You like it.

Thats all that matters.

Fuck no. They have a reputation for exploding. Fuck that

Do a google search on the RAS47 problems. Just in case some issues may bother you. Maybe century fixed the issues and all will be fine. Otherwise if you have 2 aks you could much cheaper buy the magpul furniture and put it on one you already own then buy ammo with money saved and shoot it like crazy.

I wonder if he likes cast bolts and trunions with a poor reputation for durability. That matters a little bit too

It looks like an AK, takes AK mags, and that's about it. If you like your fingers, hands, and eyes youll stay away.

This...........all that glitters is not gold.

Let's see....you take an inexpensive AK and throw it in a creek, run over it with a car, drop it on concrete (repeatedly), do push-ups on it, pour sand in the action while firing it, then criticize it because it last "only" 2500 rounds? Sheesh....

They are nice looking, that's about it. High rate of failures and newer models have such exciting features as proprietary optics side mounts.

I've done all this except drive over it to my ban era wasr it still works and is minute of tall boy accurate to 100yards. My romy g build and my sam7s are minute of 12 oz can at 100yards all with wolf ammo.

The RAS "made" it to 5000 rounds, you're thinking of the IO which failed at 1600.  And by made I mean the headspace was dangerously loose, to where I am surprised Rob didn't have it kaboom and serves as a good reason to wear safety glasses.  At the end of the day none of those will cause locking lug setback due to crap metallurgy.  Also damning is the fact that other AKs will generally survive this abuse and the 5000 rounds without difficulty.  It'd be one thing it the RAS was just cheap and you shot the barrel at 2000-3000 rounds, then it'd just be a cheap gun.  However, there are enough pictures on the internet of these things shearing locking lugs off to say they are potentially dangerous to the user.  The RAS with Magpul furniture has an MSRP close to that a C39V2 which generally seem alright from what I've read aside from concerns of the bolt carrier...  or you could just buy a WASR and put Magpul kit on it.

You do know that the AKOU RAS-47 isn't the only one to fail, right?

I myself only prefer commie made AK's




Its not my money, so my opinion doesnt really matter in this decision.

Oh sure. When the youtube commandos see it done, there's going to be those that are Rob Ski wannabes and will set about trying to repeat what he did. Remember long ago when the morons would film themselves shooting AK's until the handguards were nearly in flames? Some people like to tear shit up.

Look, any man-made object can be destroyed, including the finest firearms on earth. You flex a piece of metal long enough and hard enough and eventually it's going to give. When my Dad was in the Army in the '50's, those who operated the M2 Browning, arguably the finest heavy machine gun ever devised, were given a set of headspace gauges because shit happens, even to the best equipment.

zero rifles have exploded. A few have closed on a no go gauge. But did not explode

This is exactly what I figured. 99% of AK owners, hell gun owners for that matter, haven't the slightest idea what headspace is and the implications of too much headspace.

Lol no. I know we're in the AK section, but this nonsense needs to be stomped out wherever it pops up.

I forgot about kalasnikitty awesome

OK, I'm sure you're a self-appointed heavy MG expert who's about to teach me a thing or two, but the point of my post was not to start a pissing contest over which MG is best, rather to point out that a weapon that is of high enough quality to have seen continuous use for almost 80 years by countless countries, can experience headspace problems. That said, why would it be surprising that a weapon of such crudely simplistic design as an AK also experience the same problem?

If you like it that is what matters. I actually had one and never had a single issue with it. I ended up selling it to fund another project but I'd still have it if I didn't want to go another direction.

That's a bold statement considering you didn't hear about these issues less than two weeks ago. Maybe "explode" conjures up large detonations to most, but typically people are just saying that it had a catastrophic failure. Even then, individual perspectives differ when it comes to what is "catastrophic". Also, this is not the only example of this happening to a RAS.

I guess maybe when fresh from the factory.



They were (and still are) given headspace gauges because the M2's barrel is removable in the field and must be set to the correct headspace by the operator. If it were not removable, or did not rely on being set to certain position, then checking headspace would be the job of the armorer during a PFI.

Yup, that's why they made the m2a1 machine gun which has fixed head spacing so that only armorers will need to worry about headspacing

This. The M2 is a heavy beast that breaks down for storage and transport. I've had my fair share of lugging one around for Uncle Sam.

About Rob Ski's video of the RAS 47 failing after 5000 rounds, he had actually failed to use the correct headspace gauges. Here is a reply I put on his youtube video:

"I don't know if this has been covered before, but there is a very good chance that rifle is still within acceptable headspace. You should have done much more research on what gauges to use and how to use them prior to posting this video. Go and no go gauges are used when assembling a new made rifle. It is ideal that a rifle closes on a go gauge but will not close a no go. It is also acceptable if the rifle closes on the no go with resistance. When you closed the rifle on the no go it is clear you had encountered some resistance. This would mean that the rifle is still likely within acceptable headspace. What you should have done however would be to use a FIELD gauge. This gauge is all that is necessary for a used rifle. If a rifle closes on this gauge, then there is absolutely too much headspace. Any rifle's headspace will increase with use regardless of manufacture. Calling a used rifle a grenade for closing on that no go gauge is a very ignorant statement and leads me to believe you guys are far from "experts" on anything gun related."

He had replied:

"Pete, no it wasn't. There was progressing damage to the trunnion done by bolt...watch Mel64D - he took rifle apart. Goal was just to rescue the rifle, we fitted mil spec bolt, head spaced rifle and after only 25 rds rifle lost headspacing again...Mel took a better look at the trunnion and trunnion was melting away...rifle end up as a decorative piece on the wall..."

At which point I returned:

"All rifles suffer some degree of compaction to the locking lugs from the bolt. I find it hard to believe however that any company would put out a rifle that has such a soft trunnion that it is actually stretching when firing. These trunnions are cast which is where a lot of scrutiny comes from. Most of that is due to inconsistencies in the casting that allows for voids in the metal. These voids can help induce cracks and thus why forged trunnions are preferred. Castings and forgings however can obtain similar levels of hardness which is what is important in this case.

As for the barrel getting excessive headspace once corrected, are you sure that the barrel did not just move back to its prior position after you corrected for head space? Unless you remove the barrel, knurl it, and use an oversize barrel pin when reassembling, the barrel can return to it's prior position upon firing. The headspace would then of course appear to be enlarging. I don't know what you mean by the trunnion melting but that is not possible at all at the temperatures your rifle would be at. The temperatures would not be nearly enough to cause a cast steel block to begin melting."

He then did not respond.


I think he is an excellent weapons tester and I enjoy his videos but I don't think he properly checked this rifle before writing it off. I do not like the RAS47 and will never own one, but that is not due to his video that states the headspace grew exponentially quickly. I am an engineer and know a little something about materials engineering, although am not an expert as that is not my specialty.

I'm getting hundreds of messages per day and i can't keep up with all replies to every video i published. I'm not rude - i just don't have capacity to keep tracking of it...
Now to the subject, you are missing the point. There was physical damage done to the trunnion on the right side. Mel goes in details about the whole thing: https://youtu.be/4dDydHYrDZ8?t=4m57s  
Also, from other RAS47 (yes, others which actually exploded), i have seen immediately problems because of their bolts locking lugs - they were all deformed. Owners just didn't knew or didn't pay attention.
At this point i honestly don't care if people like RAS47 or don't. This is their money and they can buy whatever they want.
But after what i have seen and know now, i know that i'm not going to touch RAS47 ever again...

I like this thread because it made me thing of the time our M2 had a timing mis-detonation.  My gunner was in the turret and I was the VC seated directly next to him and below.  After the loud bang, dust from unexploded powder and the stinging of brass shrapnel into my leg and shoulder it was a good time we all laughed about later.  to make this valid, RAS47 no stay away lots of options but as someone said the C39v2 is close in price and far better, if your leaning towards a Century.  I love mine zero issues, among my other AK's.  I'd also recommend the WASR, any Romny G rifles, or even a AMD for the price range.  Cheers!

The headspace gauges were used to ensure it would fire, had nothing to do with wear. You had to set headspace and timing every time you swapped a barrel. It was the nature of the design

I just bought one for a good price. It's only had 30 rnds through it.  Mainly gonna be a range gun

Personally, I don't like but it's your money.

To me it's like buying a cheap knock off Chinese counterfeit product, though in this case the Chinese versions are great. Seems like the roles are reversed now and it's the US that's making the cheap counterfeit knock offs.

I prefer my AK rifles & parts to be from the old Soviet Bloc country's, it's also a better investment.

They have great curb appeal and are proceeding right, that's all they have going for them. I wouldn't own one of those pieces of shit. There is way too much info out there proving what garbage those things are. Cheap, cast, inferior parts.

I look at it this way: Why pay for something that is of questionable quality when you can spend the same money, or maybe even a little bit more, and get something that is known to be good. I saw a picture today of two RAS47's with cracked front trunnions. These are hand grenades that are waiting to go off right next to your face.




Don't be fooled by the looks. Buy something with a proven track record.

any gun has this potential. Not just the ras47. Everyone's favorite shitty glock blows up more then a beretta or sig but yet everyone loves the glock grenade.  Century knows what they are doing and they are not stupid. A very few had problems.

Century knows that most people don't really shoot their guns. A couple of hundred rounds a year is not going to show any issues for a long time. I don't understand why you insist on defending them so strongly unless you have stock in Century or you own one of those piles and are trying to justify your purchase.

I am not a Century hater. I hope they get their collective shit together and iron out the issues with their AK's. I would love to see a domestic manufacturer produce a AK type rifle that rivals those produced by European makers. So far everyone that makes them here seems to miss the mark, some by more than others.

In the meanwhile, I will not knowingly tell someone to buy a marginal firearm if I know there are better options available.

History is not on your side when it comes to that statement.


How are you quantifying this statement? Pretty sure I've asked that before and didn't get an answer.

I did a lot of research on them when I was new to AKs. I have only heard of two  instances when they had a head spacing for trunnion problems. A no go gauge is not where you decide it's bad. A field gauge is.

Agreed, it is not very common statistically for the amount of them sold to have many issues. Also statistically it is very uncommon for over 90% of the owners will ever shoot over 5000 rounds in their rifles. If you choose to buy one then good for you, but why bother buying this with better options out there without the negative reputation.

You did a lot of research on them but didn't know anything about the trunnion issues until you were made aware of it here? And out of all of that research you only came up with two instances where they failed a no-go test? Also, in the Marines at least, a no-go was the point where we deadlined a rifle, but that was us.