Anyone got a bunch of rounds on an ak101? Want to get one to satisfy my 5.56 long gun needs but I’m not seeing any real reviews with any sort of higher round counts. Anyone suppressed one? How’s it gassed?

I grabbed one when they first came out.  I knew going into it that you sometimes roll the dice with a new model that PSA releases (bought my Dagger, JAKL, and AK-V after they had been around a little bit, and all have been flawless).  Figured I'd roll the dice with the 101.  First 300 rounds were flawless, then I began having issues where it seemed like the gas system was slowly getting "dialed back" when the rifle started heating up.  Action started slowing down, ejection pattern would slowly start getting closer to the rifle until finally it would start short stroking.  

Was driving me nuts trying to figure out what the issue was.  The good news is that PSA has great customer service.  Took two trips back to PSA to figure it out (over-nighted back to South Carolina both times on PSAs dime).  Cameron with PSA was great to deal with.  He found that the chamber was rough and was slowing down extraction and ejection as it heated up.  Chamber got flex honed, sent back to me, and has now been rocking just fine the last two times I got it out.  

Very happy with the purchase now (the 101 is a nice little rifle).  Bottom line is that if you have issues, it'll get resolved with varying levels of asspain.  I was happy enough that I ordered a base model 102 once I knew the 101 was squared away.

None yet, just finish wear.  No pierced primers.  The 101 issues are starting to look like some may have rough chambers.  User on AK Files also got a rough chamber in their 101.

No, different user.  Although some of that guy's issues in his videos MAY have been a rough chamber as well.  I'm rooting for PSA to get these squared away.  I like the potential that PSAs 100 series AKs have.

I just received a plum 101 folder Thursday.
I attempted to fire a mix of IMI and American eagle through AC unity magazines for a total of 60 rounds with a 20% failure rate.
light primer strikes and one broken case stuck in the chamber 16 rounds in.

Fit and finish of the rifle is good though.
Comparing to Bulgarian 74's and 106's the PSA stock pin and trunnion interface is a little sloppy but it looks like they've added internal set screws to take up the slack, must loosen them again to fold the stock.

Overall it's ok I guess considering what imports are going for and thought I'd support PSA's efforts on trying to build a domestic 101.

I've contacted PSA for repair/refund

I've had my 102 for about a month now but have yet to have a chance to fire it.  Hoping I can get it out on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Been blistering cold and the only indoor range that allows rifle calibers is a bit of a drive and kind of pricey.

@fivepointoh

Anything to report? Interested is seeing your 102 results

Same.

Work has been hectic guys. And I work a pretty odd schedule. I will try try try to get out early next week to put some rounds down range and keep bumping the round count up.

It never ends. Haven’t seen a single positive 556 PSA AK thread on any of the various forums.

This was taken from a different forum:

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Yes. I fixed it myself and then sold my 102. It was a toy, but even my fun guns need to be reliable or I lose interest. I wanted no part of it after that and seeing all the issues with the 556 line of PSA AKs.

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And after warranty:

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Wasn't there a fourth pic in that Reddit thread?

Lol the reddit AK subreddit is run by man children who fellate Arsenal so hard they've lost their gag reflex.

Anyway that person made a post saying the rifle was fixed by PSA and the mods quickly deleted it

Ran a few mags through mine today.  As expected, running just fine now.

So far so good but only 400ish rounds on a new one. I plan on shooting it a lot so we'll definitely see.

I'm honestly surprised that there's redditors that own guns that place is so die hard commie.

Hey PSA:

When will Chrome Lined 101's or 556 AK's become available?

X2

Same.

I should have look here before ordering three AK 101s. Well two of them were shipped BNIB to Rifle Dynamics for the PSA upgrade package. With their package they dehorn everything and smooth out the action rails, bolt and FCG. Hopefully that will solve any of these problems.

Okay! I have a mostly positive PSA AK101 review.
Today was the first range day.  Rifle ran like a top! At first.... Had four FTE with a couple being stovepipes out of 200 rounds.  First 100 were IMI M193 and the second was Federal American Eagle 55 grn.  On a side note it was overcast today and I can say Federal did not put a bit of flash suppressant  in those cartridges.  
During shooting I noticed the brass was being thrown about 20 feet or so.  But from time to time they would be deposited on the bench next to me.
During cleaning I started looking for anything obviously wrong.  Everything looked good till I got to the extractor.  It seemed to move a little too easily.  For some reason the extractor spring is just a mess.  It was delaminated for lack of a better word.  The two twist had come apart and it was bent out of shape.  In this condition the spring is unable to properly grab the case rim.  I need to order some more magazines tonight and will get a couple new extractor spring.  That should fix the problem unless something is out of spec causing the spring failure.  
Love the rifle! Could send it back to PSA for service.  But where is the fun in that.
I did try and get a good picture of the spring as it was but could just not get enough light in there.  
My opinion, great rifle, this is just a hick-up.

Bought one of the Fathers Day specials for $799 with 10 AC Unity mags. Rifle was built in May of this year.

Out of the box the gun was cosmetically perfect. I've only fired 100ish rounds of m855 through it. I can report no issues in those rounds. Rifle is gassy. It kicks out brass case so hard it dents on the chargin handle. Non issue for me since I don't reload but something to be cognizant of if you do. I can tell you that it is a sturdy gun. I took a slip of the side of an embankment during a hike yesterday and i fell on the rifle as we both slid into some gravel. Nothing got bent or snapped off lol.

As I get some more rounds down the pipe ill post it here.

Something of worth: Ive only used 2 types of mags. The included AC Unity mags and WBP clear polymer mags. Both fit and feed 100%. WBP is a little tight but after a few in and outs they go in like butter.

At $799 with 10 mags I am content with it. Time will tell if it holds up.

Fit and finish on mine is nice. My issue is the opposite of mustywaffles. Mine is under gassed. I had failure to extract issues. Brass was only landing about six feet away when it came out. Almost no recoil. I put a Krink style brake on it and its been GTG since then. Looks like shit but it shoots. It will probably end up going back for repairs.

I have a Saiga .223 and years ago I experienced a problem with a brass case sticking in the chamber after I had fired several magazines of steel cased ammo through the Saiga.  It had functioned just fine up to that point.  It occurred to me that the steel cases probably weren't expanding against the chamber wall the same way that a brass case does.  Some fouling had built up while firing the steel cased ammo, and then the brass case expanded to fill the chamber and stuck with the fouling.

I've since reserved my steel cased .223 for my .223 AKs, and my brass cased .223 for my ARs.  

I bought a PSA AK 101 and hope to test it out soon.

I bought one before the 4th of July sale for $799.
It came with 10 AC unity magazines.
Serial number is 2414.
On June 28th, I took to the range and "broke it in".
100 rds of brass cased Federal bulk 55 gr 223 that I bought at Walmart over a decade ago.
100 rds of Federal AE 233 55 grain , (brass cased).
20 rds of 55 gr Tula, (steel cased).
20 rds of 55 gr Wolf, (steel cased).
20 rds of 55 gr Bernaul, (steel cased).

No malfunctions of any kind with the rifle during the 260 rds.
I only brought 5 (of the 10) magazines with me during this session. I noticed that only one consistently locked the bolt back after the last round.
Unfortunately, my father mixed that one in with the others, so I had no way of differentiating it from the others.

Yesterday, (July 8th) I went back to the range to zero a different optic (PA 2.5 prism that was on super sale for $99 last week) and see if I could get some form of accuracy checking out of it.
I fired a total of 100 rds out of the gun this time, and had one malfunction that I feel is likely my fault.
Round 13 (round number 273 through the gun total at this point) had a light primer strike. On rechambering it, it fired without issue. This was the first round out of three on a mag I had just inserted, it's possible I didnt rack it with authority and kinda slopped it home, I dont really recall. When the gun went click, I racked the gun, ejecting the round, and feeding the next. I looked the round over, saw a slight dimple on the primer, dropped the mag, reloaded the round into the mag, and reinserted the mag into the gun.
I fired the three round string without issue.
After the optic was zero'd, I wanted to see what the gun would do.
I only did five round groups vs Molon's 10 shot groups. Molon is the man and is a far better shooter than I am.
I also work a rotating shift and drink a stupid amount of caffeine, so I am far from a precision rifle shooter.
It was mid afternoon on an overcast Missouri summer day. I did not measure the wind, the humidity, nor the temperature.
Moving on...
AE 223 55 gr brass cased ammo was approximately 3.5 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
Winchester Ranger 223 69 gr Match was approximately 3.5 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
Hornady New Frontier 5.56 75 gr BTHP Match was approximately 3.5 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
Sellier & Bellot 77 gr HPBT was approximately 2.5 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
PPU Matchline 223 75 gr HPBT was approximately 4.0 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
PMC Bronze 223 55 gr was approximately 3.0 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
PMC X-TAC 5.56 55 gr was approximately 2.5 MOA at 100 yards from the bench with a rest.
I later took it out to 400 and regularly banging a full size IDPA steel torso.
I think she likes the faster ammo, closer to M193 spec.

I think that with an actual scope vs a prism optic, (and in the hands of a better shooter), I think this could be a 1.75 -2.0 MOA gun with loads it likes. My optic choice and age related eyesight (I'm almost 50 with an astigmatism) were the biggest hinderance to getting better groups with this gun.

Not bad for an sub $800 American made AK.

She does throw brass AWAY. With authority.
Into another county.
The extractor is rough on the rim of brass. It's possible that it could be reloaded once, but I think you'd be risking case rims being torn off if you went more than that.
I'm curious if installing an adjustable gas piston, or the Occam Defense Adjustable Gas block would make the gun a little more gentle on brass?
But I wanted to see what sort of accuracy I could expect out her before I started dumping more money into her.
This is not designed to be a match gun, but will be a gun I take to tactical two gun shoots that will go out to 600 yards as well as alot of close & intermediate range stuff as well. So 2.5 - 3.5 MOA accuracy is good enough for what I'm going to be doing with it. And I truly believe that the gun will do better (precision wise) than 2.5 MOA with the right load and with a better optic.

Regarding the AC Unity mags...
I found the one and labeled it.
The others would lock back on an empty mag if I slowly pulled the bolt to the rear.
I suspect that the gun is overgassed and moving the bolt faster than the springs can get the BHO follower up there in those 4 magazines.
Maybe I'll swap out the springs for stiffer ones and see what happens.

All 10 that came with mine do the same thing. Its an AC Unity thing. I hated the mags at first but they've grown on me. Pick up some WBP mags from PSA while they have them for $9.99. My rifle loves them.

I bought a bunch of Weapon Tech BHO followers for my 762 mags.....but do not see that they make them for the 556 mags.
I probably need to pull one and insert it into an AC Unity mag just to see if it works.

From my limited google searching, it does not appear that anyone makes a 556 AK LRBHO mag follower...

I wish those WBP mags came with a LRBHO followers. I got spoiled with my Yugo mags and the WeaponTech followers.

I’m glad that you and I both are having positive reports with our rifles. Are rifles are cousins based off serial numbers. I’ll continue to post updates with mine here. So far so good it’s still ticking along.

90 rounds of m855 fired today with no issues of any kind. Figured I’d share some photos of how I like to run my AKs.

First things first I remove that awful factory sling mount and put a Grove Tac push button base in the stock. Drill, tap, epoxy in place. Solid as a rock.
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Playing around with the RS regulate mounts now and have nothing but positive things to say about them. Rock solid once you get the tension figured out for your particular rail.
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Sig Romeo 7s continues to be a wonderful red dot. When they go on sale for $99 (regularly at PSA) I recommend picking a few up. Works great under nods too when doing passive aiming.
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Keep sharing your success and failures with these rifles. I really want to see PSA hit absolute home runs with their AK line.

PSA's AK 101 (5.56) shot a 1.31 inch group at 100 yds from the bench.
If you'd told me an American made AK that sells for $649 (currently) would shoot a five shot group measuring 1.31 inches (edge to edge), I'd have said you were high.
And then I did it.

4 inch red circle:




Ammo used:


Weather:


I am not Molon. He would have done a much better job of documenting these results, and frankly, probably would have cut that group down even further.
However, this is damn good for any AK, much less a "budget" AK from PSA.

Went to the range today to zero a new optic for the PSA AK 101, and to test ammo with a Primary Arm's SLX 1-6 LVPO.
I've used the 7.62x39 version before, and discovered that even a NATO length stock did not provide enough eye relief in the prone for this platform.
So I also ordered the Rifle Dynamics M4 stock adaptor for AK's.
All of these were installed and tested today.
I was only able to put 60 rds down range today.

Total round count on the gun is merely 420.
Zero failures of any kind.
I'm liking the hell out of this gun.

I will be posting this elswhere on the forum in other threads, so apologies for spamming those who are subscribed to those threads as well.

There is some mushrooming/peening of the bolt carrier/op rod tail.
It's not alot, and does not currently affect function of the gun, but I only have 420 rounds through the gun as well....
I took photo's of the bolt tail and extractor when the gun was new, (but not the BCG/Op Rod). I have been taking photo's of both the Op Rod/BCG and the bolt tail & extractor since the first range session.
That's the sole negative of the gun so far.

Just got one of the Triangle Sidefolder AK-101 models this past Friday. Fit and finish was great, and it shot well with every mag save for one Zastava polymer 5.56 magazine I had bought to try (however when I got home I gave it another try and then it decided to rock and lock )

From left to right: PSA 5.56 AK mag, Black Bulgarian Circle 10 5.56 AK mag, US ProMag WASR-3 mag, Polish Radom Beryl 5.56 blue translucent mag, Smoke Grey Translucent Bulgarian Circle 10 5.56 mag, Polish WBP Smoke Grey Translucent 5.56 mag, Polish Radom Beryl 5.56 Black mag and (not pictured, unfortunately) an AC Unity Black Windowed 5.56 AK mag.

All of them locked in nicely, and functioned great. I'm very pleased with the rifle so far and can't wait to put it through some more paces.



Pictured with a Russian UPO-1 optic installed on the side rail:



Range Pics and magdump video:

After having good success with a PSA GF3 and GF5, I went ahead and ordered a 101 AKM nutmeg rifle yesterday. I'm hoping this one is a workhorse also and very reliable and accurate. Already got my shipping conformation, can't wait for the FFL call!

I took the PSA AK 101 to the range for its first run this morning, with positive results. My set up is an RS regulate mount and a Holosun 503c red dot sight, shooting off a bench with a front rest. PMC 55gr 223 and Igman 55gr 223 ammo, everything fed and functioned fine, and with almost no recoil on this rifle it is very enjoyable to shoot. I didn't shoot for accuracy, but I was curious about it, and I can say from its initial outing, it's a 2-moa rifle which is very good news to me. I was more interested in getting some rounds down range and breaking in the rifle, but the rifle functioned great. I only used Circle 10 mags and WBP mags both 20 rounders and both lock in and fit nice and snug, no issues there. I shot the rifle at 100 and 200 yards for a total of 50 rounds at paper and steel targets. PSA you have a good product here with this 101, keep up the good work!

I've had mine out for a second outing with 100 more rounds, all brass 55gr and the rifle is still running very well, not one issue. It's been cleaned and lubed twice, and had a furniture change to an OD green stock set. It throws brass about 12 foot away at the 02:00 position and I wouldn't say it's over gassed, but runs well. The rifle itself is very soft shooting, I've never seen an AK with this little recoil impulse but I like it. I still have not tried the factory supplied PSA magazine, but I am using WBP mags and they work good. Accuracy has been 2.5" at 100 yards with a red-dot sight with brass ammo, so far so good.  

My LGS has a PSA 102 rifle for sale, and it caught my attention the other day when I was in there, I didn't take a good look at it, but I believe it has a shorter barrel with some type of pinned on muzzle device and folding darker colored stock. Don't know if it's used or new but I'm going to swing by there today and get a better look at it.

Taking my PSA AK101 to the Winter K-Con shoot in January.

https://www.instagram.com/kalashni_con/

That will be a pretty good work out for it in alot of different conditions. I'll give a range/function report when I get back.

That event looks rather interesting.

It's a fun time.
Check out the videos on youtube from past participants.

Figured I’d add some wear photos. Rifle has been entirely fed m855 from PMC. Unknown round count, but it has been fed well over a case.

Hard to get nice photos of the trunnion. This is what it is currently looking like. There is a weird wear point as can be seen. It’s still running so I’m going to keep shooting it.
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Locking lug wear is coming along decently.
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Closer look at the lugs
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I believe the extractor is what is causing that strange wear.
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I’m gonna keep on shooting it. Haven’t had any malfunctions to this point. Chief complaint on my end is the gun is SUPER over gassed. Not normally a problem for a Kalash however, the plan is to start running my can on this thing. A KNS piston is a must have for this gun.

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What is the muzzle device situation on these 1/2x28 101's? Is the barrel itself threaded, with a squared shoulder (similar to an AR)? What is the shoulder OD?

I'm really wanting one of these, but also wanting to run it suppressed..

Welp, unfortunately I’m starting to get the dreaded light primer strike issue with my PSAK-101. Weird that it just started out of the blue, it’s been running fine for about 500 or 600 rounds and now I had 4 light strikes with Lake City M193 and M855 today. I tried multiple times to fire the rounds that had light strikes, but I could not get any of them to ignite with multiple tries.

To make matters even better, I was just going to order a 5.56 Beryl firing pin to hopefully fix the issue myself, but they seem to be all out of stock

Shame though, I really like this rifle.Everything is pretty straight on the rifle, and it barely has any recoil or muzzle rise. Shoots like a laser with 62 grain ammo.

Spent brass on the left and the light strike rounds on the right

ETA: This could be an ammunition-related issue; I tried to fire the 4 rounds that had a light strike in 2 different ARs that I know run 100% and could only get one of the M855 rounds to fire. The remaining two M855 rounds and one M193 round would not fire in either AR, even after multiple attempts.

Thank you, PM sent