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Posted: 12/8/2010 7:19:36 PM EDT
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I bought a FEG SA-85M back in the 90's during the Clinton gun ban. it has a thumb hole stock, a couple of questions for you AK guys.
was this a parts rifle or actually made in hungary, it says made in hungary on the side and KBI Harrisburg PA ser# starts with19xxx what do you think the value is i only shot it maybe 5 times it sits in the safe most of the time, is it legal to remove the thumb hole stock and put a pistol grip style stock on it? or would that hurt the value any other misc. info would be greatly appreciated i have always wondered about this rifle, thanks |
| yes, they are made in hungary and imported by KBI in this case, that's why it had the thumbhole stock. to make it importable. most people don't care for the thumbhole so IMHO it would not hurt the value as long as you put a hungarian stock on it. only problem is if you change it from it's original imported configuration you then need to meet 922 parts count on it so it kinda makes it hard to use original furniture.. |
| Meh... I have the same model. I brought it back to full military config (minus the full auto). I put an ironwood stockset on it and finished in the traditional blond. I removed the front sight assembly and gas block and replaced them with non-neutered parts complete with a bayonet. I then used a die to cut the barrel threads and installed the slant break. I refinished the metal in an HK semigloss Duracoat. The fact of the matter is....what you have is a totally Hungarian FEG arsenal made AKM (AK-63F or AMM). Your receiver is the highest desirable part of the rifle. Where guys are out there paying $500+ for a parts kit then putting them on a US reciever....you my friend have the real deal without having to build it. As far as desirable collectibles go? Well... A full Hungarian AKM is pretty high on most lists. |
| For one thats in excellent consition, only fired a few times, with original box is worth around 500. If it were BNIB and never fired, and came with everything you can get between 650-800 depending on the buyer, wher you live, and the overall condition. If you got the preban with out the thumhole stock there going for about 1400. I had a chance to buy one a month ago that was BNIB and i tuned it down. Wished i would have scooped it up. |
| Last Summer I bought an SA2000M which is a highly neutered Hungarian AK that uses some funky 10 round mags and was imported by KBI. I had firing Line convert it to standard configuration and it's one of my favorite rifles. It has one of the smoothest actions I have seen. Of course it doesn't really have any collector value like yours does so I had no qualms about altering it. |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Your K-Mart sells AKs..? |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Your K-Mart sells AKs..? I remember seeing a sporterized Maadi AK in a K-Mart in the mid-90s. A little over $300, IIRC. Regarding the OP, on a thumbhole SA-85M (no muzzle attachment), you'll need to change out five parts to US made. The simplest ones would be the three piece FCG, the stock and a pistol grip. |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Your K-Mart sells AKs..? They did, yes. There is an archived thread I made about it in AK Discussions. Our K-Mart was closed down after Sears bought the chain. |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Your K-Mart sells AKs..? I dug up the archived thread. Pictures are still active, and I included the K-Mart sale paperwork in one. My $400.00 K-Mart AK-47 |
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I got mine back in 91 when I still lived in Kal,she stayed NIB until I moved to AZ in 93 shot it a few times and stuck it in the safe.
back in 2008 I got a hold of the hungarian parts and decided to restore her I swapped out the GB/FS and threaded the muzzle,shes 922 compliant of course. nice well made rifles wish I had bought several more back in the day |
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Last Summer I bought an SA2000M which is a highly neutered Hungarian AK that uses some funky 10 round mags and was imported by KBI. I had firing Line convert it to standard configuration and it's one of my favorite rifles. It has one of the smoothest actions I have seen. Of course it doesn't really have any collector value like yours does so I had no qualms about altering it. Was a trunion change necessary to convert the SA2000M to standard or was it just a matter of the romanian mag well enlargement? Thanks |
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Last Summer I bought an SA2000M which is a highly neutered Hungarian AK that uses some funky 10 round mags and was imported by KBI. I had firing Line convert it to standard configuration and it's one of my favorite rifles. It has one of the smoothest actions I have seen. Of course it doesn't really have any collector value like yours does so I had no qualms about altering it. Was a trunion change necessary to convert the SA2000M to standard or was it just a matter of the romanian mag well enlargement? Thanks Mag well and trigger guard were modified but the trunion was GTG. |
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Mine is still new and unfired in the box, I'm torn about what to do with it. In the end I'll probably convert it and use it, because regardless of collector's value I am not one to sell a gun unless it doesn't work for me, and I used my friend's and liked it just fine. I actually bought mine at K-Mart the same night I took him there to buy his after I talked him out of a Romanian. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Your K-Mart sells AKs..? I remember seeing a sporterized Maadi AK in a K-Mart in the mid-90s. A little over $300, IIRC. Regarding the OP, on a thumbhole SA-85M (no muzzle attachment), you'll need to change out five parts to US made. The simplest ones would be the three piece FCG, the stock and a pistol grip. Just to clarify, you don't have to change anything on the original rifle UNLESS you modify it to regular stock and pistol grip and removable muzzle attachment. The original thumbhole-stock rifle is perfectly legal as it was 'sporterized' and imported completely made and assembled in Hungary. |
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In my opinion, a lot of these neutered post 1989 AKs were way overrated. I have a one of these SA85s and ended up getting the barrel replaced by a gunsmith because it wandered like crazy when it got hot. The smith claimed the bore was not drilled concentric down the barrel.
My SLR95 with the famed Steyr barrel was the least accurate AK I ever fired, and this was back in the day before wolf and a lot of the ammo back then was more accurate than wolf. Sadly, I felt I had too many of these AKs and sold off a Polytech Sporter, one of the guns caught up in customs during the 89 ban for near nothing compared to today's prices. But back in early 2000, all the rage was the Euro guns, nobody liked the chinese guns much and I fell for the internet banter of which one to cut loose. Unfortunately I sold off this one first and in retrospect it was by far the best of the trio. Wish I had kept it and could have it retrofitted with the spiker parts once 922r compliant. Anyway, the SA85m with thumbhole will also need the front sight base replaced if you want it to hold a cleaning rod. I turned one of these down in excellent condition for $350 in private sale because you could buy a SAR1 at the time for just a little more and it was good to go without have to spend more on 922r stuff. One note if you do convert it, the rear trunnion spec is just a bit different from most AKs and you will need to custom fit many rear stocks. Given the way they go together and the difficulty in checking one's progress as you go, its an absolute PITA to do well. Given people on gunbroker seem to pay $600 plus for them with thumbhole, I would say sell it and buy one of the ruskie guns from Arsenal for just a little more. I also had one of the post ban Maadis with the 20" barrel, very crudely finished. Sold that one too because it wandered a bit when hot, but sight adjustment was way off to one side. This was pre internet and I didnt know a whole lot about guns at the time so I thought something was bent or defective. In retrospect Im sure it was just a crooked front sight. |
| Just goes to show you - you can't please everybody. In these days of crummy 'assembled in USA of scrap parts' guns with canted gas blocks and sight bases and trunnions twisted in the receiver, a Hungarian AK made in the military factory with all FEG parts sounds pretty damn good. This is why they hold a pretty good value. |
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Just goes to show you - you can't please everybody. In these days of crummy 'assembled in USA of scrap parts' guns with canted gas blocks and sight bases and trunnions twisted in the receiver, a Hungarian AK made in the military factory with all FEG parts sounds pretty damn good. This is why they hold a pretty good value. That was the point of my post, sounds vs reality is two different things. |
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The point of my post is that your perceived bad experience with an FEG does not change the fact that thousands of others are some of the highest quality AKs ever imported. I guess I should have been more direct. not isolated issues, plus pre 1989 FEG definitely better than the posties... |
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I bought a FEG SA-85M back in the 90's during the Clinton gun ban. it has a thumb hole stock, a couple of questions for you AK guys. was this a parts rifle or actually made in hungary, it says made in hungary on the side and KBI Harrisburg PA ser# starts with19xxx what do you think the value is i only shot it maybe 5 times it sits in the safe most of the time, is it legal to remove the thumb hole stock and put a pistol grip style stock on it? or would that hurt the value any other misc. info would be greatly appreciated i have always wondered about this rifle, thanks IMHO, these guns are great conversion candidates. I bought a barely used one for $350 with polymer furniture (thumbhole/skeleton stock) and installed U.S. hand guards (1 part), FCG (3 parts) and pistol grip (1 part). I had the muzzle threaded since the front sight base had the detent pin hole in it and put a U.S. slant brake (1 part) on it. So it was a total of 6 U.S. parts which is what you need if it has a threaded barrel and a stamped receiver which yours is. I put an East German side-folding stock on it. As far as value, it's not a pre-ban so there is no market for it in ban states if you convert yours. If you want a shooter, then I'd convert it with U.S. parts. You don't have to thread the muzzle and that way you'd only need 5 U.S. parts. |
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