Three American AKs Show Buyers Budget, Milled and Redesigned Options

American Rifleman takes a long look at how the AK went from Cold War import to a homegrown platform with three distinct tiers on today's market.

Snapshot

The piece traces the AK's path into American hands, from Finnish Valmets and Egyptian Maadis in the 1970s and '80s through the Chinese import boom, the 1989 and 1994 bans, and the Romanian WASR era that followed. It then profiles three current domestic AKs, each representing a different approach to building the platform in the U.S.

Key points

• Century Arms BFT47: a traditional stamped-receiver AK with a bulged front trunnion and thicker 1.5 mm receiver steel borrowed from the RPK, plus an extended safety and magazine release, priced in line with inflation-adjusted 1980s Chinese AKs.
• Arsenal AK-20: built on a Bulgarian-style milled receiver, with a free-floating barrel, a three-position gas regulator for suppressor use, and a handguard-mounted rail system for optics, reaching full production in 2025.
• Stenzel SAK-21: designed by Army Ranger veteran Joe Stenzel, it swaps the AK's long-stroke piston for a short-stroke system, adds true last-round bolt hold-open, and uses a machined aluminum receiver and standard .30-caliber suppressor threading.
• Market shift: the article notes U.S. makers now produce stocks, barrels, magazines and receivers domestically as original AK parts kits have dried up.

Quick take

American Rifleman frames these three rifles as snapshots of where the AK stands today: a budget-friendly traditionalist, a milled-receiver rifle modernized for optics and suppressors, and a ground-up redesign that keeps AK reliability while changing how it cycles and locks open. The outlet's comparison gives buyers a clear sense of what separates a classic stamped AK from the more refined, accuracy-focused builds now coming out of U.S. factories.

Read the full story: americanrifleman.org