[Zhurdan]

Ok, so after reading the entire Black Rifle Room forum, I couldn't find an answer so here it my question...

Which AK would be higher quality? Romanian or Bulgarian?

I've got a hankerin for an AK now and have seen the Romanian AK's go for around $475 and the Bulgarian AK's go for close to $750 on the internets. Well, I'm going to hopefully handle a few, but wanted peoples opinions and thoughts on them. The Bulgarian AK's, from what I've read, are of better quality, but that could just be some marketing mumbo-jumbo. Let me know what you think of the Romanian and Bulgarian AK's, I'd much appreciate your thoughts.

Zhur

 

[Texas Armadillo]

I have had my Romanian SAR-1 for several years now and like it. I have not seen a Bulgarian up close yet.

Check out our new sponsor http://www.centerfiresystems.com/

He has some.

 

[Templar]

Bulgarian hands down.

The Romanians were always regarded as the poor step kids of the Warsaw Pact. That doesn't mean their AK's were crap, they are perfectly serviceable, but the Poles, Bulgarians, East Germans, Hungarians, and Russians are all considered to be better made.

Not to make things more difficult, but if you have some specific models you're looking at, with links, I'll be glad to give you the skinny on them.

 

[Zhurdan]

Here's a couple of links that I've been looking at:

http://www.centerfiresystems.com/bulgarianssr-85c2ak762x39partakagun-ssr85c2.aspx


http://www.impactguns.com/store/ARM-SSR85C2.html

They are the same model, but there is a price difference of around $200.

Any info you can provide to make my purchase better, I'd appreciate it.

Zhur

 

[JustRick]

And there's always:

http://www.impactguns.com/store/806703050508.html

just to make your life more difficult.

 

[fatcat]

Bulgi by far..

The only one's higher is the Polytecs and valmet's.

 

[Texas Armadillo]

Fatcat doesn't speak often, but when he does on AK I pay attention.
Just my 2 pennies worth. (I mean that in a good way)

 

[Templar]

The SSR-85C2's have a very spotty record.

They aren't being built by a Bulgarian military company, they're being put together at a plant in Bulgaria that's civillian run for the US market.

The Bulgarians never used that receiver, and the parts that they're using are off of older milled receiver Bulgarian rifles that have been demilled.

Some of them are stellar, some, much less so.

Blaine at Atlantic Firearms carries some of the newer SSR-85C2 imports, and says that the latest batch are pretty good. He's also a good guy to do business with, as he backs up everything he sells, even if the manufacturer won't.

The Arsenal Inc. rifles are built buy Arsenal Bulgaria, the military supplier in Bulgaria and the company that provided most of the AK's when we rearmed the Iraqi's.

If you have a maxed out budget of $750.00, I'd look at one of the Arsenal Inc. SLR-107FR's with the muzzle brake. They're clones of the AK-103.

Also, the site that I own, www.theakforum.net, is a wealth of AK knowledge base and since we take no money from vendors, and don't have sponsors, you typically get the straight scoop on what's going on in the market.

Unfortunately, the days of a quality cheap AK are just about at an end.

 

[M1P90]

I have several Romanian AKs and I find the Mag wells to be slightly different on each one. Some Mags work on all my rifles and some don't . I have numbered my mags for each rifle so I always get a good feed for that rifle.
just a heads up. :?

 

[fatcat]

Thanks TA.

The SSR-85C2's look great, we had some in the shop a few weeks ago and one... somehow got left in the back of the vault waiting for me. I own Yugo's Romak's, Norinco's a Polytec a few Saiga's and a crapload of kits so I needed a finished bulgi to finish the family off.

Another thing I must say is the new Romak's that just came in are MUCH better looking than all the past shipments. All have nice wood on them, no can't to the gas blocks, better finish and G2 triggers! We have at least 200 in the store and everyone that has come in has the new parts in them. The magwells seem to be milled out better as well and almost all ive tested take drums without fitting.

I know at the last shotshow CIA and Tapco where talking an awfull alot.. I guess CIA is getting a sweet deal on G2 triggers.

 

[iCeMaN]

I have heard from multiple AK nuts and they say bulgi hands down :?

 

[Zhurdan]

Ok, so I went ahead and ordered the Bulgarian AK. Now, after reading some on Templars forum (can't get it to load now for some reason), I started looking into magazines. There are about as many different magazine manufacturers as there are AK's. Do all AK47 magazines work in all AK's regardless of country of manufacture? I realize there are some fitting issues, but if I buy some surplus mags, will they work for the most part or do I need to be more choosey?

Zhur[/img]

 

[M1P90]

I have some chineese and some eastern block mags. Some fit just fine but others of the same group I had to file down to fit in the rifle. Go figure. :roll:

 

[Templar]

Ok, so I went ahead and ordered the Bulgarian AK. Now, after reading some on Templars forum (can't get it to load now for some reason), I started looking into magazines. There are about as many different magazine manufacturers as there are AK's. Do all AK47 magazines work in all AK's regardless of country of manufacture? I realize there are some fitting issues, but if I buy some surplus mags, will they work for the most part or do I need to be more choosey?

Zhur[/img]

Stick with foreign military mags, of any country, and you'll be fine.

Stay away from commercial magazines.

If you want polymer mags, get the Bulgarian "waffle pattern" mags with the Arsenal Bulgaria double circle 10 marking on them.

Russian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, East German, Chinese.....they all work.

 

[iCeMaN]

Get the Cuban AK's!!! J/k :? Bulgi FTW!