Looking to buy an AK-47

H

hi-c9

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I am in the market for a used AK-47, does anyone know where I can pick one up cheap or does anyone have one for sale, I live in St. Louis MO.
 
Start with your local gun show or gun broker. There is no shortage of cheap AK's - folks are sitting on crates of cheap US made AK's.
 
both companies I linked to are extremely reputable and have been around a very long time. Just unbderstand that Russian AKs are MUCH better quality than any of the cheap copies. The sights aren't canted, the finish is better, and they are more accurate. They also have chrome lined bores that the recent US builds don't have since the original barrels aren't allowed to be imported with the parts kits they are built from.

The Saigas come in a "sporting" configuration and have to be retrofitted with some US parts to return them to a military look. That's why the sporting Saigas are only $300.

You can do the conversion yourself if you like projects, but I think it's worth paying them $50 for their time an labor to do it for you.

You can find a less expensive Romanian WASR, and they are good rifles, but they aren't as nice of a rifle.

There are plenty of decent used AKs out there, but if you don't know what to look for you could end up with a homebuilt terd that you have to spend time and money on in order to make it right.

I recently had 4 AKs for sale here for around $400. I ended up selling 2 at a gunshow, one on here and one to a friend FTF. They didn't last long. If you look around you can find one at a good price, but you have to be ready to complete the transaction quickly by having a FFL ready to do transfers for you cheap.
 
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The Saiga is a true Russian rifle, I'd suggest one of them or maybe a Yugo. Romanians are, in my experience, for the most part good but a few have issues.
 
Has anyone shot both the sporting Saiga and the Saiga AK-47? I've tried the 47 and liked it a lot. Either one would definitely count as a 'fun gun' in my books (I have dedicated hunting and target rifles and I know Saiga's aren't really either).

Decisions decisions. :confused:
 
Saiga prices look unreal. Is this company trustworthy?
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As I understand it, the Saiga rifles are made in the same factory that Mikhail Kalashnikov (the inventor of the AK47) worked in.
 
I think I will get a Saiga 223 for 300 bucks.

that way I can shoot wolf.

They say my mini can take it, but I love my mini 14 too much to feed if steal crap.
 
Saigas have 1mm receivers.... yes, they work but they are not as robust as the Chinese 1.6mm stamped receivers. In my opinion, you can do a lot better with domestically produced AK's with thicker receivers, if you know what you're doing.

Buy a gun.....not a name.
 
I bought a Saiga 132 chambered for 7.62x39.
There is some cheap surplus ammo out there for it.

The mags are a bit pricey, so I installed a Dinzag feed ramp, bought inexpensive AK47 Tapco poly mags, did the 30 second alterion to them and here it is ...

http://www.lawmotorsports.net/mw/Saiga_762x39_1.jpg

Cons:

Its heavy
Have to remove the scope to clean it
It weighs a lot
Trigger is stiff, but I now have about 300 rounds through it and it seems to be getting better
It will give you a work out
Has been rock solid shooter
Displacement is measured in tonage
I have less than $350 in the gun, including the optics
 
I agree that going to a local show would be a good place to start. I bought a WASR 10/63 from a local show out the door for about $500. But you need to inspect the rifle before purchase. Mine was in great shape, no canted sights, very few nicks/scrapes. Good luck!
 
Saigas have 1mm receivers.…
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True for the new ones, but if you can find a good used older model, you’ll get the 1.6mm receiver. Look for the ones imported by EAA. The newer ones are imported by RAA. Last year I bought a Saiga that was new, but made in 2002. It has the 1.6mm receiver.
 
I have a Yugo M70AB that is an awesome gun. I've never had a failure of any kind with all kinds of cheapo commie ammo and I've fired thousands upon thousands of rounds through the gun. I bought it about 10 years ago and their cost has gone up but you can still find them for reasonable prices. IMO, much better than a WASR but a WASR will get the job done for sure. Just depends on your budget...

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Last year I bought a Saiga that was new, but made in 2002. It has the 1.6mm receiver.
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I didn't know that Saiga ever made 1.6mm receiver AK's - I'd like to handle one of those - It might just change my mind about Saiga...at least some of them.
 
Has anyone shot both the sporting Saiga and the Saiga AK-47?
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Yeah. I don't like the imported sporterized versions. They feel weird to me but I'm used to regualr AK configuration. I changed mine as soon as I could from the imported sport configuration back to the way they are intended to be, lol.
 
I never heard of anyone making a receiver with non standard metal thickness but the Chinese, and they only did it as a solution to the problem of improper heat treating. The Russians faced the same problem in the first few years of Ak production and took the Sheet metal receiver out of production and created a milled receiver as a stopgap until they could work out the problems with Kalashnikov's original design.

It's funny how many people bash the M16 because the first models used in combat had issues due to decisions made by government bureaucrats but fail to recognize that the AK had basic design failures that required it to be completely redesigned twice.

Yugos don't have chrome lined bores. That is an important feature that I would refuse to do without on an AK.
 
They don't sell used guns but I've heard alot of good things about Atlantic Firearms. I plan on getting one of their Saiga conversions this week after I get paid. I'll let everyone know how it goes!
 
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