Put deposit down for my first AK!!!

[TJB63]

Mity,

Nice, Very Nice, But don't you know the Forums are full of stories of Keyholing Tantals?? I'll take it off yours hands for a crisp Hundred, Just cause I care.

TJ

[RONNIE77]

Another poor bastard on "lay awake".
Definition: Ask RocketFoot.
Congrats. Let us know how it is.

[Mity2]

Originally Posted by RocketFoot

So, did you learn anything about the Tantal? Projectile test? Chrome lined barrel? I hope everything works out for ya!

not yet. I'm not going back there until later this week.

[King 5.45]

A few things about Tantals.

Firstly, the "stories" about some Tantals keyholing (hitting a target broadside, rather than nose-first) aren't stories, but fact.

Century Tantals were built with US-made barrels (I believe as a result of an importation ban on foreign barrels by those bastards at the ATF) whose twist rate (the number of times that the rifling loops the longitudinal loop down the barrel) was insufficient to stabilize (spin and keep it spinning in a tight, inwardly concentric spiral) typical surplus 5.45x39 ammunition. As a result, they're little better than happy noisemakers, unless, of course, the situation has been remedied. I don't know if the situation was corrected, or not. My only Century firearm is a Yugoslavian underfolder, that I know to have been subcontracted out by Century to capable, non "drunken monkey" types,
with the wooden forearm grips, and an excellent, brand-new rifle barrel.

My Tantal was built by an outfit called Interarms, and it came with a chrome-lined barrel, which is incredibly important if you're consistently shooting corrosive (the primers have salts which are hyper-attractive to moisture which leads to very, very fast rusting) surplus ammunition. Without chrome, count on a rust pipe soon, instead of a rifle barrel, unless you're willing to spend upwards of 20¢ a round for "modern" commercially made ammunition. One point about the Interarms Tantal that purists lament is the fact that it lacks the left side selector switch, which does nothing (since it was the burst-fire (three shots at a time) selector on the real-deal Polish rifles) but sit there for pretty and verisimilitude.

My take on purchasing AKs is not to do it on impulse, even as a layaway, but to do research, and then make the purchase directly through a vendor, and pick it up locally from an FFL who transfers ownership to you, typically for around $25 or so. If you're interested in a Tantal, look for an early one from Interarms made on an Armory USA receiver. Current production is getting low marks for various issues: http://www.theakforum.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=65527

As I said, it always pays to do research first. The above forum that I linked is a great place to read and ask questions, but don't expect an atmosphere like a tea shoppe, for sure.

[mojo]

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