PTR 91, CETME OR M1A

[Agent Ronin]

Originally Posted by ScotsGuards

The PTR-91,while not bad, is a 2nd rate knockoff of a high quality HK on surplus kits.

JDL Enterprises, the Manufacturer of the PTR-91, purchased the original HK Tooling from their Portugal plant. It is not simply a knock off, but a USA made rifle (avoiding import regulations) made with original HK machinery.


I'm not trying to push the PTR is better than all else, i wanted to get one but due to low availability i order a M1A instead

[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by Agent Ronin

JDL Enterprises, the Manufacturer of the PTR-91, purchased the original HK Tooling from their Portugal plant. It is not simply a knock off, but a USA made rifle (avoiding import regulations) made with original HK machinery.


I'm not trying to push the PTR is better than all else, i wanted to get one but due to low availability i order a M1A instead

That's absolutely correct, there's very little, if any difference in actual quality between the current PTR-91's and the HK rifles. Any differences that there are will be highly unlikely to present themselves to the hobby shooter or someone not in a military role seeing actual combat and extreme neglect and abuse.

[NineseveN]

I also wanted to add some information on optics mounting options since this can be an important factor in such a decision.


PTR-91
The HK claw-style mount is solid and it works well, but beware of cheap clones and copies, these do not work so well (PTR makes a picatinny claw-style mount IIRC that works well). Some people find that the claw mount, while solid and stable, raises the necessary line of sight too far for their tastes. A comb riser on the stock is a great help here. As for red-dot or similar optics, one might be better off getting a PTR MSG-91 or PTR-91 SC that has a welded rail on the receiver, these may allow the optics to be mounted lower than with the standard claw-style mount.

www.ptr91.com


FAL
In my opinion, DSA currently makes the best scope mount platform for this rifle (their extreme duty mount). It's not as low as the now discontinued Williams QD Pro mount, so co-witnessing red-dots with the standard FAL irons is difficult, if not impossible. This mount will retain decent zero and it's sturdy as long as you mount if correctly. They (DSA) do make some lower receivers that have AR-15 style sights instead of the traditional FAL sights and they're higher, so one can co-witness the irons and red dots but it's an expensive switch if you already have a running FAL. DSA's railed hand guard unit works well for scout scope mounting (or mounting the red dot forward of the receiver), but it does tend to make the rifle a little heavy up front.

www.dsarms.com


M14/M1A
M14/M1A optic mounts are hit or miss as so many aftermarket receiver manufacturers deviated from original USGI specs (so there's no standard amongst them all for the most part), but Sadlak Industries makes one of, if not THE best receiver mounted scope mount for the M14/M1A, and they offer a service where they fit the mount to your receiver (so if it's out of spec, you still get the right fit). Using this service is as simple as ordering a scope mount fitting kit from them for $5 + $1 S&H, following the instructions and then sending the kit back. They will credit the cost of the kit to your mount, and to fit the mount to the specs from your kit costs $45.00. Many users also report good success with the A.R.M.S. #18.

IN the area of scout mount solutions for the M14, Ultimak makes one of their forward mounts for the M14 and it is said to be very sturdy and low (low enough to co-witness a red dot with the awesome M14 irons).


http://sadlak.com
www.ultimak.com


AK/Saiga
AK and Saiga mounts are solid, but they're typically very high over the receiver causing cheek weld issues. There are some very well made low mounts for the AK mounting point, but even the majority of these while low, sit slightly off center of the bore. For a red dot, that's a non-issue, for a scope, that might be more problematic (that all depends on you really).

For scout mounting options, Krebs Custom makes a quad rail custom forend for AK rifles. This is a solid scout type mount, but it does have the same issues as any other metal mount up front on a rifle, it will increase the weight up front slightly. This may or may not be an issue for you. Tromix also offers a similar rail in the same price range.

http://www.krebscustom.com/CustomParts.html
www.tromix.com