We installed new bolts to bring headspace back up to spec but they keep running. – We have WASR’s on the line that have lasted OVER two and half years and the barrels are NOT shot out and they continue to run. The barrels on three of our C39’s started to keyhole and were pulled.
– We have yet to shoot out a factory WASR barrel.
The receivers cracked just posterior of the front trunion (between center bushing and the trunion). N-PAP’s have literally cracked in half perpendicular to the length of the rifle. – Stamped receivers split at the angle of the upper rail and the side wall. – US (Century), Bulgarian and Chinese milled receivers have yet to fail. – We have every type of AK available to shoot except for Cuban, Vietnamese or North Korean. This includes Saiga, Arsenal (Bulgarian), Norinco (Chinese), Arsenal (Russian stamped), WASR, Hungarian, Polish (vintage kits), Yugo (vintage and PAP-series) and new Polish (from Royal Tiger imports).
– Every single stamped receiver has suffered from a cracked trunion. I thought for sure that RPD’s would last so much longer because of the milled receivers but the receivers only last about half the life (if that) of a Romanian WASR. – The one thing I can say about the AK’s is that they hold up MUCH BETTER than the RPD’s. Ron from the Las Vegas gun range Battlefield Vegas, where, like many Vegas range’s they only allow their rental guns to be used, shared some thoughts on how different AK rifles fail after tens after thousands of rounds (the above photo shows 30 days worth of 7.62x39mm steel shot at their range, of which 80% would have been fired by AKs).