I won’t buy a post-89 AK unless it’s something really cool, but here’s my guidance:
- Must have a military pedigree (No .223 “AKs” and no US-made receivers!)
- No
US-made
Receivers!
- Must have a threaded barrel or be able to thread 14x1 LHT (no bolt on brakes!)
- Nothing bubba’d that can’t be un-bubba’d
- Must be square-back receiver if Chinese
- No B-West stuff, not even the early heat-treated ones.
- No mix-matched country of origin parts (with some exception, e.g. a modified Romanian stock on a MAK90 > Chinese thumbhole stock
- more available parts = easier to de-ban (e.g. Romanians are easy to de-ban, Chinese less so)
- Must be chrome-lined barrel (unless M70)
- No f***in Magpul stocks or handguards!
- Badly canted sights = too hard to fix
- Must have good factory rivets
- A partial Saiga conversion is better than a full Saiga conversion from an unknown builder
- MUST be 16” barrel
- TBC