Will the resident AK guru please school me

[welderguy]

What is the difference in a Romanian , polish, and a Yugo AK, is it craftsmanship, material quality, or a combination.
I recently looked at a few at a shop I stopped at and they all look and feel the same to me.

So I looked on line at AK forums and best I could get from that was personal preference, depending on what that person owned was the best .

thanks for any info on this subject.

[SARKY]

The best I can do for you is this. Some receivers are milled while others are bent sheet metal. The traditionalist would prefer the milled receiver. By some accounts the sheet metal receivers are supposed to be more reliable. But no matter which, they all work all the time. That is the one thing the AK is known for, not accuracy.

[welderguy]

Thanks Sarky.

[rebel]

Accuracy, a pie plate at 100 yards. What more do you need?

[Stony]

I think the SKD is a better option, esp. the Russian made.
Got a Norinco AK 74 also, good, reliable and reasonable accurate gun.
Have not found any difference in quality between the Russian and Norinco.

[Pict]

I own a Romanian WUM-1 imported during the Clinton era ban. My rifle is very high quality and uses the same stock as the Romanian version of the Dragunov sniper rifle. Other examples of the WUM-1 imported after my rifle are total crap.

With AK's it pretty much comes down to how much you want to pay. Make sure the front sight block isn't canted a few degrees to the side. This is a common error on lower priced AK's. I personally wouldn't buy an AK I couldn't inspect.

Mac

[glockcop]

IMO Russian = best quality and craftsmanship (those are loose terms for an AK IMO). Romainian/Yugo are close but the Norinco (cheaper Chinese import) is deservedly dead last. You get what you pay for with most things in life. They will all run "like all get out" but the Russian is a little nicer with better fit, finish, and furniture (all AK wood is ugly in reality...no warm and fuzzy feeling from pretty wood). AK 74's (read not AK 47) carry the advantage of large amounts of cheap, readily available, ballistically superior ammo to be had. Best.