AK-103K by AK-USA/Chris Butler (pics/review)

G

GalilARM

New member
I had Chris at AKUSA in Florida put together this beauty for me over the Christmas holiday. In short, gun starts life as an Arsenal/Saiga import, Chris does the conversion, shortened the barrel to 14 inches, refinished the gun, and dehorned a few edges, etc. I added a few other 'practical' modifications as well. Not a huge fan of the decked out AK's, but this one is very purpose built. Turnaround time was around a month, final price for Chris' work was around $1200. Very satisfied. Anybody looking for a top shelf AK but dont want to pay Krebs prices? Check him out

In case anyone cares, the rail is a Midwest Industries extended AK quad rail. Hogue pistol grip. Surefire G2 in a VTAC offset mount. I traded the original Arsenal stock to a buddy who I owed some $ to. This one will do until I get an ACE sidefolder.

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I believe the minimum legal length for a rifle barrel is 16 inches. Unless a special permit is obtained from the ATF / government for a short barreled rifle.
 
Looks kind of similar to my Arsenal. Same Midwest Industries Extended Rail that you have there. I went with the VLTOR AR stock adapter and the US Palm AK Battlegrip. I put a vertical grip on mine, although I'm normally partial to AFG's on my AR's. I also used regular OEM rubber rail ladders instead of the larger pads.

I do like that idea of cutting down the barrel length. Not sure how much it would actually drop the weight up in front though.

Good looking gun. I probably have about the same amount of money into my Arsenal with all the upgrades.
 
I have a Krebs AK103K with the same brake on it. Mine's a early gun, back when Krebs was making them for someone else and the "bans" were still in effect. My buddy just got a more recent AK103K from Krebs, and his came with a flash hider instead of the brake. The difference is pretty dramatic when it comes to noise and flash. The brake is a flame thrower, and its very noticeable, especially in lower light. After shooting my buddys, Im thinking the flash hider is the way to go, and Ive been thinking of sending mine back to Krebs and having one installed.

Other than maybe an occasional red dot, Im more of a traditionalist as far as the AK's go, and like them stock for the most part. A good Russian sling (if you can still find one) is really all you need.

This is my Krebs with an Ultimak and Aimpoint mounted. Ive recently removed them and went back to simplicity. :)

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Its got a permanently affixed muzzle brake that brings the overall length of the barrel to a legal 16
Click to expand...

So you have a barrel that is 16 inches long with 14 inches of rifling? Fair enough.
 
To answer the above two questions:

-Yes, its essentially 14 inches worth of barrel with a permanently affixed muzzle brake. Guys do this type of barrel setup a lot with M4 type rifles when they want it to have the authentic military look and still be legal. (Real M4 carbines have 14 inch barrels with a birdcage flash hider on the end)

-As far as accuracy is concerned, I havent gone out and shot it with the sole purpose of shooting ultratight groups, but when I was finished zeroing the rifle, it was producing a group about the size of a softball at 100yds. More than good enough for me.
 
Yes I hunt with mine at close range and love it. I'm considering buying one of the new LAR-47s when they become available. ARs shooting the 7.62x39 round have always been problematic due to the magazines but having a magazine well specifically designed to fit AK mags has solved this problem. I just wish the price was about $4-500 less.

The rifle reminds me of a Sturmgewehr.

http://www.702shooter.com/shot-show/rock-river-arms-lar47-left-rifles-2012-shot-show/
 
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