Ok, many of you may remember my earlier photo reviews of Century Arms products, needless to say I'm not a huge fan of most of their work.
That said, I try and conduct every review of any firearm with as little bias as possible.
The Yugo M70 AKs have been available as a series that changes and varies depending upon when it was produced. First off it is not technically a Yugo since the receivers are NOT Yugoslavian. And even if Yugoslavia did make a semi auto high capacity AK rifle, it would be unimportable in any case. Some come with accessories, some do not, some are made with CAI receivers and some are made with Romanian WASR10 receivers.
Like most CAI products this one was shipped in a no frills cardboard box.
I was hoping to get one with bayo, sling, clean kit, etc. but alas no joy. One gun, one mag. I was amazed that the gun and box were basically clean. Anyone who remembers my WASR 10 photo review may recall my "and a level of shop debris, oil and grimey crap that must be experienced to be appreciated" comment.
The important thing is I got the one with the US, rather than the Romanian receiver. This means it was made to accept a high capacity magazine rather than modified to accept a high capacity magazine. The one with the dimpled above the mag well is the one you want.
So let's pop this baby open and take a look. But before you do, unlike most AKM rifles, this one actually has a release button on the left side near the rear of the top cover. Simply push it and you can then push the button on the rear of the top cover and dissamble as usual. Of course this is not mentioned in the WASR 10 owners manual Century Arms ships with the gun. But it is just that simple and will get you along a lot faster than my method of beating on the rear top cover release with a wooden dowel and mallet prior to noticing the button on the side.
And inside is one of the cleanest and nicest AKs to ever come out of Century Arms. It's probably cleaner than the AKs currently sitting in some members safes. It's almost as if Century Arms took all their trained monkeys and sent them to night school.
There is still some variation in the build from rifle to rifle, and the fit and finish is still mostly of the famed Century Arms variety we have come to respect, but in this case it adds and air of "just built in a middle eastern bicycle shop by unskilled labor" authenticity to it.
The Yugo M70 is also a variant with a few "cool" features. The flip up grenade launching sight somehow makes an AKM seem even more evil, the stainless bolt carrier contrasts nicely and the more ergo style pistol grip has a nice look. And it has a removable slant brake and bayo lug, it's almost as if a "ban" never happened.
And the whole thing cleans up rather nicely.
They also made this one in a folder. My advice, get one while you can.