My First AK

[yz9890]

I'm new AK's so if you guys have any advice on parts, ammo, maintenance etc. feel free to share.

My advice is to shoot the crap out of it and smile a lot. Shoot whatever ammo is the cheapest. Even the corrosive stuff (just clean it when you get home). Maybe look into a Lightning Lever if you can't get your safety to loosen up and have your front sight/gas block straightened if it's too canted. But maintenance wise, the AK types generally live up to their indestructible reputation.

I use the older AKM side mount for my RDS and love it but while I get about lower 1/4 co-witness with it on my Arsenal SGL21, it sits about 1/2" higher on my brother's Romanian rifle. So apparently no all side mounts are the same.



I don't like railed gas tubes because the ones stable enough to mount an optic on make it difficult if not impossible to clean the gas port without removing it and losing zero. Many people never clean their gas port though and their rifles work fine. I still have a few tins of corrosive ammo though so I like to be able to get to it. Plus my tube gets crazy hot. Even during very slow fire. It just seems like a hostile environment for an optic. I'm sure much of that is my own paranoia though.

Good looking rifle. Is the wood NATO length or Warsaw length?