I plan to buy one of these babies this week and have absolutely NO experience with AK type weapons or this caliber.  For those of you that have experience with the VEPR, can you give me your impressions?  Accuracy, function/reliability, handling, cleaning and fun factor.  Any info. would be greatly appreciated!

I have that exact model.  VEPR K 7.62X39 with a 16inch barrel. It's very sturdy and reliable as hell and accurate enough for combat use. Plus it costs significantly less than AR's. Also cheap and plentiful mags/ammo.  

However I do have some issues with it.  
1. It is pretty heavy, i'd say it's well into the battle rifle class at over 8.5 lbs unloaded.
2. The manual of arms is quite crude: the safety simply cannot be flicked on or off, changing mags and cocking the gun isn't simplified like in an AR.
3. The sights are rudimentary and the optics mount is, well, it's an AK mount.  
4. There's no provision for a proper assault sling.  The sling studs only allow for traditional hunting rifle slings.  

However if you are used to AK's these issues won't be that big and the advantages of price, reliability, proven lethality and badass black rifle looks were enough to make me spring for one.

This morning I just shot a 8 point buck with a vepr in 7.62x39 with 16in barrel.  Very accurate, I have a burris 3x9 on it an am very happy with it, it is heavy though.

I had one also. It was the carbine also. It is a great AK as far as durability. Russian AK receivers are just as good as any other if not the best around.
I sold mine for a few reasons.....
The fore end is too heavy in my opinion. I think wood would be great on these and from what I understand there are a few wood stocks floating around but scarce. They mostly made the wood stocks for the .308 versions.
I also found it mag picky in fact My Chinese drum fit very tight in it, I almost couldn't get it in the mag well and a few of my Chinese, AK 30 round mags as well.
As far as accuracy it held a 3" group for me sustained rapid fire at 75 yards when I tested it. I was shooting 1 round per second or every 2 seconds. I'm not a great shot. It impressed me greatly compared to my other AK's.
I would buy another just to have but prefer my Chinese Mak-90 overall.


-John

Thanks for the info., I'll be picking mine up tomorrow.  Can't wait to shoot it although I never thought about using it to hunt four legged critters.

Duke,

      You CAN NOT go wrong with a VEPR...I have 5 AKs...everything from the Romanian SAR, to the Chinese MAK-90, to the milled Bulgarian SLR-95....and I can say without hesitation that my VEPR K in 7.62x39 is by far the best of the bunch...The action is glass smooth, the ergonomics are far superior to any other AK I have ever touched, the fit and finish are head and shoulders to anything else out there...

       All of my friends that have held or shot my VEPR have all stated that they think it's by far the best AK they have ever seen....

       You won't be dissapointed....Good luck

Thanks for the response on this topic.  I picked up the VEPR today and have had enough time to fondle it and become intimate with its workings (my wife was not home).  After disassembling it I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the parts.  Usually when I buy a new gun and do a pre-cleaning, I find alot of dirt, lead/copper and burnt powder from the factory.  This is the cleanest new gun I've ever purchased, just a hint of black powder when I ran a patch through the barrel but the bolt, gas piston and trigger group was spotless.  Can't wait to get out and shoot it.  It came with one steel 30 rd mag so I will need to buy more, are there any I should seek out or any I should avoid?  What about 7.62 ammo?  Any I should avoid?  

I usually use Wolf or Burnal ammo...both are good and both are cheap...

AK mags, get as many as you can....Steel mags are good, just look for ones in good condition and cheap price...it really doesn't matter where they were manufactured...

My personal preferance for mags is the Bulgarian Waffle mags...they are made of a polymer material and are lighter than the steel mags....they don't rust like the steel mags...they are just as reliable as the steel mags and look a lot better....

www.joken.com is taking pre orders on the Bulgarian mags, they are $11.99 a piece....a year ago they were pretty easy to find, now they are becoming much harder to find...I would advise getting as many mags as you can...

Around this time last year I was paying around $6 for new steel mags and $10 for the Bulgarian Waffle mags...both were easy to find...Joken is the only place that I know has the Waffle mags and the steel mags are now going for around $9 to $10 and aren't as plentiful as they were a year ago....for steel mags you can check CDNN Investments out of Texas...you may also want to pick up a Shotgun News and look for mags in there....

Here's a pic of my VEPR K with a Bulgarian Waffle mag in it....

Sorry about that I have no way of making the pic any bigger