ak-47?

[my82cam]

i'm selling some guns on here to help pay for closing costs on a house...under the condition me wife makes sure i will be able to replace these guns in the near future when we figure out where we are going to live...my question..... i'm thinking of replacing them with an ak-47 who makes the top of the line and who makes the bottom of the barrel? i know to stay away from wasr-10 but that's about it. who is 1 2 3 4 5....in the making of ak? i want to learn now so i will be able to keep an eye out for a good one. thanks!

[Guest TwoLaneBlackTop]

What is the max you can spend?

I assume you are only looking at 7.62x39 guns and in my opinion the best you can get is a.....

Chinese Type 56 milled receiver, folding spike bayonet, fixed stock Vietnam bring back 68 NFA amnesty registry fully transferable full-auto, cost $20K and up, way up!

J/K In terms of semi-autos there are many choices out there but first let us know how much you are looking to spend, and do you want a new gun that can be bought most anywhere these days or is a used gun in like new condition fine? Do you want a factory folding stock rifle? Are you more interested in a pre-1989 importation ban rifles? Interested at all in the post-89 imported rifles with thumb-hole stocks? etc.... Let us know a little more first.

Edited December 11, 2009 by TwoLaneBlackTop

[Guest jimdigriz]

i'm selling some guns on here to help pay for closing costs on a house...under the condition me wife makes sure i will be able to replace these guns in the near future when we figure out where we are going to live...my question..... i'm thinking of replacing them with an ak-47 who makes the top of the line and who makes the bottom of the barrel? i know to stay away from wasr-10 but that's about it. who is 1 2 3 4 5....in the making of ak? i want to learn now so i will be able to keep an eye out for a good one. thanks!

Stay away from the Century and IO AKs.

I've been very pleased with Saigas, though the conversion can be a pain the first time you do it.

Jim

[mk19]

There is a list here that scores AK's from top to bottom.

Most AK's assembled in US today are very good, stay with assemblers like Arsenal, Lancaster, Vector, In-Range, Rapid-fire....

[mhm2a]

I bet my century build will shoot as well as Arsenal, Vector, and Lancaster. It may not be as pretty, but its an AK. You have to hand pick them even from the best builders. There were batches of Arsenal that had canted sights and gas blocks a year or more ago.

[mousegunner]

You can't beat a MAK-90. If you hate the thumbhole stock, it's easy to replace.

Norinco MAK-90 Model of the Kalashnikov AK-47

[crashgordan]

everyone will have different opinions...

1. Bulgarian SA-93, SLR-95, and SLR-96

2. Chinese Norinco MAK-90, NHM-90, NHM-91, MAK-91

3. Hungarian SA-85M

these seem to be a better value in quality then the Romanian WASR-10, Century Arms GP-75, Century Yugo M70 AB and SAIGA and VEPR.

All are funtional guns however...

I've pretty much owned all varients of AK.

I keep coming back to the Norinco.

heavier reciever (1.5 mm vs 1mm)

chrome lined barrel

For good reason it is the choice of several elite 1st world spec ops teams who field this weapon.

The Navy Seals and the Military Defense Council of Finland, and divisions of the SAS have all selected Norinco of China to supply Chinese type 56 AK-47 rifles, which are virtually identical (except for select-fire components) to the Norinco MAK-90, & without the MAK-90's thumbhole stock).

Norinco's are now harder to get and going up in price because they are no longer imported.

Bought one site unseen once, the piston was rotted out of it due to corrosive ammo use, (cheep and easy swap out) despite that, the barrel and everything else was pristine. kicks ass like a rock star.

if you look for the norinco MAK-90 and have the choice, the square cut reciever has some advantages over the slant cut, but it's really a cosmetic issue.

again, this is just my opinion based on experience.

good luck in your search!

Edited December 11, 2009 by crashgordan

[BryanP]

To hear some comments I must be the only guy who has both a Century WASR and an older Century SAR-1 and never had any problems out of them. Odd that.

[Guest TwoLaneBlackTop]

The SAR-1 are in my opinion the best buy right now when you can pick them up for $400 to $450. The SAR series are much better than the WASR. Honestly the SAR and post-89 Maadi's with a stock change (excluding the MISR Maadi) are the closest you can get to the original AKM pattern for under $1000. If you get a SAR inspect it to make sure the front sight and gas block are not canted. The later 2002-2003 era were the best of the SAR rifles.

[my82cam]

as far as money goes...anywhere from 400-700ish i guess. i like the standard wood stock or the underfold a lot! yes, 7.62x39! lots of left over ammo from the sks i'm trying to sell and i figure i will replace it with it's older better brother the ak!

[my82cam]

i'm not a big fan of the stocks with a hole in it. is it possible to go from an underfold to a wood stock of vise versa?

[BryanP]

i'm not a big fan of the stocks with a hole in it. is it possible to go from an underfold to a wood stock of vise versa?

Underfold, no. The sidefolder stocks can generally be swapped out for standard wood stocks, but the underfolders use a different mount. Generally the underfolders go for a lot more $ anyway.

[tacturtle]

Hey Crash with all due respect Vepr are far from the bottom of the list. However they are no longer imported but among the best variant ever made! Obviously you have no knowledge of them.

[Ropin4gold]

I have a SAR-1. I like it and it does everything I need it to do.

Arsenal is good

Krebs is really good

Also might check out Arizona Response, they are nice.

Get on warrior talk and read read read up on em..

[Guest SonOfaGun]

Polish AK47's are very nice quality, with chrome lined hammer forged barrels. Allied Armament builds nice Polish AK's.

[crashgordan]

Hey Crash with all due respect Vepr are far from the bottom of the list. However they are no longer imported but among the best variant ever made! Obviously you have no knowledge of them.

None Taken...

as i noted in my post, all will have opinions, and i did not list the VEPR as a 'do not buy', in fact i stated it is indeed a very functional gun.

I've had several. and am very familiar with them. this was a question regarding best buy for the money. not best gun ever/most historically accurate/most this or that.

but as you are perhaps even more familiar then i, perhaps you could list here the attributes that make is so exceptional as compared to the list i posted. seriously. I'm cool with it.

I'm sure i can learn something. There is far more collective knowlege here then i will ever begin to claim.

again, as i said before, this is only my opinion.

[my82cam]

i think the mak90 sounds pretty good if i can convert the thumb hole stock to a regular stock and pistol grip.

[nightrunner]

say that someone wanted an AK in traditional configuration but get the best that money could buy? what should they look at? for example in ARs Colt is the original and LMT, LWRC, etc. is top of the line so to speak (obviously with many others left out) what would be comparable to a LMT AR-15