My new James River AK74

[81turbota]

Hey all,
Well...first AK rifle. I have a VEPR12 as well.
Finally bought something other than a C&R bolt gun. I wanted a small caliber semi auto, and my experience with AR's is so so (please don't get into AR vs whatever) so I bought this. The SIG556 was a little out of reach, and the AK74 shoots cheap devastating ammo

I just picked it up today, haven't shot it yet.
My observations:
Beautiful cosmetics, the furniture is flawless. The compensator was a loose fit, I tightened it up with Teflon tape. We will see if it holds.

The AK style tapco pistol grip is for midgets. I put a hogue overmold on it.

All original Bulgarian parts including dust cover matched. I like the Cyrillic on the JRA receiver.

This one has a 1:8 twist chrome lined barrel, not one of the early ones with a 1:9 I believe.

It came with a side mounted dovetail, which was nice. A friend gave me a NIB UTG pro mount for my RDS. The mount is nice, but you can't use the irons with an optic attached. with no optic, you can use irons but the V groove is about 1/8" to the right which is annoying. Guess that's what I get for a free mount. Seems sturdy enough.

Functions smooth, I plan to shoot it tomorrow.

[bunkysdad]

That is nice buddy. You should buy yourself a truck load of ammo so if they make good on not importing any more ammo or it begins to dry up you won't get caught in the future without cheap ammo. Assault rifles are only fun when the ammo is cheap.

[81turbota]

Very very true statement. I bought one can of 1080 rounds, and went through 200 the first outing, this thing eats way more ammo than any of my bolt actions. It recoils slightly less than a 5.56, so you can shoot it all day. Fortunately stuff like wolf, golden tiger and silver bear are about .25c a round, which isn't a huge cry from 18.5c for surplus. I will note that the surplus 7n6 ammo ran extremely dirty, yet accurate. I managed 2.5" groups which is great for an AK.

[Ironnewt]

Looks good. Enjoy.

[bunkysdad]

That is the great thing about this ammo. A lot more round in a spam can.

[Casador308]

I almost pulled the trigger on a James River but I found a local dealer that had a bunch of Arsenal SAM 7r's and they had a great price on them. I shot the gun yesterday and they do shoot as well as everybody say they do. the only thing I don't like about the Arsenal that I like on the James River is the furniture. I like an AK to look like one and the black plastic just docent look good to me. I just found some original Bulgarian bakelite furniture for the gun and will replace the black plastic. I don't have an AK 74 but when I get I'll go with the James River. Congratulations on yours......