PSAK-47 GF3

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The AK-47 is one of the most iconic rifles.  And now PSA (Palmetto State Armory) offers an American made quality and affordable model in the PSAK-47.

The main difference in the PSAK-47 is the hammer forged front trunnion, bolt, and carrier.  Many manufacturers have tried to skimp out on some of these parts with cast metal resulting in catastrophic failures.  The GF3, (3rd Generation Forged) version of the PSAK-47 doesn’t.

Reliability

It wouldn’t be an AK47 if it had any reliability issues.  I ran 400+ rounds through the PSAK-47 so far with 100% reliability with mostly Wolf ammo, some Tula, and a little Winchester and fancy Fort Scott Munitions.  I never cleaned it, didn’t lubricate it, just ran it right out of the box.  I might have wiped it down when inspecting the action, but it was never scrubbed.

Makeup

As stated in the above video, I was excited to have the Magpul folding stock version for my testing.  I love having the option of compacting the rifle for travel and packing.  The stock was very solid, almost too solid when you attempted to expand the length of pull.  The gas tube assembly was very tight, requiring a little prying to remove.  Much different than my loose surplus Romanian WASR-10.  Also, the slant muzzle brake is very easy to remove.  I actually ended up putting a little Teflon on it to snug it just a touch.  The great perk of having an American manufactured AK47 is the barrel is concentric to the bore – meaning no fear of baffle strikes when using a suppressor.

Basic left handed AK47 slant muzzle brake.

The trigger is a standard long pull trigger, but only at 4.5#. Much lighter than stock AR15s that easily come in over 5-7#.

The folding Magpul furniture would be a $200 upgrade on standard AK47s

The safety lever has the perfect amount of tension so it was easy enough to use one hand to manipulate, yet never moved inadvertently.  The bonus is that PSA sends these with a mid “full auto” position, even if it’s still semi-automatic.

The three position safety lever is just for the cool factor. “A” is still boring semi-auto.

The PSAK47 includes a side mounted optics rail.

Accuracy

Accuracy is better than I expected out of a budget AK47.  While I mostly shot at steel from 100 yards – always with iron sights, it would put every round of rapid-fire within a 5″ area with surplus ammunition.  When I slowed down and printed a paper group with Fort Scott munitions premium ammo, I got sub 2″ groups.

Typical accuracy was this overall 5″ 10 shot group rapid fired with surplus ammunition, iron sights, 100 yards.

This sub 2″ group was the best fired with iron sights and Fort Scott Munitions from 100 yards

Affordable

The best thing about the PSAK-47 is the low price of $599, and that’s including the $189 Magpul folding stock.  Gone are the days decades ago of $300 surplus AK47s.  Going price for a low-end WASR-10 is $700 now.  Which means the PSAK-47 is a hot item and difficult to find in stock.  But you can keep an eye out for them here: http://bit.ly/2GwxaCy

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