Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ak-47 question

Is there , or what is, the lightest weight Ak style rifle?
Thanks!

renegade50 would know. PM him if he doesn't show up here.

Not a gun writer and not Renegade but I’ll take a stab at it. Assuming a rifle chambered in 7.62x39 and a non Krink ie a standard 16” barrel. I would think a typical 1.0 mm stamped receiver AK with folding wire crutch style stock would be about the lightest with all polymer furniture a close second or possibly lighter. Most AK’s are stamped 1.0 mm receivers. I think that it would come down to the furniture.

No such thing as a "light" AK. The internals are a lot of mass "Kalashing" around. Stampeds are lightest but the wire stocks skunk. Better off, if you want M43 rounds, is some kind of AR 47 AR 15 clone built with the special 762x39 magazine that works.

What are the parameters your looking at?
Krink?
Folder?
Wood stock
Syn stock
Stamped
Milled
Rpk profile barrel
Standard mg profile barrel
Commercial sporter profile barrel
Front trunnion diameters
Materials of all the parts that go into one

AKM
AKMS
AKSU
AK 47
M70 / 72 series
Type 56 series
Galils
Valmets?
Ect ect ect



You cant answer this question, too many factors and variants come into it all.

If your looking to get into the wonderful world of the platform.
Entry level wpn.

The only one I would recommend and no one that knows the platform is gonna snicker at you.

Is a wasr 10/63 AKM with Lam stock and threaded barrel
Or a straight up wasr 10 post 2013.

The guns are made with the right components
Forged trunnions
Forged bolt and carrier
Forged FCG
CL forged barrel
Forged gas block
Properly heat treated receiver.
Those are the components that matter.
Forged and then milled is the way to go
Anything else is fluff and substandard.

Go AK47 milled platform.
Bulgarian hot hammer forged and milled receiver versus the heat treated stamped receiver of the AKM series.


Then ya need to look at assembly issues.
Rivets and all wpn component alignment.
Straight..........

Then wear issues if used and run hard
Used and cared for is good to go.
Barrel throat erosion is a sign of run hard and not cared for.
Instead of seeing a 1/8 to a little under 1/4 inch leade into the rifling.
A run hard and not cared for wpns leade will look like a shotgun forcing cone that has been lengthened up to 1.5 "
Pretty good chance that barrel has little to any life in it.
Headspacing might be a issue and semi outta battery firing is probably happening.
Replacing a barrel aint a big thing most times.
But if that front trunnion is worn.
It is a issue.

Their are alot of things to check out new or used when buying one.
I could go on for hours.
I have advised alot of cats at guns shows I run into looking at the platforms when they are not at a sellers table( gun show etiquitte)
On what guns to advoid on the floor.
I'm always looking at em at shows.
Most sellers dont know squat .
But they will sell you a lemon knowingly or unknowingly in a heartbeat.


You can surf the web for info.
How to inspect a AK platform.

If ya got a friend who knows his schit.
Take him along.
Please.....

Buying a new one and the place has 2 3 or 4.
All the better.
Get the best one that is straight.

Buying used on online is a crap shoot from pictures.
Kinda the same with new also.





Cant answer question about lightest akm or ak 47 or other models based on the series.

Just too many variants even among the same basic ones.


And then throw in custom builds .
Holy schitt..
That is pandora,s box of even more variants...

I could go on and on and on about the platform.
Waaaaay more so than what I have.
Spent 24 yrs in the infantry.
Have trained with them.
Picked them up and used them
Have destroyed them on purpose
Have owned numerous ones.
Got a RPK based ZPAP currently.
And ammo is getting exspensive as hell for em.
Thanks to Joey.

Honk for Joey....


Good luck in your search if your intending to get one.

For sleep apnea? 😁

LOL!!

renegade50,
I don't know a thing about AK-47s, but until I read your replies to this thread I had no idea just how much I didn't know. Your knowledge looks mighty impressive to me.
It's great that experts are so willing to help folks out here on 24CF.

Thanks,
Rex

Thank you renegade50, and others.
I like the red laminate stocks, Riley Defense offering new ones. I’ve had several others, but they felt unnecessarily heavy. I’m still drawn to them and will get another one soon, just doing as much research as possible. I probably should have kept one of those I had, a milled, 1.5 mm thick. Accuracy is a big deal to me too.
I like and appreciate the feedback.

My AK is a Bulgarian milled receiver slr95, I got in 1996 from shotgun news for $260. I have not shot it since 1996.

I find fascinating the AK receiver built with a shovel.
https://warisboring.com/extreme-diy-man-makes-akm-from-a-shovel/

Excellent!

AMD 65 is fairly light and compact.