Been thinking about picking up an AK and don't know a lot about the quality of the different kinds. Whats the best ones to consider? Thanks in advance for the help

Bearcat,

A bit of it depends on how much money you want to spend. Generally speaking, the Russian AK's are considered the best. Then, the Egyptian ones after that, because they were made on Russian equipment.

Personally, I spent the money to get a Bulgarian AK. I've got several thousand rounds through it, and I still haven't even worn the finish off the internal rails. I've had zero malfunctions (which isn't surprising with AK's).

I've also had the opportunity to shoot a few others, including preban Chinese and post ban Romanian. The Chinese was a sweet shooter, but honestly, I would not buy one of the Romanian AK's.

Best of luck.

mike

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to AK's but I have owned 3 of them. This was my experience with them.

1. Romanian: Piece of junk. Nothing fit, spray paint finish and had a terrible trigger slap that began to hurt after about 10 rounds.

2. Arsenal USA milled: Nice gun, but not worth the asking price. Arsenal has discontinued all of their milled models. When they did this the price sky rockected and I was able to re-coop my investment.

3. Chinese MAK 90 milled: This one is every bit as nice as the Arsenal and has a better trigger to boot. It's accurate by AK standards and is an extremely well built rifle. The milled models are made in the Polytech factory same as the legend's which draw about $1200-$1500 now day's. I paid $375.00 for mine and wouldn't part with it for twice that.

I've owned stamped and milled receiver models. Personally I prefer the milled ones as the feel more solid in my hands.

Here is my MAK90. It's had a few mods done to it.

Terry

TC1,

Nice Rifle, thanks everyone for the info I'll see what I can find.

I have a AMD-65 if you can get your hands on one you will not be disapointed.

While I'm certainly no authority - my experience has been only with the Russian and Chinese variants - I think the Chinese were better (more reliable?) than the Ruskie. I have seen them stomped open with a boot and still would shoot. Neither were what I would call 'accurate' but they will shoot under unbelievable conditions and keep hammering. Always thought the Ruskie ammo was better than the Chinese stuff but it seemed all of it would shoot if not so rusty it wouldn't chamber.
Hope this helps a bit.

That Mak 90 looks nice. I've heard good things about them. Just to throw this out.... would you guys consider Galils and Finnish M90's to be AKs? Since they are essentially mechanically AKs, and outwardly similar. I guess though, that those rifles are not yet surplus, and so not available on the civilian market, not even in free states. By the way, I found some loop holes that may allow me to persue my dream of having an AK in california. Except it would be a super watered down one.

My favorite is the Poly Tech Model AKS with the red "plastic" furniture and the side folding stock.

From my limited experience: - I inspected and shot some AKM´s during the eighties

1. Russian AKM: Low quality production, malfunctions, ie crap.

2. Romanian AKM: Same as above.

3. East German AKM: Very nice, quality, shot like a dream.

All these were selective fire mil. production. Personally I do not like them, they do not fit me, I will take a G3 or FN FAL any time.

Pondoro

H&K 91 ["civilian" G3] is my most favorite.

Ok been doing allot of research found some interesting data along the way. I finally jumped in and bought a few polish underfolder kits for making $$$$ more than anything. These kits are getting scarce and some have tripled in value in the last 2 years. Another one that I'd love to have is the Yugo Krinkov M92 kit and make a SBR out of it. These have a really cool look (unpractical as all get out, but I'm sure will be worth alot in the years to come) Anyone have any thoughts on the M92's......should I or......

Never done the kit thing. It just doesn't match my level of interest in these rifles.

Terry

Im looking for a standard AK also does any body have experience with the Yogos advertised in J&G

Never shot an AK, but from what I've seen, the military issues are made much nicer than the surplus ones. Those never have been finished, blued them in the middle of manufacturing and shipped. I saw the police issue in Romania, that had a nice folding stock different than the commercial ones.

MAK-90s can still be found at "cheap" prices, not as low as the early 1990s when tey first arrived, but still cheap. IMHO, the MAK-90 is the best of the non-Russian AK clones. I think the Chinese studied the US reactions to their earlier imports and did their best to improve the things. After all, and original Chinese AK circa the mid-1980s would throw a 100 yard group that was worse than a 12 gauge with buckshot. I would NOT stand in front of a MAK-90 at 100 yards!! Worse thing about the MAK-90 was the Smell of that original wood stock. I raced to get the thing off and replace it with a fiberglass stock, which it has worn ever since 1994. Not a bad pig gun, all in all.

LLS

best AKs in my book and my experience are the original Tula folding stock ones and the east German made MPiK 72

While serving at a scout unit i tested a lot of aks the best were made by oriental germany .Juan

I'm an AK junkie. There isn't any "bad" AK's, just some better than others. The original AK's had stamped receivers, but the Russians didn't know how to properly heat treat them and they fell apart rather quickly, hence they went to the milled receivers. The Russians figured out how to proper heat treat the stamped receivers and introduced it as the AKM.

One other thing, I'd go for a fixed stock over a under folder, they get "wobbly" really quick. The side folders are nice if you want a folder. Either way, good luck.

If you're going to buy an AK, just make sure the front sight isn't canted. The early Romanian rifles were famous for canted front sights and the previously mentioned "trigger slap". The ones currently for sale are pretty good rifles. The Yugoslavian rifles are are nice as are the Chinese. I haven't seen a semi-auto Russian AK offered for sale. A close copy was the early Egyptian rifles, marked Styer.