AK questions (trigger, mags, sight tool)

June 30, 2017, 08:42 PM

Younger friend of mine inherited an AK (Arsenal) from some family and he brought it along when we went to the range yesterday.

I have next to no experience with AKs so I have a few questions as I help him along:

Sights were way off...mostly elevation but slight windage adjustment needed. What's the best sight tool to adjust it?

He inherited a pile of steel case ammo and some junk magazines. I'd like to get him some good metal mags. What's the AK equivalent to USGI mags?

Finally, the trigger had to have been worked on. It was smooth, with a good bit of creep, but it was way too light for a general hog hunting gun.
Best place for a stock trigger or springs or whatever?

Thanks in advance for the help!

June 30, 2017, 10:52 PM

ARman

quote:
Originally posted by sjames:
Younger friend of mine inherited an AK (Arsenal) from some family and he brought it along when we went to the range yesterday.

I have next to no experience with AKs so I have a few questions as I help him along:

Sights were way off...mostly elevation but slight windage adjustment needed. What's the best sight tool to adjust it? Tapco makes a front sight tool, that will adjust windage and elevation

He inherited a pile of steel case ammo and some junk magazines. I'd like to get him some good metal mags. What's the AK equivalent to USGI mags? Any military magazine will do, but the East German magazines are really good. They are hard to find and cost more than the other now. The Chi-Com is perfectly serviceable.

Finally, the trigger had to have been worked on. It was smooth, with a good bit of creep, but it was way too light for a general hog hunting gun.
Best place for a stock trigger or springs or whatever?
ALG makes an AK trigger, it goes for $79.00, Tapco's G2 is a good trigger from what I hear.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Now mind you I'm in no way an AK expert. But I have the Tapco front sight tool, as it works with the SKS and Vz58 front sight.

ARman

June 30, 2017, 10:58 PM

Il Cattivo

These are just suggestions - your friend is lucky enough to have multiple good options when it comes to mags and triggers.

Front sight adjuster (one I've used and definitely like) -

http://www.akoperatorsunionloc...teel-Magna-Matic.htm

This is sort of the VW Bug of the AK trigger world. Unfortunately its the only one I've used much, so I can tell you it works fine but not whether it works better than anything else.

http://al-builder.com/index.ph...iew&product_id=29979

As for mags, there really is no equivalent to USGI just because so many different countries produced rifles and magazines for them. Check out the most recent conversation if you haven't seen it yet -

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/8070034624

July 01, 2017, 01:15 PM

sjames

quote:
Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

As for mags, there really is no equivalent to USGI just because so many different countries produced rifles and magazines for them. Check out the most recent conversation if you haven't seen it yet -

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/8070034624

Thanks for that thread link. Good stuff there.

July 01, 2017, 01:15 PM

sjames

Thanks for the help.

Any quantifiable differences between these two mag choices?

Polish AK mags--$10.95 at Aim
AIM Surplus

OR

Bulgarian AK mags--$14.89 at CDNN

CDNN Link

OR

Yugo BHO mags--$8.95 at GMW

Link

July 01, 2017, 01:20 PM

Delta-3

This is Arsenals' "store front" (if you will) for Arsenal products.

www.k-var.com

July 01, 2017, 04:15 PM

Il Cattivo

Quantifiable, no. There have been some reports that Yugo BHOs require some filing to fit in some magwells.

July 01, 2017, 04:54 PM

kz1000

I like the Hungarian 20 round mags.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yidn, shreibt un fershreibt"

"The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
-Bomber Harris

July 01, 2017, 10:01 PM

zoom6zoom

I have Chinese, Egyptian, Romanian, Polish, you name it. They're all decent. The only really bad ones I have ever seen are commercial Korean mags.

I do especially like the Yugo Bolt Hold open though.

July 01, 2017, 10:05 PM

Voshterkoff

The Bulgarian mags have a plastic follower, still work fine in all my AKs. I have had some bad Romanian mags. I would not get a Tapco sight tool, I bent one apart on my VZ58 front sight. I found one marked "CHINA" at a gunshow that weighed significantly more, worked no problem. As for the trigger, Arsenals can have really nice triggers. My SLR95 trigger will put most ARs to shame.

July 02, 2017, 06:40 PM

walker77

quote:
Originally posted by sjames:
Thanks for the help.

Any quantifiable differences between these two mag choices?

Polish AK mags--$10.95 at Aim
AIM Surplus

OR

Bulgarian AK mags--$14.89 at CDNN

CDNN Link

OR

Yugo BHO mags--$8.95 at GMW

Link

Stay away from those Polish mags at AIM. I got 20 from them. They are surplus mags that have been repainted. Almost every single one that I got had major pitting or rust showing through. I had to fight with AIM, but I finally got them to take them back. Their policy is to not take returns on surplus items.

I bought the new production Croatian mags and havent had any issues with them. Ive seen them as cheap as 9 dollars.

Magpul makes some that are metal reinforced. They arent cheap though.

Have him get an ALG enhanced trigger for that rifle. Those triggers are awesome!

July 06, 2017, 06:28 AM

Ironmike57

https://algdefense.com/alg-combat-trigger-act.html

quote:
Originally posted by walker77:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by sjames:
Thanks for the help.

Have him get an ALG enhanced trigger for that rifle. Those triggers are awesome!