Is an East German AK on a US receiver desirable?

[MarikinaMan]

I love AK for what they are, I can fix em, I dont know much about collectability.

I currently have 3 variants. A Vepr, a Bulgarian Arsenal and an SKS.

I saw a place to buy a DDR unit on a US receiver. I'd only want it if it was desirable, as I have other shooters

Is this a good unit to buy? Or in its present form, its a shooter.

Thanks for your advise.

[oc16]

depends on the user personally I think they are cool.

[Maulerrr]

The one Atlantic just put up has increased in price substantially!!! If you're a collector and need to fill in the missing East German, then go for it. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time getting an average Joe to justify that cost

[beanz2]

As there are no EG AKs with original receivers available, it depends a lot on the builder's reputation, the maker of the US receiver and the quality of the work. Any documentation who built it? One built by a well-known builder could probably fetch more money than a no-name.

An original East German barrel would be a huge bonus. A comblock barrel (Polish, etc.) would be second. Not arguing the merits of comblock vs American barrel, only in terms of desirability.


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[bohoki]

sounds to me as you are just buying an ak with east german furniture which was like $19 20 years ago and it came with the gastube but nobody wanted that ugly dogpoo brown with the cheek pebbles

[Mongoos913]

If the AK was built using a #s matching kit with original barrel, it would be worth something. The DDR should be a nice shooter but I don't see any collector points.

[Oldmandan]

It depends on who you ask... there are different levels of AK snobs out there. Same goes for the origin of the barrel

We are mainly talking about proof marks, stamping details, tooling marks etc. most people cannot tell the difference anyway, and there are a couple US receiver manufacturers right now, that are doing a great job copying the different stampings

Also, the SKS is not a AK variant

[OCEquestrian]

California /USA has got to be the ONLY place where a EGERMAN AK could be considered "collectable"...

[BigPimping]

Why not just buy an AK that's been built at a former communist country factory. That's what I did and I've never regretted it.

[SVT-40]

I love AK for what they are, I can fix em, I dont know much about collectability.

I currently have 3 variants. An Vepr, a Bulgarian Arsenal and an SKS.

I saw a place to buy a DDR unit on a US receiver. I'd only want it if it was desirable, as I have other shooters

Is this a good unit to buy? Or in its present form, its a shooter.

Thanks for your advise.

The East Germans made one of the best finished AK's of any Country which manufactured them. Beautiful blue on the parts and really nice part quality. The kits are highly sought after, as not a ton of them were imported. I always yearned for a EG. Before the actual kits were imported I made a clone using a Romanian "G" kit as a base and used EG stock, hand guards and grip.

I really liked the look. Luckily a few years later I was able to get the real thing. A all matching East German MPiKM (AKM) kit. I think that was around 2005...

Didn't get around to actually building it until early this year. Nothing but quality. I used a NOS Romanian barrel.

If the rifle you are considering buying is a all East German kit rifle, I don't see how you could go wrong. Unless it's prohibitively expensive.

Pic's of the MPiKM I built.














MPiKM Above. The Clone below.





Kit before assembly.

[jmankins]

Atlantic sold out of those in under two hours so...

[walterSOBCHAK]

Meridian Defense makes boutique Aks. They used to make an EG. This dude wants a mint for his.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/rifles/ak-47-rifles/east-german-ak47-mpi-km-7-62-x-39.cfm?gun_id=101387140

[beanz2]

Daaang, SVT




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[Dave Hoback]

I hate what has happened to the AK market! In 2005 I lived in Tucson where a buddy & I would run to a show and have our pick. Most kits looked seemingly brand new all covered in Cosmoline. And ALL kits were supplied with their ORIGINAL BARRELS, no less! $100 got ya a pristine kit. Built with your typical US parts and you had a damn good AK! While at it, could pick up never fired SKS’s for $79ea. Or a case of 5 never fired, packed in cosmo for like $199 I think? Ahhh, the good old days. I miss ‘em.

[hellayella]

Not with a cheap azz 4150 barrel