So who is a good AK Smith to send a preban or Saiga rifle to?
As for the PAPs, the newer (Non Century) ones seem to be fine as far as heat treating goes and are now chrome lined.
So who is a good AK Smith to send a preban or Saiga rifle to?
As for the PAPs, the newer (Non Century) ones seem to be fine as far as heat treating goes and are now chrome lined.
Yugo guns have been plagued with shit QC and poor heat treat. Add in the non-combloc elements those guns have that limit accessories and they aren’t worth it.
*RS Regulate Affiliate*Originally Posted by caleb
Are those issues specific to Century guns or do they apply to the imports of the 1980s and post Century rifles?
I’m specifically talking about the Zastava made gun from last 10 years. The previous Century guns were all contract built that varied from exceptional to absolute turd. I had an excellent M70AB2. Both of the Zastava made OPAP’s I owned were turds. Soft receivers. Regardless of when they were made or by whom the Yugo pattern guns are different. Stocks and handguards are limited although the aftermarket is improving. Some grips don’t work. Oddball optic rails. As someone pointed out the weight penalty makes milled receiver guns more attractive.
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It's still the same factory making them so I wouldn't right now. It's possible Century wanted them to hit a price point so they cut corners or that they have addressed the issues but as far as I have heard, only the importer has changed.
I don't know about the older guns.
And don't forget that the Serbian guns don't take standard furniture. It's not hard to mod a Magpul MOE handguard to fit an M92 and Midwest and some others do make handguards for them. I think Magpul did a version of the Zhukov stock for the M70 rifle. So it's not hard to set one up nicely. But overall I'd look for a Romanian.
I picked up a new RH10 last year for under $600 and it came with Magpul furniture on it. And it is pretty smooth out of the box. I was very impressed and so was the resident AK guy at the gun shop. Not that either of us are experts or anything.
A few years ago I was trying to decide between an M92 and a Draco. I guess the heat treat issues weren't as well known because I never saw anyone mention any problems with them and I felt like I did my homework before I purchased. I only learned of the problems after I had bought an M92 and started tricking it out. I haven't put a ton of rounds through it but enough to be confident in it's function. I didn't see any deformation in the pin holes so hopefully I got a good one but I put in an adjustable gas piston and got new pins and a retainer plate anyway to hopefully minimize any egging. The retainer plate is a good idea regardless.
When the market calms down I'll search for a Romanian Draco or two.
Last edited by Bigghoss; 07-23-2020 at 10:00 PM.
@Bigghoss
The RH10 is built in Cugir with the wasr. It’s basically an oddball WASR. The FSGB, RPK rear sight and odd height side rail are all the differentiates it from a standard WASR. It is a combloc pattern rifle and solid at that. Century puts that Magpul furniture on it. I like the Magpul grip and standard length handguard. I hate all the Zhukov stuff. The HG’s are too heavy and the stock has poor lockup.
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I was aware, which is why I wanted one. Having had 3 previous WASRs, I knew it'd be good but the action was quite a bit smoother than I expected.
It's funny, I remember when WASRs were considered bottom of the barrel because of issues with canted sights, crooked rear sights, sloppily hogged out magwells and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. I have an older WASR-10 from then, the muzzle threads were ground off and it came with the "Toilet Seat" thumbhole stock. The front sight is straight and the magwells isn't too bad but the rear is crooked. Not sure if it's the leaf or the block but since it doesn't have muzzle threads I figured I'd throw a cheap red dot on it and just use it as a range toy.
One of my work buddies sold me a 10-63 with a P&W muzzle brake for dirt cheap and threw in a small pile of mags. That one may have been roughly the same vintage as my first one, or at least from back when the WASR was questionable. The front sight tower was ever so canted but after I saw it I just couldn't unsee it so I sold it with full disclosure to someone who said they could fix it. When the guy finally saw it in person he said he wasn't going to bother fixing it because it was barely canted, still zero-able as it was. But between the funky muzzle brake and that I wasn't that into it.
I'm not crazy about the Zhukov handguard but it was an easy way to get an M-lok handguard on my Saiga. The shorter Zhukov-U is preferable to the original that I put on my first WASR.
The Zhukov stock isn't my first choice but between that or the cheap wood Cugir uses I'd rather have the Magpul stuff. If nothing else I can sell it. But I'm not you or Rob Ski so they work fine for me.
@ER_STL while I still need to replace the factory hand guard on my saiga I think it’s a great rifle. I did a back end conversion back in the mid 00’s and it’s been a solid shooter ever since. It’s a solid 2.5moa rifle with ammo it likes. The only thing I would do differently is not add an ace stock adaptor that required cutting the rear stock tang.
I also have a Bulgarian SLR and while I prefer the factory folder on it I kinda like the saiga more.
im strong, i can run faster than train
Again, thanks to all for the great information. I'm in the shallow end of the technical pool for sure when it comes to rifles. I had planned on selling my AKs and moving over the AR platform but it sounds like AK is still going strong. I simply want a solid platform on which to learn.
My last question to be answered - and possibly in a different thread - is the 5.45 vs 7.62 debate for the suburban get-out-of-my-neighborhood rifle...
I really like my 5.45 guns, but with 7N6 surplus steel core a thing of the past, a 5.45 AK is a distinct third place behind 7.62x39 and 5.56.
These days, a 5.45 is basically a more reliable and 'authentic' way of getting 5.56 performance out of an AK, but with much more limited ammo options and availability. Unless you're into collecting combloc stuff for fun like I was, I'd stick to 7.62x39 for AK's - especially 'working' AK's. 7.62x39 offers fantastic performance against vehicles and there's a ton of inexpensive ammo and ammo varieties out there.
For a working gun in general, I'd recommend an AR over an AK for a myriad of reasons not the least of which is the appearance of it being a 'good guy' rifle. Very few good guys and virtually zero LE use AK's for any reason. But if the appearance doesn't concern you and you're happy to practice and work around the AK's limitations, 7.62x39 all the way.
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