Century arms AK- 47 $500 : should i buy?

[DuneHopper]

I talked it down to $360. A gunsmith took a very good inspection and revealed it was in excellent shape for being built in 1975. He reported no issues whatsoever. The exterior and cleanliness of the weapon was it's only issue. All could be soaked in solvent and pretty a day.

Now thats great price well done, and had it checked no less .

 

[Nexus7]

Well done at $360. Yesterday's prices.

I bet the 1975 is on the trunnion, maybe also with the Cugir factory arrow-in-triangle. These were mostly Romanian PM md. 63 rifles that got demilled and rebuilt on semiauto receivers close to the date of importation, hence the WASR-10/63 designation (63 for PM md. 63 parts). It was first built in 1975 and then rebuilt in the 2000s, probably post-2008, also by Cugir. The 1970's were good years for Cugir. Parts quality went down post-1987 because their civil war displaced workers and otherwise disrupted factory operations.

They originally got licensed AKM factory support directly from the Russians and that's where some of their tooling came from. A true AK. Some 2000s WASR-10 rifles were built on new production parts, their reputation is a bit worse, even though they can still be good rifles. In addition to rough parts, the reputation also stemmed from a bad semiauto FCG design with "trigger slap," and poor magwell cuts, all thanks to Century, but those problems are in the past and most of your comments lead me to believe yours is not from those batches.

Anyway, congrats on your purchase!

 

[drewp]

Wow the guy must have been desperate as hell to sell....he let you haggle him, took a ton of his time and let you take it to a gunsmith....i wouldve have said walk on by...good work on the deal. Hats off to ya

 

[Unka-Boo]

Out of curiousity, what's the original S/N of the trunion?

I tracked down a '75 kit to build for my b-day last year ( turned 40 )

 

[dracozny]

For a bit extra you can get a Vepr. The mags are cheap enough for the 7.62x39 that it should be a no brainer. The Vepr uses a thicker receiver and barrel compared to a typical AK. Alternatively if you can find one Zastava makes a very nice Rifle. The rifle you posted in the OP is too friggin beat up. as I said Mags are cheap. without a good rifle mags are worthless.

 

[DunRanull]

Looks like a rifle I would be lookin for.. rough-ish on the outside, (hopefully) not so rough in the bore... the PRICE you got it for beggars belief.. lord have mercy!
As mentioned, a decent Zastava makes a good rifle, better than most in my experience. I dunno about these kit rifles tho, I purchased mine before any import bans came into effect.