MPi-AKS-74N built by Two Rivers Arms

[SteyrAUG]

I got my first 74 mags from Northridge International. Same deal, $24.99 - 4 mags, pouch, cleaning kit, and oddly, a blank adapter for a 7.62 AK. Got them for my then-new SAR-2. My first ever gun.
Back in those days if you asked a gun shop employee about 5.45x39 the usual response was “hurrr….durr..doncha’ mean five-five-six?”

My first was a Romak II which was returned to preban config. All black furniture with those orange bakelites looked pretty cool. And yeah, only AK kids knew about 5.45x39 and back then we were still believing all the "poison bullet" hype. I grew up reading about the dreaded 74 in the pages of Soldier of Fortune in the early 80s, never thought the day would come when I'd actually have one.

When I finally got a legit Legion rifle, made in Russia it was almost a "MP5 moment" where I just looked at it with awe thinking "I can't believe I actually own one now." Ironically those old Peter Kokalis reviews in SOF, and later posted on Remtek, motivated many of my 20 year later purchases.

[Circle_10]

My first was a Romak II which was returned to preban config. All black furniture with those orange bakelites looked pretty cool. And yeah, only AK kids knew about 5.45x39 and back then we were still believing all the "poison bullet" hype. I grew up reading about the dreaded 74 in the pages of Soldier of Fortune in the early 80s, never thought the day would come when I'd actually have one.

When I finally got a legit Legion rifle, made in Russia it was almost a "MP5 moment" where I just looked at it with awe thinking "I can't believe I actually own one now." Ironically those old Peter Kokalis reviews in SOF, and later posted on Remtek, motivated many of my 20 year later purchases.

Oh yeah, this was around 2002 for me and I had completely fallen for the 5.45 legend

(and don’t get me wrong, 5.45 is not a bad cartridge, it just suffers due to the lack of load development. 7n6 is still probably the most effective available load in the US and even it’s not all that great, plus the supply of that has obviously dried up.)

…hence why I went with 5.45 for my first AK…which quickly proved to be a terrible decision as it was only available via ordering it. This wouldn’t normally have been an issue except I was still living at home and wasn’t supposed to have any guns, and unlike the mags and EG furniture set I bought from Northridge, the ammo couldn’t go to a P.O. box.
For a long time a dwindling supply of 70gr Ulyanovsk was my only 5.45 ammo.

Back in those days all the Russian ammo still had those green lacquered cases/red sealant on it.
For several months that SAR-2 lived full time in my Jeep because I didn’t dare bring it in the house.
I had a similar “I can’t believe I actually have one of these now” moment.
During the early 2000s period the AK I really wanted was an AKS-74, and I just assumed I’d never have one.
It wasn’t until 2014 though that I made that happen with an SLR-104.

[Arik]

I should have bought more 5.45 lol. I have a lot, probably more than I'll shoot in two life times but when suddenly it's gone you start to think to yourself .....do I really have enough! . I mean really enough!? How are you going to feed a belt fed? Doesn't matter that you'll never actually see one in person let alone own it

I got into the 5.45 at $75-$100/tin. They were still found for $75 but the standard was already $80ish+ and as high as $100. I thought I was getting ripped off at close to $100!!! How times change

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk