AK47 - AKM (first purchase)

[nescott24]

Hey there good folks,

Looking for some solid insight for those of you that own an AK on this forum.

Tons of stuff on Reddit but would like to hear your opinion and what to look into and what to avoid.

What’s a good first AK that you recommend?

Budget is $1500 with Wood furniture

Featured or Featureless? Pros and Cons

Should I buy the parts and take it to a smith to build?

Thank you for the time and the noob sounding questions.

 

[SlowMoe]

Kalashnikov Rifles: Buyers guide 2026 2027 2028

Complete Kalashnikov family history: AK-47, AKM, AK-74, AK-12. Design evolution, variants, specifications. From Soviet origins to modern developments.

thinlineweapons.com

 

[Deleted member 15159]

My vote is for the WASR-10

 

[bellissturdivant]

old but gold

 

[franky694]

WASR10, Zastava, WBP are the usual suspects for that price range. Of those, im partial to the WASR. Its not as polished or the nicest finish, but its got it where it counts(core parts). Zastava and WBP have way better fit and finish but slightly more expensive because of it. Sometimes you can find Arsenal milled AKs for $1500 on the classifieds. I've seen the occasional Beryl for about that range as well. Those would be the "higher" tier options.

As for featureless vs features, AKs almost by default are set up best as featureless. Most of them come with a muzzle break already and non adjustable stocks from factory. so you would just be dealing with the fin grip. There used to the ak fin and thumb shelf product for AKs but i think they might have gone out of business. The thumbshelf makes a big difference and almost makes it tolerable lol.

Avoid everything else sub $1000 range that isnt mentioned above. dont get PSA, Riley, Century Arms VSKA(dont confuse with Century Arms Wasr).

 

[jacrispies]

Noob questions are great. Better to ask before learning the expensive way.

Can't go wrong with a new Zastava (Serbian), WBP (Polish), Arsenal (US). These are higher quality new production. Lower quality new models include WASR-10s (Romanian), Riley Defense (US), and Century Arms (US). I would avoid these, although new WASR-10s have their reputability.

Early import WASRs (pre-2000s?) have had poor quality control. Results are possibly canted barrels and misaligned sights. Early US made AKs are known to compete in price to imports by lowering production cost. Cheap parts used like cast trunnions that have shattered upon reasonable use. Early imports like Polytech (Chinese) and Maadi (Egyptian) are high quality and collectible.

Kits can be considered. Just know that the quality of a kit is mostly contained by the skill of the gunsmith. A quality, in-hand inspection is like warranted for a kit built to verify that it is safe to shoot. Kit builds open doors to the classic styles, rarer models, and various manufacturers that weren't imported wholly (North Korean, East German, Bulgerian, etc).

If I were to buy another AK, I would search for a super cool kit build of high character. New AKs are cool and all, but a used surplus style has the most style points. Avoid monstrous fees and buy used guns via PPT or other.

Lots of information. I'm sure that I missed something or got something wrong, feel free to bring correction for educational purposes.

 

[DBilleb]

Kalashnikov Rifles: Buyers guide 2026 2027 2028

Complete Kalashnikov family history: AK-47, AKM, AK-74, AK-12. Design evolution, variants, specifications. From Soviet origins to modern developments.

thinlineweapons.com

You can find pretty good deals on these forums for really nice “upper echelon” AK’s right around what you are looking for. Maybe a few hundred more and you can get a really nice milled receiver Arsenal (SAM Series). Personally I am very much a Pro-Russian AK dude so Saiga’s and Vepr’s are some of the best in my book.

For $1500, I’d try to find a Saiga that has not been converted. True Russian built and because it doesn’t have the pistol grip, no worries about CA laws. If you want to do the conversion later, you can. I bought one long ago and did the forward conversion to include threading the barrel, installing a bullet guide, and modifying to except AK magazines. Nice wood stock….hard to beat.

These are the guns Sacramento hates but can’t do anything about it. Love it.

-dale

 

[jacrispies]

Side note, never been able to successfully load those tricky fixed 10 round mags, featureless is my pick.

 

[FekTok]

I recommend a WASR 10. A very solid, well built gun that will last you a long time. I will stay away from domestic AKs due to quality issues. Personally, I would just buy the rifle as finding a gunsmith that specializes on AKs and knows them inside out is not an easy task.

Keep it featureless, less hassle and easier to manipulate the rifle (mag changes).

 

[Funjeff]

Used Arsenal.

 

[Striker777]

Zastava m70

 

[AR15barrels]

finding a gunsmith that specializes on AKs and knows them inside out is not an easy task.

I'm right here: www.akbarrels.com

 

[Striker777]

Rifle gear had 2 in stock with maple furniture they are slowing down coming in I don’t see the inventory I used too.