https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9NzVkIRUdI
A decade or so ago, AKs were inexpensive and offered shooters a battle-proven rifle design. Now, importation is banned from certain countries and availability of even U.S.-made AKs has dried up. In addition, the price of these once-surplus AKs slowly inched its way out of the reach of the average shooter.
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Palmetto State Armory (PSA) intends to change that. Early in 2015, PSA showed off some prototypes of a U.S.-made AK-47 called the PSAK-47 with a retail price of around $699 depending on furniture. People were impressed. Larry Vickers gave the PSAK-47 high praise, calling it the “Cadillac of AKs.”
I recently got my hands on the PSAK-47 MOE Edition, which I found impressive, well made, outfitted for the modern shooter and affordable.
First off, the PSAK-47 is truly Americanized. It is not Russian nor Bulgarian nor even Chinese, but an amalgamation of all the good design traits of an AK made into one. When asked what AK-47 design blueprint the company used for the PSAK-47, Adam Ruonala, chief marketing officer at PSA, responded with not just one AK-47 design plan but numerous.
“We looked at the Russian, Chinese, Romanian and Bulgarian blueprints and we took what we felt were the best features from each and incorporated them into our AK design,” Ruonala said.
I immediately noticed how smooth the action cycled. Also, the safety selector was precise and moved securely without scratching the receiver. On some AKs, the safety selector can be loose and/or scratch the receiver when operated.
This indigenous AK is made of U.S. parts—except for two—and is built in South Carolina. The rear trunnion is similar to the Russian design with the curved radius on the back. It is cast and machined outside the U.S. but it is finished, plated and engraved here in the U.S. It is slightly modified on the PSAK-47 so it more easily accepts different types of furniture.
Finally, as you might’ve guessed, the PSAK-47 MOE Edition is completely tricked out in Magpul furniture. This includes a fixed MOE AK stock with a 12.8-inch length of pull, an MOE AK handguard with a larger gripping area than the classic handguard and an integrated heat shield, as well as an MOE AK grip with improved ergonomics over a standard mil-spec grip and an aggressive pebbled texture for enhanced control.
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Check out this video above to see the PSAK-47 in action, and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for a full review in the upcoming issue of AK-47 & SOVIET WEAPONS. Subscribe to the magazine by visiting Tactical-life.com/subscribe.
For more information, please visit PalmettoStateArmory.com.
