That's because they can't get any worse?Originally Posted by Suvorov
That's because they can't get any worse?
IDK. The vibe I get is that they are really trying to build a quality gun. Being honest, the AK was a gun built for a different era and despite the Fuddlore about them being cheap and easy to make, they require a huge amount of industrial infrastructure to mass produce. Infrastructure that doesn’t exist in the US today (at least to the degree that it can be used for hobbyists guns). So what companies like PSA are doing is essentially reverse engineering the rifles and then figuring out how to make the cheaply with the manufacturing technology that exists today.
I’ll cut them a little slack.
Then again, I don’t want to pay $1k to be a beta tester.
Last edited by Suvorov; 10-11-2023 at 06:35 PM.
Thanks for your input. Makes me feel better about going the Beryl route I did.@Tokarev , As admitted to in a discussion on another site, the owner of PSA and Mike are on a first name basis. As evidenced by my repair experience with PSA, I can’t expect the same level of quality customer service as Mike or other YouTube reviewers.
Regardless, I just wanted to express an opposing experience to the positive YouTube reviews. Mine is a singular experience and I am very much a disgruntled former PSA customer who isn’t at all happy to have received a lemon. Thank you for allowing me to express an opposing view and engaging in a civil discussion. I love this site for that very reason. This is a great environment to have good firearms discussions.
I’ll bow out with one last contribution (I couldn’t resist) ……..
I assume the issue is complicated.
I'd bet PSA, KUSA, Riley, etc could make guns that are top quality but they'd also probably cost $2,000 per sample. Instead I'd guess that PSA and the others are trying to make the cheapest gun they can. As you say, the AK isn't as cheap and as backwards as we may have previously been led to believe. But years and years of cheap MAK90s, WASRs and parts kits for $300 badly tilted the market and the consumer's expectations.
Still, you'd think PSA could have easily enough contracted with someone like Ivan Kolev to get things up and running. Ivan Kolev helped set up Arsenal USA in Houston back in the day. If memory serves he was on the engineering staff with Arsenal Bulgaria before he came to the US. There are no doubt other emigrants with similar backgrounds that could have helped. I don't have any inside info or anything. It is possible that PSA did in fact have someone like this to help them get things rolling. Kalashnikov USA supposedly had access to Russia's data package for the AK-103. Even then, they've probably taken some liberties with the info to cheapen things up a bit. For example I doubt the Russians specified a billet bolt could be used in place of a hammer forged one. And there are probably a bunch of MIM parts that KUSA uses that are not specified in the TDP.
As TLG has been quoted as saying, "Gun companies exist to make money." That's of course true but they can't make money if nobody buys their guns and/or they get a bad reputation.
Did PSA work with you to make things right? I've read on some forums where they've given purchasers refunds which is basically unheard of in the firearms industry. At least for actual firearms.
Like you, I’m all about the imports right now. I’m (pleasantly) surprised that they are still available but, like the ammo import ban, we could wake up one day and everything could be totally different.
By chance do you have any experience with the Galil Ace platform? I’m really tempted to grab one of them but can’t get over the many claims of how hot the Gen 2 handguard gets relatively quickly.
No doubt it did, but when the USSR comes in and builds you your factory, hands you the TDP, and you pay your workers barely enough to live, you can make $300 AKs. Not so much for a modern U.S. company nor even contemporary E. European manufacturers (although I would love to know what the actual cost per unit for a ZPAP or Beryl is).
Ohh for the “good old days”
Had only I been purchasing Izzy’s and 107FRs instead of chasing after the latest fad in ARs…. :/
Last edited by Suvorov; 10-11-2023 at 07:56 PM.
Short version : I purchased one of PSA’s premium AK’s (103) two years ago. It was, by far, my worst firearm purchase ever. It was completely unreliable even after two trips back to PSA and I found the customer service reps generally were indifferent and unhelpful; One was outright rude and dismissive. I had to post a video of my issues on another forum before PSA would acknowledge the problems; Very odd that the post and video disappeared not long after. I sold the rifle for a loss (fully disclosing the problems) and was happy to have it out of my safe.
I currently own an Arsenal SAM7SF and two Zastava ZPAP M70’s, all three of which have been flawless. I was concerned about one of the M70’s trigger but this forum and Zastava USA were helpful in providing information that it was acceptable by AK standards.
Again, my experience is a data point of one and I very much am a disgruntled former PSA customer who is extremely unhappy he was stuck with a lemon, so take it FWIW. I never received any type of buy-back offer.
And had I kept my pre-ban Chinese Spiker. Ah, well. I traded it for a Daewoo 5.56. I should have kept that one, too.
The WBP Jack rifles get decent reviews and are priced fairly well although they are not civilianized military production.
That's too bad. Budget firearms combined with budget customer service employees is not a good combination.
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