"What makes the AK so reliable?"

[BWT]

I've actually found them quite easy to work with, in large part because there isn't much you can do. Installing the pistol grip is easy, pass the screw through the grip, hold it in place with the screwdriver, then thread it into the nut in the receiver, if it's a nut that is loose, hold the nut with the other hand.

The #1 best thing to do to make an AK easy to deal with is swapping the axis pin retaining spring with a retaining plate. They are less than $10 shipped and take it from "miserable" to "joyful". The only maintenance headache left then is the spring for the manual bolt hold open that you see on some variants (like the Saiga 12).

It's funny, I keep thinking about getting an AR for my next rifle (I just sold my PSL/FPK... that gun proved that you *can* have an unreliable AK, in this case the magazines were the issue), but the ease of dealing with the AK keeps bringing me back to it, and the cost. For the price of a decent AR, I could pick up a Saiga 308 and a random AK in 7.62x39 and have my bases covered all the way around.

J.Ja

Hate to say it, but mounting an optic is a nightmare. I think every idiot out there has proven they can build an AR or modify an AR. That also lends it to every idiot out there assembling AR's, which is why I think AR's at times get a bad wrap. I've had 3 magazine related malfunctions in my AR and 2 stuck cases, all I shoot is Wolf, and I'm probably at or over 2,000 rounds at this point.

[jmjames]

Hate to say it, but mounting an optic is a nightmare. I think every idiot out there has proven they can build an AR or modify an AR. That also lends it to every idiot out there assembling AR's, which is why I think AR's at times get a bad wrap. I've had 3 magazine related malfunctions in my AR and 2 stuck cases, all I shoot is Wolf, and I'm probably at or over 2,000 rounds at this point.

That was one of my complaints with the PSL/FPK I just sold. Had a POSP scope with the right mount, but I'd invariably find that it was slightly shifting around; if I got the castle nut too tight I couldn't get it on, but too loose and it was all over the place. It was frustrating. I guess if it was a junk pile AK with 7.62x39 I probably wouldn't care as much, the expectation on those seems to be "minutes of bad guy" anyways, but for a small howitzer of a rifle, I felt like if I was going to lug it around somewhere, it should have the common courtesy of keeping the scope in the same place. The AK style scope mounts are very heavy, too. The scope mounting issue is something that keeps pulling me towards the AR platform.

In another thread, I was asking about the VZ 58... I know it's not an AK, but it sounds like a great rifle, until you look at the optics situation. Either you mount an AK side rail and use an AK-style mount, or you put something in the scout position way up front.

J.Ja

[BWT]

That was one of my complaints with the PSL/FPK I just sold. Had a POSP scope with the right mount, but I'd invariably find that it was slightly shifting around; if I got the castle nut too tight I couldn't get it on, but too loose and it was all over the place. It was frustrating. I guess if it was a junk pile AK with 7.62x39 I probably wouldn't care as much, the expectation on those seems to be "minutes of bad guy" anyways, but for a small howitzer of a rifle, I felt like if I was going to lug it around somewhere, it should have the common courtesy of keeping the scope in the same place. The AK style scope mounts are very heavy, too. The scope mounting issue is something that keeps pulling me towards the AR platform.

In another thread, I was asking about the VZ 58... I know it's not an AK, but it sounds like a great rifle, until you look at the optics situation. Either you mount an AK side rail and use an AK-style mount, or you put something in the scout position way up front.

J.Ja

Don't get me wrong, I like my SGL21. It's a quality built Russian rifle, but, I just gripe about it when I decide to "project" something, and it goes awry. This is pretty much the standard of how me modifying guns goes, whereas with the 1911 and the AK I'm going to have to order parts, the AR... it irritated me, but it was a little easier. Kind of like the Glock.

That being said, my AK's been nothing but reliable, after it was squared away by Arsenal for a safety lever issue, I've had absolutely zero complaints.

[P30shtr]

Hate to say it, but mounting an optic is a nightmare. I think every idiot out there has proven they can build an AR or modify an AR. That also lends it to every idiot out there assembling AR's, which is why I think AR's at times get a bad wrap. I've had 3 magazine related malfunctions in my AR and 2 stuck cases, all I shoot is Wolf, and I'm probably at or over 2,000 rounds at this point.

That was one of my complaints with the PSL/FPK I just sold. Had a POSP scope with the right mount, but I'd invariably find that it was slightly shifting around; if I got the castle nut too tight I couldn't get it on, but too loose and it was all over the place. It was frustrating. I guess if it was a junk pile AK with 7.62x39 I probably wouldn't care as much, the expectation on those seems to be "minutes of bad guy" anyways, but for a small howitzer of a rifle, I felt like if I was going to lug it around somewhere, it should have the common courtesy of keeping the scope in the same place. The AK style scope mounts are very heavy, too. The scope mounting issue is something that keeps pulling me towards the AR platform.

In another thread, I was asking about the VZ 58... I know it's not an AK, but it sounds like a great rifle, until you look at the optics situation. Either you mount an AK side rail and use an AK-style mount, or you put something in the scout position way up front.

J.Ja

Problem solved

http://texasweaponsystems.com/

[jmjames]

Problem solved

http://texasweaponsystems.com/

Yeah, the Dog Leg is a good idea, I've seen them before but never in person. It's something where I'd like to see it in person to get a feel for how likely it is to eventually loosen.

J.Ja

[Chuck Haggard]

I like AKs and have always thought they were fun, and I like the ballistics of the round. We have an actual type 56 Chinese army AK in our armory (actually two) that came off of the street. We have no idea how it came to be in our sorta fair city, likely a Vietnam bring-back. One of these guns has obvious high speed fragment impacts on the bayonet mount latch thingy.

Anyway, the trigger is awesome good, and not just for an AK. Long, but smooth and rather light. Makes me think of a tuned Python a friend of mine had. This gun has been shot for fun and fam-fire for the past 25+ years that I am aware of, I'm really sure it has never been cleaned.

That being said, I have never really met an AK that is more reliable than the Ars and M16s I have known, and the worst AR I ever shot grouped about as well as the very best AK I ever shot.


I just dumped my 5.45, selling it off to a bud, sold my SKSs, and have now one AK in 7.62 left that I will likely dump. I just find the AR system so much easier to deal with on so many levels, including optics, ergonomics, accuracy, parts, mods, etc.. It helps I guess that I have been to an armorer school taught by Ken Elmore amd know the ins and outs of the AR system far better than the AKs.

[Kyle Reese]

I'm being issued an AK on my next gig over here. I'll let y'all know how it shoots.

[Jay Cunningham]

I'm being issued an AK on my next gig over here. I'll let y'all know how it shoots.

Well??

[Kyle Reese]

Well??

That was back in January. No AK on my current job, but it pays more.

[Jay Cunningham]

That was back in January. No AK on my current job, but it pays more.

Did it get shot? Could you hit with it?