What type of ak should i buy

A particular rifle may have, as the manufacturer listed on the receiver, a company that has been making quality AKs for decades.

That same rifle may have come into the US as a box of parts in the s or early s, then assembled by someone who has never built an AK. This inconsistency led to market uncertainty, with end-users struggling to make sense of sources for authentic, reliable AK47s.

Things are much better now, thankfully. While many of the duds from earlier days are still floating around local gun stores and shows, there are many better options off the shelf now than there were a decade ago. There are several reliable builders of foreign-produced AKs here in the states.

Generally, buying one of these new AKs is an excellent option for people new to the platform, as they come with a phone line that will still ring and a warranty. In general, there are two ways to make an AK milling and stamping. A milled receiver starts with a block of metal that is machined into the required specifications.

The resulting receiver is heavy but generally very strong. Stamping, on the other hand, begins with a sheet of metal that is folded into place: the result is a rifle that is lighter and much faster to produce but less durable than its milled counterpart. In the history of the AK, both milling and stamping have been used extensively. For example, early, mass-produced AKs variants used milled receivers, but the Soviets found them too expensive and time-intensive to produce.

Later models for example, the AKM switched to stamped receivers. Besides weight, the main difference a user might notice between a milled and a stamped gun, assuming both are made well, is in the number of rivets.

Because stamped guns do not have large blocks of metal where the front and rear trunnions are, those have to be riveted into place. Neither milled nor stamped guns are the final work in AK manufacturing, and at the user level, the most significant difference you would be likely to notice is the weight.

If a particular rifle has the features and performance that you like, then the construction of the receiver is of secondary concern. Although barrel length itself is not an indicator of quality, there are some considerations you should keep in mind when buying an AK.

No stocks or forward handgrips allowed — making them fun but challenging to use much beyond 50 yards. Additionally, some states have different laws for handgun purchases as they do rifles, so consult a local expert if you have any questions.

The most difficult to own — in terms of time, money, and paperwork — would be a short-barreled rifle but for some folks, the legal headache is more than worth it. The next thing to consider is effectiveness. Generally speaking, the more barrel length a firearm has, the higher the muzzle velocity, thus increasing range and accuracy — up to a point. For the AK, reducing the barrel length from For an all-purpose AK, something with a inch barrel is likely the easiest to own legally and will offer the most flexibility.

For most of us, who are coming to the AK from the AR world, the furniture on an AK can seem a little complicated, less modular, and frustrating. In the neverending battle of AK vs. AR, the modularity of the AK, especially early models, is often called into question.

These days, however, there are many options to get the most out of your Kalash. The Soviets spend six months of the year in winter. Toss on a parka and plate carrier, and the stock length starts to make more sense. Of course, keeping the Germans at bay in Siberia may not be your use case.

Thus, there are types of furniture that will fit on specific series of guns, but not on others. To ensure compatibility with what you want, look to producers like Midwest Industries and Krebs , who manufacture AK furniture for different Kalash series.

Of course, never hesitate to ask questions in forums or from folks selling AKs. You also may need to do a little bit of hand fitting. If your rifle was made in , brought in as a parts kit in , and you get a gas tube from lord knows when you might have to file a little here and shim a little there to get things fitting just right. With some simple hand tools and a little bit of patience when looking for good advice online, this can certainly be done. One last thing with furniture is that the stock you can use depends on the receiver.

Some receivers are designed to work with certain folding stocks and have a latch on the side of the receiver and a differently shaped rear trunnion. The Zhukov is also telescopic, so you get significantly improved ergonomics and room for a cheek riser — plus the side-folding action assists with storage and transport. The company has been trying to do the same with a burgeoning budget Kalashnikov line, the all-American PSAK , which was first introduced in In , the company doubled down on the PSA AK Klone which includes not only a forged carrier, bolt and front trunnion, but also an FN-made cold hammer forged chrome lined barrel.

Vermont-based Century International Arms has been a big name in the firearms import game for decades and they got on the train of making R-compliant AKs more than 20 years ago.

Since then, they have moved on to crafting an increasingly all-American product through their C39 and later RAS47 series guns, which admittedly had some teething problems. Using better build components and showcasing more attention to detail than past rifles, the VSKA has a bolt carrier, front trunnion, and feed ramp machined from S7 tool steel, a nitro-carburized steel bolt, and chrome-moly barrel. Luckily Century Arms has updated and upgraded the former 5th beauty queen alternate.

Not very well fit or finished, however, it is a good example of what makes the AK platform great as it will run when needed and requires very little in the way of keeping it ticking. Also, they are about the least expensive option for a decent Kalash, so who cares what they look like? Florida-based Kalashnikov USA has been making AK-style shotguns and pistol caliber carbines for years but in they finally announced what people have wanted since Red Dawn came out: a legit 7.

Some percent U. Their RAK comes in a classic variant with laminated wooden furniture, as well as models with polymer and featureless stocks for customers in restrictive states. Based in Serbia in a firearms plant that dates to , Zastava has been in the AK game since and launched the M70 subtype more than 50 years ago. However, Zastava USA was set up in and they are now bringing in their own guns which get a gentle R treatment here once they clear customs.

A wounded tank crewman in World War II, young Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was able to repurpose himself as a firearms designer, creating a series of interesting, if unsuccessful, sub-machine gun and carbine prototypes in the mids, learning from each effort. A poet at heart— he published several books of prose in his lifetime— Kalashnikov grew up hunting in Siberia, a harsh and unforgiving climate. His experiences on the battlefield and on the Siberian plain helped him, in the end, to craft an almost poetically simple Avtomat, or automatic rifle, which, after a series of evolutions and refinements by more seasoned engineers, produced the AK which was first adopted by the Soviet military in The toughest challenge to make a functioning AK is to form an accurate barrel and reliable front trunnion.

Using the 7. Eventually, the AK was also ported over to the increasingly popular pistol format, and the AK pistol was born. Far from being a relic of the past, while the gun was augmented by the 5. Importantly, all these variants use the same style action with its easy-to-learn nomenclature and weapons manipulation process. In short, a Soviet motorized infantry rifleman in could grab a ride in a wormhole, pick up a dirty and unloaded AK of today, and figure out how to get it up and running in about 30 seconds.

When it comes to Americans and the Kalash, the first CIA intelligence reports on the gun surfaced in , and photos of the gun, a weapon whose existence until then was kept as a national secret by Moscow, went mainstream in when Hungarian rebels captured a few during the uprising in that country and were photographed by admiring Western journos.

While many captured AKs were recycled for use in special operations, a few were brought back home to the U. These same hard-to-find ARMs were seen extensively in the original Red Dawn, both in the hands of the faux Russkis and the hardy Wolverines. With Chicom Kalash pouring into the country at prices lower than what any domestic maker could attempt to produce a rifle, it kept competition away, that is until the and follow-on bans on Chinese-made rifles and pistols killed the golden goose with ATF red tape.

According to gun industry trade groups, between and , some 4. The weapon uses a 7. They shatter bones, tear through organs and liquefy other materials as the round tumbles through the body -- often in ways that cannot be repaired. When the M16 rifle was first introduced in the Vietnam War, it had a number of issues. There were so many problems that American troops were killed in combat simply because they couldn't shoot back.

Even after the kinks were worked out, a dirty M16 was and is much less likely to operate than a dirty AK When the AK was first introduced, it was such a great weapon that the Red Army actually hid it from the world.

The U. Not that the American military would buy its standard-issue rifle from its main geopolitical foe and potential World War III adversary anyway.

These days, the U. Special operations forces from all branches might have to pick up an enemy AK at some point because of the nature of their work -- sometimes help isn't coming. The rifle was designed to be carried, maintained and fired by anyone in the area who happened to need its services. And if you need a weapon like the AK, you need to be able to use it fast, whether you're a professional soldier or a poorly trained conscript.

The worldwide availability and durability of the AK also makes it an attractive weapon for terrorists, militias and other illegal paramilitary organizations.

Whether they're trying to take over a military base in frozen tundra or overthrowing a government in Sub-Saharan Africa, the AK works really well in every environment, is always available usually at a steep discount and will still work even if it falls into water, mud, sand or some other muck. The average lifespan of a terrorist in a gunfight isn't very long, so that rifle is likely going to hit the ground, and someone is going to need it to work when they pick it up. The terrorist group is definitely going to need a cheap replacement.

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Great article! Get an AKM if you can find one. If you have an AKM and insist that you continue shooting it, please buy a no-go gauge to ensure that it is not losing headspace.

I would love to see American-made AKs reach the quality of foreign-built ones, but that simply has not happened yet. Any rifle on this list will last longer and be more reliable than an American-built AK. A good read. Like a lot of ComBloc weapons, quality varied from poor to excellent, so a guide like this is great to have. All three great weapons, but do further research before spreading myths such as this.

Mikhail Kalashnikov said that he had never seen a Sturmghewer when he designed the AK, and, unlike a lot of people, I actually take him at his word on this. The reason I take him at his word is that the AK looks to me like someone told Kalashnikov about the STG and he designed his rifle to hit all the same high points but, not having an STG to look at, he used his own solutions to solve the same problems in different ways.

Ultimately the two rifles look a lot alike, handle a lot alike, and do the same job, but they do it very differently. Internally they are not very similar at all.

Save my name and email to use for future comments. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery. Gun Digest. But here are 10 front runners to keep an eye out for. Target grids and bullseye sizes are in MOA.

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