It’ll give rob_s something to do for the next few day at least… 
Is there a milspec standard set of features like the AR platform?
The AK specs are I believe still a state secret in Russia…
There are so many aK variants it would be almost impossible to list them…The milled rifles like this Arsenal are considered some of the best.
IMO the milled Arsenals are akin to the top of the line AR’s like the 6920…which is why for me it is tempting to find a trade…
Are the 6920’s still ran in batches…I had a 6450 at one point and knew they were
It’s not - but how is a Rifle Dynamics AK “built for FIGHT!ing” but a SAR-1 not?
RD bills his AK’s as “fighting guns”… sort of a novelty if you ask me.
your words
how is a Rifle Dynamics AK “built for FIGHT!ing” but a SAR-1 not?
never said that sar1s weren’t builty for fighting. just that some of the custom guns, RD, AZresponse put that little extra effort in to make the guns function and perform the to the best of the design ability. same goes for colt, noveske, and lmt. you can call a bushy a fighting gun, the DEA uses rock rivers, but it’s colt, noveske and lmt that put that extra effort in to make sure their rifles function and perform the way they were designed to.
How so?
What do they do that makes them perform better than an AK assembled at Izhmash or CUGIR? How do they function better?
OK. aside from the fact that you said RD builds his AKs as “fighting guns” and called it a novelty. then turned around in the next post and said that fighting guns are not novelties…
i consider someone who takes the time to build a rifle to your preferences and hand fit parts in the process with great attention to detail, as putting in the extra effort.
YMMV
You brought it up but you are being evasive now. Let me ask you a simple question: of the builders that you just described, what exactly do they do to the average Kalashnikov rifle that makes it more reliable or more accurate?
You said that the AK’s built by these guys were “built as hard working guns” … and I am asking compared to what? The non-hard working AK’s?
You said that they “hand fit parts in the process”… well, that describes how ALL AK’s are built. They require a lot of effort and a lot of hand-fitting and detail work to build.
So the reason I said it was sort of a novelty is because the “we build AK’s specifically for warriors” thing sounds more like a marketing gimmick to me.
will a Durakote job (grey) hurt the value of my rifle 
since they are going up in price & all’
asking what they do over any other AK manufacturer is like asking what les baer does to the 1911 over any other manufacturer. how can you not appreciate the benefits of skilled gunsmiths and hand fitting, over assembly line mfg and hired hands that don’t care about he end product?
if you believe that a wasr10 is built in the same fashion as a RD or AZresponse or even krebs gun, well then, i guess we can agree to disagree.
as for more accurate, i never mentioned accuracy. i believe i stated early on that even the arsenals, which i believe to be some of the best examples of AKs, shoot no better than anything else.
my apologies to the OP for getting off-topic.
for a safe queen i think the colt has a bit more following than the arsenal. a fella once told me that most AK shooters don’t appreciate the refinements of the arsenal, but i guess the same could be said of AR shooters and the colt.
No apologies needed…I like it when the threads have some fluidity…
As far as refinishing a rifle…whether Gunkote or something else…to the purist…“yes” it hurts re-sale…but it all depends on the rifle…as some of the Arsenal SLR105’s (stamped AK74 clones) had horrible factory finishes…and it was well documented they did…so re-finishing if done properly…leaving crisp stampings, markings, etc…shouldn’t hurt value…
I would agree most AK guys are more shooters, and as such the Colt probably has more of an universal demand…which is why I think I’m going to look for a 6920 this weekend and see what can be worked out…
Is anyone else going to the Chantilly, VA (NOVA) gun show this weekend?
Greg
So you are comparing a semi-custom 1911 to a Kalashnikov?
Ok.
Look, we all have our preferences and if you want to buy an AK from one of those guys you mentioned that’s fine. I’m sure they all can assemble a parts kits quite well. But I am not buying into the marketing hype of “these AK’s are specifically built for hard use by warriors” etc. That’s all.
I’m not sure I agree with that statement. Certainly a lot more shooters have taken an interest in the platform in the last couple of years.
talk about being evasive.
first you twist my statement around and then neglect to answer the question asked.
i never compared an AK to a semi custom 1911.
1911s are built from parts. the same parts go into all 1911s (albeit some parts are better than others). it’s up to the gunsmith building the weapon to have an intricate knowledge and understanding of how the platform works in order to build a quality weapon. the same applies to any platform.
so again i ask,
do you not appreciate the benefits of skilled gunsmiths and hand fitting, over assembly line mfg and hired hands that don’t care about the end product?
I have a couple new in bags 6920’s and would love to add a nice AK to my collection, but have not had the opportunity and with prices the way they are, I think I will keep my 6920’s. I would have to guess that the Colts will hold their value more in the future with the way things are currently.
I would love one of these elusive AK’s for sure.
IMO if you took the majority of AK owners and asked them they would say “shooters” vs. “collectors” they would say “shooters” There are some guys who will pay and collect top end AK’s…milled Arsenals, Legends, Kassnar rifles, the pre-ban Yugo’s…but IMO the majority of AK owners just like the look, reliability of the design, and don’t see paying 2-3x what a WASR is going for…just to have a nicer product…
IMO there is no point in having an AK built by some “guru” either… When it comes to AK’s I personally can’t see how someone is going to make the design more reliable and certainly AK’s aren’t tack drivers…nor should they be…So what is the point…I dare not say a WASR which is in specs and a Krebs rifle will give the same performance and reliabilty…The difference is the Krebs rifle will be more collectible I would guess over a WASR…but IMO I wouldn’t buy one and certainly wouldn’t buy one over an Arsenal rifle…
You forgot a category: assimilators.
You nailed the collectors but we may have different definitions of “shooter.” Lots of guys used to buy up relatively cheap AK’s but not necessarily really shoot them. Think about it - if you own 14 AK’s how many rounds do you actually put through each one individually in a year?
When I say shooter I am more referring to a guy who trains with AR’s and then decides to pick up a WASR and puts 4,000 to 6,000 rounds through it in a year.
I am tracking with you 100% here - and believe me, I own AK’s built by “gurus”… A highly skilled 1911 gunsmith will be able to tweak the accuracy and reliability of the gun, whereas with the exception of fixing some major issue there aren’t really any accuracy or reliability tweaks to speak of for an AK. You can make them look a helluva lot nicer, though.