...Before I read all the bad reviews here. The only good news is that there seems to be quite a bit of positive feedback on recent ones, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I luck out with a good one.

I have a Yugo full size AK-47 built by Century and I haven't had any problems with it whatsoever, let's hope the Tantal does the same...

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

Right...unless there is actually a different result half of the time...then it's gambling ;-)

I wish you luck bro. Let us know.

i have 4 century built rifles a polish milled 1960,akms polish uf, yugo m70b1and a yugo m72 rpk they all function perfectly and look good. so either im very lucky or century has finally got its act together.  

Got my Tantal today. Haven been able to shoot it yet due to unexpected 5.45 ammo shortage in all local stores. However, first impression is not very good.

- Fit seems to be Ok - nothing wobbles, if anything gun is too tight. Bolt carrier gets stuck in the rear position if let go slowly. Not sure if it will cause problems when firing - if I pull it back and release quickly (simulating recoil) it seems to function fine.
- Finish on all metal parts is very good, expect the dust cover which has all kinds of scratches and blemishes. Blemishes look darker then he parkerized finish, not sure what that's from
- There is some rust on internal parts, but it seems like minor surface, almost stain-ike rust, no deep pitting as far as I can see.
- Handguards are scrateched up, but not badly.
- Both magazines that came with the rifle look like crap - all scratched up all over, especially the plastic one. It was shipped loose, with both rifle and mags just rolling around the cardboard box, so I think a lot of damage is from that. Not sure why simple packing paper (or better bubble wrap) is such a vauable commodity.
- Mag well is too tight, the metal mag fits fine, but the plastic one really needs to be forced in and doesn't always lock properly. Not sure what is the cause of that.
- Front sight is slightly canted - not bad enough to hurt aiming, but enough to be annoying.
- The biggest deal is that it was advertised as 1:8 twist, but tag on the trigger guards says 1:9. That increases chances of keyholing, but I'll know for sure when I finally find ammo.

Overall, somewhat worse then what I expected, even with all the bad press. D- to Century for the build and C- to Atlantic for misrepresenting the product and shipping the wrong thing. Atlantic website said minor wear on handguards, but didn't say anything about average wear on dust cover, severe wear on mags and occasional rust stains. Atlantic also claimed 1:8 barrel, but shipped 1:9, which is a big difference. Overall, I'll keep it as a trunk gun and fun plinker as long as it doesn't keyhole 60gr Wolf. Probably will try to sell it rather soon if it does. Probably won't buy from Atlantic again and certainly won't buy CAI.

Here is the info from the trigger guard:

S/N Y0002XX
Model RI1576-X
1:9 Twist 6 Groove barrel.

Any thoughts, ideas, advice?

Do You know what is your F.F.L. dealers refund / replacement policy if this is another Century Disaster?

Century can Monkey Fnck even the A.K. (which is really saying something!)

My FFL is very good about support, but I can't hold them responsible since all they did was transfer. I bought it from Atlantic Firearms, they should be liable I guess...

Its caused by missing auto sear and its problem of most your ak's there

Update:
I have contacted Atlantic Firearms and they immideately replied to me saying they will stand behind their product and make it right. I'm currently discussing the details and will post updates later. In the meantime I just wanted to say that Atlantic customer service is really good and I'll certainly consider buying from them again. Can't say the same about Century though...