current kit selection

I got to the dance way too late on this, I have been interested in building one for years, now I have the time. Would anyone be willing to share their opinion on the kits that are available today and which one would produce the best final product. I would want to stay with a 7.62x39. I tend to not hold onto to junk so if a rifle of reasonable accuracy (4"@ 100 yds) can't be produced I will probably pass on this project. It seems from what I have gleaned that many US barrels are a dissapointment. Are there exceptions to this?

Thanks for your time!

Go check out the kits at ak-builder. Some include new chrome-lined US barrels completed with barrel parts installed and headspaced.

ak-builder kits

He also has a variety of great high quality build tools.

Everyone came to the scene too late. Fact of the matter is, while you can't buy a kit for around $50 like you used to, you can still build them for less than you can buy them for. That is if you find an active building group who already made the initial investment in tools and experience. I wouldn't believe all you read about US barrels being a disappointment. Personally I have built several using US barrels and have yet to see anything to be disappointed in. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate these can be (another urban legend). No, they aren't sub MOA but open sights shooting a clay pigeon 150 yards away I was able to consistently hit them when I really didn't expect that. There are several distributors of AKs parts and supplies, from barrels to kits. As far as sticking with a 7.62x39 I wouldn't avoid a 5.45x39 especially seeing how inexpensive the ammunition is and how accurate the appear to be. There are also AKs in 5.56x45(223) readily available and even conversions so they can accept AR mags. My Yugo M92 (a little rare) has a heavy barrel 1 in 7 twist and gives my M4gery a run for its money every time (even with optics). Of course, you can't forget the PSL. Centerfiresystems has some kits they are trying to get rid of. Others are Apexgunparts, Copesdistributing and J&G Sales (just to mention those I use most). Good luck and have fun.

Amazing I purchased two years ago 3 kits from Centerline for 99 Bucks each...I should have gotten 6 of them...

Classic Arms recently had Romanian kits with barrels for $250 or without for $190. Also bent receivers for an additional $50 and barrels for sale by themselves.

LINK

What-A-Country has some of the original barreled Romy "G" kit with matching numbers, but the price is up there.
http://whatacountry.com/romanian-ak-47-parts-kit.aspx
This would be a good first build & it takes the 7.62x39 round.

I have ordered one of the Bulgarian AK74 kits (5.45x39) from AK-Builder with the new US chromed head spaced barrels.
I'll be building this kit & doing a comparison with an older Bulgarian AK74 with original barrel just to see if there is any difference.

That will be an excellent review/comparison.

Let us know your findings.

Yes I would like to know if there is much diference as well or are the people complaining of problems might just be the loose screw behind the trigger. LOL

I have ordered a Bulgy 74 kit from Atlantic, they still have them. I also got a really nice Polish underdfolder AKM from Gunbroker. They are out there, and if you want a european barrel, they are out there too! Yes, you pay a little more, but they are hammer forged and chrome lined

My new Bulgarian AK74 kit came in, & it looks good.
It is not a matching number kit but that is OK, AK-Builder says it is headspaced I'll be checking that out when I get to building.
The trigger guard & mag catch was disassembled, that only took a few min. to put back together. It is easy when it is not on the receiver.
The muzzle wasn't the zig-zag type like my other AK74, but I can deal with it.
It came with all the parts to do an easy build, it took a little searching to find them all, the mag catch was stuck in the cosmo inside the muzzle brake, & the disconnector spring was on the F/A axis pin retainer's long leg. I thought I was going to need to give Curtis a call, but all the parts were there.

I will be doing my comparison with a original barrel AK74 build that I bought as a kit back about 4 years ago when they were imported with barrels.

The only problem is my shop is down right now, I having a new garage built so this will be the first build in the new shop.
It should be late spring before I get everything up and running. So see you then.
Ooh the #1 reason I bought the kit is my girl friend has fell in love with my other AK74 so I'm building another so I can have one to shoot.LOL

We (or should I say I) are anxiously looking forward to the comparison.

If I didn't already have several builds "in process" and based upon my postive experience with ak-builder, I would purchase one of these "barreled" kits from Curtis and presume these will build great and operate without any issues. Due to the fact Curtis installed the barrel components and headspaced the new US chrome-lined barrel, I wouldn't care if was a matching kit or not.

I'm currently working on a numbers matching Bulgarian 74 parts kit build (with original chrome-lined barrel) and a numbers matching Polish Tantal 74 parts kit with original chrome-lined barrel and several retro AR-15's as well.

I did a AK-74 Kit from Curtis try easy kit with barrel already done.... The prices from Classic arms are excellent and that kit...sheesh things are getting to easy... Newbies are getting spoiled..

It is getting like the old days with the barrels already assembled making an easy build, I just wish the prices would get easy too.

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