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Well, after alot of debating and weighing of options I've decided to purchase my first AK47. I already have a couple of ARs so I thought I'd venture into another world a bit. Went back and forth between AK47 and AK74 and in the end I decided to go with AK47. I decided 7.62 for the following reasons:

1) More take down power
2) Ammo still being actively produced by foreign countries (unlike 5.45) and soon by Hornady.
3) If I want accuracy, I'll grab an AR
4) 5.45 and 5.56 look too similar in size. I can just see one of my idiot friends getting the wrong caliber loaded

I ordered it from classicarms.us thanks to a few on the board that recommended them. If anyone is in the market, it's $349 less shipping. It has polymer furniture (not a fan of the wood stuff) and the stock is longer than standard length. I plan on changing out the pistol grip and handguard to something else and probably pick up some Tapco mags. Here's a few pics:

Range report?

Stay away from Crapco

cajunautoxer wrote:Stay away from Crapco

Agreed. Buy the $10 30rd mags from AIMSurplus if they've still got 'em.

By all accounts I put trust in, stick with East Bloc mags, like Bulgarians, etc. I haven't bought in the last few months because I bought a bunch last year, but they are generally reasonable price. In my case I bought them at CopeDistributing.net, which often has AK stuff. There is one new US made mag by Palm, that is getting very good reviews but that is the only US made magazine I have read about that is any good.

elb

p.s. nice looking AK and nice price. Welcome to the AK world.

congrats!

cant wait to read the range report.

jeeperbryan wrote:Well, after alot of debating and weighing of options I've decided to purchase my first AK47. I already have a couple of ARs so I thought I'd venture into another world a bit. Went back and forth between AK47 and AK74 and in the end I decided to go with AK47. I decided 7.62 for the following reasons:

1) More take down power
2) Ammo still being actively produced by foreign countries (unlike 5.45) and soon by Hornady.
3) If I want accuracy, I'll grab an AR
4) 5.45 and 5.56 look too similar in size. I can just see one of my idiot friends getting the wrong caliber loaded

I ordered it from classicarms.us thanks to a few on the board that recommended them. If anyone is in the market, it's $349 less shipping. It has polymer furniture (not a fan of the wood stuff) and the stock is longer than standard length. I plan on changing out the pistol grip and handguard to something else and probably pick up some Tapco mags. Here's a few pics:

Your AK47 arrival might be a little delayed. http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=34997" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe you should not have continued clicking on that "Buy" button 147 times when it did not immediately respond.

MadMonkey wrote:

cajunautoxer wrote:Stay away from Crapco

Agreed. Buy the $10 30rd mags from AIMSurplus if they've still got 'em.

You know coming from the AR world, I have always thought Tapco to be crap. Heck, I've even bashed ppl using Tapco products in their ARs. BUT, in the AK world they seem to have a decent reputation. Their AK mags come highly praised and everyone reviews them favorably:
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/MAG038-36.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b ... 633&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/ak-47-talk ... eview.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There was a time when everyone bashed Magpul saying polymer would never hold up. Now they're widely accepted and have tons of quality parts. Tapco has a lifetime warranty and 90 day money back guarantee on their mags so I might give them a shot. I suppose if the a problem arises then I'll just grab my steel eastern bloc mags.

Furniture wise, for AKs there's not much choice out there. Wood, Tapco, Arsenal....

JJVP wrote:

jeeperbryan wrote:Well, after alot of debating and weighing of options I've decided to purchase my first AK47. I already have a couple of ARs so I thought I'd venture into another world a bit. Went back and forth between AK47 and AK74 and in the end I decided to go with AK47. I decided 7.62 for the following reasons:

1) More take down power
2) Ammo still being actively produced by foreign countries (unlike 5.45) and soon by Hornady.
3) If I want accuracy, I'll grab an AR
4) 5.45 and 5.56 look too similar in size. I can just see one of my idiot friends getting the wrong caliber loaded

I ordered it from classicarms.us thanks to a few on the board that recommended them. If anyone is in the market, it's $349 less shipping. It has polymer furniture (not a fan of the wood stuff) and the stock is longer than standard length. I plan on changing out the pistol grip and handguard to something else and probably pick up some Tapco mags. Here's a few pics:

Your AK47 arrival might be a little delayed. http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=34997" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe you should not have continued clicking on that "Buy" button 147 times when it did not immediately respond.

LOL, yes I am impatient. Just got my shipping notice today so I guess they weren't able to fit the 148th click on that truck :)

Welcome to the world of AK's. I hope you pleased.

My first AK was a Vepr K that is a high end rifle IMO. It won't shoot 1" groups, but it will shoot consistent all day with just about any ammo. The WASR-2 I have is a bit on the junky side and sounds like the action is full of gravel, but it still shoots.

I would also suggest the steel magazines from former communist bloc nations. Those mags use thick steel and are very tough.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I hadn't seen AIM's prices on these mags. I might have to buy some more.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I would suggest getting at least one 20 rounder or 10 rounder to play with at the range in case you ever want to play with bench shooting.

Let me know how the first time out with it goes. I just ordered a Romanian AK from AIM today, but I looked and debated a whole lot before doing it and the one you got is one I looked at a few times.
If I like the AK that I get I may just have to get another one and if you like yours might be one of them.

Congrats on you purchase!!

MechAg94 wrote:Welcome to the world of AK's. I hope you pleased.

My first AK was a Vepr K that is a high end rifle IMO. It won't shoot 1" groups, but it will shoot consistent all day with just about any ammo. The WASR-2 I have is a bit on the junky side and sounds like the action is full of gravel, but it still shoots.

I would also suggest the steel magazines from former communist bloc nations. Those mags use thick steel and are very tough.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I hadn't seen AIM's prices on these mags. I might have to buy some more.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I would suggest getting at least one 20 rounder or 10 rounder to play with at the range in case you ever want to play with bench shooting.

Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah, I'm not expecting this puppy to win any beauty or marksmen contests. Just want it as a reliable plinker & a problem arises gun. I might have to get some of those mags from AIM. I bought a bunch of AR mags from AIM a few months ago. I was also thinking about getting a 10 rounder just for bench shooting.

Bonc_CHL wrote:Let me know how the first time out with it goes. I just ordered a Romanian AK from AIM today, but I looked and debated a whole lot before doing it and the one you got is one I looked at a few times.
If I like the AK that I get I may just have to get another one and if you like yours might be one of them.

Congrats on you purchase!!

Yes sir, I'll let you know how it goes. I went back and forth between Classic and AIM. I've had really good experiences with AIM in the past so I was reluctant to try another vendor eventhough they had it about $30 cheaper. I've also heard that AIM hand picks all the AKs that they sell so you don't have to worry about canted front sights as much. In the end, it came down to a matter of furniture for me. I prefer polymer furniture and would have switched out all the wood furniture. So the one from Classic was already taken care of for me.

Post a range report of your Romanian up here when you get it!!

jeeperbryan wrote:

MadMonkey wrote:

cajunautoxer wrote:Stay away from Crapco

Agreed. Buy the $10 30rd mags from AIMSurplus if they've still got 'em.

You know coming from the AR world, I have always thought Tapco to be crap. Heck, I've even bashed ppl using Tapco products in their ARs. BUT, in the AK world they seem to have a decent reputation. Their AK mags come highly praised and everyone reviews them favorably:
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/MAG038-36.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b ... 633&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/ak-47-talk ... eview.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There was a time when everyone bashed Magpul saying polymer would never hold up. Now they're widely accepted and have tons of quality parts. Tapco has a lifetime warranty and 90 day money back guarantee on their mags so I might give them a shot. I suppose if the a problem arises then I'll just grab my steel eastern bloc mags.

Furniture wise, for AKs there's not much choice out there. Wood, Tapco, Arsenal....

To me you can group Crapco with Promag. Sometimes they work and sometimes ..........

To me the option to spend more money for a crappier product doesn't make sense

I have a hand full of Tapco 30rd mags and they have all worked 100% for me. I also have a few 20rd promags and never had a problem. I'm not winning a war just hunting paper though.