If you haven’t heard of Inter Ordnance, or IO Inc., they manufacture various models of AK-47s, AR-15s, a couple variations of 1911s and are working on more… Many of their AR/AK variations are 100% American made, with some having a combination of Domestic and Imported parts (mostly imported furniture).
We recently got to head out to their Palm Bay, Florida facility and check out their AK and AR lineups.
AK-47
IO currently offers 7 AK models, the AKM247, AKM247C, AKM247E, AKM247T, M214, M214 Nano and M214S. Of those models, they also offer 3 California legal variations, the AKM247, AKM247C and AKM247T.
Overall, the AKs seem to be really well built, reliable, and pretty darn accurate (for an AK). They seem to have good tolerances, but do require a little break in (IO says about 60-100 rounds). The ones I shot were definitely smooth, and worked quite well.
AKM247 / AKM247C / AKM247E / AKM247T
The AKM237 line is Inter Ordnance’s main AK line, they offer multiple variations on the same chassis.
The standard AKM247 comes standard with a bolt hold-open safety latch, recoil buffer, 100% new parts, integrated heat shield in the front furniture, extended magazine release, a fully heat-treated receiver, and of course the life time warranty.
They are also starting to use black nitride coated barrels for improved accuracy and durability (I’m a big fan of black nitride and the more modern types of coatings available these days).
The AKM247C, uses the same features as the standard AKM247, but uses wooden furniture. The wooden components are imported, but everything else is made in the US.
On the more “tacti-cool” models, like the AKM247T, they are offering things like short quad rails as well as included side attachments for optics.
M214 / M214 Nano / M214S
The M214 line of AKs that IO offeres are their more “customized” models, the M214 has an extended quad-rail, scope rials, and an upgraded trigger group, as well as all of the bells and whistles of the AKM247 rifles.
The M214 Nano is a small little AK, with a 7in barrel weighing in at 5lbs. It’s an interesting little monster. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of rifles turned into pistols, they are just not my cup of tea, so to speak. But this thing is definitely pretty entertaining. If you are in the market for an AK pistol, definitely check it out.
And next up the M214S, yeah, the “S” stands for Sniper… An AK sniper rifle, sure why not… This was actually pretty fun to shoot. It’s smooth operating, pretty minimal recoil; you can stay on target through glass when firing, etc. But unfortunately the one at the range wasn’t sighted in, so I couldn’t really tell too much about accuracy. But it’s definitely an interesting concept.
AR-15
IO currently offers 2 AR models, the M215 A Frame and the M215 Low Profile. These ARs really seem to be price point style guns. They are lower price, not super tight guns. But they do shoot well; I put 20 or so rounds through one, and it shot well. More or less it works like a standard AR-15 does… Nothing special about the trigger, nothing really crazy about how they operate, they just go boom. So if you are looking for a good entry level AR-15 to take out to the range, they are worth a look.
A couple of the guns in the picture are peoples personal guns that they brought (that have a lot of additions on them).
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that I was really impressed with the quality, care and pride everyone that works for Inter Ordnance shows. If you are in the market for an AK, definitely check them out. And I’m exited to hopefully get a couple guns for a more through T&E. But from what I saw, and got to shoot, I was impressed.
For more information, you can check out there website at, http://www.ioinc.us/ or on their Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/I.O.incfirearms.
An AK pistol with a sig brace might be interesting, but idk about one with no place to rest your cheek on.
Also full length rails are on their way out. There’s no reason to add a ton of weight on your gun when you just end up covering 95% of the rails with plastic covers… Keymod or similar variants make much more sense.
Agreed. On an AK the scope hangs on the side anyway so what’s the point? Light, grip, bipod, that’s about it and none of that takes more than a few inches of rail space. You’re not going to mount an EOTech a foot from your face.
My m92 pap with the brace is possibly the best gun I’ve ever owned. I like shooting it more than my tavor.
I agree with you fully. The Pap with SB47 is one of the funnest rifle/pistols I’ve ever owned, a ton of fun. It’s convinced me to take the plunge and start doing the paperwork for an SBR. Also I want one of those semi club foot stocks so bad, looks so much better for a standard AK.
If you like AKs an American made one is definitely a plus. Thanks to the import ban Barry placed on Russian made arms IO should be poised for growth.
BTW run a spell checker through the post
Dat AR-15A1 though…
IIRC, recently announced Ver2 Century Arms are black nitride on all metal except the bolt/carrier. Getting pretty good reaction.
Yeah I saw that. It looks like they really went gangbusters on ironing out the details on the upgraded C39v2 and the new all American stamped model. I am definitely going to check them out.
If they made an ak sniper in 308 I would be all over that sumbitch
Apparently you can get a Saiga AK in .308… With the standard AK optics mounting rail and everything.
I got the VEPR in 308 Win., scope and bi-pods , and 20/25 rd. steel made USA mags. ,one bad rifle…standard AK bad…
Seriously. Additional points awarded for use of ‘sumbitch’.
Zastava M77 is exactly what you are looking for.
There are a handful of .308 AKs, some currently available for decent prices. I own a Zastava M77 .308 – excellent rifle.
I don’t have an AR yet, but when I get one, I want one of those A1 style jobs.
You’d think they would have taken the time to zero the one with the scope…
It’s probably normal 2-4 MOA AK accuracy. The tolerances just don’t lend themselves to precision shooting.
I’d be interested in seeing a longer run review of these new models. IO has a pretty poor reputation from their previous lines of AKs which were fairly infamous for all their failures and sub par aspects. I’m willing to give IO the same deal I gave Century and if the new models are well-done, I’ll happily endorse them, but I’m going to be very skeptical until there’s some data out there on them.
I have fired several of their pistols and liked them. Going to ask around and see if any of the crew have one I can try out.
Stay away!!!
These AK’s are a joke.
Unsafe, unreliable, crappy receivers, oversized gas ports. They make Century assembled rifles look good. These morons even said their AK’s were better than Kalashnikov Group one’s, even said so in a YouTube video that had it pulled from all the ridicule because they are terrible builders if not borderline scam artists.
This thread alone from people who actually give a f*** about AK’s should tell you all you need to about them:
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150747
Take it from someone and others who know about AK’s, save your money and go elsewhere. You would be better off going Century or DDI.
Not seeing how some peoples bad experiences with ordering parts kits from Royal Tiger Imports has a single thing to do with new US made rifles from IO rifles. I can see the one post claiming that RTI is just IO Inc selling parts kits under a new name. But being that it’s a single post from more than a year ago I’m not giving it a lot of credence.
I’ll reserve my judgement for when we get a real review.
Pretty long been established that Royal Tiger and IO Inc are the same company. They have the same owners (Weigand family) and operate from the same address.
They have the same owners (Weigand family) and operate from the same address.
Heah! …..Stop bringing facts into the argument!
Speaking from personal experience and that of my customers, I wouldn’t recommend I.O. products to anyone. The examples I’ve had through for transfers were bought directly from Royal Tiger/I.O. and had quality about on par with Century at their low point. Poor fit, thin finish, one had misaligned bolt rails. I’ve seen firsthand the over-gassing problem described in the above forum thread and it’s ugly. Unless a lot has changed at I.O. in the past year, I’d take a post-2010 Century over their rifles any day.
To put it simply, I.O. Inc. is to AK’s what Battle Rifle Company is to AR’s.
What Scott said, IO is at the bottom of the barrel, some of the worst AKs I have ever inspected.
Helen Keller could make a better AK out of a shovel. But it’s your money, go and buy a POS.
+1 for the Helen Keller reference
In addition, after reading the Battle Rifle Company article I think TFB ran…I laughed. So the connection is logical. I swapped a 1911 for an IO AK the day before the Sandy Hook price spike. Made money later selling to a low volume shooter. I would do it again but…
My handling of the first one was…limited. it seemed mediocre and the fit and finish left something to be desired. That said, the ones I’ve handled recently are a world better. In addition, the one I sold does run. Per the guy who owns it. I’d have to run them myself but I’m tempted to give them a shot over crap on them on principle.
I don’t have much faith in a reviewer when he says he can’t test the accuracy of a gun cause it wasn’t sighted in.
My thoughts exactly. You have a DMR designed rifle sitting in front of you, and you can’t put a round down the tube, see a splash, make a rough scope adjustment to get on paper, then shoot a group?!!! Why do I always get the feeling 90% of the guys at home know more about practical firearm knowledge than 90% of the new reviewers writing articles these days??
Wonder how much io paid for this article…
Yup, IO specializes in making crappy US Made guns.
Been considering one of those nanos for a bit.
I think most of the problems come from the frankenAKs that are a mash of American and foreign parts. That said, I didn’t get anything I was hoping for out of this post, such as reliability and fit and finish impressions. Maybe being a domestic product from the ground up will make a difference.
The problem isn’t the mash up of parts. Technically every AK since 2004 that is “non-sporting” has to have U.S. parts on them because of 922r. The problem is the quality of the U.S. parts and competency of the builder.
Also a complete 100% domestic AK is impossible. There are still parts that come from overseas that no one builds here like the FSB, handguard retainer, extractors, front trunnion, bolt carrier, RSB, gas tube, gas latch, trigger guard, magazine latch system, hammer spring and other receiver springs that deal with the trigger/pins holding them together.
To get a domestic AK on par if not exceeding the imports you would be paying upwards of $2,000 which is not economical because at that price point you would want an AR, Tavor, SCAR, high-end bolt gun, etc. So that $300 you think you are getting a deal on for an AK because you “think” they should be worth that much is a crap shoot because of the low quality inherent at that price point because of costs of labor and gun control.
Also skip the nano. It is a bad copy of a Romanian Mini-Draco which is the better gun by far since it will use better parts and will be more reliable.
There is a company on Akfiles that is making CNC milled front and rear trunnions and sight blocks now. Best part is they are selling them close to prices of these individual parts from most surplus sites.
If someone wants to make a fully US made stamped AK, it’s all in the time they put intl programming the CNC machine. None of the milled parts are excessively complex.
Scott would you recommend a Yugo N or O Pap or a WASR 10 to anyone? I’m looking for a decent AK for a resonable price. I’d like to buy American, but these seem too sketchy.
I bought a new production Century Arms PAP M 70 two months ago and put several hundred rds through it so far. Nice and tight, was effectively already zeroed from the first shot off the bench(played with the sights a bit anyway) the finish is very nice and it uses all my magazines except one(it is a problem child to begin with) and has fed&fired a variety of older milsurp ammo. Paid $500, all fees and taxes. I like it!
No. Hell no. Not touching an IO gun. I have heard enough reports of failures (lots of rivet related ones) even on their guns produced in their new facility that I will never touch one. I would rather have a Century one if I had to have a US built AK.
I really don’t understand how someone can be SO opinionated based on hearsay. I have owned and sold MANY I.O.Inc. built guns and have Yet to have anyone register a complaint. There is always a chance that someone will get a rifle that there might be a problem with, after all, they are machined and they are a collection of parts put together by man. I have had Remingtons and S&W’s that have FTF, or FTE problems and they were usually taken care of by polishing a few areas. One of my FAVORITE rifles is a M247T by I.O.Inc and we have run about two to three thousand rounds thru it. I also bought an AES10B from Century and had NO problems with it either, so making definitive statements based on what you may have heard or read just doesn’t hold water. I’ve found that many of the bitches heard or read can be attributed to poor maintenance. It doesn’t hurt to break down a new gun and put it back together with lube and then take it to the range, sometimes potential problems are corrected BEFORE putting hot lead through it.
I’m thinking about getting the I.O.Model # AKM247C I heard they got better after the move to florida. I was also told they added a few laid off NASA engineers to help them. Life time warranty anyone know the fine print to to warranty? Anyone here recently got one of there guns?
I own a new I.o.inc ak-47. The only thing I can say bad about it is that with some ammo I get a few light strikes on the primer.the accuracy is much better than I ever expected out of an ak, with my sight not as good as it once was ,im averaging 2″ groups at 100. The gun is tight, accurate, looks and shoots great but it does not like hard primers. I will definitely buy another one from I.o.!
You may want to switch out the firing pin. I have a Garand in 7.62 NATO, replaced a broken firing pin and had the same type problem, switched to another one and all is well. A couple years later I picked up a stripped down bolt at a flea market and used that firing pin in it and SHAZAM it works fine. The vagaries of modern mass production.
I purchased the AKM247 model. Upon inspection, it was easy to see why people bash these rifles. Poor rivet work, the bolt carrier would get stuck on the hammer when charging, metal flashing was left in the rear sight groove. I never even fired the weapon before sending it back to IO. My advice for any potential buyer would be to stay away.
I have the AK47 M214, new right out of the box shot great, about 300-400 rounds through it and not one failure. Was shooting at 35-40 yards, and once I got iron sights figured out, this thing was dead on! First AK I’ve owned, so can’t compare to others, but this one performed very well and will stay in my collection..
I purchased the IO m214 and the rivets and overall quality were acceptable. I have owned and shot AK variants for 25 years. I have fired approximately 400 rounds through the new IO with zero issues. The trigger was a nice surprise and the accuracy was better than all of the other AK rifles I have owned. Overall I am pleased with the quality and function of this rifle.
IO and quality do not go togeather. Their rifles are compete trash. This article did not age well
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