be carefull in buying used ak's, alot of people buy them just to abuse them. ive seen some pretty nasty aks floating around with smooth bores and ive even seen a few melted hand guards. ivw had mine so hot from that 75 round drum once that it cooked the oil off of the barrel and gas tube. i had to shove it in to a wet bail of hay to cool it down. this is a rather extreame example.
http://www.aardvarkfirearms.com/videos/AK47-5.mpg
what you want to look for are "evil features" like threadded barrels, flash hiders, pistol grips, folding stocks, and bayo lugs. if theres another assault weapons bad down the road guns with those features are grand fathered in and bring HUGE sums of money if you ever decide to sell. the same thing goes for high cap mags. i payed 100 bucks for that drum of mine and if theres another ban i could probably get 2-3 times that amount.
stay away from "ban style" guns. after the 89 ban, assault weapons could only have one "evil feature" in 94 the domestic aks fell under the same laws but they could have 2 "evil features" these stocks were put on alot of aks to get around the ban. the bad thing about them besides that there ugly as sin is that alot of companys cut the reciever under the stock so that a pistol grip could never be installed if somebody wanted to convert there ak. ive seen them both ways and sence most gun shops wont let you dissasemble a rifle before buying its a gamble on if your getting a good one or not.
http://pictures.auctionarms.com/7118093205/4872f5312a8052353a27ee0135472065.jpg
theres also a issue with compliance parts, for a ak47 you are allowed to have up to 10 imported parts on the list in your weapon and it is considered US made. 11 parts or more and it is considered foreign made. most rifles contain about 15 or so parts on the list, so you have to replace these excess parts with US made ones to keep the rifle "US made" and not subject to the import ban. companys to make a ak legal replace certin parts with us made parts, sometimes one of those "compliance parts" is the magizine its self :thumbdn: that basically means if you dont do your homework and buy something that one of the comliance parts is the mag if you replace the mag with something non us stamped (like many high cap mags and drums) your breaking the law, i beleve its a felony to. i offered to let a guy use my drum one time because his mag was not feeding right, i was turned down because he did not want to go to jail if we got caught.
TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 44, § 922(r) This one is the LAW:
(r) It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925 (d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except that this subsection shall not apply to
(1) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for sale or distribution by a licensed manufacturer to the United States or any department or agency thereof or to any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof; or
(2) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for the purposes of testing or experimentation authorized by the Attorney General.
The Agency that is responsible for enforcement of that law then writes the regulations implementing the law. It works that way for OSHA, EPA, BATFE, etc. Those regulations are then as good as law. The courts have historically been loathe to invalidate the regulations.
The regulations concerning 922(r) are:
27 CFR section 178.39
(a) No person shall assemble a semiautomatic rifle, or any
shotgun, using more than 10 of the imported parts listed in
paragraph (c) of this section if the assembled firearm is
prohibited from importation under section 925(d)(3) as not
being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to
sporting purposes.
(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) The assembly of such rifle or shotgun for sale or
distribution by a licensed manufacturer to the United
States or any department or agency thereof, or to any
State or any department, agency, or political subdivision
thereof; or
(2) The assembly of such rifle or shotgun for the
purposes of testing or experimentation authorized by the
Director under the provisions of section 178.151; or
(3) The repair of any rifle or shotgun which had been
imported into or assembled in the United States prior to
November 30, 1990, or the replacement of any part of such
firearm.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term imported parts are:
(1) Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings or
stampings
(2) Barrels
(3) Barrel extensions
(4) Mounting blocks (trunions)
(5) Muzzle attachments
(6) Bolts
(7) Bolt carriers
(8) Operating rods
(9) Gas pistons
(10) Trigger housings
(11) Triggers
(12) Hammers
(13) Sears
(14) Disconnectors
(15) Buttstocks
(16) Pistol grips
(17) Forearm handguards
(18) Magazine bodies
(19) Followers
(20) Floorplates
