I know I should not start another thread, but it is a very long read so I decided to post the pictures. As a lead in, the story started here:
Your thoughts on a 5.56mm AK.....
https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/long-guns/432894-your-thoughts-5-56mm-ak.html
It moved on to another thread,
C39v2 - WASR - YUGO - DDI - VEPR (***) What for my first AK ?
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...-wasr-yugo-ddi-vepr-***-what-my-first-ak.html
Then it moved to another board...
New to AK's and I just bought one.....a CIA....a C39V2....now wait just a second..
New to AK's and I just bought one.....a CIA....a C39V2....now wait just a second.. - The AK Files Forums
Its a ride for sure but lots of good information, laughs, and some whining. Nonetheless after all that, I went and picked up my C39 (V2) today. For those that know AKs you will know more than I, but here are the pictures and the speak for themselves. I hope to shoot it soon and then at least part of the mystery will be done.
These of course are UNFIRED, right out of the box. I will post newer ones once fired and look for wear.
The rifle
The guts
An All American Made AK 47........
I have an email into Century and there is speculation on whether they will reply or not. I of course did not see the crack in the picture as I am sure you do, but we shall see.
Here is my letter to them today, so far no reply. This was BEFORE I saw the rifle.
Good Morning, I have a few questions that I would like to get some answers for and what better place than to contact the manufacturer and give them a chance to chime in. You see I have just purchased a C39V2 and will receive it in the next few days but in the meantime I have been researching my rifle. It is that research that brings me some initial concern. I want to be up front and frank about why I am writing this. There are those that do not speak well of Century Arms, in both their product quality and customer service. This is partially my test to take that to task and give Century a fair shot.
There are those that do not have issues either. I am trying to determine if this is a case of ‘gunsnobbery’ to be frank. I would appreciate it, if whomever is reading this can pass it to one of the designers or warranty specialists as they would be better able to answer my questions. The questions are about the series of rifles, RAS47, C39V1, C39V2 Gen 1, and C39V2 Gen 2 (the one I purchased).
So here are my questions.
(1) There is good reason to believe a ‘batch’ or two of poorly heat treated parts got out. Hey I work in manufacturing so this stuff happens, no real issue if dealt with properly and promptly. The online scoop is that customer service just says the wear is normal. Now this can very well be the case and people can get nervous way too soon which is what I think is happening in at least some of the cases. Either way, I think the evidence of a least a few of these having this issue is reasonable as the Rockwell tests seemed to indicate just that. If so, then Century would know the serials of this ‘batch’ or ‘batches’ if the case may be. The problem is I can find no evidence of any information that acknowledges this. Century Arms is being taken over the coals for not responding to this. I want to state I am happy that I purchased the rifle I did, no worries, but I want some assurance that
those issues of about 9-16 months ago were addressed. I am not asking for proprietary information at all. So I guess what is Century’s public take on this subject?
(2) Warranty – this one sort of bothers me but I want to at least hear the logic behind the policy. My understanding is that it is 1 year from date of manufacture. That seems a bit odd for a couple of reasons. The first being what if it sits on a shelf for 11 months? I am sure Century would honor manufacturing defects past that date if obviously a manufacturing issue and not an end user issue. This just puzzles me, this will be my first Century purchase and I wanted to understand the why’s of that policy. I would be willing to bet you as a company do desire to have repeat business.
(3) Being that I have done a lot of research on the C39V2, and read for hours and hours I have come to a conclusion. There are haters out there that will for whatever reason speak ill of Century Arms. What I have learned is that in the past, the service and quality were suspect so maybe some of that is fair and duly earned. What I am reading now is that it is changing for the good and continuously getting better. That is a good thing and I want to be able to agree with that statement.
(4) So in summary, you will have folks that say only buy Combloc AK’s and there is some reasonable logic for that. I however wanted to give jobs to Americans, and I chose the C39V2 for just that reason and that at least a portion of the reviews say it is a great gun being accurate and well built. I am excited to take her to the range and give her a go.
(5) One of the latest reviews I came across states that the C39V2 and its parts were designed for a life of at least 15,000 rounds. I would like a confirmation of that statistic as it could have only come from Century Arms. If this cannot be confirmed as to coming from Century Arms, does the company have an official stance on this subject?
I would be highly grateful it if Century Arms could address my questions. I want to give a disclaimer though. I fully intend to inform the AK community of the results of my inquiry. Thanks for your time.
Ed
P.S. Bring back the Grey Laminate stock that was available on the C39v1. I looked and looked and could not find a V2 with that stock. That is a thing of beauty
************************************************ NEW
Well I did receive a reply from Century Arms..
It is as following, they had made a boo boo and sent me an email I should not have gotten on Friday but there was nothing of note in it. Still I have the VP's email address now, so maybe that is why I am getting a response. I did not directly copy him to this email trail (yet).
*****************************************************************
See the crack in the cast?
Edited and added pictures and an update via the email train.
So I replied as such along with 5 pictures of the issue / crack: I posted 3 of them below.
I made them smaller so zoom is not so good.
Re: [Request received] C39V2 Issues and Questions
ED <ED> Today at 5:39 PM
To:Century Arms
Message body
I replied earlier and thank you for passing it along. I look forward to the replies. I have done lots of reading on this gun and I am looking forward to shooting it. I do however have another question, this one a little more pressing. I will attach some pictures that show a crack in a piece that I think is cast. I am not sure if this is safe to shoot. Please pass these along to someone that can tell me what I have here. I hope it is nothing to worry about but I have never seen anything quite like it before..
My Serial number is in the 33xxx range.
ED
View attachment 54290 View attachment 54291 View attachment 54292
So I am not sure if it is a crack as it only shows up on one side. When you cast something it could be a hair or whatever. So they now have two things that I await an answer on...
Your thoughts on a 5.56mm AK.....
https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/long-guns/432894-your-thoughts-5-56mm-ak.html
It moved on to another thread,
C39v2 - WASR - YUGO - DDI - VEPR (***) What for my first AK ?
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...-wasr-yugo-ddi-vepr-***-what-my-first-ak.html
Then it moved to another board...
New to AK's and I just bought one.....a CIA....a C39V2....now wait just a second..
New to AK's and I just bought one.....a CIA....a C39V2....now wait just a second.. - The AK Files Forums
Its a ride for sure but lots of good information, laughs, and some whining. Nonetheless after all that, I went and picked up my C39 (V2) today. For those that know AKs you will know more than I, but here are the pictures and the speak for themselves. I hope to shoot it soon and then at least part of the mystery will be done.
These of course are UNFIRED, right out of the box. I will post newer ones once fired and look for wear.
The rifle
The guts
An All American Made AK 47........
I have an email into Century and there is speculation on whether they will reply or not. I of course did not see the crack in the picture as I am sure you do, but we shall see.
Here is my letter to them today, so far no reply. This was BEFORE I saw the rifle.
Good Morning, I have a few questions that I would like to get some answers for and what better place than to contact the manufacturer and give them a chance to chime in. You see I have just purchased a C39V2 and will receive it in the next few days but in the meantime I have been researching my rifle. It is that research that brings me some initial concern. I want to be up front and frank about why I am writing this. There are those that do not speak well of Century Arms, in both their product quality and customer service. This is partially my test to take that to task and give Century a fair shot.
There are those that do not have issues either. I am trying to determine if this is a case of ‘gunsnobbery’ to be frank. I would appreciate it, if whomever is reading this can pass it to one of the designers or warranty specialists as they would be better able to answer my questions. The questions are about the series of rifles, RAS47, C39V1, C39V2 Gen 1, and C39V2 Gen 2 (the one I purchased).
So here are my questions.
(1) There is good reason to believe a ‘batch’ or two of poorly heat treated parts got out. Hey I work in manufacturing so this stuff happens, no real issue if dealt with properly and promptly. The online scoop is that customer service just says the wear is normal. Now this can very well be the case and people can get nervous way too soon which is what I think is happening in at least some of the cases. Either way, I think the evidence of a least a few of these having this issue is reasonable as the Rockwell tests seemed to indicate just that. If so, then Century would know the serials of this ‘batch’ or ‘batches’ if the case may be. The problem is I can find no evidence of any information that acknowledges this. Century Arms is being taken over the coals for not responding to this. I want to state I am happy that I purchased the rifle I did, no worries, but I want some assurance that
those issues of about 9-16 months ago were addressed. I am not asking for proprietary information at all. So I guess what is Century’s public take on this subject?
(2) Warranty – this one sort of bothers me but I want to at least hear the logic behind the policy. My understanding is that it is 1 year from date of manufacture. That seems a bit odd for a couple of reasons. The first being what if it sits on a shelf for 11 months? I am sure Century would honor manufacturing defects past that date if obviously a manufacturing issue and not an end user issue. This just puzzles me, this will be my first Century purchase and I wanted to understand the why’s of that policy. I would be willing to bet you as a company do desire to have repeat business.
(3) Being that I have done a lot of research on the C39V2, and read for hours and hours I have come to a conclusion. There are haters out there that will for whatever reason speak ill of Century Arms. What I have learned is that in the past, the service and quality were suspect so maybe some of that is fair and duly earned. What I am reading now is that it is changing for the good and continuously getting better. That is a good thing and I want to be able to agree with that statement.
(4) So in summary, you will have folks that say only buy Combloc AK’s and there is some reasonable logic for that. I however wanted to give jobs to Americans, and I chose the C39V2 for just that reason and that at least a portion of the reviews say it is a great gun being accurate and well built. I am excited to take her to the range and give her a go.
(5) One of the latest reviews I came across states that the C39V2 and its parts were designed for a life of at least 15,000 rounds. I would like a confirmation of that statistic as it could have only come from Century Arms. If this cannot be confirmed as to coming from Century Arms, does the company have an official stance on this subject?
I would be highly grateful it if Century Arms could address my questions. I want to give a disclaimer though. I fully intend to inform the AK community of the results of my inquiry. Thanks for your time.
Ed
P.S. Bring back the Grey Laminate stock that was available on the C39v1. I looked and looked and could not find a V2 with that stock. That is a thing of beauty
************************************************ NEW
Well I did receive a reply from Century Arms..
It is as following, they had made a boo boo and sent me an email I should not have gotten on Friday but there was nothing of note in it. Still I have the VP's email address now, so maybe that is why I am getting a response. I did not directly copy him to this email trail (yet).
Kxxxx Cxxxx (Century Arms) Mar 27, 10:56 ADT Good Morning Ed, I wanted to let you know that I have submitted your request to the VP of Sales and Marketing. You have asked a lot of really good questions and I want to make sure that you are going to get the best response possible. I will have an answer for you as soon as possible and I will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience. Kxxxx Attachment(s) Century c39v2 (1).pdf |
*****************************************************************
See the crack in the cast?
Edited and added pictures and an update via the email train.
So I replied as such along with 5 pictures of the issue / crack: I posted 3 of them below.
I made them smaller so zoom is not so good.
Re: [Request received] C39V2 Issues and Questions
ED <ED> Today at 5:39 PM
To:Century Arms
Message body
I replied earlier and thank you for passing it along. I look forward to the replies. I have done lots of reading on this gun and I am looking forward to shooting it. I do however have another question, this one a little more pressing. I will attach some pictures that show a crack in a piece that I think is cast. I am not sure if this is safe to shoot. Please pass these along to someone that can tell me what I have here. I hope it is nothing to worry about but I have never seen anything quite like it before..
My Serial number is in the 33xxx range.
ED
View attachment 54290 View attachment 54291 View attachment 54292
So I am not sure if it is a crack as it only shows up on one side. When you cast something it could be a hair or whatever. So they now have two things that I await an answer on...
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