Sorry man I had a Riley Defense AK-74 and within 250 rounds I had 3 rivets pop and become loose. It was 2 front trunnion rivets and the center support rivet, not to mention the gun had a non-existent finish that immediately got covered in light frog hair rust within a few days of getting it and I don't have a humidity problem. I can't with clear conscious recommend Riley Defense but maybe they improved their QC.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I reached out but I got sand bagged then I finally gave up and sold it and all of my 5.45 ammo break even cost for the gun itself.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55my Sam5 took 300 rounds of .223 and needed a mallet to disassemble. The rear receiver began to mushroom up preventing the recoil assembly from being removed. Now Sam5’s are given gas restrictors to fix their gaping gas port hole.
What drives me crazy is that Psa likes to act like they’re open to criticism but we’ve all been screaming about the lack of swellnecks as well as the firing pins and channels and it seems to just fall on deaf ears. An Ak dying below 1k rounds is fucking unacceptable. “Well it comes with a warranty so when it inevitably shits the bed you can go through a month of repairs and get more out of spec shit!”
They are anything but open to criticism based on my experience. Their business model is "arm as many people as possible at low prices" but they also forget to mention the lack of QC and higher probability you will get something out of spec but they take that gamble because its also a higher probability that the out of spec stuff won't even be revealed because typically customers who are worried about spending more than $500 on a rifle are not going to spend $500 on ammo (despite saying they will) and therefore they'll never actually run into issues with their out of spec AR15 that gets shot maybe 200 rounds year.
No, don't try Riley Defense. They have a bad track record. Buy a WASR, or a Zastava, or an older Arsenal. The American obsession with saving $200 on a gun they'll put a minimum of twice that in accessories on must end.
@Zero-9909 Get the Polish 5.56 then, the military one. Spending hundreds on something that comes with the prerequisite cope of "range toy" is such a waste of money.
Earlier riley guns sucked ,yes...newer ones dont have many issues. So I'd say youre wrong there.its not about saving money , its about an American made AK that we can reliably continue to get in the future. Imports are drying up and eventually will be gone from import. Been building AKs since 2013 and i have seen nearly 65% of the stuff we used to get are now gone... Polish tantals zw.88s, amd 64s, maddis , mac90s , bulgarian 74s the list goes on and on. Now we just get whats here or some rare dump found and sold at absurd prices. I used to be able to buy 74 bulgarian kit to the door for like 400$ and the rest maybe 175$ 575/650 total back in 13/14. Polish akm kits extremely good quality made parts had me at 550$. We are now down to scraps....
I bought a Riley Defense AK in Fall of 2020 and a Zastava AK in early 2021, so just a few months apart. Over the course of these few years and about 7.5k rounds on the Riley and anout 3k rounds on the Zastava, the Riley has been the objectively better AK regardless of what the Reddit hive mind will try to say
@@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I'm guessing you are talking about a FB Beryl which i have to agree it just kinda sucks that they aren't making them anymore and moving to their grot rifle hopefully they sell the tooling to someone else
I purchased a Riley Defense in 7.62x39 back in 2020. My experience was a mixed bag. One range trip about 150 rounds through it and there was a thin crack in the rear sight block. I got home and emailed them. I was called by their customer service within the half hour. Sent them pictures. They immediately set up the return and repair. Got my rifle back about a week or so after. Ran absolutely fine after that had a low round count sub 1000 rounds. Sold it to a friend to help fund my RD703 a few months later. The buyer has had no issues reported to me. I’m happy I went with the Riley instead of the PSA for my gateway domestic AK. Served its purpose and is making another gun owner happy.
What is starting to become more obvious to me is that PSA never expected their customers to actually shoot their rifles. One or two trips to the range then into the safe or on the wall for the remainder of ownership. Never more than 200-300 rounds. Unfortunately for them, it turns out that people actually like to use their rifles. This wiz bang warranty they've got is probably going to swing around one day and bite them in the ass once warranty cost out paces sales.
No, i think there are just problems you wont really know about until you get to high round counts. I have around a thousand rounds through my gf3, all using shit ammo. Its just a fun gun, but ive had no problems. Its definitely not the best ak i have. But i have a .300 blk jakl and that thing runs. Its my go to right now. It runs supers and subs no problem, it runs open and with a can no problem. I also have a psa rock, and in the winter its my carry gun. That gun runs like butter, and it has no recoil, so you can run it fast and have great groups. My brother has the fn, and the rock is way more comfortable to shoot. My advice to people w psa, is wait. (Although i didn't take my advice w the jakl 😂) so they can iron out kinks in production. They make everything in house, which is commendable. They help get these guns out at an affordable price, not because they want to be cheap, but so when the government tries, and they will, to ban "assault rifles" again, we will be ablw to say ars and aks are so prevalent, they are under common use.
Ive seen a lot of PSA aks with thousands of rounds down range... never heard of Riley defense... but judging from the comments id say it's a shit show... NEWS FLASH GOOD AKS ARENT CHEAP
I bought a Riley defense 545 AK for my son a while back and it’s been nothing but reliable. The cost of ammo sucks but I’m just so happy that my son wants to go shooting. Thanks fur the video. Merry Christmas to everyone
I just took your advice lemon and bought a wasr 10 and I absolutely love it. Also 7.62x39 is the cheapest 30 cal ammo around. Mag dumping 7.62 nato is like 50 bucks.
@m26_lemon_grenade55 they cut alotta corners, rigging shit up. Their jigs were made in house and rarely worked properly resulting in canted gas blocks and irons sights leaving me having to beat them in place with a rubber mallet straight before they were pinned. They were also to cheap to buy new bits when milling holes for the gas blocks and sights, they'd re-sharpen them on a grinder resulting in wonky holes. It was just a very unprofessional place to work for as a whole. The machine shop was smaller than a dollar general with 10 employees trying to mass produce Ak's. They didn't want you to use the rest room unless it was on YOUR time so basically.. I couldn't take a shit without catching a cussing unless it was on my lunch break or something. You didn't get breaks. We worked from 8-5 and got a hour lunch all day with no breaks in-between. They talked to their employees like shit and cussed at us on the regular. If I hadn't had left it would have came to blows eventually.
If you do your research, Riley Defense did have a pretty bad reputation... they worked with Robski (AK47/74 Operators Union) and did eventually correct the trunion to bolt issues. I only have one, a 74, and I only have 2K rounds through it, but as far as I can tell, the action is holding up perfectly. That is my experience... I purchased mine about 3 years ago.
I had a gf5 with the fn from psa in 7.62 I put an entire case of 7.62x39 through it I believe 5000 Rds with no issues with magpul mags ended up gifting it to a friend who is still running it as a competition gun.
I saw how psa reacted to your post on reddit, that veiled threat they made against you was a dick move. The whole thing you selecting the wrong hammer causing the short stroking. A properly gassed AK wouldn't need a specially cut hammer to cycle. There should be enough bolt velocity to overcome a squarish hammer no problem.
@@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I think you don’t understand how AKs are supposed to work, either that or you didn’t follow along, either way, here’s some info. A Yugo hammer can work in an AKM, and Yugos are by far the most weirdly specd and designed AKs. The internals of the fire control group are largely interchangeable; and PSA was saying that if your hammer round was off by about a millimeter that it wouldn’t work. This is blatantly false information. In a properly gassed gun, the hammer he used wouldn’t have been a problem. In addition the rifle in question wasn’t throwing shells as far as it should’ve, and once the gas was adjusted it worked fine with the hammer that PSA said wouldn’t work with it.
@@AKsandPBRs While I'm not usually inclined to defend PSA, my friend actually had a parts kit build that required about that much off the hammer to function correctly. The bolt carrier was wanting to hold back on the hammer and not return to battery.
I really can't wrap my mind around a simple concept. US companies had been building AKs of different patterns for decades. How hard is it to get the Russian-pattern AKM and AK-74, or get the proper TDP (which had been available for god knows how long now) and not screw it up? USA is a country where you lot had been making all sorts of rifles, and still you lot can't make an AK pattern rifle with consistent quality. In my time I've NEVER heard of Russian military AKMs, AK-74s and now AK-12s losing headspace. Not once. I've heard of poor chroming on post-soviet AK-74s and AK-12s, but that's it as far as metal work is concerned.
Look through the comment section. Note the people defending buying the cheap, crappy American AKs. Always the same cope "its been fine bro" "the warranty". This is why these companies make these guns. Because nice ones already exist from Europe for a few hundred more and these people could buy them if they wanted but they want the same thing for less. These people are a significantly larger chunk of the market than well read consumers with decent impulse control.
The biggest problem was, for most of those decades, those companies built off of parts kits, which were cheap and came with most of the parts already built, so they had a complete gun at a cheap price. Everyone wants the cheap price still on the consumer end, but now these companies have to make their own parts without ever having the tooling or knowledge to do so, so they obviously shit the bed by trying to keep the price down and with it went the quality. Everyone still wants a 300 dollar AK, but that's just not possible anymore without post-Soviet parts kits flooding the market.
I have a Pioneer Arms AK Sporter in 7.62 and it's been solid in the 300-500 rounds I've put through it. I will check to see how everything is wearing, but so far it's good. One caveat is that I've only used brass cased ammo at the indoor range I go to, so it's been spoiled so far. I've essentially placed the AK on the back burner while I work in building my tactical M1 Carbine. So far, I've fitted my Carbine to a choate folding stock and I have replaced the top hand guard with a steel one for the moment until I get the Ultimak hand guard with rail setup along with a red dot.
Glad to see comments are on! If I could make a request of you lemon, I'd like to know what I need to look out for and be aware of for continued use of zastavas's commercial production guns. I've already had to replace a piston rivet and I'd hope for more warning on my next service before I have to flare a second roll pin as a treat
Looking forward to your Riley teardown. I picked up a RAK47 last year for about $600 new and only have a few hundred rounds through it, but it's been pretty solid so far.
I bought a PSA 103 from the 2nd or 3rd batch when they first came out before I really even looked into making sure I was getting a properly made AK, and before finding your channel earlier this year. All because I wanted a 100 series side folder in 7.62x39 and PSA seemed like the best choice at the time because they were slightly cheaper than the Arsenals. At the same time I haven't got much in the way of trigger time with it (even though I've had it for a long time) so haven't had to have a headache over the fact that's probably going to shit the bed when I can. And that days gonna SUCK.
I got a Riley Defense recently, my first 7.62 AK and it’s been running like a machine. Eats all types of ammo I give it. I’m about 900 rounds in with no problems whatsoever
I bought a Riley Defense AK in Fall of 2020 and it has been absolutely fantastic. About 7.5k rounds through extensively documented on AK Files. I’ll be buying one of their 5.56mm offerings when they become available.
My suggestion if you want an AK is to go with Zastiva or if you go money to more spend and can live with a modernized look, get the IWI Ace Galil. To many Ak 47s available on the US marktet are junk. One company that cleaned up it's ac,t Kalasnikov USA went belly up financially.
they couldn't tell me what was wrong I tried different ammo,mags etc, but after firing 10-15 rounds it would not go into battery. So i took your advice gave it away sold my 3 PSA's and bought a Wasr. I also bought your AR-15 recommendation. Thanks for the reply.
I like PSA, idk if they really believe in all the statements they make online but they offer some pretty good training tools for a decent price. Treat them like a range toy and you will be golden
I have 2 PSA’s I bought as just needing furnature so the price was not bad but unfortunately that was a month before I saw your video about how they are made. I was pissed and made my own video, I had to send one back with less than 2 mags through it because the firing pin got stuck in the rear position. They fixed it with a new bolt. 300 rnds so far it’s good. I just sent the second one back as the front sight is canted. I ask them to fix the rivet issue while they are at it. The first was the AK-103 and the one they have now is the GF5-E with the tool craft bolt and trunnion. I had been shooting it with a red dot and decided to zero the irons, well that’s when I noticed the front sight was way off.
Riley hasn’t had the greatest track record here in NC, but the way I see it they’re improving their products much faster than PSA ever has, and it hasn’t taken them 5 generations to produce a product that still yet is objectively ass. Legit if you can’t trust your gun to do the basic intended function of said gun after 5 generations then there’s a massive problem to be had, and calling it a range toy is no excuse to be a bad product. You can’t enjoy a range toy if it spends half of its life, and your life.. back in the factory needing repairs. Moral of the story is I think we should wait before we write off Riley defense entirely just yet. Granted, I don’t have any experience with them or their products. But from the outside looking in; I think they’re doing a lot more than PSA ever has.
The only Riley Defense AK I’ve considered is their RAK308 M77b, milled tortort receiver and military parts kit seems like a lot less they can mess up. Plus it’s a great value.
All my PSA products are still running strong but I don't have their 5.56 variant. I have a Riley Defense AKM that ate itself to death after 2400 rounds. Unsuppressed. I bought it in 2017 or 2018 I can't remember. I didn't send it back. I'm going to try and fix it myself with a surplus polish kit I've been sitting on. I've learned a lot from your videos.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 carrier tail was smashed in. Left side rail inside the receiver got ate up really bad. Front of bolt has extreme wear. Was giving nonstop failure to feed even with a new extractor. I ultimately just bought another gun and forgot about it.
I bought one of their AK-74 clones in 2020 and I haven’t shot it yet because ammo and the receiver feels cheap, and my guess less than 1mm steel. Also had issue with salts bleeding out and causing rust and the teak? Buttstock is cracked.
Thanks lemon grenade! I really appreciate your content! I'm quite happy with my wasr-10's,as they run just fine! One cannot buy them today for what they cost 10 years ago. As for a .223/ 5.56,at one time in the 1980's I had a Finnish Valmet model 76. It had a fixed wood stock,and a parkerized finish. The barrel twist was 1/12! No heavy bullet weights more than 55 grains! Very accurate! 👍🤝✌️👋🎯💯🫡
@@connorburnes7697 I mean, yeah, obviously you can still order it. But I cannot tell you the last time I entered a store and found more than three 20rd boxes sitting on a shelf.
I have a Riley Defense ak with just over 1,000 no issues so far, I heard a rumor I don't know if it is true but I goes PSA get more aks back for warranty work, than what Riley and Kalashnikov USA built in there entirety
Everyone's mileage and experience vary of course, but from what I've heard about Riley Defense AKs in regards to their QC, they can be a hit or a miss.
Rumor has it that they have had issues with premature bolt wear, loss or shift of headspace within a relatively short period of time (you barely get a few hundred to a couple thousand of rounds through it and it completely face plants). Granted, these things I've heard go back a few years, so it's possible that they may have ironed out those kinks (maybe at least some of them). I have never owned a Riley AK, let alone shot one, so I can't vouch or confirm any of these alleged claims. Let us know what you find if you decide to get one, once you've taken it apart and done testing with it, I'd be interested 👍
Rob Ski has had issues with them before. Of course most of those videos were uploaded about six years ago and it's possible that it's old and outdated info as Riley may have fixed said issues.
Bought an RAK74 back in February of this year, have just over 600 rounds through it, and the bolt looks pretty much brand new. We'll see once the round count gets higher.
It’s good to see content like this, as always I feel like the only guy in the world with a functioning PSAK. I’m at 800 rounds now of steel case with no problems, and I feel akward even typing that because I know people will probably just accuse me of lying, and that’s fair enough considering the failure rate of these. What should I be looking for as far as early signs of potential failure?
Watch AK Operator's Union's videos on the PSAK rifles he's tested. They have all passed his torture testing with flying colors. Should put you at ease.
Back in 2019 I got a Riley Defense basic AK, nothing fancy. It wouldn’t cycle most steel case ammo more than 5 rounds at a time, so I got rid of it. Ever since, I’ve been excessively wary of Riley defense
Thank you for the info. I have a GF3 and a GF5. Both have unusual mushrooming on the carrier. I bought a Yugo .308 Riley (M77?), but haven't shot it yet.
Riley defense is local to me, I've seen the guy who runs it, his AK collection. He has around a hundred different kalashnikovs? Multiples of many different models, the guy seems to live, eat and breathe AKs
AKs needs to be manufactured by a good traditional gunsmith to be reliable, and there aren't very many of those around anymore. If good 1911 manufactures made AKs, then they would be better.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 As far as I know, stamped AKs still need someone at a table bending and screwing things in with some sort of mechanical hand skills. ARs and modern pistols can be done completely on a machine. So I don't know how it's not an accurate statement. I'd appreciate being more accurate in the future so feel free to enlighten me.
I think Riley is great for, if nothing else, the Krink kits. I'd love to build one into a Khyber Pass AKMSU or maybe, if I can find out which parts are AKM or 74 spec, try and get the other necessary bits to make a proper 5.45mm Krink
So with so many companies like PSA churning out hot trash, what in your opinion is a good company to purchase an AK in 7.62? Thanks for the feed back, much appreciated.
I bought the Riley Defense AKM. Being an Army veteran I stuck with what I knew running AR15s. But I always wanted an AK47. The Riley Defense gun was the best affordable option that the AK Operator tested at the time and recommended. This was a couple of years before PSA started to really push their guns.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I have over a 1000 rounds through my RAK103MFT and it runs like a champ. No function issues, it just chews up the steel case. Also, many aftermarket parts fits the gun. Only complaint I have is the buttstock tube will not tighten up. I replaced it with a Zhukov folding stock. Its a $600 AKM and it is what it is. I am happy with it.
I have had zero issues with my PSA's, and my BCA's. No problems whatsoever, maybe I'm just fortunate? If someone wants an AK for whatever reason, buy an AK. Lots of cheap materials in the market pipeline, in everything not just firearms. Personally I prefer American made, American workers, American Pride.
Have a Riley Ak74, tight fitment, smooth action, very reliable so far. Love it. Rear sight block canted left so had to use round file on front sight adjustment slot to zero it...i guess that means its an Ak, right? I emailed Riley about dimpled recievers and swell neck rivets for the trunnions, they emailed me back yes. Within a day i might add, a good sign. Its my first gun of theirs so its been positive so far. Barrel twist is 1/8 according to them. Just my 3 cents.
@m26_lemon_grenade55 it's because Riley makes shit boxes. I've worked for them their QC is just as bad as their attitudes. Hands down 2 of the worst individuals I've worked for. Extremely rude and treat their employees like shit.
If you do a review on a Riley I'd love to see it, I was interested in getting one of their 7.62 Krinks but a bunch of my in person friends shit talked about Riley Defense. Seeing KlayCo talk about it and put it through the paces was pretty sweet though. Id buy it over a PSA even if theres mixed reviews.
Bought the riley krink and I've run just over 1000 rounds through it No failures or issues so far, action is still a little rough after 1000 rounds though mostly because of the hammer face catching on the carrier Also my iron sights are about a foot and a half off at 25 yards, if you aren't going to mount some kind of optic I'd definitely suggest an AK front sight tool I will be getting gauges before I put another 1000 rounds to check head space and all that good stuff
@ thanks for the reply, I’d love to hear about the headspace once you’re at that point. I primarily like running AKs so I keep a couple front sight tools in my kit, usually one in each cleaning kit I own, so if I pick up a Riley I’ll absolutely keep one handy.
PSA is well known trash across the board. They put quantity over quality. I've yet to meet someone that hasn't had issues out of their products. Doesnt matter the platform. Ak, ar, dagger. Save your money and buy something you can just maintain and will last a lifetime
Yooo! I can’t find it from 3 years ago, however what convinced me to buy a Riley defense was a video of a dude who threw his Riley in a mud pond for 3 days and retrieved it and shot it with a little bit of rust.. after that I was convinced. And PSAint is trash they don’t even sell to CA. 😅
I've had over a dozen AKs over the years - 1 or 2 at a time - first was a full auto Yugo in 1984... wish I had never gotten rid of that one - many MAK-90s, 3 or 4 Hungarians, a Polish, a Russian, and a WASR - and all that time, never a failure, only 2 or 3 total FTFs or FTEs between ALL of them (and used to go burn through a 1200 rd case of ammo in an afternoon, repeatedly...) That all just to say, I do love the AK platform. THAT SAID, the best AK platform in 5.56? CZ Bren 2MS.
I have a riley 762 akm havent fired it sadly bc i havent had time but the bolt carrier was hella scuffed on the bottom which caused it to hang up on the trigger when id rack it but i replaced the recoil spring with an alg and it doesnt get stuck no more
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 Same with most US AKs, deforming trunnions, creeping headspace, generally rough fit and finish. I've had people who have had both say they've had better luck with PSA than RD three times now. Though usually more about PSA being more willing to fix things.
Off topic but can you make a video regarding your opinions on Zastava AKs? I learned a great deal from your videos and enjoy your content. Also glad the comment section is back up and running!
@ would you be able to make a video regarding it? Or at least an explanation? Hopefully the Zastava fans won’t hate you for this lol! But I enjoy a guy speaking the truth
English is his 2nd language......he's probably trying to find the correct word to use. Go to his country and try to speak his language on camera sometime.
Dude they were right. You cannot make an AK for cheaper in the US than dudes making them out of surplus parts can in Romania for the sale quality. Buy the WASR.
@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I ended up getting a zastava m70 and just bought an m16 instead of another AK. I know Riley is for the budget minded folks like myself
@@zagg8687 Good choice on the Zastava. I still will insist buying Riley and other "budget" guns at all is stupid, its all of 25% more to not have junk!
Honestly I feel like I can’t straight up recommend the majority of 5.56s AKs to people that are currently on the first hand market since all of the ones that I can think of have had issues. PSA is just PSA, Riley has had a few hiccups here and there, there have been some shitty Pioneer arms guns, Zastava has had some weak bolts and un properly heat treated receivers, haven’t heard anything really bad about WBP except Zack Schafer said he thinks there are some issues with the 5.56 and 5.45 WBP guns, the SAM5s had that batch that was over gassed and was prematurely wearing, and the WASR 3s can be finicky. Even then, I gotta imagine you would be fine with the new WBPs that have the 90 degree gas blocks and the 24mm front sight posts, though unfortunately they are nitride barrels instead of chrome lined, which at least has the benefit of better accuracy, though less corrosion resistance and barrel life. Though a 5.56 AK is probably the better caliber to have a nitride barrel for since it isn’t like you’re probably going to be mainly shooting non corrosive lead jacketed FMJ rounds as compared to corrosive and or steel jacketed rounds like with 7.62x39 or 5.45x39. Plus I think the SAM5s haven’t had the over gassing issue in awhile and honestly that’s a pretty minor issue compared to what the domestic AKs are having. It’s just up to you if you want to drop $1,800 on a rifle even though I’d probably consider it if I didn’t own a Norinco BWK-92 (Great 5.56 AK, my only complaint is the cost of the magazines). In summary, if you’re on a budget, get a WBP. If you’ve got more money and want something new, the SAM5 can’t hurt and if you can still get an FB Radom 5.56 Beryl, also not a bad choice. The BWK-92 is probably around that category as well, though you gotta go second hand for one. And if you really got some money to burn, getting a Norinco 84s, getting a .223 Saiga and doing a proper AK-101 conversion, or getting a .223 Vepr are probably the peak options.
I’ve been scoping out a pioneer 5.56 rifle but they just went out of business didn’t they? The rifles are pretty affordable though. Great video as always
Why buy a Riley when you can buy a WASR-10, a proven budget friendly Ak for the same price of a Riley, or possibly even cheaper? Or spend a few hundred more dollars to get a WBP jack that is 5.56, which is a similar price to a psa? Everyone is allowed to have their opinions, however, just because Riley defense says they care about the community, doesn’t mean they are putting out good products, nor does it mean they actually care.
Why even buy the WBP in 5.56? It has a non-chf melonited barrel. Cheap barrels are fine for ARs because any walnut with a harbor freight set of tools can replace it; not the case for AKs.
Riley (in all calibers) is consistently worse than PSA. PSA's 5.56 and 5.45 seem to be consistently unreliable while their 7.62x39 rifles seem good to go. For new production 5.56 AKs, we're basically limited to imported Zastava or WBP rifles.
Sucks when companys do all the work and put in the time to source components and invest in tooling just to stop at the 80% mark and not invest that little bit more into their product to really make it something great. Im sure everyone would pay a few hundred more per rifle to have an actual reliable american made ak
I have been eyeing the Riley 74. For different reasons like u I got out of 74 to get back in at a crazy time and with chrome barrel and the look Riley seems sweet have 2 purchased planning for near future riley74 unless something changes my mind and either Wbp jack pistol 7.62 m92 or Draco. Don’t have a polish. Think I need a pole 😂. But still have stock of 7n6. They shoot so flat light recoil the lightest recoiling rifle I ever shot was a 74 friend handed me 1 after popping 47 and wow I was really shocked how fast it would go crazy cool sucks ammo price now but it can be my safe queen for some tela ammo like my 10mm cuss ain’t using any 7n6 unless it’s for zero then done I’ll burn available ammo
Question, so if I get their bolt to un fuck my 103 do I need to do any additional work besides checking head spacing? Or am I able to just slap in the new bolt and turn my attention to the rivets and the cast iron rear plate of the receiver?
You in the video covered that you after losing head spacing bought a different bolt. I wanted to ask that if I bought a different bolt for my PSA rifle that I’d need to do any fitting or anything to ensure the head spacing is correct with the new bolt. My AK has not lost head spacing but I wanted to check with you before doing anything since you’ve got significantly more hands on experience with them.
Hi Lemon I am curious what's your opinion on the WBP mini jack, I am interested in doing a tactical short ak. You think it's in good quality ? If not what you would recommend ?
I got PSA 74, had all the typical issues. Sent it in, they put all the new parts on it, which was cool. Now it shoots pretty good but for some reason I can’t zero it, because front sight is maxed out. I am a big “made in USA” supporter, however I will be looking elsewhere for further AKs. I don’t even know what to do with it, because I don’t want to sell it and screw a next guy. I know others do it but, it’s against my core beliefs. Now I’m stuck with a rifle that can’t be zeroed on irons.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55going to take a better look at at it and see if I can fix it myself, or it’s so jacked that I would have to send it back. Hey thanks for making videos. I understand that some people in comments are just here to hate, but a lot of us enjoy your content!
Great video 👍 Always 🤔 wondered if Riley Defense was building good/built right value based AKM guns. I have not gotten a chance to ever see one or handle one in real life yet.
PSA hasn't figured out how to make a proper Kalashnikov bolt because people keep buying these AKs anyway and I doubt the majority of these customers are shooting them long term or frequently enough to even discover the problems. The ones who are... well they're discovering the issues lol. PSA has no incentive to figure it out if they keep selling anyway.
Really? I believe the Arsenal is more AK than 74 thin stem I would think the geometry on the bolt would need some significant removal of metal to fit in their Trunnion? I guess unless their trunnion is got more room then is needed? That would cause THEIR bolt to do a 3/4 turn a 1/4 the way out the trunnion that would cause significant peening on the locking lugs of their bolt due to it moving faster on unlock smashing the bolt lugs? Sorry I have been recently getting into 5.56 AKs I am looking to 74 receiver's and Arsenal 5.56 parts like trunnions bolts carriers barrels for my 5.56 74 builds or 101 builds.
My zastava zpap 85. In 556. Bought it for 600 used. But still in the box like new. Mabie a mag threw it. The thing is an animal. Takes a beating. eats any thing. I could not be more impressed and definatly recommend. So much went and got a m70 new. And that as well is the smoothest shooting ak ive ever felt. The only thing between both my zpaps the m70 front sight was sitting at 11 oclock. For the money. About 1k no you shouldnt have to deal with canted sights. But its an easy fix. And much better to deal with than all these other problems companys are having. Definitely recommend zastava. Arsenal was 1600. At same shop got my m70 for 1k at thats just stupid. M26 should make and brand your own Ak for sale
@j.s.7366 wasr 10. I could have got that in under folder for 899. Same place sadly went with m70. But I am happy with it at this point for sure. Serbian red looks amazing. And she's a runner for sure. I didn't think you could get an ak as smooth as my m70 is. Not even trying to talk it up at all. Being serious comming from an ar guy haha
@@andrewadams5905I’ve got two ZPAPs and they are really good stamped AKs. I’ve got an Arsenal and an IWI as well and they run just as good as ZPAPs. Zastava makes an underfolder attachment for their regular-stocked versions.
@j.s.7366 I'm keeping this one stock furniture. Hope the red Serbian wood stock holds up. It fits me perfect. And love the look of all red wood furniture
Sorry man I had a Riley Defense AK-74 and within 250 rounds I had 3 rivets pop and become loose. It was 2 front trunnion rivets and the center support rivet, not to mention the gun had a non-existent finish that immediately got covered in light frog hair rust within a few days of getting it and I don't have a humidity problem. I can't with clear conscious recommend Riley Defense but maybe they improved their QC.
Thank you for the feedback..... Did Riley warranty the gun?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I reached out but I got sand bagged then I finally gave up and sold it and all of my 5.45 ammo break even cost for the gun itself.
@@LowQuatsSquats7529to be clear.....Riley sand bagged you or was it the distributor?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I reached out to Riley Defense directly
That’s cause it’s an AK. What do you expect?
I’ve had my arsenal SAM7 for 8 years and have 0 rounds through it. I can honestly say I’ve had no malfunctions with it yet.
A friend bought a sam5 a few years ago......tonight poop show.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55my Sam5 took 300 rounds of .223 and needed a mallet to disassemble. The rear receiver began to mushroom up preventing the recoil assembly from being removed. Now Sam5’s are given gas restrictors to fix their gaping gas port hole.
🙏 glad to see this, I was interested in picking one up but was worried about damaging it when I put in the mag
What drives me crazy is that Psa likes to act like they’re open to criticism but we’ve all been screaming about the lack of swellnecks as well as the firing pins and channels and it seems to just fall on deaf ears. An Ak dying below 1k rounds is fucking unacceptable. “Well it comes with a warranty so when it inevitably shits the bed you can go through a month of repairs and get more out of spec shit!”
I'll forgive them when they acknowledge these issues, fix them, AND read your comment aloud, including your name.
Them hiding critical reviews is actually an illegal maneuver known as review gating
Not a fan myself
They are anything but open to criticism based on my experience. Their business model is "arm as many people as possible at low prices" but they also forget to mention the lack of QC and higher probability you will get something out of spec but they take that gamble because its also a higher probability that the out of spec stuff won't even be revealed because typically customers who are worried about spending more than $500 on a rifle are not going to spend $500 on ammo (despite saying they will) and therefore they'll never actually run into issues with their out of spec AR15 that gets shot maybe 200 rounds year.
@m4e1supremacy I had ammo issues. It doesn't matter how much you shoot a squib load can be lethal
No, don't try Riley Defense. They have a bad track record. Buy a WASR, or a Zastava, or an older Arsenal. The American obsession with saving $200 on a gun they'll put a minimum of twice that in accessories on must end.
Think he is speaking from a budget range/beater/5.56 gun perspective. He already has a video recommending wasr-10.
@Zero-9909 Get the Polish 5.56 then, the military one. Spending hundreds on something that comes with the prerequisite cope of "range toy" is such a waste of money.
Earlier riley guns sucked ,yes...newer ones dont have many issues. So I'd say youre wrong there.its not about saving money , its about an American made AK that we can reliably continue to get in the future. Imports are drying up and eventually will be gone from import. Been building AKs since 2013 and i have seen nearly 65% of the stuff we used to get are now gone... Polish tantals zw.88s, amd 64s, maddis , mac90s , bulgarian 74s the list goes on and on. Now we just get whats here or some rare dump found and sold at absurd prices. I used to be able to buy 74 bulgarian kit to the door for like 400$ and the rest maybe 175$ 575/650 total back in 13/14. Polish akm kits extremely good quality made parts had me at 550$. We are now down to scraps....
I bought a Riley Defense AK in Fall of 2020 and a Zastava AK in early 2021, so just a few months apart. Over the course of these few years and about 7.5k rounds on the Riley and anout 3k rounds on the Zastava, the Riley has been the objectively better AK regardless of what the Reddit hive mind will try to say
@@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I'm guessing you are talking about a FB Beryl which i have to agree it just kinda sucks that they aren't making them anymore and moving to their grot rifle hopefully they sell the tooling to someone else
I purchased a Riley Defense in 7.62x39 back in 2020. My experience was a mixed bag. One range trip about 150 rounds through it and there was a thin crack in the rear sight block. I got home and emailed them. I was called by their customer service within the half hour. Sent them pictures. They immediately set up the return and repair. Got my rifle back about a week or so after. Ran absolutely fine after that had a low round count sub 1000 rounds. Sold it to a friend to help fund my RD703 a few months later. The buyer has had no issues reported to me. I’m happy I went with the Riley instead of the PSA for my gateway domestic AK. Served its purpose and is making another gun owner happy.
Thanks for the details!
What is starting to become more obvious to me is that PSA never expected their customers to actually shoot their rifles. One or two trips to the range then into the safe or on the wall for the remainder of ownership. Never more than 200-300 rounds. Unfortunately for them, it turns out that people actually like to use their rifles. This wiz bang warranty they've got is probably going to swing around one day and bite them in the ass once warranty cost out paces sales.
Pretty much
No, i think there are just problems you wont really know about until you get to high round counts. I have around a thousand rounds through my gf3, all using shit ammo. Its just a fun gun, but ive had no problems. Its definitely not the best ak i have. But i have a .300 blk jakl and that thing runs. Its my go to right now. It runs supers and subs no problem, it runs open and with a can no problem.
I also have a psa rock, and in the winter its my carry gun. That gun runs like butter, and it has no recoil, so you can run it fast and have great groups. My brother has the fn, and the rock is way more comfortable to shoot.
My advice to people w psa, is wait. (Although i didn't take my advice w the jakl 😂) so they can iron out kinks in production. They make everything in house, which is commendable. They help get these guns out at an affordable price, not because they want to be cheap, but so when the government tries, and they will, to ban "assault rifles" again, we will be ablw to say ars and aks are so prevalent, they are under common use.
Ive seen a lot of PSA aks with thousands of rounds down range... never heard of Riley defense... but judging from the comments id say it's a shit show... NEWS FLASH GOOD AKS ARENT CHEAP
@smasher.338 there's been a lot of waiting with the AKs tho lol
I bought a Riley defense 545 AK for my son a while back and it’s been nothing but reliable. The cost of ammo sucks but I’m just so happy that my son wants to go shooting. Thanks fur the video. Merry Christmas to everyone
Not an AK guy but like to learn and you cover them in depth. Thanks for your videos.
I can see now that I should've been buying 350 dollar wasr 10s in 2006 instead of being 6
I just took your advice lemon and bought a wasr 10 and I absolutely love it. Also 7.62x39 is the cheapest 30 cal ammo around. Mag dumping 7.62 nato is like 50 bucks.
Riley Defense is absolute trash. I worked for them so ask me how I know. They treat their employees like absolute shit on top of it.
Give me examples? I can talk to a fired Google employee who will say Google is trash to work for.
Also.....Respect for having videos published. Not sarcasm, I respect people that publish content.
I see you Burke county! Have some liver mush this morning. Cut thin and fried with egg and cheese on toast 🤙
@m26_lemon_grenade55 they cut alotta corners, rigging shit up. Their jigs were made in house and rarely worked properly resulting in canted gas blocks and irons sights leaving me having to beat them in place with a rubber mallet straight before they were pinned. They were also to cheap to buy new bits when milling holes for the gas blocks and sights, they'd re-sharpen them on a grinder resulting in wonky holes. It was just a very unprofessional place to work for as a whole. The machine shop was smaller than a dollar general with 10 employees trying to mass produce Ak's. They didn't want you to use the rest room unless it was on YOUR time so basically.. I couldn't take a shit without catching a cussing unless it was on my lunch break or something. You didn't get breaks. We worked from 8-5 and got a hour lunch all day with no breaks in-between. They talked to their employees like shit and cussed at us on the regular. If I hadn't had left it would have came to blows eventually.
@KalashmanNC yes sir. I'd love to if I wasn't at work. Might have alittle on the Christmas break haha.
If you do your research, Riley Defense did have a pretty bad reputation... they worked with Robski (AK47/74 Operators Union) and did eventually correct the trunion to bolt issues.
I only have one, a 74, and I only have 2K rounds through it, but as far as I can tell, the action is holding up perfectly.
That is my experience... I purchased mine about 3 years ago.
I had a gf5 with the fn from psa in 7.62 I put an entire case of 7.62x39 through it I believe 5000 Rds with no issues with magpul mags ended up gifting it to a friend who is still running it as a competition gun.
5k is when PSA guns start really falling apart......best of luck to your friend
I saw how psa reacted to your post on reddit, that veiled threat they made against you was a dick move. The whole thing you selecting the wrong hammer causing the short stroking. A properly gassed AK wouldn't need a specially cut hammer to cycle. There should be enough bolt velocity to overcome a squarish hammer no problem.
PSA built their company on dick moved
What hammer did he put in it? If it was surplus its not ridiculous that it wouldn't work. AKs aren't built to a standardized TDP across nations.
@@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I think you don’t understand how AKs are supposed to work, either that or you didn’t follow along, either way, here’s some info. A Yugo hammer can work in an AKM, and Yugos are by far the most weirdly specd and designed AKs.
The internals of the fire control group are largely interchangeable; and PSA was saying that if your hammer round was off by about a millimeter that it wouldn’t work. This is blatantly false information. In a properly gassed gun, the hammer he used wouldn’t have been a problem.
In addition the rifle in question wasn’t throwing shells as far as it should’ve, and once the gas was adjusted it worked fine with the hammer that PSA said wouldn’t work with it.
@@AKsandPBRs While I'm not usually inclined to defend PSA, my friend actually had a parts kit build that required about that much off the hammer to function correctly. The bolt carrier was wanting to hold back on the hammer and not return to battery.
I really can't wrap my mind around a simple concept. US companies had been building AKs of different patterns for decades. How hard is it to get the Russian-pattern AKM and AK-74, or get the proper TDP (which had been available for god knows how long now) and not screw it up? USA is a country where you lot had been making all sorts of rifles, and still you lot can't make an AK pattern rifle with consistent quality. In my time I've NEVER heard of Russian military AKMs, AK-74s and now AK-12s losing headspace. Not once. I've heard of poor chroming on post-soviet AK-74s and AK-12s, but that's it as far as metal work is concerned.
You would think it wouldnt Be that big of a deal..... But apparently it is
All the American companies worth a shit make AR pattern rifles.
Andersen Arms Is banger
Look through the comment section. Note the people defending buying the cheap, crappy American AKs. Always the same cope "its been fine bro" "the warranty". This is why these companies make these guns. Because nice ones already exist from Europe for a few hundred more and these people could buy them if they wanted but they want the same thing for less. These people are a significantly larger chunk of the market than well read consumers with decent impulse control.
The biggest problem was, for most of those decades, those companies built off of parts kits, which were cheap and came with most of the parts already built, so they had a complete gun at a cheap price. Everyone wants the cheap price still on the consumer end, but now these companies have to make their own parts without ever having the tooling or knowledge to do so, so they obviously shit the bed by trying to keep the price down and with it went the quality. Everyone still wants a 300 dollar AK, but that's just not possible anymore without post-Soviet parts kits flooding the market.
I have a Pioneer Arms AK Sporter in 7.62 and it's been solid in the 300-500 rounds I've put through it. I will check to see how everything is wearing, but so far it's good. One caveat is that I've only used brass cased ammo at the indoor range I go to, so it's been spoiled so far. I've essentially placed the AK on the back burner while I work in building my tactical M1 Carbine. So far, I've fitted my Carbine to a choate folding stock and I have replaced the top hand guard with a steel one for the moment until I get the Ultimak hand guard with rail setup along with a red dot.
Glad to see comments are on! If I could make a request of you lemon, I'd like to know what I need to look out for and be aware of for continued use of zastavas's commercial production guns. I've already had to replace a piston rivet and I'd hope for more warning on my next service before I have to flare a second roll pin as a treat
Main thing is mushrooming of the bolt steam at the rear where the hammer hits the firing pin
Telling it like it is. I wish you well! Amazing knowledge.
Hey man been following your channel since the begging I love what you do and your channel. Good vibes and God bless you. Semper fi
Looking forward to your Riley teardown. I picked up a RAK47 last year for about $600 new and only have a few hundred rounds through it, but it's been pretty solid so far.
I think I am going down the WBP route.
Large caliber WBP isn't bad.....small caliber might have issues
I just ordered a WBP Jack in 556.
I bought a PSA 103 from the 2nd or 3rd batch when they first came out before I really even looked into making sure I was getting a properly made AK, and before finding your channel earlier this year. All because I wanted a 100 series side folder in 7.62x39 and PSA seemed like the best choice at the time because they were slightly cheaper than the Arsenals. At the same time I haven't got much in the way of trigger time with it (even though I've had it for a long time) so haven't had to have a headache over the fact that's probably going to shit the bed when I can. And that days gonna SUCK.
I got a Riley Defense recently, my first 7.62 AK and it’s been running like a machine. Eats all types of ammo I give it. I’m about 900 rounds in with no problems whatsoever
Surprised the comments are back yall stay on your best behavior, also glad you’re back to talking about aks
I bought a Riley Defense AK in Fall of 2020 and it has been absolutely fantastic. About 7.5k rounds through extensively documented on AK Files. I’ll be buying one of their 5.56mm offerings when they become available.
Was it the 74 or AKM Riley?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 AKM
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 AKM
My suggestion if you want an AK is to go with Zastiva or if you go money to more spend and can live with a modernized look, get the IWI Ace Galil. To many Ak 47s available on the US marktet are junk. One company that cleaned up it's ac,t Kalasnikov USA went belly up financially.
Don't buy zasatvas
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 Why not?
they couldn't tell me what was wrong I tried different ammo,mags etc, but after firing 10-15 rounds it would not go into battery. So i took your advice gave it away sold my 3 PSA's and bought a Wasr. I also bought your AR-15 recommendation. Thanks for the reply.
Riley seems to have listened from earlier issues and fixed what issue have been happening with there products.
That's my belief as well.....the issues I'm hearing about were from 2017 time frames
556 ak = gay.
Thank you someone had to say it
LOL - Yes!
@@frankbenitez4859 Hell yes brother!
Yeah it's like drinking coffee out of a glass. It's just wrong.
The word "gay" actually means happy.
I like PSA, idk if they really believe in all the statements they make online but they offer some pretty good training tools for a decent price.
Treat them like a range toy and you will be golden
I have 2 PSA’s I bought as just needing furnature so the price was not bad but unfortunately that was a month before I saw your video about how they are made. I was pissed and made my own video, I had to send one back with less than 2 mags through it because the firing pin got stuck in the rear position. They fixed it with a new bolt. 300 rnds so far it’s good. I just sent the second one back as the front sight is canted. I ask them to fix the rivet issue while they are at it. The first was the AK-103 and the one they have now is the GF5-E with the tool craft bolt and trunnion. I had been shooting it with a red dot and decided to zero the irons, well that’s when I noticed the front sight was way off.
Definitely interested to see what your take on Riley is whenever you tear one apart.
Riley hasn’t had the greatest track record here in NC, but the way I see it they’re improving their products much faster than PSA ever has, and it hasn’t taken them 5 generations to produce a product that still yet is objectively ass. Legit if you can’t trust your gun to do the basic intended function of said gun after 5 generations then there’s a massive problem to be had, and calling it a range toy is no excuse to be a bad product. You can’t enjoy a range toy if it spends half of its life, and your life.. back in the factory needing repairs.
Moral of the story is I think we should wait before we write off Riley defense entirely just yet. Granted, I don’t have any experience with them or their products. But from the outside looking in; I think they’re doing a lot more than PSA ever has.
The only Riley Defense AK I’ve considered is their RAK308 M77b, milled tortort receiver and military parts kit seems like a lot less they can mess up. Plus it’s a great value.
All my PSA products are still running strong but I don't have their 5.56 variant. I have a Riley Defense AKM that ate itself to death after 2400 rounds. Unsuppressed. I bought it in 2017 or 2018 I can't remember. I didn't send it back. I'm going to try and fix it myself with a surplus polish kit I've been sitting on. I've learned a lot from your videos.
Define "ate itself"..... What broke?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 carrier tail was smashed in. Left side rail inside the receiver got ate up really bad. Front of bolt has extreme wear. Was giving nonstop failure to feed even with a new extractor. I ultimately just bought another gun and forgot about it.
I bought one of their AK-74 clones in 2020 and I haven’t shot it yet because ammo and the receiver feels cheap, and my guess less than 1mm steel. Also had issue with salts bleeding out and causing rust and the teak? Buttstock is cracked.
Thanks lemon grenade! I really appreciate your content! I'm quite happy with my wasr-10's,as they run just fine! One cannot buy them today for what they cost 10 years ago. As for a .223/ 5.56,at one time in the 1980's I had a Finnish Valmet model 76. It had a fixed wood stock,and a parkerized finish. The barrel twist was 1/12! No heavy bullet weights more than 55 grains! Very accurate! 👍🤝✌️👋🎯💯🫡
Would like to see more reviews on Riley..got mine this year only 500 rounds so far no problems..
I'm glad I bought a GP/WASR-10/63 for $450 at 17. Especially now that there's no ammo to find for it lol
I don’t know why people say there is no ammo. I can go order a case of my choice of like 4-6 different manufacturers right now.
@@connorburnes7697there’s is 7.62x39ammo but it’s now about as much as Brass case 556
@@connorburnes7697 It's available, just more than double the price since then
@@Zero-9909 yeah it’s starting out at $.40 a round. It’s the same price as feeding ARs. It’s perfectly available though.
@@connorburnes7697 I mean, yeah, obviously you can still order it. But I cannot tell you the last time I entered a store and found more than three 20rd boxes sitting on a shelf.
I have a Riley Defense ak with just over 1,000 no issues so far, I heard a rumor I don't know if it is true but I goes PSA get more aks back for warranty work, than what Riley and Kalashnikov USA built in there entirety
@@hoocares939 probably correct
Everyone's mileage and experience vary of course, but from what I've heard about Riley Defense AKs in regards to their QC, they can be a hit or a miss.
Please give me details of what you have heard
Rumor has it that they have had issues with premature bolt wear, loss or shift of headspace within a relatively short period of time (you barely get a few hundred to a couple thousand of rounds through it and it completely face plants). Granted, these things I've heard go back a few years, so it's possible that they may have ironed out those kinks (maybe at least some of them). I have never owned a Riley AK, let alone shot one, so I can't vouch or confirm any of these alleged claims.
Let us know what you find if you decide to get one, once you've taken it apart and done testing with it, I'd be interested 👍
@@Akula5.45rumors from where? Reddit, AK files, TH-cam, your buddy who heard from a guy?
Rob Ski has had issues with them before. Of course most of those videos were uploaded about six years ago and it's possible that it's old and outdated info as Riley may have fixed said issues.
@@Akula5.45 yep....that'll happen
Bought an RAK74 back in February of this year, have just over 600 rounds through it, and the bolt looks pretty much brand new. We'll see once the round count gets higher.
That's been my experience with the 74 pattern Riley. The only one I've had my hands on has a few thousand rounds on it and the bolt looks great
It’s good to see content like this, as always I feel like the only guy in the world with a functioning PSAK. I’m at 800 rounds now of steel case with no problems, and I feel akward even typing that because I know people will probably just accuse me of lying, and that’s fair enough considering the failure rate of these. What should I be looking for as far as early signs of potential failure?
Check headspace regularly, and if your trunnion starts moving: panic
Watch AK Operator's Union's videos on the PSAK rifles he's tested. They have all passed his torture testing with flying colors. Should put you at ease.
Back in 2019 I got a Riley Defense basic AK, nothing fancy. It wouldn’t cycle most steel case ammo more than 5 rounds at a time, so I got rid of it. Ever since, I’ve been excessively wary of Riley defense
Thank you
Thank you for the info. I have a GF3 and a GF5. Both have unusual mushrooming on the carrier. I bought a Yugo .308 Riley (M77?), but haven't shot it yet.
Riley defense is local to me, I've seen the guy who runs it, his AK collection. He has around a hundred different kalashnikovs? Multiples of many different models, the guy seems to live, eat and breathe AKs
I definitely can tell he loves the platform when he talks about it. Huge selling point for me
Nightly videos from this guy >>>
A friend of mine has a Riley AK47. It's been fine. Works well even with cheapo ammo.
I Get so pissed at myself now that I passed on an slr106 on sale under 1k
Great video! Thanks for all the good information!
AKs needs to be manufactured by a good traditional gunsmith to be reliable, and there aren't very many of those around anymore. If good 1911 manufactures made AKs, then they would be better.
Not really an accurate statement
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 As far as I know, stamped AKs still need someone at a table bending and screwing things in with some sort of mechanical hand skills. ARs and modern pistols can be done completely on a machine. So I don't know how it's not an accurate statement. I'd appreciate being more accurate in the future so feel free to enlighten me.
I think Riley is great for, if nothing else, the Krink kits. I'd love to build one into a Khyber Pass AKMSU or maybe, if I can find out which parts are AKM or 74 spec, try and get the other necessary bits to make a proper 5.45mm Krink
What do you all say about those Galils, JRA and ATI rebuilds in the $1000 range? Somewhat a different animal but AK-adjacent and .223.
Don't buy them
I would like to add this was a 5.45 rifle not a 7.62 rifle
556 aks are pretty damn sorry . Great honest video you are saving people lots of money.
Man, I wish they made good to go rifles.
So with so many companies like PSA churning out hot trash, what in your opinion is a good company to purchase an AK in 7.62? Thanks for the feed back, much appreciated.
Hopefully Riley for the low cost company......not sure yet. Wasr 10 if you don't mind fixing the little stuff
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 Thanks for the reply! I had an old WASR 3, but finding mags was a pain so I sold it to a friend...
I bought the Riley Defense AKM. Being an Army veteran I stuck with what I knew running AR15s. But I always wanted an AK47. The Riley Defense gun was the best affordable option that the AK Operator tested at the time and recommended. This was a couple of years before PSA started to really push their guns.
Are you happy with it?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I have over a 1000 rounds through my RAK103MFT and it runs like a champ. No function issues, it just chews up the steel case. Also, many aftermarket parts fits the gun. Only complaint I have is the buttstock tube will not tighten up. I replaced it with a Zhukov folding stock. Its a $600 AKM and it is what it is. I am happy with it.
I have had zero issues with my PSA's, and my BCA's. No problems whatsoever, maybe I'm just fortunate? If someone wants an AK for whatever reason, buy an AK. Lots of cheap materials in the market pipeline, in everything not just firearms. Personally I prefer American made, American workers, American Pride.
Have a Riley Ak74, tight fitment, smooth action, very reliable so far. Love it. Rear sight block canted left so had to use round file on front sight adjustment slot to zero it...i guess that means its an Ak, right? I emailed Riley about dimpled recievers and swell neck rivets for the trunnions, they emailed me back yes. Within a day i might add, a good sign. Its my first gun of theirs so its been positive so far. Barrel twist is 1/8 according to them. Just my 3 cents.
I have a Riley 74 sample of one sent back 3 times and still does not work.
What are the details? What was wrong with it?
@m26_lemon_grenade55 it's because Riley makes shit boxes. I've worked for them their QC is just as bad as their attitudes. Hands down 2 of the worst individuals I've worked for. Extremely rude and treat their employees like shit.
You got what you paid for. Both companies build to their price point. Buy a WASR-10 and be done with it.
If you do a review on a Riley I'd love to see it, I was interested in getting one of their 7.62 Krinks but a bunch of my in person friends shit talked about Riley Defense.
Seeing KlayCo talk about it and put it through the paces was pretty sweet though. Id buy it over a PSA even if theres mixed reviews.
Bought the riley krink and I've run just over 1000 rounds through it
No failures or issues so far, action is still a little rough after 1000 rounds though mostly because of the hammer face catching on the carrier
Also my iron sights are about a foot and a half off at 25 yards, if you aren't going to mount some kind of optic I'd definitely suggest an AK front sight tool
I will be getting gauges before I put another 1000 rounds to check head space and all that good stuff
@ thanks for the reply, I’d love to hear about the headspace once you’re at that point. I primarily like running AKs so I keep a couple front sight tools in my kit, usually one in each cleaning kit I own, so if I pick up a Riley I’ll absolutely keep one handy.
PSA is well known trash across the board. They put quantity over quality. I've yet to meet someone that hasn't had issues out of their products. Doesnt matter the platform. Ak, ar, dagger. Save your money and buy something you can just maintain and will last a lifetime
Yooo! I can’t find it from 3 years ago, however what convinced me to buy a Riley defense was a video of a dude who threw his Riley in a mud pond for 3 days and retrieved it and shot it with a little bit of rust.. after that I was convinced. And PSAint is trash they don’t even sell to CA. 😅
I've had over a dozen AKs over the years - 1 or 2 at a time - first was a full auto Yugo in 1984... wish I had never gotten rid of that one - many MAK-90s, 3 or 4 Hungarians, a Polish, a Russian, and a WASR - and all that time, never a failure, only 2 or 3 total FTFs or FTEs between ALL of them (and used to go burn through a 1200 rd case of ammo in an afternoon, repeatedly...)
That all just to say, I do love the AK platform. THAT SAID, the best AK platform in 5.56? CZ Bren 2MS.
I have a riley 762 akm havent fired it sadly bc i havent had time but the bolt carrier was hella scuffed on the bottom which caused it to hang up on the trigger when id rack it but i replaced the recoil spring with an alg and it doesnt get stuck no more
Define scuffed? What do you mean
It has a small patch of raised pitting on the bottom of the bolt carrier , im sure itll smooth out with firing tho@@m26_lemon_grenade55
All I want for Christmas is for stuff to stop sucking.
Same
For anyone interested if you go to riley defense’s website they sell part kits for all of their guns including the 556 guns
I would recommend waiting and buying a full gun. The reason is barrel and receiver compatibility
556 aks are like 1911 when they began chamfering them in 9mm and everyone was hating on them, now everyone loves them and everyone loves 556 ak now. 😂
I’m a dork for 1911s, a true 1911 guy used .38 super
Everything ive heard has said Riley is worse than PSA, and worse CS
What have you heard? Im interested in details.
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 Same with most US AKs, deforming trunnions, creeping headspace, generally rough fit and finish. I've had people who have had both say they've had better luck with PSA than RD three times now. Though usually more about PSA being more willing to fix things.
@@bower31yeah...... Im not sure PSA is doing better than RD.
I don't know about anybody else but I do love my PSA 103😂😊
Wait till you hit the higher round counts
Off topic but can you make a video regarding your opinions on Zastava AKs? I learned a great deal from your videos and enjoy your content. Also glad the comment section is back up and running!
Don't buy zasatvas
@ would you be able to make a video regarding it? Or at least an explanation? Hopefully the Zastava fans won’t hate you for this lol! But I enjoy a guy speaking the truth
Take a shot everytime reily rep says "uhh" lol
English is his 2nd language......he's probably trying to find the correct word to use. Go to his country and try to speak his language on camera sometime.
I thought of a Riley defense but was put off by people telling me they were absolute shit boxes. Now I wish I hadn't listened to them.
Dude they were right. You cannot make an AK for cheaper in the US than dudes making them out of surplus parts can in Romania for the sale quality. Buy the WASR.
@ChickenWashingExpert-d1i I ended up getting a zastava m70 and just bought an m16 instead of another AK. I know Riley is for the budget minded folks like myself
@@zagg8687 Good choice on the Zastava. I still will insist buying Riley and other "budget" guns at all is stupid, its all of 25% more to not have junk!
Isn’t Riley defense just rebranded pioneer arms parts kits assembled in North Carolina.
Not at all accurate
@
Ok.
Honestly I feel like I can’t straight up recommend the majority of 5.56s AKs to people that are currently on the first hand market since all of the ones that I can think of have had issues. PSA is just PSA, Riley has had a few hiccups here and there, there have been some shitty Pioneer arms guns, Zastava has had some weak bolts and un properly heat treated receivers, haven’t heard anything really bad about WBP except Zack Schafer said he thinks there are some issues with the 5.56 and 5.45 WBP guns, the SAM5s had that batch that was over gassed and was prematurely wearing, and the WASR 3s can be finicky.
Even then, I gotta imagine you would be fine with the new WBPs that have the 90 degree gas blocks and the 24mm front sight posts, though unfortunately they are nitride barrels instead of chrome lined, which at least has the benefit of better accuracy, though less corrosion resistance and barrel life. Though a 5.56 AK is probably the better caliber to have a nitride barrel for since it isn’t like you’re probably going to be mainly shooting non corrosive lead jacketed FMJ rounds as compared to corrosive and or steel jacketed rounds like with 7.62x39 or 5.45x39. Plus I think the SAM5s haven’t had the over gassing issue in awhile and honestly that’s a pretty minor issue compared to what the domestic AKs are having. It’s just up to you if you want to drop $1,800 on a rifle even though I’d probably consider it if I didn’t own a Norinco BWK-92 (Great 5.56 AK, my only complaint is the cost of the magazines).
In summary, if you’re on a budget, get a WBP. If you’ve got more money and want something new, the SAM5 can’t hurt and if you can still get an FB Radom 5.56 Beryl, also not a bad choice. The BWK-92 is probably around that category as well, though you gotta go second hand for one. And if you really got some money to burn, getting a Norinco 84s, getting a .223 Saiga and doing a proper AK-101 conversion, or getting a .223 Vepr are probably the peak options.
It'll be in March
I’ve been scoping out a pioneer 5.56 rifle but they just went out of business didn’t they? The rifles are pretty affordable though. Great video as always
What about the BFT74 ? they just came out and have seen no one reviews on them but the BFT556. thanks
The century bft47 has surface only heat Treat that will have long term issues......I image you will find the same issue in a bft556 and bft74
My rak74 is pushing 3k and no problems so far.
Why buy a Riley when you can buy a WASR-10, a proven budget friendly Ak for the same price of a Riley, or possibly even cheaper? Or spend a few hundred more dollars to get a WBP jack that is 5.56, which is a similar price to a psa?
Everyone is allowed to have their opinions, however, just because Riley defense says they care about the community, doesn’t mean they are putting out good products, nor does it mean they actually care.
Because they don't bring in the WASR-3..
I’ve had good luck with them 3 guns. Two are milled yugo 308 ones and I am very impressed with those.(one Rpk)
Why even buy the WBP in 5.56? It has a non-chf melonited barrel. Cheap barrels are fine for ARs because any walnut with a harbor freight set of tools can replace it; not the case for AKs.
@@Nozia_Outdoorsbecause the average person isn’t going to wear out a nitride barrel. Most people aren’t gonna run 15k rounds through their gun.
@@spets4265the WASR-3 wasn’t that great anyways
Riley (in all calibers) is consistently worse than PSA. PSA's 5.56 and 5.45 seem to be consistently unreliable while their 7.62x39 rifles seem good to go. For new production 5.56 AKs, we're basically limited to imported Zastava or WBP rifles.
What are you basing "Riley is worse than PSA?"...... Legit question. I'm trying to understand
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I saw it in a dream.
Well ..... I was hoping for something more tangible than your vision quest
You can get a wasr3 in 5.56
I have a PSA 104 - it blows.
Affirmative
One for the algorithm- thanks for the comment section.
Sucks when companys do all the work and put in the time to source components and invest in tooling just to stop at the 80% mark and not invest that little bit more into their product to really make it something great.
Im sure everyone would pay a few hundred more per rifle to have an actual reliable american made ak
I have been eyeing the Riley 74. For different reasons like u I got out of 74 to get back in at a crazy time and with chrome barrel and the look Riley seems sweet have 2 purchased planning for near future riley74 unless something changes my mind and either Wbp jack pistol 7.62 m92 or Draco. Don’t have a polish. Think I need a pole 😂. But still have stock of 7n6. They shoot so flat light recoil the lightest recoiling rifle I ever shot was a 74 friend handed me 1 after popping 47 and wow I was really shocked how fast it would go crazy cool sucks ammo price now but it can be my safe queen for some tela ammo like my 10mm cuss ain’t using any 7n6 unless it’s for zero then done I’ll burn available ammo
I am shocked at how well my Riley AK-74 is doing. 4,500 rds. no malfs.
As a gun snob, I am shocked! I bought it as a joke.
That's the general feedback on the Riley 74. They are holding up really well
@m26_lemon_grenade55 I am stunned.
Question, so if I get their bolt to un fuck my 103 do I need to do any additional work besides checking head spacing? Or am I able to just slap in the new bolt and turn my attention to the rivets and the cast iron rear plate of the receiver?
I don't understand what you are talking about
You in the video covered that you after losing head spacing bought a different bolt. I wanted to ask that if I bought a different bolt for my PSA rifle that I’d need to do any fitting or anything to ensure the head spacing is correct with the new bolt. My AK has not lost head spacing but I wanted to check with you before doing anything since you’ve got significantly more hands on experience with them.
Hi Lemon I am curious what's your opinion on the WBP mini jack, I am interested in doing a tactical short ak. You think it's in good quality ? If not what you would recommend ?
Sunday
I got PSA 74, had all the typical issues. Sent it in, they put all the new parts on it, which was cool. Now it shoots pretty good but for some reason I can’t zero it, because front sight is maxed out. I am a big “made in USA” supporter, however I will be looking elsewhere for further AKs. I don’t even know what to do with it, because I don’t want to sell it and screw a next guy. I know others do it but, it’s against my core beliefs. Now I’m stuck with a rifle that can’t be zeroed on irons.
just put a red dot or prism on it duh
@@AlexandrKarmanov-uv5bp if you can't zero it......it's not fixed
@@m26_lemon_grenade55going to take a better look at at it and see if I can fix it myself, or it’s so jacked that I would have to send it back. Hey thanks for making videos. I understand that some people in comments are just here to hate, but a lot of us enjoy your content!
Great video 👍 Always 🤔 wondered if Riley Defense was building good/built right value based AKM guns. I have not gotten a chance to ever see one or handle one in real life yet.
PSA hasn't figured out how to make a proper Kalashnikov bolt because people keep buying these AKs anyway and I doubt the majority of these customers are shooting them long term or frequently enough to even discover the problems. The ones who are... well they're discovering the issues lol. PSA has no incentive to figure it out if they keep selling anyway.
Pretty much
Zastava saved the day.
Did Riley Defense sponsor this video??
I have no contact with anyone in the gun industry
Will America ever manufacture cheap Ak rounds?
On the Arsenal 5.56 bolt did you have to reshape it file it down for the PSA trunnion I am intrigued you got that to work ?
Nope
Really? I believe the Arsenal is more AK than 74 thin stem I would think the geometry on the bolt would need some significant removal of metal to fit in their Trunnion? I guess unless their trunnion is got more room then is needed? That would cause THEIR bolt to do a 3/4 turn a 1/4 the way out the trunnion that would cause significant peening on the locking lugs of their bolt due to it moving faster on unlock smashing the bolt lugs? Sorry I have been recently getting into 5.56 AKs I am looking to 74 receiver's and Arsenal 5.56 parts like trunnions bolts carriers barrels for my 5.56 74 builds or 101 builds.
My zastava zpap 85. In 556. Bought it for 600 used. But still in the box like new. Mabie a mag threw it. The thing is an animal. Takes a beating. eats any thing. I could not be more impressed and definatly recommend. So much went and got a m70 new. And that as well is the smoothest shooting ak ive ever felt. The only thing between both my zpaps the m70 front sight was sitting at 11 oclock. For the money. About 1k no you shouldnt have to deal with canted sights. But its an easy fix. And much better to deal with than all these other problems companys are having. Definitely recommend zastava. Arsenal was 1600. At same shop got my m70 for 1k at thats just stupid. M26 should make and brand your own Ak for sale
This guy doesn't like Zastava, either.
He doesn’t like Arsenal or Zastava. Wondering what kind of AK is actually worth buying to him.
@j.s.7366 wasr 10. I could have got that in under folder for 899. Same place sadly went with m70. But I am happy with it at this point for sure. Serbian red looks amazing. And she's a runner for sure. I didn't think you could get an ak as smooth as my m70 is. Not even trying to talk it up at all. Being serious comming from an ar guy haha
@@andrewadams5905I’ve got two ZPAPs and they are really good stamped AKs. I’ve got an Arsenal and an IWI as well and they run just as good as ZPAPs.
Zastava makes an underfolder attachment for their regular-stocked versions.
@j.s.7366 I'm keeping this one stock furniture. Hope the red Serbian wood stock holds up. It fits me perfect. And love the look of all red wood furniture
Its like no one knows about arms of america & the pollock rifles..... good stuff..
@@stanviers8792 video Sunday
I think they are both made in the same place
Riley is in the same state as PSA...... Different manufacturing sites
Thoughts on PSA with WBP parts they're selling now? Just going to guess the riveting will still be an issue 😂
Akm WBP parts are fine. The small caliber WBP is suspect. Highly unlikely PSA will rivet them correctly