Well this is my story, after looking for an AK 47 for months and months and being close to buying one of that crappy wasrs, I finally found and bought a Lancaster Russian AK 47 for a decent price I guess, 800 dollars.

Now today I went to my local gun store, family owned, I spotted that they JUST got in a Norinco MAK-90 .... now I know how rare good AKs are and how rare these are ... this one was in great condition and they were selling it for $650 before tax.

Now Im conflicted wether I should buy this one too in addition to my other AK since I know how hard is it to find good AK's, and I think this is a good deal considering the prices and the situation.

What do you guys think I should do ? buy this one too and spend about $1500 on 2 AKs ? or skip this one and enjoy my other one ? and I dont wanna miss up on a great buy .... ahhhhhhhh help!

Im VERY conflicted.

The MAK90 is a suburb AK variant, but they are not exactly rare.   $650 may well be the going price for them right now, but it's not a steal.  

Did it have the milled receiver?  If so, you should probably buy it.

Get Both...


- Clint

In my neck of the woods they aren't rare but usually sell for about $900. If you can afford it I'd do it

$650 is not a bad price if it is in like new condition.

Having that said if you put up another $50-$100 you could buy a NIB Mak90 off of gunbroker.

650 is a GOOD price nowadays.  sucks but its true

Im leaning towards buying it since its in excellent shape, but my question is, I wanna buy it only if its milled, how would I know if it is ? what are the marking to look for ?

stamped MAKs are nice!

The milled ones have no protruding rivets.  The receivers are milled from a solid bar of steel.    

Regardless, if it is an excellent stamped specimen, buy it anyway.  Both varieties are among the best AK's ever made.

Im not quite sure what "protruding rivets" means ....  and how would I know if its an "excellent stampled specimen" ?  It looks in great shape, thats all I could tell from it.

Before you start jumping on a MAK-90 that people say go ahead on, obviously you want to check it out.  Save yourself some heartache and insure it's not one of those "third pin" MAK-90's:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=4&f=78&t=80299

And, although not a terribly big deal to most, check if the MAK-90 has a "slant/angle cut" or "straight cut" on the back of the receiver.  That will determine what kind of buttstock you'll have to get, should you decide to go the route of wanting bring it back to a more "military" original look.  Ironwood Designs makes a buttstock for the "slant/angle cut" receivers but with the "straight cut" you'll be able to use the original Chinese military buttstocks.

Do a little checking about MAK-90's to see if it's something that suits you.

Thanks for this.

I think the posts that show $650 as a standard going price for MAK-90's is pretty point on spot.  That's the ballpark of what you can find them for.  Like the other poster said, not a steal but a fair price.  I paid $245 for mine brand new but that was 14 years ago.  If it has a thumbhole "sporter" stock on it, get rid of that thing ASAP.  But your Lancaster build could very easily take you weeks or months before you actually get it.  I've heard they've got quite a back log right about now.  You could also sell it in today's market for at least what you paid for it.  I'm not knocking the Lancaster builds but the Chinese MAK-90's are, without a doubt, some of the better ones out there.  I'm glad you didn't settle for a WASR.  I didn't even want one of those a year and a half ago when they were $279.  I SURE as hell don't want one now at today's $800+ prices.  I'd take one in decent shape right now if it was given to me but if it needed any work I'd toss it over a bridge.  If you're going to buy an AK, might as well come off a little extra change and get something worth a shit.

By the way, the easiest way to tell if the receiver is milled is look for a small, pill shaped indention over the magazine well.  If it has that, then it's stamped.  If it has a long, rectangular cut/indention then it is milled.  Either way, decent price.  Unless it turns out to be milled, which I doubt it is.  Then it's a really good price.

Thanks for the explanation, I'll take a look at it again and see if its milled or not, if its milled I'll buy it (I doubt it is) .. if not I might still buy it.

I ordered Lancaster becaues they had what I was looking for, no one else had anything good that I wanted. Couldnt find Arsenal AK47 wood stock, couldnt find Poly ... just nothing but garbage wasrs all over for $800, 90% of stores online sold out ... so I did research on Lancaster and I read solid reviews, good service if needed and overall a great built AK, not only is it better then wasr its good starter AK from what advice I got and again much much more solid.

What is your opinion about Lancaster ?

BTW I didnt buy it from Lancaster, I bought it else where and it was already shipped yesterday, I should have it monday Fedex tracking said.

Here you go. These are Hungarian, but they serve their intended purpose to show the differences between the two types of receivers. This is a picture of a milled receiver..

And a picture of a stamped receiver..


Pictures courtesy Stottman

If its not milled, is it worth buying ? is this rifle anything special ? IM going back there tommorow to take a look at it again.

Well seeing as no more Chinese firearms are being and possibly will ever be imported into the US again then I'd say it's pretty special.

Why are you considering a Chinese now when you didn't consider it in your other thread? Anyway, here are those links again so you can compare:

http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127834785
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127886488
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127573456
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127818318
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127537431
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127574015
http://v4.beta.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=127603574

I consider it now becaues I never came accross them, but I did now ... thats why im wondering, I always wanted a wood stock AK 47 ...and got that, but I plan on getting more. So I think I might grab it.

Thanks for help, it wasnt milled, so I decided to skip on it, I rather my next AK be milled so I dont mind waiting.