There was a question before about the Chinese Manufactured AK'S that were sold in the U.S. prior to the ban. The MAK 90 "Sporter" was made by NORINCO and the AKS was made by Poly-Tec. Both marketed as "Civilian" AK-47's. To beat several import bans the MAK 90 featured no bayonet or lug and a full non-pistol grip stock The 90 also came with a five round magazine. The AKS was an AK47 without the full automatic feature but other than that it was your basic AK47.

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Yup- I had a fully sporterized Norinco as shown in your pic. I think I bought it in '94 or '95 as a late teen. It was a complete piece of junk. The bolt carrier would frequently de-rail on one side and jam, either during manual cycling or shooting. The amount of $$$ they want for them now is absurd.

One could write a book on the variants of ChiCom AKs imported for sale here. The initial post is nice, but doesn't even begin to cover it. In summer '87 we bought Norinco AKs (under-, side-folders at $179, fixed stocks at $159, avail. in 5.56 and 7.62x39) with bayo lugs and a whole kit of webbing, bayo, sheath, etc. All day, every day at the Indy 1500 show.

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How God has blessed us!

I remember buying a Chinese AK with bayonet, banana magazine, and under folder rear stock in the 90’s for $250! I shot it a few times and it was kind of a novelty to me. A few years later, but before the ban, I was in a local pawnshop and saw a NIB Italian made Beretta 92 that listed for around $650. I thought it would be nice to have one and traded my AK even for it. I thought I had made an awesome deal!

Of course, now you can buy the Beretta 92 or similar one for the same or less money than I paid, and the AK sometimes sells for $1000 or more.🤬 I wish I had bought a dozen of the AK’s back then! That’s why they say hindsight is 20/20.
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

The Polytech AKS and Norinco 56S rifles were pre-89, the MAK-90 was pre-94 hence the goofy thumb hole stock. Lots of folks use “pre-ban” interchangeably but most serious military collectors consider “pre-ban” being the orig 89 import ban.

The earliest imported Chinese AK were the Claycos which came in in 1982-83.

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Some Might Say.

My father bought 3 clayco underfolders for something like $180 a piece in the early 80’s

The fixed and folder Claycos were actually made at two different factories- I believe the fixed were made at Ling Hua and the folders at Minh Sahn

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Some Might Say.

In the 80’s you could order the Mak90’s, a drum, and a case of ammo dirt cheap. We spent a lot of weekends loading those drums just to blast cans, rocks, and anything else we could find.

Last year I was out of town and met a guy walking out of a pawnshop with a mint looking AK. He was raising heck about the shop not wanting to give him anything for it. I asked what he wanted and it was only $300. He and I both left happy.

This is an interesting variant made by Norinco during the ban era, a "Hunter". Really odd trigger set-up but surprisingly accurate. 20" barrel, milled slant receiver, and uses standard AK mags. Came stock with a 5 round one. Drilled for and came with a receiver mounted scope base plate.

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My Norinco SKS bought back in the day. Also had a MAK 90 that was unfired in the safe for years and sold it for $1200 at the height of all the craziness.

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Prices on AK's are wild these days. "Legend" variants for $3K? I thought they were expensive at $400 when other models were less than half. I bought an SKS "paratrooper" which took AK mags for $129 from CDNN 35 years ago. It had the original mag catch modified to hold the AK mag in place. Every time I pulled the trigger it would drop the mag. CDNN exchanged it for another paratrooper actually designed for the AK mag, worked perfectly. I sold it and a box of 30 rd mags for $700 just before the 2008 election. I wish I kept it, money is long gone and I bet that rifle is still going. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

The Kalashnikov design is incredibly robust and reliable. Only the Chinese manufacturing process can turn it into a ***

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Kind regards, Heinz

They aren’t a real AK anyhow.

AKs are fun to shoot on full auto. Semi auto only ones are boring and neutered.

The Chinese manufactured some of the best AKs out there, particularly the Polytechs.

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Some Might Say.

IIRC the receiver on the “Hunter” was popular for building a Galil parts kit on back in the day.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

This is one of the favorites of all the guns I own. My Maadi is a close behind it.

Every Chinese AK variant I’ve owned or shot has been extremely reliable.

Got rid of an SKS by Poly Tech during the 1st Obama scare. Only had a couple of hundred in the AK, had picked up a Poly Tech Drum mag and about 10 30 round mags. The drum cost me $50 (dealer thought it was junk) and the mags were $10 apiece. Sold it all for $1200. Was happy at the time with the deal......guess it worth more than that nowadays.

Do have a NIB Norinco SKS that I paid $100 for many years ago. Don't see much love for these now.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I owned MAK 90 for several years. A brick to carry, saucer-sized 100 yard groups, but you could shoot it 5000 rounds without cleaning, run over it with a truck, dunk it in mud -- it would shoot. I do not believe anything short of a cutting torch poses them much of a threat.

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Pisgah

had Norinco NHM-90... a type 56 thumbhole modified AK that unfortunately was waiting on the dock when the "ban" occurred... a rare and valuable version historically... pie tin accurate at 100 yards... but not as accurate as my sks..

A bunch of guns were caught up in customs when the 89 ban occurred- Mitchell M70 Yugo AKs (remarked M90 to indicate post-ban), Portuguese G3s ATF required be stamped “X”G3S and Galils that had to have “S” suffix added to their model numbers.

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Some Might Say.

I have a Norinco pre-ban AK. That thing is a shooter! I bought it in the mid 90s for $750. NIB w11 flatback Chicom 30rd, 4 40rd mags and 2 75 round drums. That was time of the ban and hi-caps were expensive. Expensive for the time, but looking back, worth every dollar!

From what I understand, the Chicom import AKs are military production, minus the full auto parts.

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Thread Killer.

I bought a new Mak-90 early in the ban. I had a dozen 30 round mags and shot quite a few oval tins of ammo and never had a problem. When the ban ended I scrapped the thumbhole stock and put a set of Vietnam surplus wood on it. Much much nicer but got to where I didn’t have time to shoot it and sold it to a client. I now wish I had it back.

I had a couple of the MAK-90 thumbhole stock versions as well as a Maadi. I've sold or traded them all except for the milled-receiver MAK-90. I have found it to be solid, reliable, and accurate.

I have an NHM-90 that had been made on an original underfolder receiver. No bayonet lug and the slant break was replaced with a tack welded on muzzle nut. That has been fixed and it has a nice quality heavy stamped steel Chinese folding stock installed. It's a good shooting little carbine.

I think they are going for $7-800 these days. I had one with a case of the “armor piercing” ammo that I bought for about $200 back in the 80’s IIRC. When I sold it, I made more on the ammo than the SKS.
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

Back in the day I used to get Yugo AK parts kits which was the --complete-- gun but with a torch cut receiver. Then I'd get Nodak Spud receivers, drop the whole package on a fellow who loved building AK's and had untreated OCD. This guy would build furniture-quality AK's. The wood looked like fine polished furniture, the metal was perfection and the things shot great. This guy made the best AK's and his OCD guaranteed that they'd be perfect.

the best part of those Romanian parts kits was that when you opened the box, all the parts were there just lying loose -except- for a small plastic bag that contained the 'overdrive' parts; as i said, they came -complete-.

Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

I've had several Chinese AKs and one Maadi. All were reliable and capable of good accuracy. I have let all but one go over the years. I kept one of the thumb-hole stock Chinese. It was my only AK with a milled receiver. It's really solid and reliable. I kept it mainly because I had the most confidence in it.

This was original long barrel Norinco 56S with wood stocks from middle of 1990's

Original:


A little changed over the years:













Today handguard is IMI Defense ARP-1, folding stock, foregrip and pistol grip is Magpul, R-DOT is Pilad, light is Chinese Surefire X300 copy

Among the things my Dad left, a Norinco he bought in the mid-80's still NIB with all the accessories and packaging. I'd have to look, but I think he paid $250-$300 for it, of course it was also around the same time I started driving and gas was about 70 cents a gallon.

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Tu_S, that appears to be the exact type gun I bought at that same time. I can’t tell with the way yours is packaged, but I believe if memory serves me correctly that it had a curved 30 round magazine.My price was $250. I wish I still had it today!!
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

I have the fixed stock version pictured in post #30. It's a Norinco with Sile Imports stamped on left side receiver. I'm not much of an AK person and it seems well made, but no idea why they seem to go for so much.

Got it in CA quite a few years back and moved it up to OR. Should probably get to shooting it one of these days.

I keep remembering the pristine Romy 'G' parts kits for $89. I took one of those kits and had a local Houston company, Armory USA, build a rifle for me on one of their 1.5mm AK receivers. Still have that one.

I’d love to see pictures of one of these!
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

The 3 magazines are still wrapped in the wax paper in the bottom- left corner in the picture

Way back in the 90s I bought one of the best AKs ever sold in the US at the Indy 1500 gun show in Indianapolis. The Poly Tech Legend series milled receiver AK. Very high quality version of the true AK 47. Price was $450,high compared to the stamped receiver Norincos that ran around $300 at the time. Don't know what the current value is. Haven't checked GB for a while but the last time I looked they were around $2500. Also have a milled receiver version of the Mak 90 that came with a clubby thumb hole wood stock that now is in a box somewhere. The milled receiver Chinese AKs were probably the best AKs ever sold in the US.

The pre-ban market is soft at the moment- Polytech Legends that were selling for $3500-4k two years ago are sitting around $3-3.2k pretty consistently. At least the fixed and folder versions are- the longer bbl “Nat match” versions were never popular and bring a fraction of what the other Legends do. The Legend used to bring a good bit more than its stamped cousin the AKS but even those have climbed into $3k territory.

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Some Might Say.