AK importers

[DGM]

I just acquired a nice chinese AK underfolder,pre ban,looks unfired.Importer was NASI Midland,TX Anybody know anything about them?

 

[1point9turbo]

I just acquired a nice chinese AK underfolder,pre ban,looks unfired.Importer was NASI Midland,TX Anybody know anything about them?

Norinco perhaps? There were a few companies that imported pre-ban. I am very new to the AK world but from what I saw during my research, most of the pre-ban guns were of decent quality. Any markings on it? Some of them are changed/ground off/added during import (as with any import gun).

A lot of the AK's you see in the Middle East are Chinese produced (Afghanistan). Also, look for 3 holes in the front hand guard, you'll see a lot of them are Serbian Zastava produced M-70's.

Last weekend, I made my first purchase in the Commie gun world... Zastava O-PAP M-70. Very happy!

Little fun... Yes, I know M-70's aren't necessarily Russian

 

[Arik]

Good rifles. Imported mid to late 80s. Banned in 94. Will take any AK47 7.62x39 mags. Otherwise, while AKs may look similar they are not. Chinese AKs take their own specific furniture and other parts. Typically 1.5mm thick stamped receiver or 1.6 milled. You can tell if it's milled by the lighting cuts on the sides towards the handguards.

What do you want to know?

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[1point9turbo]

Good rifles. Imported mid to late 80s. Banned in 94. Will take any AK47 7.62x39 mags. Otherwise, while AKs may look similar they are not. Chinese AKs take their own specific furniture and other parts. Typically 1.5mm thick stamped receiver or 1.6 milled. You can tell if it's milled by the lighting cuts on the sides towards the handguards.

What do you want to know?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Yes to all Arik said. Magazines should work for all the AK variants (not counting the post-ban, single stack rifles that were imported). Be sure to look to make sure your AK mags are 7.62x39. There are also 5.45x39 mags which are a lot cheaper now that a lot of the ammo was banned.

Zastava's are the same way, they have proprietary parts so be careful when shopping with yours too. A lot of AK's are AK 'pattern' meaning all the parts are not standard or interchange.

 

[Arik]

Yes to all Arik said. Magazines should work for all the AK variants (not counting the post-ban, single stack rifles that were imported). Be sure to look to make sure your AK mags are 7.62x39. There are also 5.45x39 mags which are a lot cheaper now that a lot of the ammo was banned.

Zastava's are the same way, they have proprietary parts so be careful when shopping with yours too. A lot of AK's are AK 'pattern' meaning all the parts are not standard or interchange.

Actually 5.45 mags are a lot more expensive. Less countries used 5.45 than 7.62 and what has been imported is it for now. 5.45 was Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish, E. German. Typical surplus 7.62 mags are about $10 - $15. Typical 5.45 surplus are $35 and up

The ammo isn't banned. Only military surplus ammo is. Commercial ammo is still plenty and constantly imported

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[1point9turbo]

Actually 5.45 mags are a lot more expensive. Less countries used 5.45 than 7.62 and what has been imported is it for now. 5.45 was Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish, E. German. Typical surplus 7.62 mags are about $10 - $15. Typical 5.45 surplus are $35 and up

The ammo isn't banned. Only military surplus ammo is. Commercial ammo is still plenty and constantly imported

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IDK, I've seen the exact opposite but I also haven't been in the AK world too long. At the show last week, the surplus dealer hadn't sold many of the 5.45 mags and you could have had them cheap. While I paid about 20 bucks a piece for Russian steel mags. 2 for $35 IIRC. Scored a Russian Bakelite mag and some polymer options for a little over 10 per. 20 bucks for a Bulgarian 40 round mag.

Could be the area too, summer shows are always slow here. Ban may have been a poor word choice but part of the appeal is cheap, surplus ammo.

 

[Big E3]

I wish I could find AK74 mags as cheap as AK47 mags but they are not cheap. As stated AK47 mags are much more plentiful I have an abundance of those for my Bulgarian SLR101S but can’t seem to find much at all for my Russian SGL31-68.

The only 5.45x39 ammo that has been banned from import is the 7n6 steel core military surplus stuff. That ban was stupid because BATF said it fit an AK74 pistol and I haven’t seen one of those yet.

 

[Arik]

IDK, I've seen the exact opposite but I also haven't been in the AK world too long. At the show last week, the surplus dealer hadn't sold many of the 5.45 mags and you could have had them cheap. While I paid about 20 bucks a piece for Russian steel mags. 2 for $35 IIRC. Scored a Russian Bakelite mag and some polymer options for a little over 10 per. 20 bucks for a Bulgarian 40 round mag.

Could be the area too, summer shows are always slow here. Ban may have been a poor word choice but part of the appeal is cheap, surplus ammo.

If you get them that cheap good for you. Typically it's more expensive and not just locally. Look online. Every retailer has similar prices

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[1point9turbo]

If you get them that cheap good for you. Typically it's more expensive and not just locally. Look online. Every retailer has similar prices

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ill take your word for it but I just don't have a need for them. Just saying what I saw. Now, there is a nice Bulgarian 5.45 at Cabelas... but I shouldn't.

In other news, got to take mine to the range to get rid of some hard drives and an old laptop. So, that Zastava cheek slap is definitely a thing. Getting a cheek weld isn't a problem. The problem is that your welded so tight, 80% of the recoil goes directly into your face. I feel like I got punched multiple times. 80 rounds was hard to get through.

DGM, we hijacked your post. How is that AK?