[Jetpilot007]

Well looks like I've caught the bug on on AR/AK type rifles. One particular one I am considering is Century Arms AK47 (7.62x39). It has the wood stock etc. The price is lclose to 450. Just wanted to obtain opinions on functionality and reliability.

Though reasonable in price for the rifle itself the ammo appears to cost more when compared to a 223.

As usual your inputs are highly valued!

 

[Radkoch]

I know I am new here and my opinion may not carry any weight but they are pretty reliable and fortunately built on on a very good quality receiver. Ammo is still very cheap and mags can easily be found. Hope this helps

 

[Gunnutty]

The Century Ak will usually run just fine. They have had a problem with canted sights on the WASR10. If you can, check the rifle out. They are a good, basic, no frills rifle. Mine always go bang.
The military import ammo can be had cheaper then the 223. It can be found for about 129 per 500 at J&G sales.
I have both the AR and the AK, I like the 7.62x39 caliber better. Not trying to start a caliber war. Just a personal opinion.

 

[obxned]

I have a WASR-10 from Century. It is a good, solid, reliable, Rumanian built AK-47. I love mine. I live on a patch of sand between the ocean and The Great Dismal Swamp, so mine has been thoroughly tested! We sell a ton of these for $400 a piece, so $450 seems a bit high. None in recent months have had even a hint of sight or gas tube cant.

I also have a Century GP75 AK-47. They have new barrels by Green Mountain of New Hampshire, who have been making high quality rifle barrels for ages. The receivers are by DC Industries out of South Dakota, and are about the best AK receivers ever made anywhere ever. The gas pistons and the slant-cut muzzle brakes are new, probably American. The Parkerizing is very nice, and it is uniform on all parts. The furniture is new American black synthetic by Tapco, same with the magazines, and the fire control group is Tapco G-2s.

What parts are original Soviet I can not tell. It all seems brand new, even the cleaning rod and sights. These are amazingly accurate guns, way better than you would ever expect. We usually sell them for a bit less than $450.

If this sounds like a commercial for Century, that is not my intent. When they make an 'Oops', and they have more than once in the past, I am not shy about saying so. However, the stuff of theirs I've seen recently is darn good.

Ammo in 7.62x39 is generally less expensive than .223/5.56. This is partly because an AK-47 will eat any cheap ammo you might find, while an AR will often choke on the non-brass cheap stuff.

In any case, if you want an AK, do it soon. Prices are way down from the panic days, but the supply of them can not last forever, and when it begins to dry up, the prices will climb.

 

[JT]

Check out the Certified WASRs from Henderson Defense:

AK47

Though reasonable in price for the rifle itself the ammo appears to cost more when compared to a 223.

Actually it's the other way around. You can get 7.62x39 cheaper than 223.

 

[MadMac]

I just found a very lightly used SAR-1 version of the Century Arms Romanian platform at my local gun shop. I believe it's a 2003 model, and the previous owner had a fantastic trigger job done as well as installing a Kobra Russian red-dot sight, a basic case, and five magazines. I picked that whole unit up for $560. The dang sight retails for $298 new and is really functional. Good magazines run from $15 to $20 apiece, depending on what and where you buy.

I was happy with the price given all the extras. A guy at the range snarked that the sight was worth more than the rifle. :hand5:

I bought a 1000 round brick of the Tula (Wolf brand in a white Tula box) 7.62 x 39 mm ammo from Eric at ammoman.com for $239 DELIVERED in about two days. I think that's cheaper than most .223 rounds. My AK eats them all day. I was so impressed with ammoman's service, I also bought five new Yugoslavian magazines from him at $99 for five - again, that's the DELIVERED price, and they arrived in just over 48 business hours.

Your price seems a tad high, but I highly recommend the platform. They can also be had new at classicarms.us.

MM

 

[Katana]

Talk them down to around $400, buy it, shoot the heck out of it, and love it.

They're not pretty, but they go bang when you pull the trigger, are reasonably accurate, and are a lot of fun to shoot. I've got around 1000 rounds through mine since I picked it up in December of last year, not a problem with Wolf military classic or American Eagle being shot through it.

I will recommend replacing the shepherds crook with a curved plate whenever you can. They can be found for around $10 and make removing the fire control group a whole lot easier for cleaning. Plus it's a whole lot more durable.

 

[dsee11789]

I loved mine. Pretty accurate too. I sold it to buy my AR and have regretted it, should have kept it and saved. I plan on buying another one soon.

 

[Bulldog39]

I have a WASP-10 under folder, runs great, no front sight cant, shoots straight and always goes bang. The finish and fit are rough compared to most of the AR's on the market and I had to take a grinder to the mag well to get the Pro-Mags to work good. I am planning on getting an AK-74 in 5.45x39, because I like the platform so much.

 

[2edgesword]

Classic Arms has a sale going on for low capacity (10 round) WASR-10 for $299. It comes with five 10 round magazines. The wood requires some finish work but the one I have (same rifle but it accepts high capacity magazines) was pretty accurate out of the box.

Classic Arms Inc.

 

[SGT D USMC]

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket, and yes by all means buy an AK, I have 7 of them. Something to keep in mind is that what ever one you buy most likely began life as an extreamely reliable military weapon. However it almost certainly lost it's recever, its barrel and it's full auto fire controll system. these were replaced by parts that may or may not be well fitted. what you end up with is an AK that will probably be realable for thousands of rounds or fail to funtion badly in the first magazine or two.

I have purchased 9 various aks in the past several years, two of them had to go back to the distributor in less than 50 rounds. I still own them and in 8 years for one and 2 yrs for the other they have never missed a beat.
My girl friend purchased a wasr 10 that would just not funtion more than 3 shots in a row. It went back and they finally just sent her another one. It funtioned great for the first mag, then took about 10 min. to get the mag out. about 20 min with a file on the mag well and it has been great every sense. (wasr-10's were built to send to the us with single stack mags. then the law allowed them to be imported with the originial double stack mag and the mag wells were modified.

All of the problems I stated were from personaly witnessed accounts. My advice is to buy the one you want, from a dealer and disscuss what happens if it dosn't work. Don't let him joke you into believing that they always work. If he didn't buy it used their should be a good short time warranty. make sure their is. Go out and shoot at least 50 rds. if you don't have any trouble you probably never will. It will be a great rifle to add to your collection.

 

[JrHawk]

If your budget will allow for $600, I believe the absolute best AK for the money right now is from Arsenal - the SGL 21. This model is in
7.62 X 39 and is built on a Saiga receiver- the real deal from Russia. Solid parts and well put together. The only downside on the Arsenal's are the finish but in this price range you wont find a better AK. Besides AK's aren't supposed to look pretty. The low price reflects the inflated inventory that they have right now in the states. Go to KVAR's web site and you can order it online to be shipped to your FFL. K-VAR Corporation They still have them at $599 in stock.