What to look for when shopping for AK

[CumbiaDude]

We all know p-mags are the favored choice for the M4, but who makes the best 30 round mags for the AK?

Anything used by an actual military. Anywhere in the former Warsaw Pact, Yugoslavia, Albania, China. That usually means metal for 7.62x39 and polymer for 5.45, or bakelite for either.

The only metal mags you need to worry about are "Asian" magazines - they're actually thought to be commercial crap from South Korea (never communist, never issued the AK). Terrible magazines. Stay away from these. There are also plastic mags from Bulgaria that tend to be crap (unless they're from Arsenal/((10)), which is the only military supplier). Examples of Bulgarian commercial mags include the "bullet mags" and clear ones.

The US military has never made AKs, don't buy US-made magazines.

[Glock30]

Never had an AK but for some reason I want one. What are the ones to avoid and what are the ones to look for 1st.

Anyone seen the American made IO AK's? I like the idea of American made parts, but really don't have a starting point of what to look for.

All opinions welcome.

1 canted front site (make sure its not loaded and then look into the front of the gun to make sure its alligned with rear site)
2 woddley mags (maybe they will let you insert one)
3 pull the charge handle back and mid way through it should't stick
4 pop the dust cover off ( if they refuse to let you walk away) make sure its clean (spring, hammer condition)
5 make sure cleaning rod is attached
6 check for wobbley gas glock

Arsenal is the best
WASR is one of the worst

[SteyrAUG]

Thanks for the info guys. And thanks for the info on the IO.

I really should have read "What would one look for if they decided to buy an AK? " sticky first. Tons of good info.

I think I will save up a little and wait for an arsenal.

We all know p-mags are the favored choice for the M4, but who makes the best 30 round mags for the AK?

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=40068

[filthy phil]

The only metal mags you need to worry about are "Asian" magazines - they're actually thought to be commercial crap from South Korea (never communist, never issued the AK). Terrible magazines. Stay away from these. .

crap i think i have 2 of those coming from cdnn.
what's the deal on them?

also what's the significance of running non chrome lined bbls? besides stay away from corrosive ammo

[plouffedaddy]

crap i think i have 2 of those coming from cdnn.
what's the deal on them?

They have horrid rivets and don't last (break/crack).

also what's the significance of running non chrome lined bbls? besides stay away from corrosive ammo
Shorter barrel life

......

[CumbiaDude]

crap i think i have 2 of those coming from cdnn.
what's the deal on them?

The deal is they suck

The entire construction varies widely from military specifications. They have two press-punched "dots" on the spine instead of (or perhaps in addition to) welding. The top part of the body (which the feed lips and locking lugs are a part of) may be glued and punched on instead of welded. I've heard of one of these parts popping off. The feed lips are two pieces instead of one solidly mated piece. The metal may be thin. May not be heat-treated. These I'm not sure on, but the variance in the other things makes you assume the worst. Overall they're just not nearly as durable as "real" mags. They're also a bluish color (not "blued", they are actually a dark midnight blue), but that's more for identification - I don't think the color would necessarily be any worse than matte black

also what's the significance of running non chrome lined bbls? besides stay away from corrosive ammo

All militaries required chrome-lining except for Yugoslavia. Aside from mitigating corrosion, chrome is harder and resists heat and wear better. If you have an unlined Yugoslavian surplus barrel, I wouldn't worry about it. If you have a US barrel... well there's only one type of US barrel I'd get - even the US barrels with chrome-lining are probably screwing up the twist rate or putting the gas port in the middle of a land. US AK barrels are another thing we don't do well at all, with one exception.

[MountainRaven]

What exception is that?

[CumbiaDude]

Bluejack makes excellent AKS-74U barrels, but they don't have a website or I would've linked them in the previous post. They're completely focused on suchka barrels, so if you want an AK-74 or AKM, you still need to go with military arsenal-made. As far as I know, you have to contact them via theakforum.

Their barrels are 4140 chrome moly steel, 1:6 twist, chrome-lined, extractor cuts made, gas port drilled in groove, .214 diameter.

As a comparison, Soviet AKS-74U barrels are hammer-forged [to my knowledge unspecified steel], 1:160mm (6.299 inches), chrome-lined, gas port drilled in groove, 5.45 mm (~.2146).

The only specification Bluejack fails to meet (to my knowledge) is it isn't hammer-forged (but this is partially mitigated by using higher quality base steel). Compared to basically any other American AK barrel, it's light-years ahead.