I was visiting my brother this weekend, and to pass the time we went to one of the local gunshops.  

They had an AK described as a pre-ban Romak II in 5.45X39.  What intrigued me most, was it looked like it had a barrel nut that was threaded on, and then welded on at the bottom.  If you looked at it from the front though, it definately looked threaded on.  It came with a 30 round  magazine.  It also the WASR-10 looking dragunov style stock to it.

Do all AKs have threaded muzzle nuts?

Are imported AK, Romaks, SARs date stamped so you can tell if they are pre or post ban?

Just curious, price was $330

I am not sure about the models you named, but I do know that Mak 90's maufacture dates are explained by their serial #.  Meaning the first two digits represent the year it was made.  Example, my Mak 90 # is 90####, so it was made in 1990, post ban.

Also, my Mak 90 is chambered in .223 and at the front of the barrel is a barrel "cap" that was once welded on.  When the weld broke [;)] I was able to unscrew the cap and can now install a muzzle brake if I wanted to.  Later Mak's don't have threads.  Check out www.ak-47.net, someone over there can probably give you more info.

sgtar15

first thing -- there are NO preban romanian AKs being sold to the public, at least ive never heard of or seen one

2nd -- my brothers romak had the barrel nut like you describe, we removed the barrel nut by grinding away the tack weld and saw NO threads, they were ground off and the barrel nut tacked on, the nut would slip off without the weld, i guess it was put on for looks only.
there MIGHT be some threaded muzzles with the nut welded on, but dont expect it, assume the worst.
also the diameter of the muzzle with the ground off threads is smaller so re-threading with the correct thread tool would be impossible, and the muzzle brake devices wont go on, or will be loose and mess up the accuracy, and then fly off down range

also on my romanian SAR the date of manufacture or importation precedes the serial number

example -- 99-12345
year 1999, serial number 12345

im pretty sure its the same way on all romanian AK variants, should be on the side of the gun under the rear sight

you shouldnt pay much more than $350 for the gun

ALSO ALL MAK-90 ARE POST BAN TOO.BUT imho they are are great ak,maby one of the best.

And the Romanian AK's use a threaded front sight base as opposed to a threaded barrel. It is legal to change out the front sight post you have to the original Romanian threaded front sight post. Since nothing but the original Romanian(or an american copy of it) muzzle brake will fit these threads,the ATF says it's OK. [url]www.k-varcorp.com[/url]

It's a post-ban.

Not all AKs have nuts [:D], some do and some don't.  It depends on the model and the "vintage".

There's no set formula for all AKs to tell if it's post/pre.  There are formulas for each type.  

Some rules of thumb:  

All MAK-90's are post-ban.  Forget the crap people will tell you about transitional, or held in customs, etc.  That's all BS.  In the eyes of the law they are ALL post-ban.

Most AKs that have the bayonet lug ground off are post-ban.  This is probably not 100%, but it's going to be close.  But just because it has a bayonet lug doesn't make it a pre-ban.  It could have been added easily later.

The threads are confusing and shouldn't be used as the only tell of status.  Some came with them, some didn't.  Some had welded nuts, some didn't.  

On many models there are a prefix for the year as explained above "99-12345"  

Figure anything that's $350 is post-ban.  You may actually be looking at the deal of the century, but figure the odds.

Ross

No, all ROMAKs are post-ban (meaning post-Sept., 1994).

The MAK-90s were post-BillBennett-imposed-import ban, but pre-post-ban in most all other respects, as were the NHM-91s.

Now, does that make sense?  No, I didn't think so either.

[b]Whoa![/b] LAgunman2K -

I'm certain that what you meant to say was that the muzzle device simply fell off during rough handling.[:D]

Eric The(ProbablyEvenBeforeYouGotIt)Hun[>]:)]

Remembering the serial number,  it was XXXXX 97 so I will assume it was made/imported in 1997 thus definately making it a post ban, if it has a threaded barrel is not then illegal?

Thanks for the help, just trying to cover my rear before I buy!