mak 90

[liver eater 0]

I have one and was wondering if those who own one or have owned them could give me their opinion of them.

I have read some stuff about soft bolts and carriers and firing pins breaking. Do they really have a low service life?

I know its not a saiga, but just wanted to ask. I have a s12 and 2 39s But kind of like the mak 90 and might get another at a good price.

Edited March 20, 2010 by liver eater

[liver eater 0]

So no one has owned or does own a mak 90?

Just my luck lol

[N4KVE 14]

I have 3 MAK 90's. 2 milled & 1 stamped. I think they are some of the finest AK's made. Don't believe any internet rumors about soft parts. I'd trust a factory Chinese built AK over any US built gun. The Chinese trigger parts in my opinion are the best anywhere. Thicker receivers, thicker AK47 barrel, I can't say enough good things about them. GARY N4KVE

[my762buzz 141]

http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1178380

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

^ A good reason not to buy a MAK 90. And people say that Romanian WASR's are of lower quality... I've never heard of any problems even remotely this bad with Romanian bolts.

[going12220 125]

Got one real cheap (under $100) many moons ago (1980's) from a guy who had just bought it with extra mags and 2 drums, the first time shot it the stock cracked. I put on new furniture and shot it for 20 years with no problems, sold it and the drums for over 10 times what I had in it. Wish I'd gotten 10 Mak 90s.

[rob-cubed 74]

I have a stamped, converted back to PG. Heavier 1.5mm receiver and barrel, nice polished bolt and good finish on all the parts. It's a nice AK and I've had 0 problems with it. Not quite as accurate as my Saiga but a good buy IMO, and they're not importing them anymore...

[chevyman097 2,579]

Got one real cheap (under $100) many moons ago (1980's) from a guy who had just bought it with extra mags and 2 drums, the first time shot it the stock cracked. I put on new furniture and shot it for 20 years with no problems, sold it and the drums for over 10 times what I had in it. Wish I'd gotten 10 Mak 90s.

 

 

You sold a mak 90 for over 1k bucks? Let me know who bought it, I have some guns Id like to sell.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Chevyman097

[going12220 125]

Got one real cheap (under $100) many moons ago (1980's) from a guy who had just bought it with extra mags and 2 drums, the first time shot it the stock cracked. I put on new furniture and shot it for 20 years with no problems, sold it and the drums for over 10 times what I had in it. Wish I'd gotten 10 Mak 90s.

 

 

You sold a mak 90 for over 1k bucks? Let me know who bought it, I have some guns Id like to sell.

cartoons must be over, look who's up playing on the computer.

yeah with the drums and some other crap / ammo I sold it all to to some guy driving a Chevette or Vega with Texas tags, you should have no trouble finding him

 

during the bad ol' days of the gun ban I also sold some of my old Glock mags for about a $100 a pop and AR mags for $50. sad days for gun owners, good days for people who'd overstocked in advance, like now with the bunch in office.

Edited March 20, 2010 by going12220

[vbrtrmn 167]

I've got one, traded it from a friend who probably put 10k rounds through it, I've probably around 5k rounds through it. No parts have been replaced and it still goes bang every single time, it is very accurate and I expect to get many years of enjoyment out of it.

[my762buzz 141]

I have read some stuff about soft bolts and carriers and firing pins breaking. Do they really have a low service life?

 

Some people have reported super long service life on the chinese parts like in excess of 100,000 rounds and others have had parts break fairly early. Its like the parts manufacturing consistency might depend on which chinese arsenal of several actually made them and were they using better materials at the time. Consistency is not a well established theme in the chinese gun parts industry. One example of this is with military serial numbered bolts versus non-serial numbered bolts considered to be for commercial use. The serial numbered bolts are suppose to be more likely made to the better spec where the non-serial numbered commercial bolts are not and have more of a reputation of being soft and this plays heavily into the chinese M14 clone varients because they would have never made m14 bolts to a military grade spec and many have been reported to be too soft and stretch causing excessive head space or worse far sooner than a standard M14 American made clone bolt would. I have owned Chinese rifles in the past but wouldn't ever take a chance in buying another. The only currently imported rifles that I would even consider are Saigas, Saiga SGL, and Arsenal SLR.

Edited March 20, 2010 by my762buzz

[chevyman097 2,579]

Got one real cheap (under $100) many moons ago (1980's) from a guy who had just bought it with extra mags and 2 drums, the first time shot it the stock cracked. I put on new furniture and shot it for 20 years with no problems, sold it and the drums for over 10 times what I had in it. Wish I'd gotten 10 Mak 90s.

 

 

You sold a mak 90 for over 1k bucks? Let me know who bought it, I have some guns Id like to sell.

cartoons must be over, look who's up playing on the computer.

yeah with the drums and some other crap / ammo I sold it all to to some guy driving a Chevette or Vega with Texas tags, you should have no trouble finding him

 

during the bad ol' days of the gun ban I also sold some of my old Glock mags for about a $100 a pop and AR mags for $50. sad days for gun owners, good days for people who'd overstocked in advance, like now with the bunch in office.

 

 

You got a lot of hate in your heart bro. Maybe you should go take a xanax, or smoke a J.

 

Guess we need a sarcasm smiley because the smiley smiley isnt working.

[liver eater 0]

So far on the internet the only soft bolt/broken bolt case is the one on the glock talk forum, and it has been copied to other sites.

Thats a pretty good record for all the mak 90s there are. I am feeling better about the one I got and just picked up another.

[my762buzz 141]

So far on the internet the only soft bolt/broken bolt case is the one on the glock talk forum, and it has been copied to other sites.

Thats a pretty good record for all the mak 90s there are. I am feeling better about the one I got and just picked up another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I want to know is where have the thousands of spare chinese AK bolts and bolt parts gone that polytech parts had on stock

since the 1990s in Atlanta GA. They state on their website that their overall parts supply is nearly gone and no more can be imported from China.

They also state that the chinese parts do not easily interchange with euro parts so either there has been thousands of AK builds made with chinese parts

internals on american receivers or people have been repairing plenty of rifles. I do not recall ever seeing chinese parts built onto a commercially sold

varient edit to add {with the exception of the century Maadi-MAK90 franken AK's, but those were made from whole rifles that were sacrificed because of a legal situation at the time}. Most domestic builds I have ever seen were euro or russian parts. According to someone on the thread link I posted, the chinese bolts will not work

on a euro carrier because of the camming angle. I remember seeing how the polytech barrel assemblies were used some years ago by some big name builders but do not remember any other parts used. Anyway, I hope they turn out well for you. Good luck.

Edited March 21, 2010 by my762buzz

[liver eater 0]

So far on the internet the only soft bolt/broken bolt case is the one on the glock talk forum, and it has been copied to other sites.

Thats a pretty good record for all the mak 90s there are. I am feeling better about the one I got and just picked up another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I want to know is where have the thousands of spare chinese AK bolts and bolt parts gone that polytech parts had on stock

since the 1990s in Atlanta GA. They state on their website that their overall parts supply is nearly gone and no more can be imported from China.

They also state that the chinese parts do not easily interchange with euro parts so either there has been thousands of AK builds made with chinese parts

internals on american receivers or people have been repairing plenty of rifles. I do not recall ever seeing chinese parts built onto a commercially sold

varient. Most domestic builds I have ever seen were euro or russian parts. According to someone on the thread link I posted, the chinese bolts will not work

on a euro carrier because of the camming angle. I remember seeing how the polytech barrel assemblies were used some years ago by some big name builders but do not remember any other parts used. Anyway, I hope they turn out well for you. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, so there are no chinese parts kits available, and a euro bolt won't work? Dang, I hope nothing breaks Have you ever tried to fit a non chinese bolt to one?

Edited March 21, 2010 by liver eater

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

...I have owned Chinese rifles in the past but wouldn't ever take a chance in buying another. The only currently imported rifles that I would even consider are Saigas, Saiga SGL, and Arsenal SLR.

 

Saigas, (Legion Saigas, that is), are my favorite, but there's nothing wrong with Bulgarian, Polish, Yugo, and even the roughly-finished-but-tough-as-hell Romanian rifles. Chinese rifles are the only ones that seem to be subject to these catastrophic bolt failures.

 

ymmv.

[my762buzz 141]

...I have owned Chinese rifles in the past but wouldn't ever take a chance in buying another. The only currently imported rifles that I would even consider are Saigas, Saiga SGL, and Arsenal SLR.

Saigas, (Legion Saigas, that is), are my favorite, but there's nothing wrong with Bulgarian, Polish, Yugo, and even the roughly-finished-but-tough-as-hell Romanian rifles. Chinese rifles are the only ones that seem to be subject to these catastrophic bolt failures.

 

ymmv.

The arsenal SLR are Bulgarian imports with a Bulgarian receiver but the Yugo and Polish to my knowledge only make it here as parts kits which are

assembled onto a US made receiver and generally are built decently by some builders but with Century International Arms monkeying around you never know

if you might get a lemon build. The 5.45 barrel screw up using 5.56 barrels that keyhole 5.45 bullets is a prime example of why I wouldn't want a century

build if someone offered it free to me. A well built polish parts kit 7.62 through a good builder like Vector Arms is a better deal. Since I am definitely after

a chrome lined hammer forged genuine factory barrel without question in what I buy, that leaves me with either Russian or Bulgarian imports.

The green mountain barrels used on many parts builds I can't confirm they are actually hammer forged even though they are chrome lined, and hammer forging is a nice original feature that I definitely want if its available. I guess I am just as bad as anyone else at wanting very specific features and sometimes

will completely disregard plenty of well made products because my mind is made up on something. Its sort of like someone I know that wants a solid white

german shepard with huge paws and big ears and if its got a spot anywhere they don't want the one like it.

Edited March 21, 2010 by my762buzz

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

...I have owned Chinese rifles in the past but wouldn't ever take a chance in buying another. The only currently imported rifles that I would even consider are Saigas, Saiga SGL, and Arsenal SLR.

Saigas, (Legion Saigas, that is), are my favorite, but there's nothing wrong with Bulgarian, Polish, Yugo, and even the roughly-finished-but-tough-as-hell Romanian rifles. Chinese rifles are the only ones that seem to be subject to these catastrophic bolt failures.

 

ymmv.

The arsenal SLR are Bulgarian imports with a Bulgarian receiver but the Yugo and Polish to my knowledge only make it here as parts kits which are

assembled onto a US made receiver and generally are built decently by some builders but with Century International Arms monkeying around you never know

if you might get a lemon build...

 

Yes, I overlooked the SLR series that you mentioned you liked. The Yugos are usually sold by Century, but assembled by a 3rd party that does good work, aside from the US-made non-chromed barrel.

[bigsal 757]

 

cartoons must be over, look who's up playing on the computer.

 

 

Saigas, (Legion Saigas, that is), are my favorite, but there's nothing wrong with Bulgarian, Polish, Yugo, and even the roughly-finished-but-tough-as-hell Romanian rifles. Chinese rifles are the only ones that seem to be subject to these catastrophic bolt failures.

 

ymmv.

 

The legion saiga's imported by arsenal are my 2nd favorate (they would be first if they didn't lack the proper "Y" stamping). But you are correct the mak90s seem to have a large number of failures for so solid of a platform.

I wonder if standard issue early 90s/ late 80's chinese military rifles had similar problems with the bolt???? Anyone know?

[vbrtrmn 167]

They also state that the chinese parts do not easily interchange with euro parts so either there has been thousands of AK builds made with chinese parts internals on american receivers or people have been repairing plenty of rifles...

 

Thanks for the reply, so there are no chinese parts kits available, and a euro bolt won't work? Dang, I hope nothing breaks Have you ever tried to fit a non chinese bolt to one?

 

 

 

 

I just took my MAK-90 down and swapped the bolt assembly out with a Century Arms built Yugo M70, it seemed to fit fine; I didn't fire it, but it seemed to fit pretty much the same as the original. The M70 was purchased new from a dealer about a year ago.

Edited March 21, 2010 by vbrtrmn

[liver eater 0]

They also state that the chinese parts do not easily interchange with euro parts so either there has been thousands of AK builds made with chinese parts internals on american receivers or people have been repairing plenty of rifles...

 

Thanks for the reply, so there are no chinese parts kits available, and a euro bolt won't work? Dang, I hope nothing breaks Have you ever tried to fit a non chinese bolt to one?

 

 

 

 

I just took my MAK-90 down and swapped the bolt assembly out with a Century Arms built Yugo M70, it seemed to fit fine; I didn't fire it, but it seemed to fit pretty much the same as the original. The M70 was purchased new from a dealer about a year ago.

So now you just have to headspace right?

I heard the mak90s have a stepped hammer and shorter bolts so reg ak bolts won't work, so much for trusting what everything you read on the internet.

[my762buzz 141]

They also state that the chinese parts do not easily interchange with euro parts so either there has been thousands of AK builds made with chinese parts internals on american receivers or people have been repairing plenty of rifles...

 

Thanks for the reply, so there are no chinese parts kits available, and a euro bolt won't work? Dang, I hope nothing breaks Have you ever tried to fit a non chinese bolt to one?

 

 

 

 

I just took my MAK-90 down and swapped the bolt assembly out with a Century Arms built Yugo M70, it seemed to fit fine; I didn't fire it, but it seemed to fit pretty much the same as the original. The M70 was purchased new from a dealer about a year ago.

 

Did you rack a cartridge into the chamber with the M70 bolt locking it into place? Did the headspace read within .003 of what the spec requires?

If your headspace is greater than 0.003, your bolt can break and proper headspacing is a must for any rifle. By the way, there is a thread at theakforum

where someone had purchased a chinese type 56 AK pre-1990 import ban and after a few shots he had a cartridge case split and get stuck in the chamber

because he discovered the barrel retaining pin sheared off and the headspacing increased. He is lucky it didn't blow the bolt out. On the same thread,

a chinese sks he bought had the soft steel piston compress.

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2010 by my762buzz

[my762buzz 141]

 

So now you just have to headspace right?

I heard the mak90s have a stepped hammer and shorter bolts so reg ak bolts won't work, so much for trusting what everything you read on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, if it actually works. If the headspace is too loose, it could cause really bad things to happen like dangerous bad.

To headspace a loose chamber, the barrel would have to be pushed back toward the rear of the gun allowing a final head space

within 0.003 inches but preferably closer to 0 provided the bolt can even close at that lesser margin. I can't imagine a smith doing this

very cheap because the barrel and trunnion would have to be placed into a press and even before that removed from the receiver by drilling out

the rivots. I'm not sure what one might charge to do that but if it costs you $200 that would seem fair enough for the time involved.

[G O B 3,516]

It would appear that that bolt was only locking on 1 lug. It is good insurance to check the locking lugs periodically to make sure they both (or all 3) have similar witness marks. If the camming surface of a lug does not have the shiny wear mark where it engages, the other lug is taking the full recoil and will work harden and eventually break. This goes for bolt actions too.

[vbrtrmn 167]

I did not check the head space, when I tested it, I don't have go/nogo gauges, so I can't really even do it.

[kayzap 0]

I've been shooting the same Mak 90 for decades. I have no idea how many rounds have been through it either.

 

When I bought it new for $89.00 cases of Norinco ammo were $39.00. We'd get 3-5 cases for a range day and shoot til we were too tired to shoot anymore.

 

That rifle has been treated worse than a government mule and it has never broken and is still more accurate than my Saiga or Romy's.

 

Seeing what the drum mags sell for I wish I'd bought a herd of them.