How do you like your AK?

[USCS]

I have kept my AK in the pristine condition Saint Mikahail intended! Wood is good comrade

[cooks128]

purist on all of my AKs.

[ForTehNguyen]

purist here also

[VinnAY]

I refinished the wood on mine but added a lower handguard with a rail and vert grip. Also recently put a krink style compensator/muzzle break/flash hider/whatever...so I'm sort of a purist.

Now how do I like it? meh, I'd trade it pretty easily, it's by far my least favorite firearm. I don't dislike it, just not in my top five.

[Brickboy240]

I am definately a purist on the AK (much like I am on the 1911).

To me, the more add-on crap you put on a rifle...the more things you have to go bad or hang up on brush or just make the rifle complicated and less handy. Its a battle arm...not a Swiss Army Knife! LOL

Any enhancements I would do to an AK would probably be internal - to ensure a better trigger pull or enhance relaiblilty.

My AK is all flat black, with black plastic furniture but I am considering swapping the plastic furniture for some wood. I just like the look better, thats all.

If you ask me, rails, lights and scopes have no place on the AK rifle. These things just add complexities, bulk and things that could crap out at no-so-great times. One will get dependent on the reddot or scope and then it craps out in the heat of things or if it gets banged around.

I can see MAYBE adding tritium or other aftermarket iron sights...maybe.

If you NEED a light, laser or to shoot farther out than you cn with iron sights...maybe you need an AR or another platform. Otherwise, make sure the AK is reliable as can be and can throw a 3-4 inch 100yd group where the sights are regulated and practice like mad with the thing.

Sorry...but for better or worse...yes..I am an AK purist. The platform was not designed to be a precision long range varminter or to have tons of crap hanging off of it. If thats your bag...great...but not me.

- brickboy240

[norinco982lover]

I agree with brickboy above. I might add a vertical foregrip to mine (the Saiga forearm covers more than on a standard AK so it heats up a lot) but that is about it...leave optics and lights and aftermarket sights and all that crap for the AR people.

Give me a sling and I'm good to go.

~Norinco

[Brickboy240]

Yep, the AK and the 7.62x39 round were NOT deisgned to be precision long range items. Just as the 30-30 was not designed to be a 300yd deer getter and the #8 shotshell was not designed to take down geese.

When you consider a firearm or round's intended purpose and stick within its design parameters....you'll be much happier with the performance of said arm.

Go outside of it and you might be slightly or very let down.

- brickboy240

[blefferd]

Define Purist To me a Purist would be some one that put nothing but Orignal Factory furniture, optics magazines etc. OR exact replicas of said furniture, receivers, muzzle breaks for 922 sake. Not some one that claims to be a purist because he/she has a bare bones rifle, or stuck some factory/factory look alike crap on there rifle with no regard to historical accuracy.

nothing wrong with swapping out furinture or gear but they must be correct for the style/date/model of AK. IE no Krink flash hider on your AKM looking rifle, or no wood furniture on an AK100 Series (ie a saiga) the russians stopped using wood along time ago.. That to ME would be a purist

Then you would have the tactical guys, nothing wrong with it, not my bag. I dont care for the looks of it on an AK.

and the minor upgrades person, upgrades to make the platform better for the end user not just looks or historical accuracy.(i would say a collapsable stock would fall into this for the bigger guys even though they are ugly lol) or a bolt hold open selector lever etc.

just my point of view

[Aaron 2.0]

I am a "Do What Ever Makes You Happy AK Guy". You want yours to be tactical? Alright (not really my thing). Purist? Spend alot of money for it to look like historicly correct. Sure, go for it. You are the end user of the rifle so do what you need to do to be comfortable (and safe) with it. Oh hell, you could paint yours purple and pink and call it "Gretta" for all I care. If your happy with your AK, what else matters? My .02.

[Ishpeck]

I'm... opinionated but not a purist.

I'm a minimalist.

Too much rail is silly. I think a quad rail is too much. A single rail is all you need for a red-dot and a light. I laugh at those dudes with huge globs of heavy rail on their already heavy rifle.

Y'don't need a foregrip. If you must grab the rifle anywhere other than the hand guard, the magazine's right there for ya!

Polymer is nice. The AK100 series rifles have it. Wood can look nice but for actual use, I prefer plastic.