AK 47 questions

[sestoppelman]

My WASR10/63 has been a good performer for the several years I have owned it. I see they have also skyrocketed in price, Holy Smokes!
Paid $425 for mine.

 

[lockingblock]

ARs are not maintenance sensitive if you run them wet. I have ARs that haven’t been cleaned in years and are run suppressed with thousands of rounds on them. They are reliable because they are very wet with CLP.


Im not saying cleaning is bad, it’s a good thing….but it’s a myth that ARs are super sensitive. They just need lube and good mags.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

ARs are pressure sensitive.
A rifle that will cycle Tula steel cased ammo will be way over gassed with M855. And likewise, a rifle tuned for NATO pressure ammo, will likely no cycle with low pressure steel case ammo.
You can help this with different weights of buffers, but gas port size is critical.

 

[WAB]

ARs are pressure sensitive.
A rifle that will cycle Tula steel cased ammo will be way over gassed with M855. And likewise, a rifle tuned for NATO pressure ammo, will likely no cycle with low pressure steel case ammo.
You can help this with different weights of buffers, but gas port size is critical.

I’ve found this to be true of my AR-10 and somewhat so on my AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel. My 5.56’s just chew up anything, suppressed and in-suppressed.

 

[flyfishdoc]

Have owned several. Norinco and Polytech shoot well. milled receiver. cost= 250-650 in the 1980s...
paid 250 for my first one. now 4 digit price tag for the Chinese no longer importable rifles
Century and Romanian not so much...
I figure under SHTF scenario should have a couple Aks as well as AR platforms.
Diversified portfolio...

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I’ve found this to be true of my AR-10 and somewhat so on my AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel. My 5.56’s just chew up anything, suppressed and in-suppressed.

Your 5.56s are probably somewhat over gassed. Most are honestly, besides Colt, BCM and a few others. Some big name brands such as Daniel Defense are notorious for big gas ports. There idea is to sacrifice some longevity for reliability with ALL ammunition.

 

[ducmarc]

I've built 4 ar 15s in 7.62 x39 three of them pistols.I use an adjustable gas block or an adjustable gas key to tune them .an enhanced firing pin and maybe a wolf hammer spring.i usually can drop down to a lighter recoil spring from springco too.to me the ak is too clumsy and heavy.the ar just fits right.every ak I bought I've sold and built another ar.i personally love the ar in a pistol.its as close quarters u can get with a rifle caliber. the latest waiting on a bear Creek barrel I'll have about 650$ in it and it will be totally reliable.

 

[Ray B]

My experience with both AR and AKs is now over 50 years old- but some of the conclusions of then are still valid now. One is the psychology of the rifle/cartridge. When you see your own guys getting killed by the other guys guns, you get a lot of respect for those guns AND when it seems that your own guns/bullets have functioning problems as well as seemingly little effect on the enemy it develops the desire to use the enemy's guns. So a lot of US guys would get battle pick-ups of AK=47s and ammo. But the interesting thing was, we'd run into enemy who were using our guns- The psychology went both ways.

It's true today- you see damage caused by the enemy but don't see what's been done to the enemy - the conclusion is enemy's gun good, your gun junk. but as noted, both sides do the same.

 

[flatwater bill]

Jamie D......I bet you got more info than you expected....or even wanted. But it was a very informative thread, and I learned a lot. The best reason to buy an AK is simply because you want it. I have owned two of them...sold them and bought a Mini-30 which I like better. Good luck......FWB

 

[Jamie D Van Roekel]

Is century arms any good I found a couple that seem ok.

 

[Red Leg]

My experience with both AR and AKs is now over 50 years old- but some of the conclusions of then are still valid now. One is the psychology of the rifle/cartridge. When you see your own guys getting killed by the other guys guns, you get a lot of respect for those guns AND when it seems that your own guns/bullets have functioning problems as well as seemingly little effect on the enemy it develops the desire to use the enemy's guns. So a lot of US guys would get battle pick-ups of AK=47s and ammo. But the interesting thing was, we'd run into enemy who were using our guns- The psychology went both ways.

It's true today- you see damage caused by the enemy but don't see what's been done to the enemy - the conclusion is enemy's gun good, your gun junk. but as noted, both sides do the same.

That is so true.

Works with bigger equipment as well. At the start of the Gulf war, we were convinced the T72 was an awesome combat vehicle. Then we started playing around with the ones we were easily killing and capturing. It was a somewhat dangerous toy compared to an Abrams.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Is century arms any good I found a couple that seem ok.

I have a stamped receiver and I didn’t really care for it. It shoots ok and has never failed me, but I am currently selling it.

 

[mdwest]

Is century arms any good I found a couple that seem ok.

Depends on the model...

Century manufactures AKs... and have at different times imported AKs and sold them under the Century brand...

Some are notoriously bad (most of the US manufactured ones have a very bad reputation for poorly machined parts, not being reliable, etc..

The WASR on the other hand (Romanian AK imported by Century) has a very good reputation as far as entry level/basic AK's go..

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I should add that the rifle I have is manufactured by century arms.