Polymer vs. Wood

[Skukripion]

What are folks opinion about polymer or wood stock sets for AKs?

[flan7211]

I love all the stocks. That's why I have at least one of each style. Don't forget steel side folder!

[Skukripion]

Or Polymer side folder.

[flan7211]

Which one do you prefer?

[Skukripion]

I'm also kind of a believer of AK=wood, AR=plastic.

[Skukripion]

You can hit someone in the face with metal folder better than plastic, so Dah.

[SideShow Bob]

Or a steel under folder. If given a a choice on a fixed stock, I would go with the classic look of a wood stocked AK.

[beast556]

Wood stock sets for me. Wood handguards stay cool longer than the plastic ones. If you go with wood laminated handguards watch out for thr metal reinforcement pins suckers get hot.

[jreifsch80]

I like east German Bakelite lower hand guards PVC upper and pistol grips and German wire side folders lol

[Skukripion]

Wood stock sets for me. Wood handguards stay cool longer than the plastic ones. If you go with wood laminated handguards watch out for thr metal reinforcement pins suckers get hot.

I heard the real Commie plastic handguards stay cooler longer than Kvar/Arsenal ones, but i dont know which plastic you used. I usually use mag-grip stance anyways if i'm shooting a lot down range.[AR15]

[cstone]

I have wood, but am considering switching to polymer. On a sunny day, a quick hosing out then half hour drying in the sun before some light lube would make quick cleaning for an AK after corrosive surplus ammo.

[Skukripion]

The AK suck at heat dissipation I must say.

[zteknik]

For me it's all in the look you want to achieve.
Wood for that clasic early comloc look,or Chineese look.
Poly for your East German/Wieger look. And of course poly for your 74's .

All in all if it looks good on it it stays :)

[Great-Kazoo]

It depends on the build.Wood has the esthetic look & feel of classic, while plastic especially with a side folder looks just as good.

[lead_magnet]

What are folks opinion about polymer or wood stock sets for AKs?

Go with what works better, the guy your shooting at won't care what it looks like. AKs are weapons, not strippers, looks don't matter. IMHO.

[Professor Frink]

I generally prefer wood over all others on all my guns except ARs.

But then again, I like wood boats too even though they are much more work.

[xring]

Wood stock sets for me. Wood handguards stay cool longer than the plastic ones. If you go with wood laminated handguards watch out for thr metal reinforcement pins suckers get hot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNAohtjG14c

[xring]

I just dont like polymer on AK s but all ive tried is the tapco, EG, and KVAR. My preference is laminate (wood). The EG or romanian side folding steel buttstocks are nice but heavy, and cheek weld is nonexistant, the butt stock end is flat which i like. I dont like the curved end of the standard wood/ laminate/ polymer ak butplate regardless and modify them flat with a hard rubber pad. Another reason i dont like polymer is the hollow space in them. I like the romanian ribbed handguard for normal usage. If you are warming it up some sort of rail and forgrip is in order.

[Buckaroobonsai]

Anybody know how hard it would be to convert the plastic on my Arsenal SLR-107F to wood? Looks like the big bitch would be the side folding stock with it's fancy buttons. I would LOVE to convert it all to Russian Red!

http://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/images/D/slr107fds_1.jpg

[Skukripion]

Anybody know how hard it would be to convert the plastic on my Arsenal SLR-107F to wood? Looks like the big bitch would be the side folding stock with it's fancy buttons. I would LOVE to convert it all to Russian Red!

http://www.arsenalinc.com/usa/images/D/slr107fds_1.jpg

Hand guard is easy. You pretty much can't with the buttstock, you'd have to carve the whole part on the left and i dont know how to attach it to the folding mechanism. Too much work, I'd keep it this way, i love the AK-103 clones, Old man Kalsh like these better than AK-74M too, but they were all out by the time i had the money for it.

[jreifsch80]

The Russians used the metal triangle left side folder with wood handguards up until about 85ish. I have seen pictures of super rare prototype wood side folders and last I heard Matt yeaman (turbothis) was working with ironwood design to make a small run of wood left side folders. If you want to mod a wood stock I would get a laminate stock from iron wood without the cleaning kit cut out inside and go from there

[StriderZ91]

Depends on what you want your rifle to look like. If you want classic Commie look, def go for wood. If you want the Soviet-Afghan (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=h8p&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=664&sa=X&ei=OrJnUMibF47m8gSe1IGoBw&ved=0CBoQvwUoAQ&q=Soviet+Afghan&spell=1)look, go with wood; if you want Russian White House Conflict look, go for plum polymer; if you want the Chechen war look, go for black polymer.

[jreifsch80]

soviet afghan look is just as much plum as it is wood, there's always the transitional look (late 85 early 86) where you have plum hand guards and a wood stock or the opposite

edit that's for 74's, the last year of akm's made by the soviets was 77 and they used wood throughout the war