Originally Posted by local_dirt
Arsenal SAM7 might be your huckleberry. Check hickok45 tube. He loves his.
Lot's of "lore" about the milled AK's, most of it BS.

I've been a fan of AK's from the beginning. Had one of the Maadi AK's that were the first AK's to come into the country before we even had ammo...OMG was that expensive to shoot (and buy). The company I worked for in the '80's opened up China for the Chinese AK's, so I bought one of those...again, even before there was ammo. Over the years I've owned a LOT of AK's. The most common claims made of milled AK's, and what I've found:

1 - More accurete: Sorry, they're just not. The theory is that the receiver doesn't flex, and perhaps the receiver doesn't really flex. But I've never see that it really affects accuracy with that particular rifle. When they're built properly (and that's always the caveat here in the US), a stamped AK is just as accurate as a milled.

2 - Smoother: Yeah, they sure the hell are. The milled AK's are always smoother operating than the stamped AK's.

3- Last longer: Yeah, they pretty much last forever. I have personally seen stamped receivers that were cracked at the trunion...most often the front, but sometimes even the rear trunion. I watched a video where a gunsmith that worked at a range that rents full auto's told of his experiences of what worked and what didn't. He said there were 3 guns that would just take any round count you can imagine and just keep coming back for more. In fact, those three guns all had multiple barrel changes because they shoot them smooth bore, and they still work. They were: Colt M4, FN SCAR, and a Chinese milled AK.

All that said, the Arsenal SAM7 is the nicest milled AK I've ever shot.