I recently picked up an AAC/INT Maadi and I check the Egyptian section regularly for info on these rifles. But there is rarely any action on these rifles. Why is there so little love for these rifles?

probably has less to do with love, and more to do with not as many as others out there.

I don't know but if you guys would sell me all your Made In Egypt marked AK mags real cheap I'll comment a lot.  Earl

Maadis are definitely a niche market, and ARFCOM doesn't attract the AK crowd nearly as much as AK-dedicated sites.

True, but even on the AK sites you just don't see a lot of comments about the Maadis.

I'll try and put up some pics tonight of my Steyr Maadi and generate some talk then :)  

I agree, there's never a lot of talk about Maadi's and usually when there is it's people disparaging them saying they are crap, not well made, poor fit and finish, not worth the price, yadda yadda yadda.  They've never spent much time with one and do not understand AT ALL what the hell it is.

90% or more of the AK's on the market are parts guns.  They are neither made in a true military factory nor do they have any sort of actual military provenance at all.  That is not true of the Maadi.  They were not made with US parts of any kind.  They were made in an actual AK47 military factory on the same production line.  They have the same fit and finish of their military counterparts.  They were made on actual Soviet machinery overseen by engineers from Izhevsk.  They were (other than Valmet's) the first AK's to enter the US and for decades the closest thing you could get to a Soviet AKM.

I love mine.  If I remember my serial number correctly, it was only the 129th Maadi to be made for export.    
Earl

Well, I've spent a lot of time with Maadi's and Maadi parts/kits and I'll go ahead and say that more often than not the parts have been awful quality. Having Soviet machinery isn't worth very much if it's not maintained, and that Soviet oversight must have been by the Izhevsk rejects. Having said that, I still love my Maadi's, but only for what they are in the historical sense.

I disagree that the parts are of awful quality - unless you are talking a MISR90 Century Maadi/Mak abomination.  They are trash.  I grant you the finish isn't up to par with say the high blue finish of a Poly or Norinco - and there are more milling marks.  But no one was ever killed or not killed because of the finish of a gun or the presence or lack of milling marks.  Here are some photos of my preban Steyr Maadi #129 gratefully purchased from a member here on ARFCOM. I don't have the box and original certificate but this would have most likely been a 1981 or 1982 gun.

If anyone has any of these mags that say "Made in Egypt" and thinks that Egyptian AK's and mags are trash - I will happily take said mags off your hands at trash prices. :)

When I say (and I assume others as well) that they're awful quality, I'm not equating them to IO/RAS parts in that they're of poor metallurgy and will blow up in your face. I mean like a handguard retainer cap on the gas tube being so crooked that they couldn't install the gas tube completely. So instead of scraping the part, they cut a chunk out of the lower handguard so that it would close. That's what I mean by quality. From all of my builds the Maadi's required the most work to get right because of the massive inconsistencies between the various pieces.

I've had a couple of builds on NDS and Morrissey receivers and can't comment on how hard it was to get them running since I bought them already built - but they ran like scalded apes.  The same is true of every PARS and INTRAC postban Maadi I have owned and certainly so of the Steyr I pictured.  I have no parts on any of the Maadi's I've owned that have been monkeyfied in the way described to get them to work.  Not saying it didn't happen - just that none of the guns I've owned have been like that.  I think the pics of #129 show that it is put together pretty well.  I won't deny at all though that the black finish is "fragile"...I love the idiot scratch from whenever someone was doing God knows what with the gas tube locking lever.

I recall being in awe of the Steyr imported Maadis because up to that time (1982-1984), I do not believe there were any AK weapons in the US at all? There were tons of other things that had been coming in through the late 60s and 70s, but the Maadi was a late arrival.

I grew up in West Palm Beach. The hardware stores and Tuppens Outdoors used to have some amazing black rifles during the late 70's. My Dad would go in for boat stuff, and I would wander over to the counter and just be Gobsmacked at the selection of evil black rifles, along with everything else. I was in high school (graduated 78), with no concept of purchasing such a thing. I saw my first Maadi while a poor college student. No way I had money for that sort of thing then!

Later, I purchased a MSAR or SARM, which ever it was referred to as? It was a INTRAC import. ONE of the best rifles I have in my collection. I have upgraded it a bit, but it still looks all Egyptian AK, form the better days. IN fact, the quality is right there with the Steyr imports. I added two Uncle Mikes QD swivel studs. One in the top rear of the buttstock for carrying at the ready with the original Egyptian dark green sling, and the other on the forward lower portion of the front hand guard. I use that one to attach a Harris bipod when the mood strikes me.

It becomes my little RPK with a Chinese 75 round drum and the forward bipod in place.

Valmet beat them to the punch - though many Valmet AK's were "westernized" in a lot of ways to make them look a bit more sporting than a typical AKM.  And most of the Valmet imports were in the much more commonly available at the time 5.56mm round.  Still excellent guns though and definitely here before the Steyrs.  

Earl

I've always read that Steyr demanded (and received) higher-than-normal quality from the Maadi factory, back when Steyr was importing Maadi ARM rifles. I can vouch for the fact that later "post ban" Egyptian ARM and RML rifles are often pretty sloppy in terms of fit and finish. This is how good ol' Factory 54 made them for the Egyptian military though, so they are "mil-spec" in that regard. Either way, you've just gotta love a Maadi.

I just picked up one today been wanting it all week. But no beauty on rough side finish wise needs redone but got a hold of one that’s made in 93 same importer as yours. What serial range and year is yours?

This has been in the back of the safe for years. Hard to find much info on them.

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Had one in the late 90s that worked but it was pretty rough