Hey all, so I'm looking to get into my first "decent" AK here pretty soon and my experience pretty much ends with WASR-10s.

I find that typically with newbies asking about their first ARs, BCM seems to get tossed around a lot as an option that can be relied in for anything from plinking and range fun to HD to real brute work at a (from my perspective) mid-level price; and I'm wondering what would the equivalent be in the AK world?

Thanks!

i own a couple izhmash ak's and here those are for sale for 700-1300 euros, depending on the model. very nices rifles! unfortunately, you can't buy them i think, only sporterized models. I really like bulgarian ak's, too.

A Yugo M92

As currently available, I think the wasr is best value and an arsenal is the best off the shelf.

I agree about the WASR, especially if you can check it for canted sights before you buy.

As for Arsenal, they've been having issues with some models, particularly the SLR107. I suggest you do some googling about it.

I would personally never compare arsenal to something like a bcm or lmt rifle on the ar side. They just have no belief in QC and their repair process makes those idiots from that red jacket tv show look amazing.

I know multiple people that have had the finish just flake off arsenal guns because they didn't do prep right. My personal arsenal makes me whish I bought an olympic arms ar instead. The front sight was canted one way, the rear the other(the sight block was machined wrong), the magwell was tight, the mag release holes were drilled uneven, etc. At 25 yards with the sights adjusted as far as they would go the gun was still shooting about 6 inches off.

Gun was mailed back to them. After some time we get it back with no info of what they did. Looks like the filed (or machined) the magwell open, filed the mag release to make it work better, and did a bubba job on the front sight. Their fix on a brand new rifle was to cant the front sight in the opposite direction instead of replacing the rear sight block like they should have. They then resprayed the gun. At least the gun was zero'd. Overall not impressed at what amounts to what most consider a premium ak. Hell I'd expect PSA to do a lot better with their aks once you warranty it.

To the OP I'm not sure who is a good choice. The market seems to mostly be crap.

Your best choices in ascending price order,  are Serbian Zastava N-PAP, Romanian Cugir WASR,  , Atlantic Arms Polish WBP, Bulgarian Arsenal SAM7 with a milled reciever.

Open up the wallet and get a VEPR FM.

I'd say the Atlantic Firearms Polish builds would be mid-level. Id get the Wasr though unless you realy want magwell dimples. I've had 7 or 8 AK's over the last couple years. 3 of them were Wasr's, and the only AK I have now is a Wasr. But the Polish build from Atlantic will be my next AK if I ever buy another.

WASR.  The one with bayo lug and muzzle threads.

As an owner of several BCM rifles, I can tell you there is no such thing as a BCM of the AK world. AK's are slim pickens right not, and even when they weren't, none of them were the same quality as a BCM. Your best bet is to just buy a WASR or an Arsenal SLR107. I have both and I would say the WASR is a little nicer and costs a lot less. The WBP is just a $1000 parts kit gun. Its probably a nice gun, but it will likely have very poor resell or trade value. The milled arsenal SAM7 are probably the best newly manufactured gun available, but they are very limited in what you can do to customize them, if that's what you are into.

Get a pre-ban if you want a cadillac.

easily the Polish WBP's from Atlantic, the DAKM line from Definitive Arms, the Sam7 milled guns.... all good midrange "go to war guns", which is what BCM is (they're in no way "high end")

WASRs are just as much of a tank as any of the best, but their problem comes from some minor QC issues from Century (usually minor) and rough fit n' finish. Otherwise I'd trust em with my life

An SGL-21 .... Good luck finding one, and under 1,500.00

My two WASR-10s and Arsenal SLR-107 are now indistinguishable after 150 rounds.  I will admit that the SLR felt smoother than the WASRs on day 1 and the SLR has a spray paint job, while the WASR is just parkerized.

Each now has an ALG AKT-EL trigger (sans disconnector tail) and a fighter muzzle brake. The triggers are fabulous and exactly the same. I sanded the small ridge off each hammer. After 150 rounds, I can't tell the difference between the WASRs and SLR cycling while firing and also hand cycling the bolt. They are all equally smooth and I didn't touch the rails.

Instead of buying the SLR-107, I should have added $200 and bought 2 more WASRs. Ten minutes prep and five minutes painting with Alumahyde II Flat Black and I now have two WASRs that are equals to my SLR. These are not the WASRs of old! I am both surprised and delighted.

Additionally, the triggers on the WASRs were fine right out of the box and are identical to Tapco G2s. The Arsenal trigger was awful out of the box.
Hungarian, Yugo (Zastava) and Korean tanker 20 round mags fit the WASRs and the SLR. Most Croatian fit both and some needed some sanding, but once sanded, they lock in and don't move a mm in any direction.
My WASRs were $539.each which was the lowest I had found. Centerfiresystems.com.  They are very nice people. Even at $650, I'd still consider it a good deal given their recent upgrade in quality. Or you could spend north of $900 and get a mediocre paint job and really lousy trigger. Been there...done that. Recently.

Kudos to the WASRmakers.

Arsenal.

A converted MAK-90 would probably be the best bang for the buck in quality though. Good Chicom trigger, great build quality and because they're post ban rifles, they're relatively cheap. Just put real furniture on and have the barrel threaded. Maybe change out the FSB if a bayo lug is really important to you.

Quoted for truth! Take the extra money saved from buying the WASR for ammo, mags or an optic.

SAM7 is an awesome rifle if you can get your hands on one but you could have to WASR's for the price of the SAM7. Food for thought.

The first thing that popped into my mind when thinking about "the BCM of AK's" was Krebs.

Truth. The 107r arsenals are nothing but a Bulgarian WASR. I've said that for a while

The new ones are gonna be WBP kits. Since we keep banning everything they used for a base...

This

The incidence of people complaining about Veprs is extremely low and they make what are considered the best AKs on the market IMO

I have 4 Arsenals and have owned more, zero problems with any of them... but I don't refute the people who have issues with them. It does happen and their CS is pretty damn poor from all I have read. That said I think some types of problems are blown out of proportion, some are compared incorrectly to the standards of the AR world and some problems are misunderstood by people who are well meaning but don't have as much experience with the rougher world of the AK market.

There are definitely real problems with some of the guns and there are definitely people that have been poorly treated by Arsenal, no doubt about that whatsoever. I have been super lucky not to have to deal with any of their crap and I don't put them on a pedestal by any stretch, and hope I don't have to deal with them myself in the future.

I hate bad service as much as anyone but to me the kinds of problems I would send the gun back for are much fewer than people who buy a $1000 rifle and expect it to be perfect out of the box. Maybe Veprs are the closest to that, but almost no AK is as clean and well made as a good AR. That doesn't mean they don't do their job and function within spec, and sometimes people with less experience don't see that at first

Z

Serbian Zastava

I would have to agree 100% with this post. I own several Arsenal AKs, my first was an SA93 when they were first imported. Mine are all good and have high round counts with no problems. Arsenals CS is tie for worst in the business with Century and may even be worse than Century. I'm glad I bought all of my Veprs when they were cheap.

SGL-21

I agree. I have 3 BCM's, and a 21. And a 31 as well. I shoot my WASR and my Poly the most though.

Arsenal SAM7 or SLR-101 (they’re the EXACT same rifle except some early SR-101s retained ban-era features like a welded brake and no bayo lug.) I think I’ve owned 5 of them at one time or another and only 1 had a slightly canted sight. Something about the milled receiver Bulgarian AKs, the QC is excellent. Don’t pay more than $1000 out the door if buying used.

I got an email that centerfire systems just got some Zastava AKM-47 NPAP in they are going for $550 with free shipping. Dont know too much about them.

Link

Good grief, I had no idea they had gone up this much.  AK prices have gone mad.  As to the OPs original question, perhaps you should look at the Galil ACE since decent AKs are over $1000.  I'm just spitballing here and YMMV.