Cheapest AK

If you were going after the cheapest AK-47 7.62 you could find, what wouldn't you buy?

There are two kinds of AKs that I would not buy. A WASR-10 with a canted gas tube(makes your AK shoot like a bolt-action) and most of the AK pistols. I have seen AK pistols shoot more loose than bird shot.

323MAR said:

There are two kinds of AKs that I would not buy. A WASR-10 with a canted gas tube(makes your AK shoot like a bolt-action) and most of the AK pistols. I have seen AK pistols shoot more loose than bird shot.

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I remember when you could buy those at gun shows for $350 all day long.

Check out atlantic firearks. If there is a problem their return policies are great. WASR's, the pap series of rifles and pistols are the lowest priced.

don't go for cheap price. spend a lil extra and go for quality

AK shooter said:

Check out atlantic firearks. If there is a problem their return policies are great. WASR's, the pap series of rifles and pistols are the lowest priced.

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Blaine stands behind his products. I bought from him and it was a very good experience. If memory serves me correctly at one point RJF was building kits for them. It was at the old store on Choctaw. Will had a butt load of VEPR's and suggested I buy one. I wish I had. +1 on the PAP Zastava M70's they are nice for the money.

Just picked up a mini draco for 439 shipped. Shoots great. Very fun gun to shoot. Get something good, but I've never had any trouble with my WASR under folder out to 100 yards; I lucked out and got one of the good ones I guess.

I agree with US Infidel here.

Love my WASR and my pistols honestly seem a touch more accurate than 16" rifles for some reason. All pale in comparison to the Sig 556R for accuracy @ 100 yds...but it's EXPENSIVE in comparison.

I have a WASR and an older WUM-1 that are both Romanian and great shooters and accurate enough at 100 yds. EVEN iron sights I'd bet I can hit an 8" target with every shot in a 30 round mag at 100 yds. The Mini draco I just picked up needed some help polishing bolt before it would run 100%, but it's DANG accurate with the TWS dog leg top mount and a Sightmark Red dot (EOtech knock-off). The WUM 1 wears a QD side rail mount and a sig CP1 optic ($150)...which is plenty for 100 yard range fun or busting hogs up to 100 yds.

Oh and here's my WASR now I went nuts with a new Cerakote color.

I'm not an expert but I'll try and spit out what I've studied in the past about the AKM market in the US...

I would avoid WASRs like the plague. There are some other Romanian AK's that aren't bad, but WASRs are really common and have a reputation for having canted sights and some other problems. This stuff can be fixed of course but that costs extra money(or time if you can do it yourself). The thing with WASRs is that even that poor quality is inconsistent: there are some out there that great, but it can be hard to tell the difference if you don't know what to look for before you buy. If you end up with a great one right off the shelf, excellent, but you're taking a gamble every time you get one.

I know it sounds strange, but avoid American made AKs as well. There's a difference between companies that import them to America and companies that actually make them in America. Americans can import AKs just fine, but for some reason we never got the hang of actually making them.

The absolute best bang for the buck in the lower end AK market, in my opinion, would be a Yugo, but a Romanian SAR-1, Egyptian Maadi, Hungarian, or Polish AK would probably do the trick just fine.

Like other people have mentioned though: spend the extra money. If I was wanting to shoot 7.62x39, I'd just go with a Generation 2 Sig 556R. It's going to be even more accurate than a converted Saiga or VEPR and it's going to be less expensive as well. That will be over twice the price of the low end AKs, but it's worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

For what it's worth - I have a yugoslavian "paratrooper" underfolder-style. Absolutely love it.

I should have figured someone would talk smack about WASR's but that's a first on pistols. My Draco is my most accurate 7.62x39. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a WASR10, mine shoots just as well as my Norinco 56S. My WASR gets the most use next to my Draco ak pistol.

Scylas said:

The absolute best bang for the buck in the lower end AK market, in my opinion, would be a Yugo, but a Romanian SAR-1, Egyptian Maadi, Hungarian, or Polish AK would probably do the trick just fine.



Just my 2 cents.

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I'll add a vote for the romanian SAR-1. I never had any issues with mine. Runs great, shoots straight, looks right, feels tight!!!!

SAR-1 and WUM-1 are similar in quality and builds.

Let me also add this:

Yugo N-Pap: are GREAT guns, built very well not chrome lined, but honestly doesn't deter me from them. Very accurate. Have a side rail for optics, but IIRC there's something funny about it compared to typical ones (like an SVD maybe?). Finding furniture for Yugo's is sometimes harder.

WASR series: Cheap, reliable, fun AK. my last 2 had canted sights, but both were only a few degrees off...and both shot dead on out of the box. Very reliable, some kits for $500 come with bayonets which is worth $20-30 to me. Side optic mount is tried and true...I personally love them.

WUM-1: Romanian, chrome lined, well built, aging now though. Mine sometimes hangs on the Tapco G2 trigger for some reason. I replaced the SVD rail with a bolt-in $10 side rail.

Polish: Again not chrome lined, don't usually have side rail on them either, but well-built guns.

Hungarian FEG AMD-65: Folding stock. lightweight guns, sometimes restricted to factory muzzle brake due to shorter barrels on them. No rail on side, more expensive than most "cheap" Ak's. Some have longer barrels and wouldn't be what I consider a "real" AMD-65. despite shorter sight radius these are usually very accurate rifles. The front grip makes putting in a 30-round mag "interesting".

NOTES ABOUT FOLDING GUNS:
Underfolders - will not be able to use a side optic mount rail. Honestly I don't think they are comfortable at all to shoot either. I much prefer...

Sidefolders - I like RIGHT side folders like the Polish Tantal, Romanian, and German. Honestly Tantal are hard to argue against...they really work great with the cheek risers that are offered nearly everywhere online. Left side folders usually do not let you use the side optic rails either and I avoid them.

If going just red-dot the ULTIMAK or Midwest Industries front gas tube replacement rails offer pretty nice optic mounts that let you co-witness with the factory sights with the low-profile red dots. There are also other sight options (scoutscopes.com, etc), and Texas Weapons Systems dog led top cover replacements.

NOTES ON OPTICS:
Pistols - I usually run red dots on the pistols on ultimak or TWS dog leg as the dog leg adds a rear peep (added and expensive), which increases sight radius. I usually run something like sightmark QD ultra shot on top to flip them off real quick should I need the irons. The Ultimak and Primary arms is likely a cheaper red dot combo, but I like to pull my gas tube to clean my guns.

Rifles - I like side mounts. I run a UTG quick disconnect side rail mount and usually Sig CP1 optics. This is about a $175-200 combo. The sig optic is 3x fixed, has BDC drop lines, and is illuminated in both red and green in varying degrees...pretty much all the magnification you need for most AK's anyway. I have run the numbers for different grains of 7.62x39 using this optic since the BDC lines are actually for 5.56/.223. If you want to get fancy buy a Hilux leatherwood CMR 762 series. BDC lines are for the 7.62, the scopes are 1x-4x and they are a lot nicer product...but much more money ($400+).

There's more I am just tired of typing right now!

PAP Zastava M70

Look into getting a vz 2008, 400 bucks gets you a great rifle that has more in common with an sks than an AK, but it's really really light, comes with 5 mags a boyonet and a cleaning kit. The main bad is mags are not interchangeable with the ak, but do have a BHO... the main downfall is a non chrome lined barrel...

sportsbud, glad you said that. There are DEFINITELY things I like better about the SKS over the AK and the BHO is the best thing. I really should try my hand at a VZ to see what it's all about. With Metal Mags and an SKS I think I'm actually faster at reloading it. Forget stripper clips though...I'd be dead after the first 10 rounds.

Harrisracing said:

sportsbud, glad you said that. There are DEFINITELY things I like better about the SKS over the AK and the BHO is the best thing. I really should try my hand at a VZ to see what it's all about. With Metal Mags and an SKS I think I'm actually faster at reloading it. Forget stripper clips though...I'd be dead after the first 10 rounds.

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You can load the magazines with the striper clips in the rifle.