Everything crappy about the: AK-47/74

[eodinert]

My personal list is a bit longer, but I will leave off the ones that have already been mentioned.

-No place to put your support hand without burning yourself (during periods of high sustained fire).. the rivet in the handguard, the handguard retainer or the receiver will burn you)
-Not particularly accurate
-Magazines too curved to carry well in pouches, and have too many flanges and snag points...and are too heavy.

[RetroRevolver77]

I like my AK's.

Most issues can be addressed with aftermarket components so to me it isn't a big deal.


7n6

[SteyrAUG]

My biggest complaint is that you can't get decent factory examples for $400 or less anymore.

I accept the AK for what it is, what it does well and what it doesn't do as well. All firearms have their inherent strengths and limitations, all things considered the AK is still a viable weapon platform.

[HKGuns]

My gripes have already pretty much been covered and some have been solved by the aftermarket.

- Charging handle awkward to manipulate
- Safety is just a mess
- Not very modular as compared to the AR
- Aftermarket parts are of questionable quality
- Not easy to optic
- Not easy to clean from breech
- Not inherently accurate for some reason (Most any of them)
- Cartridge performance and ballistics is underwhelming (It basically does nothing very well) I hate the 7.62x39.......
- Some models can be a pain to break down without tools
- Did I say pretty much none of them are very accurate?

[markm]

Lack of bolt catch does suck balls. But the recoil to effective range is completely unacceptable. I can shoot an AR (correctly gassed/ported) much faster and accurately, and with 77 gr OTMs, I can reach further than I'd ever have to.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

How far are you getting good hits w 77gr

[VIP3R 237]

I love the AK but yeah it's not perfect by any means. As a lefty I like the location of the charging handle, however the safety selector sucks. Also optic mounting is iffy, luckily guys like RS Regulate have really stepped up the game. Cost is an issue as well, it's hard to spend $1000 on a decent AK and still deal with canted sights and crappy finishes.

[MountainRaven]

Outside of Krebs, no one seems to have any interest in producing a Finnish-pattern AK.

And the ambi Krebs safety leaves a bit to be desired - better than pretty much anything else for ambidextrous use, but still pretty horrible. I think the "tail" of the selector needs to be located further up, otherwise it digs into a right-handed shooter's hand - and it's supposed to be ambidextrous, not left-handed.

Need moar Swiss-pattern AKs. It pretty much solves every problem with the AK, but no one seems to have much interest in actually bringing them into this country in quantity.

[lawusmc0844]

These are my major complaints, most if not all already addressed here but I will say it anyway

- Lack of bolt hold open
- Magazines. The curved shape, protruding floorplate and locking lugs make pouch fitment an issue. At least the 5.45x39mm mags are closer in shape to AR mags
- 7.62x39mm round. Fat, heavily tapered, short effective range, shitty trajectory, heavy. I find the 5.45x39mm round superior in everything but bullet mass
- No decent optic mounting solution. I don't want my optic mounted on top of the handguard that gets hot as **** during sustained fire and I do get a side mount I can't fold my stock unless I take the mount off.
- Safety lever
- Poor heat management, since the piston is right below the handguard it gets hot as **** so I have to wear gloves when firing. I am also concerned about mounting any light or optic on the handguard
- Build quality. Chinese, Russian, and Bulgarian have been good to go in my experience. Just about every American made AK I've seen and handled is garbage. Even Rob Ski's DDI couldn't make it to 2K rounds. Really dispels the myth of "AKs are so simple, anyone can build it!" I had a former friend that built his own 74 and his receiver was warped near the buttstock because he didn't bother to heat treat it.
- Front heavy compared to other weapons in its class
- Sling mounting options suck.

Despite the above, I love my SLR-107FR, even with its bad paint. Sights were straight and dead on from the factory and I can hit a 7x12 steel silhouette around 300m standing with the stock iron sights. Me and my friend was able to consistently hit a larger steel gong target at 400m with his SGL-21 so AKs are plenty accurate in my experience. The right side charging handle doesn't bother me, its actually better on that side so it doesn't get caught on my gear and I don't have to worry about it reciprocating. If I had a SCAR or something similar I would move the charging handle to the right as well. I'd still prefer to take my ARs before I grab my AK.

[TF82]

Trigger slap
Lousy sights
Lousy ergonomics
Trigger slap

The very first gun I ever owned was a weirdo 20" ban era Maadi. They say you should never sell a gun because you'll regret it, but that's not been my experience.