AK History
Does anyone know the current order of "superiority" when it comes to AK manufacturing countries these days? Maybe top 5?
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1.Izmash in Russia
2.Polytech in China
3.Romania
4.Bulgaria
5.Egypt0 -
It depends on whether you are asking about what is currently offered or what has been available of the past 20 years. If you are looking at the top ones available currently the options are noteably few. If you include all the variations from past and present, opinions will vary, but I can give it a try.
1. Bulgarian, milled receiver, Steyr hammer forged barrels, spring loaded firing pin, great fit and finish, only available as a post-ban
2. Hungarian, stamped receiver, excellent fit and finish, pre&post-ban
3. Polytech Legend (Chinese), milled receiver, spring loaded firing pin, nicely finished, pre-ban (Legend), post-ban models were okay, but not as refined
4. Yugoslavian, stamped receiver, nice fit and finish, several variations and calibers, pre-ban only
After that it becomes very subjective.
The Russian guns are fine, but the Saiga isn't designed for standard mags. The Izmash are AK variants, but not exactly standard AK's.
The standard Chinese Norincos could vary from excellent to only good-very good.
The early Egyptian pre-bans looked like they were assembled by a 10 year old and spray painted in a garage. The later ones were better, but still not great.
Romanian ones of today, began coming in the country in 1997, a very acceptable gun, but not going to win any beauty contests. Now offered with a combination of US and Romanian parts.
Some of the various models that were assembled on a receiver from one country and parts (sometimes used surplus) from other countries could be okay and other times be a complete pile of crap. These include the Hesse and FEG (receiver only) models. When the condition of the parts from which they were assembled changed, so did the end product.
If you want to include the AK variations of the Valmet and Galil, then the line up order will change. Both were regarded quite highly.
Depending on the features that a person is concerned about, the whole concept of which ones are better will change. In general almost all of the various models have a decent track record, regarding function. I have had to return several Egyptian ones over the years. They were flatly made wrong and would not function, very poor quality control. Any other time I have encountered a problem (with other brands) it could usually be tracked back to user error in re-assembly, poor maintenance, or improperly fitted parts.
Thats just my opinion based upon my experience from the past 18 years of handling, being around, and from buying & selling hundreds of AK's. I'm sure others will have different opinions. Just trying to help.
LRARMSX@MCHSI.COM0 -
Many that make AK's "these days" are not currently available in the USA. Opinions vary, of course, on what is the best, depending on what the person owns more than anything. The best is the original Russian, probably all but unavailable here. I think the Russian VEPR is the best out there currently available "new". Many will tell you the Chicom rifles are the most "authentic". There is really very little difference between Polytechs and Norincos, IMHO, and I own a Polytech Legend.
To err is human, to moo is bovine.0 -
Very informative , thank you 0
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