Well nuts…I purchased that milled Norinco MAK90 with all of its mags, drums, and ammo with an eye towards dumping it on GunBroker. And then…I made the mistake of shooting the bloody thing and now I’m wanting to keep it.
This happens far too often.
On the bright side, I think I havent bought a Ruger P95DC in over a year so…yay me!
Compared to other long guns you have, and aside from the mags, drums, and ammo that came with your MAK-90, what makes the MAK-90 a keeper for you?
The milled receiver is a nice-to-have, and the trigger was surprisingly nice…it has dual trigger hooks so you dont get the trigger slap that you get on many other AKs. Build quality seems quite good.
when i go to grab a gun to run out the door with, i get delayed by all the great choices. sometimes the situation resolves while i’m deciding, lol.
Keep it, just because. That is actually a very good variant performance wise. Ironwood makes nice stock kits (walnut stained and finished richly is my favorite) for it if necessary or if one desires to make a “Wolverines” Alpha – Chad type of rifle to parade around with for the documentary close up video filming during sportiness times. Why should just the taliban chaps be looking like the cool kids riding in technicals through freshly conquered territories.
Ironwood is outta business, sadly.
Anyone else making nice wood furniture for the AK family?
Did not know Ironwood went out of business. Sad. They made a nice product. I put a laminated set of furniture on my milled MAK90. Nice shooting AK.
The Chinese Norinco AKs are about the closest thing you can get to a military issue AK anywhere (not a civilian version the same company cranked out as with many other AKs). They are outstanding, I run a red dot on an Ultimak rail on mine and it has done nothing but perform in all the training I take it to. The ONLY downside is that they don’t like staying wet, care must be taken to dry them off after inclement weather so you don’t find spots of rust here and there, something about the Chinese finish back then. Most people wouldn’t dare actually train in the rain or snow though so they don’t care/don’t know this.
I had a WASR. I shot my friend’s MAK. Night and day difference. If they were made here today they would cost well north of 2K. You got a keeper.
The meme reminds me of the sudden panic just before Y2K. Just like back in those heady times, it’s a good feeling to have all of one’s ducks lined up in a row now.
It’s nice to be surprised occasionally by how well a firearm made of Chinisium will work. I have a Norinco 12G coach gun with exposed hammers and a 12-inch barrel that runs well. Plus, a Norinco SKS that I bought brand new back in 1997.
I polished the breach of the coach gun to make extracting the shells easier. And I removed the bayonet and replaced the rear sight with a Mojo peep sight on the SKS. These two guns have served me very well over the years.
Sometimes you just can’t do anything about an addiction. For instance, when you get a hooker, you know she is going to use up some of your blow. Just the cost of doing business. Learn to accept that which you cannot change. 🙂
Except for the Finnish AK Valmets, the milled MAK90 hands down, has one of the nicest triggers of all the other AK manufacturers out there. Quality overall is superior to the others too (other than the Valmet).
As to Ironwood designs, I used to have a client near his shop and Matt would let me come by to pick up orders for my various projects. Really great guy. Essentially a one man business. He suddenly passed away back in June (not Covid related, nor was he that old). I know his widow was trying to sell the business/ equipment and think it’s still available. If anyone is interested, just go to the website http://www.ironwooddesigns.com and contact them.
It not likely to go down in value. Think of it as being your own The Alpha Strategy
https://zombieprepdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/book2-preface.pdf
I have a MAK90 with a stamped receiver. I’ve never had an issue with it. I also have a Bulgarian with a milled receiver. Also a great rifle. Just a bit heavier. Interesting at the current time the value of each compared to what I paid for them in the mid nineties. At the time a case of ammo sold for more then I paid for each one. That was when the Arkansas Traveler was cutting off ammo from China and supplies were limited. Once the Eastern Europeans made up the difference prices returned to normal. The Hungarian ammo was the best buy. Sold for the same price the other ammo from Russia, Yugoslavia, Romania but those were a thousand rounds per case. With the Hungarian stuff it was 4 300 rd battle packs per case. Both guns I have been money well spent. Nice thing about firearms is they don’t have a shelf life.
I took a AK class back in August here in Ohio and a guy brought two norinco Mak90s for the class. One stopped working after the first mag (cartridges refused to feed into chamber), the second one worked but the thumbhole stock started to crack in a couple of places and he complained how quickly it heated up. My own wasr went kaput because I had shot out the muzzle crown so my groups kept getting bigger and to the left of the target by the end of the class. I finished the class with a friend’s rifle. AKs are fun and robust but when they go down, it’s not as a easy fix as the internet commandos claim it to be.
I got rid of the butthole stock. Put a TAPCO stock on it. Also a Hogue pistol grip stock. I’ve put a great lot of rounds through mine and never had an issue. Jamming is usually caused by the magazine. Normally the lips are slightly bent. Plus a lot of people don’t realize every so often the mags need to be cleaned and lubed as well.
Exactly, ARs are more complex but can be built by anyone that has mastered Legos. AKs are simpler but require an entire country’s national defense system subsidizing production to make them properly.
That being said I did repair my Russian Saiga AK-74 during a class break with a blowtorch.
I just have to ask. Why did you take a blowtorch to a class?
better to have one and not need it…
Yes Burt!
Just before the plandemic broke out, we had an over-the-moon left-winger who came up to a group of us, shall we say, “prepared” coworkers and asked about what kind of gun he should get. Almost in unison we responded “That ship has SAILED, guy…”
I LOVED my Bulgarian made SLR 95 from the late 90’s-funnest rifle I ever owned. A MAK 90 is harder to shoot because of the awkward grip, but still a joy.
You need to keep it