The AK Thread

U

uofaengr

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Jan 9, 2014
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I've never been an AR guy and not really a fan of the 5.56 round though I pondered getting one during the last panic. Have wanted an Arsenal AK for the past 4 years or so and other priorities/hobbies came first and refused to pay panic prices. Well I recently decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on a SLR-107FR, my first AK. Awesome rifle. I can see why these things are addictive as I'm already thinking about the next one. I'm still relatively an AK noob, but have learned a ton over the past few weeks. Still deciding if I want to change anything out on mine or keep it all stock. There's a certain appeal to keeping it stock, but I can think of a couple things that would make it more functional and more pleasurable to operate.

So if you're an AK fan/owner/enthusiast/guru speak up and tell us about your rig. I just wanted to get a thread going before going into great detail what I like/dislike about my Arsenal and accessories so far. Maybe one day I can get some decent pics of mine.
 
Larry Vickers does an AK operator course, and has some pretty good ideas as far as upgrades.

Don't own one but carried issued ones for a long time, they work. Some people have issues switching between AR and AK, mostly because of the safety, and then the magazine differences, but once you get used to them, or shown how to do some of the operations they become pretty easy to deal with.

Enjoy it, buy extra magazines. I personally never liked the plastics, not as tough as the metal mags.
 
Being a left handed shooter, I've found the AK to be very lefty friendly fortunately. It's funny because I noticed the 10/22 is very similar in operation except for the safety.

Mags, I've got the stock 10 rounder from Arsenal that'll see little use most likely. I got a new Gen 3 PMAG that was a very tight fit at first, but fits like a glove now after a tiny bit of the plastic shaved off on the sides. And I have 2 Hungarian surplus mags that fit a lot easier at the expense of a bit of wobble. I might pick up one of the Bulgarian Circle 10s just to have one and probably some more surplus mags before the election.

I've found the AK Operator's Union to be a great resource and Rob seems like a good and funny guy.
 
My favorite is a AMD65 that i built from a parts kit and a Nodak spud receiver. Added magpul furniture, ultimak rail and a micro red dot.

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Then a classic old Romanian
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I've got mostly steel mags, a few pmags which have functioned just as well as the steel ones. Excepting the 2 steel ones that got dented, gotta hammer them back out. Mostly romainion with a few hungarian and yugo mags as well. I tend to stock up on mags whenever I find them on sale. Keep an eye on Aim surplus they have pretty good deals.
 
plastic magazines work, (some, not all) but, nowhere near as tough. It was my experience that hitting the ground with magazines being whats between you and your plates something's gonna give. Usually the plastic magazine. Then you are screwed, loose ammo and a mag spring hanging out of your magazine pouch. It just made more sense to me to use mettle mags, seen more than one drop, even in pouches and crack.
as far as weight, an extra pound or so didn't really bother me that much, and knowing my magazines were going to function made me feel pretty good.

My advice, just my advice, get as many magazines as you can, stay with military surplus, and fit them to your rifle, and make sure they work and feed full(Minus 2/two rounds) and almost empty, not just fit.

YMMV.
 
The 2 steel mags of mine that dented were exactly from hitting the dirt with them in my vest. I've done the same with pmags although they were fine. The plastic circle 10 mags will pop if you land on them and the Tapco, well there just junk waiting to break.
 
Here's the optic rail you want:
http://www.rsregulate.com

The Circle-10 mags are the best of the best, but quite pricey. Milsurp steel works just fine too. Down-loading mags by 2 is a myth from the early days of the AR15, not necessary.
 
Reswob said:
Here's the optic rail you want:
http://www.rsregulate.com

The Circle-10 mags are the best of the best, but quite pricey. Milsurp steel works just fine too. Down-loading mags by 2 is a myth from the early days of the AR15, not necessary.
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wow, good to know, I guess the feed malfunctions with fully loaded magazines I've had and seen over the past 30 years were just a myth.

Some AR and AK magazines will function full, some wont, almost all of them will function minus 2/Two.

YMMV, and I've never had an issue that 28 rounds couldn't handle that 30 would have.

as for Circle-10 magazines, I've seen them used, they work, never bought one. Always used issue, never felt the need to buy them. Did see a few guys order magpul mags off the river site, they liked them.
 
cricketdave said:
The 2 steel mags of mine that dented were exactly from hitting the dirt with them in my vest. I've done the same with pmags although they were fine. The plastic circle 10 mags will pop if you land on them and the Tapco, well there just junk waiting to break.
Click to expand...
most of the issues I saw with plastic were feed lips, 1/One side snaps or cracks and the ammo flying out like a fountain. never had that issue with mettle, but they will dent, and as long as its not too bad, still be usable.
 
I think the question out on the PMAGs right now is the feed lips. No metal reinforcement like the Circle 10s. The bodies seem to be holding up fine with drops and pushup tests, but I think people want to see loaded mags dropped on the feed lips a few times to see how they hold up. Though I did see a comparison elsewhere that had a Circle 10 dropped, bending its feed lips and causing malfunctions while the PMAG cracked but continued to work. At the least it'd be nice if the PMAG would end the monopoly on Circle 10s and get the price down. I'll be picking up a variety of mags in the coming months so I'll have plenty of backups. I've heard the 20 round Korean mags are good, cheap alternatives to the pricey Hungarian tanker mags so I'll probably get a couple, and though I wish the Gen 3 PMAGs were in the $18-20 range, I'll probably get at least a couple more and maybe a MOE for the range. I will say the PMAGs are much more comfortable to manipulate and handle than the steel mags, but I plan on getting plenty of surplus mags too.
 
US Palm mags look the best, fit the best, but 2/4 I have won't accept 30 rounds, and one of them won't strip a round if it's full (as mentioned previously). I also have 3 of the Gen 2 Pmags - two are great, one of them doesn't fit in my rifle (SLR 107fr), it's too wide. If I have managed to jam it in there, it also will not strip a round. I also have polish surplus mags that work just fine. Harder on my fingers to load, but they work…and work.

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I've got 6 AK rifles. A Romanian SAR-2, a WASR 10/63 (SOC Contractor rifle), a SLR-107FR, a SLR-107UR (SBR), a Saiga AK74, and a Norinco NHM-90.
 
I'm an AR guy but still got love for the Kalashnikov too. Bought an Arsenal SAM7R-66 at the beginning of the year and just recently finished modding it up. Here's the final product...

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Shown with my latest knife acquisition, the Gunner 12 by Blackheart Knives...

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i have a matching Polish AKMS build, built by Allied Armament. There was a big group buy a few years back. Paid $650 for it 2 years ago from a guy who got it through the group buy. Its a great rifle. Original polish chrome lined barrel, and they were built on the nodak spud receivers which are top notch. Shoots very well, I can pull off 4-5" groups at 100 yards with the irons and tula ammo which is fine for what it is. I love any AK variant. Id really like to get a 74 soon, maybe an Arsenal as well.

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Nice looking rigs everyone. Took it out this weekend and put a little over 250 through it and shoots like a dream. The grittiness in the takeup on the trigger is starting to smooth out, and I'm not minding too much the 7.5lb pull because it's very predictable and consistent. I'm used to my target rifles with 1 to 2.5 lb triggers, but on a "fighting" rifle like this, I think the trigger is good as is. Didn't really have to move the sights much to zero at 50, but was ringing a 10" steel plate at 100 yds consistently with the irons, sometimes 19 out of 20 times. I think my first upgrade though might be a Magpul grip. I shot my friend's C39V2, and the Magpul grip is much more comfortable. I can see myself getting some kind of red dot too with a RS Regulate mount.
 
I don't have a very good photo of my SBR AK but this is it. I really enjoy this one.

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Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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