AK I.D. HELP!

[scott delaney]

ok with all the talk about the WARS 10/63 being not all put together right i was wondering if some one here know if the is something that I.D'S the bad ones right away?...so is there a clue like if the mod# and ser# looks like it was vibra-scribed on or pressed crisp?

vibra-scrib

crisp press

 

[indykid]

Other than making sure the mag fits in the mag well with no excessive wobble, either front to rear which should be tight, or side to side where just a bit is ok, and the action cycles reasonably smoothly, there is really no way easy way to tell the ones that are true AKM reliable from the ones that are Century problems.

About the only good thing is lately most people are reporting getting good ones.

 

[drgnrobo]

I have a AK-74 I was reluctant to buy at first from 21st century from CAI,The guys at the shop said that they checked each one & they was impressed with the quality of them & some of them had bought them as well. I would stack it up against any other AK out there ,its been nothing but reliable ,good trigger & surprisingly accurate. Only other thing to check for other than excessive mag wobble & the action is canted sights which can indicate a twist in the piston tube,this sometimes affects reliability depending on the severity

 

[Mosinguy]

From what I've read, the ones that aren't stamped were made in the other factory in Romania or they were rejected parts. There were two factories that made these rifles. One was located in a slum (the one that electro scribes the parts) and then the other one was in a well to do area with skilled craftsman (the Cugir plant/ triangle in an arrow stamp).

The rejected parts were out of spec in some way but not out of spec enough for Century to not use them. Those parts were always scribed. I'm trying to find the site where I read this, because it tells the whole history about the WASR. Supposedly the quality between the two rifle can vary vastly because one uses poor workers and the other uses people who actually know what to do.

The trunnions in your original post obviously have different levels of cosmetic quality at least. The electro scribed one has rough machining while the Cugir marked trunnion is crisp and smooth looking. Does that affect function? No. Does it maybe give a clue how the rest of the rifle might be? Maybe.