Bulgarian AK Intitial Impressions (Arsenal SAM7)

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JCooperfan1911

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Hello. I posted recently that I bought an Arsenal made Bulgarian manufactured milled receiver Kalashnikov pattern rifle. Here it is at its first day at the range:

8447-D70-D-9642-490-B-80-C5-89-FDD9-AAFDE0.jpg

I must say, it is an incredibly impressive piece of Eastern European hardware. This is one of the most expensive AKs on the market and the price, in my opinion, is absolutely worth it. I fired 440 rounds of Red Army Standard 7.62x39mm ball with 0 malfunctions of any kind through a Bulgarian-produced Circle 10 magazine today. The trigger on this gun is outstanding; light and with minimal creep.

Every part appears to have has been installed by the Bulgarian craftsman with very good precision. The receivers on these rifles are hot die forged with 5 1/2 hours of milling time, and are legendary in their strength and durability, with one example having survived three hundred thousand fired rounds at a shooting range in Las Vegas. Cold hammer forged chrome lined barrel, 100% Bulgarian milspec throughout with top quality components and metallurgy for all parts.

I am EXTREMELY pleased with this gun. With the stock irons it appeared right on at the 50 meters I tested it at. I will provide a more thorough range review in coming days. This entire gun drips with old world combloc utilitarianism and stength! All experts in the Kalashnikov field say this is the one AK to get if you could only have one. I now see what they mean.

-J.C.F.
 
The Bulgarians know how to make their guns...

If Arsenal can export to the US, why are there stamped receiver, US-assembled/made "Arsenal" AKs in the US?
 
Nice rifle.

I have one in 5.56 that I picked up in a trade some years ago. They are a well made compared to a lot of the other AK offerings on the market.

A friend had a Vector build based on a 7.62 AK parts kit and my hit ratio on 200 yard steel was much higher than his during a fun little competition.
 
Youre doomed now! :)

Nice gun!

AK's can be very addictive once you get familiar with them. Great guns and fun to shoot.

And Ill bet all those bad things you always hear about them mysteriously melt away as your experience builds.

Better buy more ammo! :)
 
Nice rifle OP!

Kano383 said:
The Bulgarians know how to make their guns...

If Arsenal can export to the US, why are there stamped receiver, US-assembled/made "Arsenal" AKs in the US?
Click to expand...
You do know that some of their milled AKs are also assembled in the US with US made receivers:
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/firearms/rifles/sa-m7-series/
https://arsenalinc.com/usa/sa-m-7-r-series
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/sa_m-7_a1.html
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/firearms/rifles/sa-m7-series/sas_m-7_classic.html
 
brunowbe said:
Nice rifle OP!


You do know that some of their milled AKs are also assembled in the US with US made receivers:
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/firearms/rifles/sa-m7-series/
https://arsenalinc.com/usa/sa-m-7-r-series
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/sa_m-7_a1.html
https://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/firearms/rifles/sa-m7-series/sas_m-7_classic.html
Click to expand...

I didn't know... I thought that the OP had gotten a fully Bulgarian-built AK. Am not very conversant with the meanderings of the US import rules, the book sounds like the rules for cricket, written in Chinese... :D
 
Kano383 said:
I didn't know... I thought that the OP had gotten a fully Bulgarian-built AK. Am not very conversant with the meanderings of the US import rules, the book sounds like the rules for cricket, written in Chinese... :D
Click to expand...
The OP's rifle could very well be a Bulgarian made model, there is a difference between SAM7s (Bulgarian made) and SA-M7s (US made).
 
Correct. This is a new true Bulgarian import with Bulgarian made hot die forged receiver with 5 1/2 hours of machine work and hammer forged Bulgarian made chrome lined barrel. It is not the older US made guns.
 
Awesome! Once you get a quality made AK, you'll understand why so many people like them.

I've had other AK's and they were good guns but once I got my Arsenal SLR-95, I sold the other ones. The MAK-90 I had was a good AK but the SLR-95 was just on another level.

Enjoy and keep us posted as you get more familiar with it.
 
Bruno,
I agree, every AK I've owned before the SLR-95 was a decent AK. But I've also seen some junk out there also.

The thing that amazed me all the time was that no matter how big a POS the AK was, it ALWAYS fired.

Not many other rifles can claim that, even the AR-15. Just shows how robust of a design it is!
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
Correct. This is a new true Bulgarian import with Bulgarian made hot die forged receiver with 5 1/2 hours of machine work and hammer forged Bulgarian made chrome lined barrel. It is not the older US made guns.
Click to expand...

Great! I'll really be interested to see how you review the rifle as time goes on, that's one AK I wish I can get one day...
 
I think he did better getting the Bulgarian made gun over the US assembled gun. I has an Arsenal AK put together with a Polish kit when they first started doing them, and it was the only AK Ive had, that didn't shoot well, and had parts failures.

Even my cheap SAR's and WASR's would easily outshoot it. They weren't near as pretty as it was though. Ill take ugly that shoots over pretty and wont, every day. :)

So far, my experience has been, if it was assembled in a country that issues/issued them to their troops, they usually shoot and work well. Might not be pretty, but they work. The imports Ive had that had US compliance fire control parts in them, were better after those parts were replaced. Trigger slap used to be a big issue there, and is easily fixed.
 
trackskippy just Hit the Nail on the Head. "...if it was assembled in a country that issues/issued them to their troops...". This is often forgotten.

Those countries' AKMs, if they were members of the Warsaw Pact (or PRC) are always known to have the legendary quality control and reliability.

—-The importation etc has provided for many American jobs, by the way—-

JCooperfan1911 and other AKM Converts: Only two of my four imported AKMs had a minor bit of trigger slap. Believe me, replacing one is very simple (and put in a retainer plate to avoid using the shepherd's hook: very easy). Just a rubber band is used, and watching at AK-47: Trigger Removal & Installation/Assembly - Tapco G2 - YouTube
 
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Ignition Override said:
trackskippy just Hit the Nail on the Head. "...if it was assembled in a country that issues/issued them to their troops...". This is often forgotten.

Those countries' AKMs, if they were members of the Warsaw Pact (or PRC) are always known to have the legendary quality control and reliability.

—-The importation etc has provided for many American jobs, by the way—-

JCooperfan1911 and other AKM Converts: Only two of my four imported AKMs had a minor bit of trigger slap. Believe me, replacing one is very simple (and put in a retainer plate to avoid using the shepherd's hook: very easy). Just a rubber band is used, and watching at AK-47: Trigger Removal & Installation/Assembly - Tapco G2 - YouTube
Click to expand...

Thanks, Iggy.

I noticed no slap at all and I must say, the trigger I'd absolutely very nice. The triggers on my 3 SKS rifles are a joke by comparison.
 
All the triggers on my guns were nice, even with the slap. The slap was just annoying as hell. Just crappy parts, and easily fixed. Not having to change them out is even better yet. :)

Comparing just triggers, the stock AK triggers usually seem nicer than the stock AR triggers.
 
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A fully Bulgarian AK sounds like a better reason to buy an Arsenal.

IMO, my K-USA rifle is pretty good as well. I like that we have options from Century and PSA on up to Arsenal, Krebs, and Rifle Dynamics. The surplus stuff isn't there like it used to be, but there are good AK's available.
 
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