How many rounds can an AK fire before it breaks down?

General Firearms Other Semi-Automatic Rifles
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http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/06/03/how-many-rounds-can-an-ak-fire-before-it-breaks-down/

How many rounds can an AK fire before it breaks down?
Posted 6 hours ago in AK-47 / AK-74 / Everything AK, Rifles by Steve Johnson with 34 Comments

Ron from the Las Vegas gun range Battlefield Vegas, where, like many Vegas range’s they only allow their rental guns to be used, shared some thoughts on how different AK rifles fail after tens after thousands of rounds (the above photo shows 30 days worth of 7.62x39mm steel shot at their range, of which 80% would have been fired by AKs). Ron writes at AR15.com …

[QUOTE]– The one thing I can say about the AK’s is that they hold up MUCH BETTER than the RPD’s. I thought for sure that RPD’s would last so much longer because of the milled receivers but the receivers only last about half the life (if that) of a Romanian WASR.

– Every single stamped receiver has suffered from a cracked trunion. This includes Saiga, Arsenal (Bulgarian), Norinco (Chinese), Arsenal (Russian stamped), WASR, Hungarian, Polish (vintage kits), Yugo (vintage and PAP-series) and new Polish (from Royal Tiger imports).

– We have every type of AK available to shoot except for Cuban, Vietnamese or North Korean.

– US (Century), Bulgarian and Chinese milled receivers have yet to fail.

– Stamped receivers split at the angle of the upper rail and the side wall. N-PAP’s have literally cracked in half perpendicular to the length of the rifle. The receivers cracked just posterior of the front trunion (between center bushing and the trunion).

– We have yet to shoot out a factory WASR barrel. The barrels on three of our C39’s started to keyhole and were pulled.

– We have WASR’s on the line that have lasted OVER two and half years and the barrels are NOT shot out and they continue to run. We installed new bolts to bring headspace back up to spec but they keep running.

– The Draco-C’s that we converted over three years ago are finally down to the last unit. Most have cracked trunions but one of the barrels right past the gas block literally cracked off. The portion of the barrel with the threads cracked right off while shooting. I will see if I still have pics on my phone.

…

– This may sound crazy but it’s fair to say that they finally suffer a catastrophic failure (cracked trunion) at 80,000-100,000 rounds. Also, we have WASR’s that have suffered a catastrophic failure and we just pull out the old trunion and barrel, grab one from a parts kit, re-rivet, re-barrel and get them up and running.

– The AK is the most reliable but after seeing how many have broken over the last two and half years on the range, it’s not the indestructible weapon everybody talks about (and I always thought it was). What makes is reliable is it’s simplicity. My guys clean/service 4-5 AK’s for every M4 or MP5. The Uzi it’s just as simple but you wouldn’t believe how often components of the top cover fail. We purchased 75 kits about a year ago and we have gone through so many top covers. We will lose an extractor here and there but not often enough to complain about.

– The three most popular rentals are the AK47, MP5 and Uzi. People want to shoot the AK because they are so popular from the news and movies but then want to shoot the Uzi because of the name and then finally shoot the MP5 because it’s so smooth and no recoil.

Read the full thread here.

Thanks to Jay for the tip.[/QUOTE]

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That is just nuts.

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Everything tends towards a state of disorder- that’s just physics. The way I look at it is, if I have a barrel that’s reached 20k and it’s still minute of man I’d be very happy . Very few retain their accuracy after 15K it seems, though I bet there is a exception in there eventually. If you have a weapon that has a barrel that’s reached 20k then you can afford to re-barrel it, especially with the cost of ammo today. If I have a weapon that’s reached the round count that the OP talks about then I believe its been one hell of a good run and time to pick up a new toy (and hang that one on a wall some where)… or give one of those well used rifles ALOT of T.L.C. and pass it down to the next generation as a example.

That is a truly ridiculous round count, especially for a full auto firing schedule, and a rifle that is a amalgamation of stamped steel and laminated wood, that the soviets designed to be disposable to a certain extent…Seems as if it stands in a league all its own, not comparing apples and oranges here. Just saying.

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Battlefield vegas has a few posts on the net about the high round counts and maintenance schedules of a lot of their equipment. very good read to see what
breaks, when and how long what parts have run for them.

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it’s not the indestructible weapon everybody talks about (and I always thought it was). What makes is reliable is it’s simplicity. My guys clean/service 4-5 AK’s for every M4 or MP5.

I’d like to see more elaboration of that statement. How do M4s run with over 40K of full auto? I’d also say that 80K in one gun going FA is pretty darn good - relatively indestructible for the average shooter.

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Interesting. I’m surprised the Century AKs survived as well as they did, considering Century’s normal reputation.

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It has been improving lately quite a bit, one example is the new C39V2

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Good to know. I guess the drunk monkey they had assembling their guns for a while has finally decided to sober up. :alcoholic::laugh:

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Aside from importing them and opening the mag well, Century has little to do with those guns.

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The Century imported SAR series (1,2, & 3) are G2G. But yeah, I’d stay clear from their G3 and FAL imports/builds.

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I have an g3 century clone. It was built on an FMP Portuguese reciever. It is an excellent gun. I think I bought it in 95.

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A few years ago the SWAT team for my department ended up getting new rifles after their Colt Commandos started getting worn out. One guy at the armory told me they had guns with over 70k rounds through them. They could have been easily rebuilt however our city government requires the weapon be fixed by the manufacturer. Colt couldnt give them a time frame for the new weapons so they ended up with POF since its local. The POFs didnt work out so well and they seem to have settled on Daniel Defense Mk18s.

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That is a pretty informative article. Thanks for posting.

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I thought WASR’s are hobby grade AK’s? Not duty or home defense worthy?

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I thought I’d made up my mind about what my next purchase would be until I read this and now the process starts over again… Do arsenals like you could get from kvar have milled receivers?

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The SAM7 series does.
http://www.k-var.com/shop/SAM7-Series-7.62x39-Caliber-Bulgarian-Milled-Receiver-Rifles/

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Nice. Thanks crazyfingers.

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265 fired Full Auto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlL-uRkJ0yA