Looking for a higher quality AK variant? Willing to spend a more for a precision made Kalashnikov? Arsenal’s now importing Bulgarian hammer-forged, milled receiver rifles that may be just what the commie-gun aficionado has been waiting for. Press release after the jump . . .

Arsenal, Inc., the premier American importer and manufacturer of Kalashnikov-pattern rifles is proud to offer to American shooters the Bulgarian-made SLR-101S. This 7.62×39 caliber rifle combines authentic, high-quality features rarely seen in the American market. From its intermediate-length trapdoor buttstock to its removable four-port muzzle brake, ever component of the SLR-101S is engineered to provide decades of dependable and accurate service. The SLR-101S rifle is bound to become a sought-after shooter and collectible firearm.

Each SLR-101S receiver is milled from a hot-die hammer forged receiver blank by the Arsenal Co. of Bulgaria. Other milled-receiver AKs are machined from bar stock, but Arsenal’s hot-die hammer forging produces stronger and finer-grained steel. Internal voids and cooling deformations are eliminated by the 5-ton hammer forging process.

Each forged receiver blank required over 5.5 hours of milling before assembly. This forging and milling process is complex and time-intensive, but Arsenal’s meticulous attention to detail delivers a receiver of unequaled strength, precision and durability.

SKU    SLR-101S
caliber:    7.62 x 39 mm
total length:    927 mm (36.5″)
barrel length:    415 mm (16 1/4 in.)
twist rate:    1 in 240 mm
weight w/o magazine:    3.67 kg (8 lbs)
muzzle velocity:    710 m/s
effective range:    400 m
maximum range:    1350 m
rate of Fire:    40 rds/min (practical)
MSRP Range:    $1019.00

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24 COMMENTS

  1. A thousand bucks for an AK? One of the charms of the former warsaw pact countries guns was their cheap price. If I’m gonna spend that kind of money I’ll buy something American of a more ergo and modern design. Or at least more ergo.

    • Well you can have cheap or you can have quality. It applies to almost anything produced – cheap and high quality rarely go together.

  2. It seems folks have forgotten what makes an AK great. Although the lack of tight tolerances produce some imprecision, it will reliably run even when full of dirt, muck, grime, and shit. Even though a thoroughbred is faster, it won’t outlast a draft horse.

  3. Fun question of the day concept: You have a $1,000 to drop on noisemakers. How do you spend it? One AK variant is not my answer. How about a WASR or M&M, green cerakote job, and a bunch of cans of 7.62 x 39? Come at me, zombies! Closer… closer…

    I had a great ’89 Grand Marquis I bought for a grand.

    • I’d skip a new noisemaker and go for training with the ones I already have.

      “Training turns money into skill” – Boston T. Party

  5. i saw one of these in myu local shop the other day. it caught my eye becasue of the muzzle device, or lack there of., its definetly got some weight to it, but for good reasons. I would personally be more interested in a rifle dynamics ak if i was going to drop coin like that, and i have an SGL already.

  6. Reciever?

    Whatever happened to “I before E, except after C, or when sounded as A as in Neighbor and Weigh.”

    • Good luck finding a Wasr-10 for $300 anymore though, at least in these parts (FL). Going price for a Wasr is $550 to $675 and constantly creeping up.

  8. “Higher quality” completely negates the design principles of the AK family.

    The AK-47 (and knock-off) guns have two overriding design criteria:

    1. Be so simple to operate and maintain that even illiterate peasants and third world savages who recently were using sharp sticks and fist-sized rocks in their fights can do it. In this, the AK succeeds very well. Tight tolerances, such as one finds in machined products, are not the stuff of reliable operation when the operator cannot even read, much less possesses a cleaning kit.

    2. Be so cheap that a government like the USSR can produce so many that they can flood the back streets of cities on continents in Africa and South America and foment instability and communist revolution.

    If you can read and you’re spending $1K on any AK, you need your head examined. That’s enough money you could buy a real gun, with real ammo, and do something more than make noise.

    If you’re spending over $500 on any AK, you probably need someone to waft smelling salts under your schnozzola. You can go into the back streets of African and buy the full-auto version of an AK47 for probably about $150 and $200 gets you the pick of anyone’s on the street.

    • “If you’re spending over $500 on any AK, you probably need someone to waft smelling salts under your schnozzola. You can go into the back streets of African and buy the full-auto version of an AK47 for probably about $150 and $200 gets you the pick of anyone’s on the street.”
      -ok…

    • >If you’re spending over $500 on any AK, you probably need someone to waft smelling salts under your schnozzola.

      You can’t get a WASR 10 for sub $550
      http://www.impactguns.com/romanian-wasr-10-hi-cap-762×39-fixed-stock-flash-hider-bayonet-30rd-ri1188-n.aspx

      >You can go into the back streets of African and buy the full-auto version of an AK47 for probably about $150 and $200 gets you the pick of anyone’s on the street.

      Try $400 (sorry about the dumbass in the video)
      http://current.com/shows/vanguard/76356342_wanna-buy-an-ak-47.htm

      • AM, kinda reinforces my point. If I’m spending that level of change on a rifle I want something capable of more precision and better ergo’s than an AK. I respect their reliability, but not at that cost. I’d rather have an m1 or cherry no.4 lee enfield.

        • #4 SMLE wins, hands-down. You’re a man of taste and learning. 😉

          10 round magazine, cock-on-close… what’s not to love?

        • I’ve always liked the milsurp rifles. I’ve owned and used just about all the major players from ww2. By far my favorite is the Lee Enfield.

          Trivia note; the No.5 “Jungle Carbine” was being sold at the LGS in my youth for 40 bucks. He had 3-4 and billed them as deer rifles. Dad talked me out of the purchase cause he didn’t know anything about the .303 and didn’t trust a non American gun.

          We live and hopefully we learn.

        • I love the SMLE too. I bought one with the standard peep sights (No. 4, Mk. I), took it to the range, and couldn’t miss with it. Then I remembered that there was one at the same gun shop with a variable-power scope mounted already. I bought that one on the way back home.

          Ooh, two military rifles in one day. Good thing I don’t live on the Mexican border.

  9. I say if you have the money and want the finest rendition of an AKM then go for it. That being said I’m perfectly happy with my MAK-90. It’s a great variant with (for an AKM) a great double hook trigger, nice fit and nice bluing.

    I’m still not sold on the “more durable” point of a milled receiver especially considering the weight penalty and price difference. Any of you catch the pics of the AK’s captured from some Somali pirates? Those are about the most abused AK’s I’ve ever seen. Apparently they were all in working order and I spotted at least one stamped one keeping up with a milled one. Gotta scroll down a bit the see the rifles,

    http://twower.livejournal.com/885168.html

    • AP, interesting pictures. I don’t read Russian but they didn’t need a lot of naration. I don’t think there was an unrusted patch on those pirate AK,s or the RPG. but they worked well enough to take a ship. A couple of those photo’s showed what could have been RPG hits.

      And it looks like those Somali’s over did the Jenny Craig. That one fella stands sideways and sticks his tongue out he’ll look like a zipper.

  10. love to have the arsenal SLR-101s any body have one laying around for sale(reasonable price)
    Thanks
    Dave O

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