I have both but I’ll be damned if I can see the difference.
I honestly can’t either.
Some good hearted people get wrapped around the axel on some of the most inconsequential stuff.
Well some of the good folks at the AK forum were able to help me out.
The Russian does not have the depressions on the sides on the wide part over the barrel in front of the retaining pin for the muzzlebreake detent.
Russian:
Bulgarian:
And for most I don’t think it is a practical consideration so much as a correct configuration issue for collectors.
I thought you were talking about the front sight blade, not the whole front sight block…
Yes, there are differences, none that make any difference for a shooter, but do make differences for collectors.
Ahhh gotcha. Quite honestly I didn’t know exactly what I was asking about and simply saw some “Bulgarian vs. Russian” front sight talk on a few of the forums. Heard it referred to as Front sight block, Front sight gas port, front sight post, etc.
Despite having a few dozen Kalashnikov rifles there is a LOT I don’t know about them, especially with respect to one countries variant vs. another. I can tell a Yugo from a Tantal but I don’t know them like I know HK rifles.
The Saiga is basically a modern AK-74N. Like templar said, if a guy wants every waffenamt to be correct it might not please, but a shooter won’t notice, and neither will most people from 4ft away. If you put a ribbed top cover on that thing it would look just like any afghan-soviet war era '74.
Here’s an excellent '74 resource by Ekie.
http://tantal.kalashnikov.guns.ru/variants.html
It lacked the FSB cuts before it had the FSB cuts. The Russians made continual improvements to the rifles throughout their production, often times changing how components were manufactured (IE stamped, milled, cast).
The Soviet AK production timeline is pretty easy to grasp, but you have to remember that just like in the USA, out of date components were not tossed in the trash, they were used until the stock was depleted. The best example of this is the AK-74 pistol grips. On the AK-74 you see laminated pistol grips rarely used (AKM era), while bakelite (AKM/AK74) and plum grips (AK74) were heavily used. Everything on the AK was VERY durable, I’ve rarely seen any parts replacements on actual rifles. The Russians and former satelite republics are still using the original variation AK-74’s, I imagine they stay in service until they completely crap out, get run over by a tank, or KB.