Thoughts/opinions on a 7.62x39 ar??

[XD45ACP]

A friend of mine recently sent for an ar kit in 7.62x39... I am much more of an ak man and I know very little about ar's but the price is right ($469.00), but I would want it to be completely reliable and reasonably accurate. Can these be trusted? Are there any pros/cons that anyone knows about, besides the silly looking 30rd mags that is... Anyway, this is the link I was sent:

http://akpartskits.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=287

thanks for any input

 

[SpeedRacer]

I don't think I've ever heard of one that was completely reliable.

 

[asianpersuasion]

skip it

 

[SeventhSon]

Personally, I think you get the WORST of both worlds. You have a gas DI system that fouls up faster and a round that is not as accurate at longer ranges. I have a few of each. For a real SHTF, I'd grab my AK.

 

[charliepapa]

I don't think I've ever heard of one that was completely reliable.

This ^ and what I've read on here before is that the tapered brass (think AK magazine vs AR mag) is forced to straighten up as it passes through the AR magwell which apparently causes the issue.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

They don't work. KAC spent a bunch of money trying believe me. The failure of a working x39 AR helped spawn both the 6.8SPC and the SCAR.

 

[nola_]

DPMS makes one that has never given me any trouble. Had it since 2007.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I don't mean to sound smarmy but how hard do you use it? My expirence has been most DPMS stuff works for plinking but not under hard use conditions.

 

[nola_]

well I'm not a soldier in the military, if that's what you mean. Otherwise I don't understand what you are asking by "how hard" ????

My 7.62x39 AR pistol has also always worked fine, just very loud.

But I've always cleaned the guns the same day I shot, etc...

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

What I mean is what kinda round counts, does it shoot dirty? Mean rounds between failures, total round count etc.

 

[noob]

Colt made a 7.62x39 AR. everything i read about it, was good.

if you're going to build one, i've read that you have to get a good bolt for it, a modified firing pin, and possibly some stronger hammer springs.

this site sells uppers: http://www.ar15performance.com/7_62x39_rifles_and_uppers
it's way more expensive than an AK, but just want to show you an option. Model 1 Sales, MGI, and DPMS all make uppers as well.

 

[Gus McCrae]

My thoughts:

Why?

 

[Rollin Coal]

I have a Bushmaster in 7.62x 39 and I love it. It has been totally reliable (never FTF or FTE). I have about 1500 rounds through it. Some people ask why would you want one 1 good reason is a while back when 223 was scarce 7.62x39 was still available. I went to Cabelas and bought some Tula and Wolf ammo and this gun eats anything I feed it. The only problem is finding mags. I just ordered 3 from 10-8 tactical that will be in this week. I keep it clean and it goes bang every time I pull the trigger.

 

[Gus McCrae]

For the same reason some prefer a .45 over a 9mm... they want a bigger bullet with more punch.

.

How about an AR10 then?

 

[charliepapa]

...part of the allure of Mekong Match is price/availability. I haven't been keeping up, but I strongly suspect that decent 7.62x51 ball is one hell of a lot more expensive than 7.62x39, these days.

Very true. Steel-cased X39 can be found for .20/round and the cheapest I've bought X51 is .70/round.

To me the AK is just a big boy's toy and fun/relatively cheap to play with. I had a ball shooting mine last weekend and if the AR was reliable I'd consider an upper.

I also had fun shooting the M1A. However, we spent about 300 rounds of X39 and only 30 rounds of the X51.