My girlfriend has been bitten by the “need” for a 5.56 AK to go with her AR.
Back in the day when I cared, I had an Arsenal milled 5.56 rifle and a Romanian SAR-3, both of which had issues.
Does anybody currently make a GTG 5.56 AK?
If so, what mags does it like and dislike?
You might want to wait for the Radom. They should be available by EOY.
Yeah. its funny that there are .223/5.56 AK pistols all over the place, but .223/5.56 AK rifles are as rare as hen’s teeth.
I am curious to know what were the issues with the the two rifles you have owned. Neither of those rifles were “junk” by any means, certainly not the Arsenal. Sure, the SAR (and all Romanian rifles) could have been a little sloppy with the parts but they were not as bad as some builds from certain companies back then.
I’ve owned two Arsenal 556 AKs. The first one (sold because I needed some cash at the time) had to go back because the windage was too much to be corrected for by the sights. It was repaired under warranty.
The second has had no problems or even stoppages at all. Fit and finish are pretty good, with only a couple of paint* defects being present.
H
*Drip marks. And yes, the Arsenal paint is easily removed by using the wrong cleaners, so don’t use them.
SAR3: Early type with wrong hammer installed. Back of bolt really damaged. Replaced with correct hammer & sold it for something I wanted more.
Arsenal 5.56 rifles: absolutely 100% unreliable with brass-cased ammo. I had the milled versions and the black plastic Bulgarian mags were hit and miss. The chambers were okay for steel-cased ammo, but brass cases would extract unreliably.
In the US, not IMHO.
One of the big issues with 5.56 AKs is there was never a standardized magazine. Every one came up with their own concoction with varying results.
I don’t have much experience with 5.56 AK pistols, or any experience with 5.56 AK anything. That said, are the 5.56 AK pistols reliable (or at least more reliable than previous 5.56 AK rifles)? If so, can’t one SBR new production 5.56 AK pistols and have a reliable rifle?
The only 5.56 AK pistols I know of are the Arsenal Inc SLR 106U pistol and Zastava M85 pistol.
The Zastava can be purchased in rifle configuration from CNC Warrior with a pinned muzzle extension and folding stock installed. It’s drawback is the proprietary Yugo magazines (expensive and a bit more difficult to find), but there exists a version with a mag well adapter for use with AR mags. I don’t know the brand and/or who installs the adapter, but it exists. The Yugo 5.56 pistols also ironically have chrome lined barrels. Why they chrome line their 5.56 barrels and not their 7.62 barrels I don’t know.
The SLR 106U doesn’t seem to be very popular, so I haven’t heard anything worth mentioning about it. They are banned in my state, so I haven’t seen one first hand. I know the SLR 106 series did have some feeding issues. There was a range of serial numbers that were said to be avoided, but they said that it was fixed on newer production rifles.
There is the Royal Tiger Beryl Archer that was unfortunately doomed to being imported and molested by IO Inc. However, Radom is supposed to open up in Texas under Ted Marshall. This looks very promising as far as 5.56 AK’s go. I just really wish they brought the 7.62x39 mm version.
There are also Saigas and Veprs in 5.56. They are what they are; you have to do a proper conversion which may or may not be what you’re looking for. As far as I know they are equally as reliable as their 7.62 and 5.45 counterparts.
There have been a few factory converted 5.56 Veprs imported by Legion I believe. They weren’t in huge numbers, and the price was close to $1500 if I’m not mistaken.
Krebs Custom and Definitive Arms had some 5.56 Saiga and VEPR conversions. You can’t go wrong with those, but you’re going to drop close to $2000 + on one.
Any reason a 74 won’t work?
This was a big part. I understood the SAR-3s ran alright with the German weiger mag. I’ve always viewed 5.56 AKs (on the the US market) as chimeras. IMI is supposed to be reintroducing the Galil here soon (first in 7.62x39 but eventually in 5.56) however the Galil has evolved so much it may not satisfy your desire for a 5.56 AK (this is especially true of the ACE but could also be said for the older galil and the valmet). As mentioned earlier, if the Beryl comes to market again that might be a nice option.
This is my suggestion. I know you probably want to keep ammo commonality but the 74 is very fun to shoot and contrary to popular belief the ammo is still available and competitively priced (just not as cheap as it once was, but that goes for everything these days)
My girlfriend has a buttload of .223 and doesn’t want to switch calibers or buy more ammo. That’s why it’s “no” to either 5.45 or 7.62.
Yup, pre-ban Gaili or Valmet is how I would go but I’d have to spend a fortune and time tracking down OEM mags.
If it was me and my money I would look at one of the Definitive Arms Molot VEPR conversions. As much as I dislike shoehorning magazines for one rifle into another rifle design those look about as slick as anything currently available.
This.
I have a WASR-3 (gasp!) that is completely reliable with Weiger magazines, the Romanian Weiger copies, Bulgarian ((10)) magazines, and ProMags. It also works about 75% of the time with Tapco Galil magazines. If you find one that works, they’re a very good rifle. Mine was made in 2010.
I’ve owned numerous 106s over the years and still own a couple. Current production (with the right barrel extension) rifles with current “gen2” ((10)) mags and they’re very reliable rifles.
I’ve got two 5.56mm AK’s, both Arsenals (SLR106FR & SLR106CR) and they are both accurate and reliable. I guess the early ones had issues (bullet guide issues?) but mine are later production and I am very happy with them.
BTW, I made sure to stock up on Circle 10 mags. They’re not cheap but mags ain’t the area to skimp on when it comes to 5.56 AK’s.