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Can you tell me more about your rifle?
Have you heard about the firing pins being prone to breakage ?
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Sure. I picked my Valmet up NIB, unfired for $1100.00 shipped to NC from a dealer in Prescott, AZ about 12 years ago. I had just gotten a nice bonus from work and was doing some late night perusing of Gunbroker when I saw this Valmet auction about to end. I put in a lowball bid, which did not meet the reserve, shrugged my shoulders, and forgot about it, until, the next morning, I got a message saying "Would you like to purchase this rifle for your top bid of $1100 shipped?". You bet I would.
It arrived at my FFL and he said "Did you know this thing is unfired? I mean seriously unfired...i moved the selector and put the first mark on it..." It came with 2-30 rd and 1-15 round factory mags. The bayonet was missing. The sling and manual were not :)
It also came with a couple "modified" .223 AK mags. They were bakelite, and painted black. They snapped in, and fed fine, but I didn't trust them, so they're held in reserve. I made some modified Weigar steel .223 mags (about 10 or so) and some Bulgarian Waffle mags (about six) with a bit of Dremel work. We considered building a jig and doing it "right", but both mags were fairly easy to do by hand. Both the Weigar and Bulgarian mags feed well.
The M76 is a joy to shoot. Low recoil and more accurate than you'd think an AK should be. The front sight is a bit wide, so that's a hinderance to accuracy, but the rifle itself is mechanically accurate. As stated before, 55 grain fodder is best. 62 grains make the bullets tumble and make neat boat shapes on the target. 1:12 twist. The trigger is a decent one. Sights are easy to adjust, the gun is robust, and reliable. It gets attention everywhere it's shot. I've wanted a Valmet since I was a kid and saw Robin Williams use one in "The Survivors"!
I haven't had any issues with the firing pin but I don't beat this gun for thousands upon thousands of rounds at the range either. It's been shot a decent amount, but like my G43, they aren't making them anymore, so I'm wary of "hard use" or abuse. YMMV
Factory, Weigar, Bulgarian