And by “well done,” I mean “burned to a crisp.”
I was introduced to Mario of Piece of History Firearms by a mutual friend recently, and we’ll occasionally head to the range to shoot cool stuff like MG42s, RPKs, PKMs, select fire Glocks, and so on.
We started talking about spare parts and projects and so on, and it turned out that I had a spare AK74 receiver and he had what was left of a select fire Bulgarian AK74 which was destroyed in a house fire (for more info on some of the firearms in this photo, see here).
The major metal parts weren’t damaged, so after Mario replaced the springs and furniture and swapped out the fire control group for a semi auto version, the rifle was reassembled and ready to fire.
I asked that he not refinish the rifle, which was a bit of a shame since the AKs he turns out are actually…well…pretty.
Despite its outward appearance, the rifle functions without issue. Furthermore (and this is more of a coincidence than anything else), the rifle needed no elevation or windage adjustments. My initial shots at 50 yards were straight through the bullseye.
Needless to say, I was impressed. This isn’t my first AK or even my first 74, but as a fan of the 5.45 cartridge, I’m glad that I have this rifle. Plus, I think the finish (or lack thereof) gives it a certain amount of panache.
Looking past the finish, a number of people have actually commented on the quality of the assembly work. This isn’t terribly surprising, given that Mario has been building AKs for ten years, and his work is pretty highly sought after by knowledgeable folks in the industry.
Among them were some of the students at the May carbine course, who enjoyed shooting the 74 out to 300 or 400 yards.
Later, I saw that I could hit an E type silhouette at 700 when I did my part. At this month’s 600 yard match, I fired a 153-3X out of 200-20X, which isn’t very good, but then again it isn’t that horrible for an AK with iron sights using surplus ammo, either.
To me the AK74 is preferable to the AK47/AKM, mostly due to the increased effective range of the 5.45×39 cartridge, but also the reduced weight of the loaded magazines. Also, surplus 5.45 is still being imported. If you are an AK fan and don’t have a 74, or even if you aren’t an AK fan, I would recommend considering a quality example. In my experience, a good sign that a 5.45 AK might be of good quality is a 1/8 twist barrel and/or an original Eastern Bloc barrel. Too many of the 5.45 AKs I’ve owned have had accuracy or keyholing issues due to a poor choice of barrels on the part of the builder.
This is by no means a replacement for any of my ARs, and I still feel that the AR is a superior platform in a number of ways. But I have to admit that I really like this AK74.
My hair’s slicked back with swag so fresh.
How come you weren’t worried that the metal had lost its temper in the fire? I have always been taught that a gun that goes through a house fire is unsafe to shoot afterward.
Hardness testing.
That thing has some serious character. Great looking rifle. It almost made forget about the medium rare steak you mentioned. Almost.
Always enjoy your articles and am also very much a fan of the 5.45 round. I currently have 2 AR’s and 1 AK that shoot that round. I had some friends give me some grief about me shooting an AR in 5.45, but when they were struggling to pay $1+/round for their 5.56 versions, I was standing beside them at the range chewing through magazine after magazine of the surplus 5.45.
Needless to say, several of them had me build them uppers for the 5.45 round shortly there after.
Enjoyed your write up, and your blog in general! I, too, have been fascinated by the 5.45 and would like to obtain a quality rifle, or 2. With that said, the only thing lacking from your blog was a suggested source, or sources. Whom do you recommend and how readily available are they?
Thanks, again!
Semper Fi,
W