Having been involved in the firearms world for the last three decades, I rarely get excited about new products. A mixture of jaded and cynical would best describe my outlook. Early this year while perusing the quarterly catalog/flyer from Century Arms I came across a product that piqued my interest. The Zastava PAP M85 NP is advertised as an AK-style pistol chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO feeding from standard AR-15/M-16 magazines. An AK chambered in .223/5.56mm is not a new item. Such guns have been around for years. The biggest issue I’ve had with .223 AK’s is that they tend to be more expensive to own and shoot than the 7.62x39mm versions. Specially designed .223 AK magazines also have tended to be…
Tag Archives: Tapco
The Other Black Rifle: Accessorize Your AK
“One size fits all” was once considered the perfect solution for manufacturers who wanted to minimize their number of SKUs (Shop Keeper Units). Rather than stock numerous varieties of a product, you come up with a happy medium or “one size fits all”. If you consider firearms today, the vast majority are built with the one size fits all or happy medium concept. Military battle rifles are designed to fit the body size of the “average soldier”. Whether we are discussing the M-16, AK-47, or G3, these rifles were sized for what was considered “average” and that concept has worked very well in practice. Americans, however, are quite fond of personalizing their property. Whether we are discussing cars, trucks, motorcycles or…