imported in a "sporting rifle configuration" and then converted. One of the steps in the conversion process was to widen the mag-well to accept regular AK mags. Bad quality control and home done conversions led to two problems. Either the mag-well was unevenly spaced or widened to much. If the job was uneven then the mag won't line up correctly, and if it's to wide the mag might fall out (obviously). This might not be blatantly obvious when you stick in a mag, so check. The easiest way to spot an AWB AK is the lack of a threaded barrel. I would check for this problem on any AK without a threaded barrel except Sagas.

4. Trigger slap.... some of the older WASRS were known to have a trigger that "slapped" back when the gun cycled... you will not find this in most AK's and many WASRS have been changed to the Tapco G2 trigger.... If you're looking at a low end AK, ask if there's a G2 trigger in it... I wouldn't worry about this in higher end AKs or newer low end AKs.

5. Sticking bolts.... In some AK's (mostly WASRS) the bolt will stick open sometime. A quick slap will send it home.. To check for this, cycle the bolt slowly and if this problem exists, you should be able to get it to stick open... sometime it will, sometimes it wont, you might have to give it a few tries. The problem is that this can be a sign of a poor build and internal problems, but some people say it's not that big of a deal... I can get mine to do it on a rare occasion, cycling the bolt by hand, but it barely sticks and it's never done it wile shooting and isn't a problem.... you'll have to be the judge of the one you look at.

These problems showed up in some WASRS and that's why they got a bad name... Those that had problems grew to hate them,,, other's call them junk simply because of the reputation and the fact that they're "less pretty" then other AK's... Those that didn't have problems grew to love them and besides... your buying an AK not a piece of art... in most cases, any AK will do the job.


Other things to consider.

1. Stamp vs Milled.... Most Ak's we buy here in America are actually copies of the AKM not the AK47. The original AK47 had a milled receiver but Russia switched to the AKM (what we usually call an AK47) with a stamped receiver because they found it to work better, and they've been using them ever since. That's not to say that modern milled AK's aren't the nice rifles they're said to be, they are... My only point is that there's nothing wrong with a stamped receiver.... Most of the stuff (I should say cost) about milled recivered AK's is hype... Yes they're stronger and they might be more accurate, but they usually coast and weigh a lot more and a good stamped AK will do everything a milled one will,,, SKS's have milled receivers and people aren't paying $1200 for them.... I'm just saying.... Don't spend the money unless you just want a milled receiver AK..... that's my opinion

2. The front hand-guard.... Some AK's don't have a standard hand-guard, like the I.O. S2000s, Yugos, and Saigas.... There's nothing wrong with them, but keep in mid that your choices for tacing out your AK, with rails as such, goes way down when you get away from the normal AK hand-guard. (if that's something you might consider doing)

3. But stocks.... If you buy an under-folder, your basically stuck with an under folder. (not that there's anything wrong with that) The other thing to look at when it comes to stocks is the rear of the receiver... Most AK's have a straight cut receiver. In other words, the back of the receiver is flat. Other's, like the very nice Vepers, have what's called a slant cut receiver... look at them, you'll see what I mean... again if you think you might want to change the stock, you'll want the normal straight cut receiver... If you don't, then disregard.

With all of that said.... If you just want a new Russian spec rifle and you don't mind spending the cash, buy an Arsenal, otherwise known as K-VAR. There's many other good used imports out there like MAK 90's, and great custom jobs like Krebs Customs; but if you do the research and check the weapon before you buy it, you can get yourself into a perfectly good AK for hundreds less.

I hope this helped, have a great day.