So, you want an AK?
(Or don’t, but do, & just don’t know it, yet…)
Once upon a time in the USSR, a wounded lieutenant general/ engineer named Mikhail Kalishnakov created the AK, or Avtomat Kalashnikova, which became the inception of the Kalishnakov family of firearms. He is also credited with designing around 150 other firearms during his lifetime.
The final AK-47 design was eventually selected as the USSR’s official rifle, with factories across the entire region producing their own AKs.
Likewise, the particular caliber of ammunition that the AK was designed around, 7.62 x 39, was produced, in masse, as well.
By the height of their influence, many allied countries were producing AKs domestically, outside of the USSR, entirely.
It is estimated that more than 100 million AKs have been produced worldwide, making it arguably the most popular firearm ever created. (Of an estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, 100 million are believed to be AK or AK-variants.)
In the context of manufacturing, Kalishnakov designed the AK to be relatively easy to machine, especially in comparison to other firearms, even those he drew direct inspiration from.
This is why countless manufacturers of various means in vastly different regions were able to make so many of them, even those with less skilled workers in remote locations. (But, also why quality can vary greatly from region to region.)
The AK is composed of stamped sheet metal & operates off of a piston-driven system.
(While most AK variants are simply referred to as AK-47, technically, the designation AK-47 specifically refers to the 3 receiver types used in developing the original design. Whereas, most examples of the firearm manufactured outside of the USSR, are actually AKM, with the M denoting “modern.” Initially, receivers were stamped, then milled, until a process was developed to use stamped receivers most efficiently.)
Today, as an American citizen, there are two ways to legally obtain an AK; buy one made in the USA or buy one assembled in the USA from a parts kit.
What’s a parts kit?
Due to US import laws, there actually are firearms that cannot be imported into the USA, contrary to popular belief.
One of the more restrictive laws is a blanket “Military Assault Rifle” ban, which effectively makes it illegal to import a foreign military style rifle into the USA. (Which is why you see them offered as pistols or even as US featureless or modified mod)
Thus, the only way to get a “real” AK is to import a parts kit.
What is a Parts Kit?
A parts kit is a collection of weapon parts that, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives (ATF), “is designed to readily be assembled, completed, converted, or restored to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.”
In more plain terms, it’s a kit that can be assembled into a firearm.
However, typically the receiver, or actual firearm component, has been cut in half or decommissioned, hence the need to be “completed, converted or restored.”
Generally, to complete a parts kit & build an operational firearm, a receiver (remember, the receiver is typically regarded as the actual firearm in the US.) must be re-commissioned, or put back together.
Most commonly, AK receivers are welded back together. This process can be considered an art. The quality of the machinist’s work is directly responsible for the overall quality of the end result.
What’s the difference between a $500 AK & a $4500 AK?
Domestic manufacturing provides cheap firearms to the American market, which includes AKs. American AKs are fine examples of the platform, but are clones, moreso, than the actual thing.
A Turkish AP5 is great, but it also isn’t an HK MP5. There is sort of the same relationship between US-made AKs vs. “real” AKs, or AKs assembled from imported parts kits.
The alternative to buying a US-made AK is to import a parts kit & re-build an actual AK.
(Drawing a distinction; US manufacturers who rebuild parts kits are technically manufacturing an AK in the US, which is also considered “US-made” in a legal sense, but the kit is imported; the parts weren’t actually manufactured in the US.)
Due to the sheer number of aforementioned manufacturers within the USSR’s influence, there are an overwhelming number of origins of parts kits to choose from.
Between different points of origin, logically, there is a hierarchy of component quality.
Regions with higher population & more affluence with robust manufacturing produced better quality components than more remote, poor or undeveloped regions.
Once a point of origin is decided upon, someone has to actually put the AK back together, legally.
This is where a majority of the value in a particular AK’s price tag goes. Two kits from the same place of origin, mostly share a similar value.
Once assembled, however, these values can vary greatly, depending on the quality of assembly or restoration.
So, while the AK was designed to be relatively easy to mass produce, due to US import law, the only way to obtain a “real” AK in the USA is to have a receiver basically hand-made, then completed with a parts kit.
(For clarity; AKs completed from parts kits are commercially sold within the US by licensed manufacturers.)
Since the quality of the resulting AK is mostly tied to the particular professional re-building it by hand, so is the cost.
Again, one parts kit from Poland is relatively the same, cost-wise, as another kit from Poland, however, the resulting AKs may vary in value greatly, depending on the workmanship of each.
A proper AK actually is like a work of art in that sense; no two can be exactly alike. A talented machinist can restore a receiver so well, it looks brand new, i.e. as it was never chopped into multiple pieces.
Each component can be matched, then hand-fitted, to ensure maximum reliability & durability over an extended lifetime. Likewise, wood or polymer furniture can be restored or upgraded, as well.
Knowing the between the mass-produced $600 draco at a gun show & something nicely crafted, our engineering team wanted to try our hand at a small run of bespoke AKs.
With this project first announced during Shot Show 2024, our vision has finally become a reality. Meticulously hand fit and assembled one at a time (by degreed engineers no less). We guarantee barrel population will be laser straight, rivets perfectly set, and an action as smooth as butter.
All rifles are resurrected on a Recreator Blank receiver. We are not, and have no plans of becoming a high volume manufacturer, and can assure proper time and attention has been put in every rifle. Grab them while they’re hot, check out our limited collection in our Sandbox!
