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AK-47 what do i need to know

twinbrook86

twinbrook86

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i am looking to get a AK-47 and i dont know to much about them

what should i be looking for ?
i want just a basic AK

what problems should i be aware of while looking at either used or new

what is the price point on them?

dont really know anything about the imports or prebans? is that something i need to know?
i live in mass and want to spen approx 400-600

also i guess if someone has one for sale or thinking about it let me know
 
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Most of them need to be MA compliant and have no bayo lug, unthreaded barrel/no muzzle break, and preban mags.

WASR 10s from Romania run 4-500. Good general purpose AK, nothing fancy, but you won't be afraid to beat it. Most of them are coming with just one 30 round preban.

I.O. AK's cost about the same...but the one's Ive seen, I don't like the riveting and some other quality issues....

SAR's cost more 600-800 territory. Supposedly better quality.
 
Most of them need to be MA compliant and have no bayo lug, unthreaded barrel/no muzzle break, and preban mags.
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1. All of them must be MA AWB compliant unless the gun was made as an assult weapon before the ban in 1994
2. Muzzle breaks/compensators are perfectly legal. flash hiders are not.
3. Pre-ban mags only if they hold more than 10 rounds

WASR 10s from Romania run 4-500. Good general purpose AK, nothing fancy, but you won't be afraid to beat it. Most of them are coming with just one 30 round preban.
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WASR10's are the bottom of the barrel. Get this if you just want a cheap AK, nothing more.
 
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Moderator said:
WASR10's are the bottom of the barrel. Get this if you just want a cheap AK, nothing more.
Click to expand...

If you want something "more" then either find a "post-ban" AK like a thumbhole stock Maadi:
images

a "post-ban" styled Bulgarian "AK47":
29938d1296630592t-bulgy-7-62-best-buy-dsc01692.jpg


or a neutered "post-ban" norinco.


Post-ban AKs were AK rifles imported after the 1994 assault weapons ban. In order to make them compliant, they came with thumbhole stocks, bayonet lugs ground off, and permanently attached muzzle nuts to keep the threads from being exposed. Currently Bulgaria is shipping a AK that is like this, plus it's a single stack AK, or in other words, doesn't take your typical double stack 30 round AK mag. The single stack mags top out at 10 rounds. Yugoslavia imported a rifle to the US at one time that was like this, too.

The older "post ban" AKs like the maadi and the neutered norincos can take double stack magazines.

If you don't want to think about it, get a WASR 10. And then make sure that the front and rear sights line up correctly and aren't canted. It's basic. It's easy to find. And you don't have to worry about what you're getting- you're getting a beater that probably shoots pretty damned good.
 
My first AK was a WASR i picked up at 4 Seasons and i loved it. I never had a problem with it and it was pretty accurate. I also could beat on it and loved it. I have heard all the goods and bads from people, so i guess it depends which one you get. For your first AK it should be fine. Living in MA i think it may be the easiest to find.
 
This is great! I'm also looking for one of these but have the time and willingness to wait for a really nice one if possible. I had many of these same questions and appreciate the info from all the members. Personally, am willing to spend up to a thousand for a good one, and am hoping a Russian one will show up with matching serial and from Izhevsk (sp?) factory origin. Anyone with any leads for me..it would be much appreciated.
 
also, here are a few threads about people asking the same thing that you're asking:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/121578-AK-advice-needed

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/116295-Kalashnikov-Buy

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/106688-Opinions-on-a-WASR-10

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/112262-Thinking-of-getting-a-WASR-10-single-stack.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/111925-norinco-ak-47

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/105155-Wasr-10


Peruse through some of those threads and you'll get a better idea of what to look for in Massachusetts.

What really counts is that you find something that makes you happy. And that you enjoy shooting. As far as I'm concerned, you're on the right path [wink] but I'm kind of an AK nut myself.
 
WASR. You'll be hard pressed to find anything else (bulgarian, or anything milled) around here that isn't marked up beyond reasonable pricing however, so be prepared to assume the position with a smile if you decide to spend more and get a milled ak.

Don't think the WASR is a weak contender though. For the money, it's hard to beat.
 
j2murphy said:
This is great! I'm also looking for one of these but have the time and willingness to wait for a really nice one if possible. I had many of these same questions and appreciate the info from all the members. Personally, am willing to spend up to a thousand for a good one, and am hoping a Russian one will show up with matching serial and from Izhevsk (sp?) factory origin. Anyone with any leads for me..it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

If you've got a grand to throw at one....look at the bulgarians/arsenal....both 7.62 and 5.45. You can't go wrong in that direction
 
j2murphy said:
Personally, am willing to spend up to a thousand for a good one, and am hoping a Russian one will show up with matching serial and from Izhevsk (sp?) factory origin. Anyone with any leads for me..it would be much appreciated.
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for $1000? You have a few options...

Buy a converted Saiga, or a Arsenal of Utah built AK. Arsenal gets the receiver/barrel assemblies from the "modern" Izhevsk Legion plant that builds AKs for the russian military. They've stopped building Saiga sporter AKs, but I am not sure if they are still supplying Arsenal with AKM assemblies for their rifles, which are close to direct copies of Russian military AKs except semi-automatic.

http://www.hendersondefense.com/store/pc/home.asp

Henderson Defense will neuter an Arsenal rifle and ship it to a MA FFL. It costs a little bit of money, but I bet you could get one around $1k after everything is said and done. They will grind down the bayonet lug, permanently attach the muzzle brake, and pin the stock if you get a folding stock Arsenal AK. Then have them ship it to your FFL of choice, and voilla- you have a very close-to-the-real-deal modern Izzy AK.


Now, if you want real military parts from back in the day- you gotta build your AK. Or source the parts and send them out to a licensed builder. Currently I've got every part for a 1970 Tula arsenal AKM- russian barrel components correct for the era (machined), a virgin military spec 7.62x39 barrel, a Tula stamped 1970 front trunion, correct carrier/bolt, correct "doughnut" rear trunnion, late 60's - early 70's Tula carved wood stock set, etc. etc. The only thing I don't have is a replica receiver and a top cover (my top cover is Izzy) but it is serialized to my tula carrier and bolt, so it was re-arsenalled at one time. Anyways, this route gets $$$. And it involves a world-wide scavenger hunt. I just got a few parts imported from Ukraine (the sight leaf and rear trunnion) and it takes lots of time, gambling with customs, and patience.

But to me, it's worth it.
 
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I've seen a few of the 10's around too, and starting to see more now.

Most WASR's take the 30 rounders.....if you have class A get that.
 
Zero Hour Arms has some WASR's in stock if you want to go that route, though they were a little more than I was looking to pay for that rifle. There was an Arsenal for sale in the classifieds section here as well...that would be a tasty AK indeed. I might have grabbed that one if I could get it for a price I was willing to pay and had the extra cash.

I wound up picking up a Bulgarian one, which is (marginally) nicer than the romanian ones. It's a TDI, rather than the nicer milled reciever Arsenal ones, but I am nonetheless happy with it. The one real problem with it is a ridiculously loose front lower grip (plastic) but my plan is to finish some ironwood furniture for it anyway so i don't really care too much. The trigger on the Bulgarians is reputed to be light, and light it was. I like it though.

One thing about the canted sights. I checked my gun in the store according to what I had seen online (the crappier TDI Bulgarians have the same issue with canted sights that the romanians have) and it looked OK, but when I got it home I became convinced that it was canted. I saw someone mention the idea of running a piece of dental floss from the front sight through the notch in the rear to check. I did this and the floss did not line up with the stock, so I figured I was right and it was canted.

I brought it to the range and shot 100% on paper (I have no rifle experience, so my aim was a problem but the rifle seemed to shoot straight). I then borrowed a couple bore lasers from a friend (one goes in the end of the barrel, the other loads like a regular round) and checked it. It's spot on (but a little high which my buddy told me his WASR's are too).

I guess my point is that you should look at a lot of rifles until you can really figure out what a canted sight looks like. After all this I am still not quite sure since mine looks canted to me, tests canted with floss, and yet shoots straight and testing with a bore laser looks fine.

I'm new to this as well so, grain of salt. However, I managed to pick up a rifle I am quite happy with.
 
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canted sights are only bad when the front sight block's pin can't be adjusted enough to compensate for the parts failure to line up.

And if you are shooting high, adjust your front sight pin: you can twist it to raise or lower it. In your case you want to raise it.

and that guy selling the 5.45 Arsenal rifle is selling it for a pretty fair price for what you get. If you don't want to hassle with "converting" a rifle, it's not that bad.
 
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flintoid said:
canted sights are only bad when the front sight block's pin can't be adjusted enough to compensate for the parts failure to line up.

And if you are shooting high, adjust your front sight pin: you can twist it to raise or lower it. In your case you want to raise it.
Click to expand...

I need to either get to be a better shot or find some place to shoot it from a bench rest before I can really say if it's shooting high or not, but yea I read up on the adjustments. I wanna get a hold of a sight alignment tool the next time I order some crap.

I actually read about a lot of people drilling out the pins holding the front sight block and de-canting the sight too. A couple people even just clamped the barrel and took a hammer to it, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.
 
endus said:
I need to either get to be a better shot or find some place to shoot it from a bench rest before I can really say if it's shooting high or not, but yea I read up on the adjustments. I wanna get a hold of a sight alignment tool the next time I order some crap.

I actually read about a lot of people drilling out the pins holding the front sight block and de-canting the sight too. A couple people even just clamped the barrel and took a hammer to it, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.
Click to expand...

I'd offer up using my sight tool at a NES shoot, but in retrospect, sighting in a rifle at a NES shoot is one of the last things you'd want to do lol [grin] too much chaos. They're cheap. I think I picked mine up for $8

You wouldn't want to drill out the pins- you'd want to knock them out with a punch and then possibly re-drill the slots on the barrel and put bigger pins in place. But that's only for the worst of sight canting.

Knocking it with a hammer wouldn't hurt much. You'd be surprised. I assembled my bulgarian AK74 with a few hammers and a bench vise, so you can only imagine how many times I've hit that thing with a hammer [smile]. They're fairly tough parts. If you want to hit it and not mess it's finish up, use a contractor's hammer, which is made out of hard rubber.

but honestly it doesn't sound like you have much of a canted sight issue. I'd leave well enough alone and just shoot the thing and enjoy it.
 
flintoid said:
I'd offer up using my sight tool at a NES shoot, but in retrospect, sighting in a rifle at a NES shoot is one of the last things you'd want to do lol [grin] too much chaos. They're cheap. I think I picked mine up for $8

You wouldn't want to drill out the pins- you'd want to knock them out with a punch and then possibly re-drill the slots on the barrel and put bigger pins in place. But that's only for the worst of sight canting.

Knocking it with a hammer wouldn't hurt much. You'd be surprised. I assembled my bulgarian AK74 with a few hammers and a bench vise, so you can only imagine how many times I've hit that thing with a hammer [smile]. They're fairly tough parts. If you want to hit it and not mess it's finish up, use a contractor's hammer, which is made out of hard rubber.

but honestly it doesn't sound like you have much of a canted sight issue. I'd leave well enough alone and just shoot the thing and enjoy it.
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Ahaha, yea I need to come to one of the shoots most definitely. I wanna especially see what people have done with their AK's now that I have this project goin. The sight tool is definitely cheap and worth owning.

I agree, though, I'm not going to bother with it at all. I think it's totally fine. Eventually I'll get it out to a decent length rifle range and if I really have problems there i'll re-address it but for the time being it's way more accurate than I am.
 
i was out and around today looking. Collectors in stoneham had some 7.62 wasrs >500. Zero hour has some but they were quoting 600 on the phone. FS, didn't see any. Gun room shrews had an ARS in 223 for $800..
 
$600 for a WASR 10? That is overpriced by quite a bit, IMO. I believe that is a little bit of price gouging because the customer base is captive to a point because of where they live.
 
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Yeap, that would be why I didn't buy a Romanian rifle there. If I remember right there were a few less than 6 but all were well into the 5's. I refuse to pay that much for that rifle even with my limited knowledge.

The Bulgy, from what I see online, was not so egregiously overpriced. Still "Mass prices" but not 600 bucks for a WASR overpriced.

Full disclosure, still a fun shop to visit with a lot of nice people.
 
My favorite Kalashnikov variant and book recommendation

I'm partial to Hungarian SA-85M. If you're patient and persistent, you can still find them on Gunbroker.com for around $500 (I bought two near this price point in the past 6 months). With shipping and transfer fees, it will come out to about $600.

I just finished reading the definitive history of the development of AK-47 and its many descendants. http://www.amazon.com/Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743270762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297298107&sr=8-1
I highly recommend it.

SA85m3.jpg


SA-85mreconfigured.jpg
 
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If you're looking for more versatility...

Lots of customizations are possible
newstock.jpg
 
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