School Me - AK Trigger Choices?

[AlpineDude67]

So I picked up an Arsenal SAM7SF as my last pre-Oct. 1 purchase. I finally got some extended range time with it yesterday afternoon. I am definitely no AK expert, but overall, I came away pretty impressed. The action is very smooth, I had no trouble getting a comfortable cheek weld with the folding stock. It was very easy and comfortable to shoot. I was surprised at just how light the recoil was and how easily you could get off good follow-up shots. At anything short of "jack-ass mag dump" speed it was super easy to control. I don't know how much of that is the heavy milled receiver and how much is the 74-style brake, but whatever it is - it works. With just a cheap red dot - I was getting pretty respectable results off-handed.

The one thing I didn't really love was the trigger. It had a good reset, but it was a little squishy on the uptake and then the break wasn't real crisp either. It doesn't suck - you can still get pretty good results with it - but you definitely realize you are using a combat trigger and not a match trigger. The rest of the gun is so nice, it made me feel like it deserves a trigger that is closer in quality to the rest of the rifle.

I don't think I really want a 2 lb. match trigger on a gun like this, but I'd like something with a less squishy uptake that breaks a little more crisply than the stock trigger. Seems like that ought to be possible even though the sear is very heavy on the AK.

So what are my options if I want a cleaner break and a little less squish in the uptake? Replace the trigger? Trigger job? Also - is there a lengthy "break-in" period for an AK trigger? (I only have about 175 rounds through the rifle.) I may decide to just live with what I have, but I'd like to at least understand what my choices are so I can make an informed decision.

 

[Erno86]

All of my AK's have a U.S. made TAPCO trigger replacement part. The trigger should be stamped "TAPCO" on the side of the trigger. I do like the AK TAPCO trigger's ---which I've heard that they have no trigger slap --- compared to the originals.

I can run my AK's very fast, with the TAPCO trigger.

 

[armed ferret]

tapco's trigger is fine if you're looking for compliance parts for a range plinker.

from all reports (haven't had time to get one to try m'self yet) the arsenal 2-stage is light-years ahead of the tapco for around the same price bracket.

i have a jard in one of my guns, but it doesn't like harder .mil primers as-is. i had an email conversation going with them and allegedly was going to get a replacement spring with more power to it. that was....6 months ago? unimpressed with the company at this point.

 

[rob-cubed]

AK triggers all have a fair amount of travel and over-travel with no "break". Baked into the design. The up side is they are usually pretty light trigger pulls.

As Ferret said, Arsenal makes a two-stage which at least alerts you to where the break is. Probably my favorite trigger. Arsenal also makes a standard single-stage which sounds like what came in yours. Easy to swap out.

Red Star makes an adjustable trigger which will take out some of the slop, but it's expensive. If there's a match trigger made for an AK, I've yet to find it.

 

[armed ferret]

The Jard is as close as it gets to a match trigger. It truly is an unbelievable feel. It just doesn't like the harder primers found in wolf and et cetera.

Softer primers with handloads shoot fine. I just don't like reloading for x39


Since they're in iowa, maybe when I head thru to go to SD for walleye/pdogs I'll stop by with the trigger and see if they can't hook a honkey up.

 

[AlpineDude67]

The Jard is as close as it gets to a match trigger. It truly is an unbelievable feel. It just doesn't like the harder primers found in wolf and et cetera.

Softer primers with handloads shoot fine. I just don't like reloading for x39


Since they're in iowa, maybe when I head thru to go to SD for walleye/pdogs I'll stop by with the trigger and see if they can't hook a honkey up.

If things ultimately work out with this, let me know. I am definitely in the cheap but lazy category. I don't see reloading 7.62x39 in my future. So it is pretty much all Wolf, etc. for me.

I fed it a bunch of different steel-cased ammo yesterday just to see if there is anything it didn't like. Everything went boom - in fact more like BOOM. I'd heard that the 74 style brake makes it loud, but I actually doubled up on my hearing protection. Between that and the "vigorous" case ejection - people will definitely know when I'm on the range now.

 

[armed ferret]

i like to let the AK's sit on the table for a while so people see that i have them.

if there's a snarky comment made during a cease-fire, i will then make sure that i position myself 5-7 tables from the offender.

range trollface. i has it.

 

[rob-cubed]

The Jard is as close as it gets to a match trigger. It truly is an unbelievable feel. It just doesn't like the harder primers found in wolf and et cetera

Too bad I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to AK ammo! Jard seems to have changed some geometry regarding how much of the trigger retains the hammer, and made the disco longer to compensate. Seems like a very short travel with a longer reset?

I need to check one out., thanks for the tip.

 

[ObsceneJesster]

I's the 74 break that makes it so soft. They work damn good.