Century Arms AK-47 1000 Round Torture Test 

Century Arms is and always has been notorious for sketchy quality control and BOM on their products. They used to import parts kits and manufacture their own receivers. I've personally seen some that performed flawlessly, and other that suffered catastrophic failures in less than 1000 rounds.

Pop Tarts, montage music, headshots on paper targets, everything you need.

Paul should have been a tv weather man. He can stand out in a hurricane in drenching rain and give commentary without being bothered one iota by what’s happening around him.

Paul is a gem, his skill is only surpassed by his dry humor.

Paul Harrell does more for me in one 20 minute video than Demo Ranch does in a whole month.

“I don’t care if trunions are more fun than Funyuns” This man is a national treasure

Just want to thank the keyboard commandos out there that trigger Paul and his team to create these videos. That montage and accompanied audio, were pure gold! Great video as always Paul!

How could anyone, I mean ANYONE, not like Paul Harrell? Holy cow! What a wealth of knowledge and what a character! Keep it up, sir! You’re awesome!

That montage is the perfect example of what makes this the best gun channel on youtube. No one comes close to that high IQ level of humor.

Don't know why but Paul breaking out that montage song is hilarious to me.

I hope you all appreciate that Paul spent AT LEAST 300$ on ammo just for you.

I own both AK- and AR-platform rifles, and I've done multiple-day rifle courses with each. I don't have a bias for or against either; they both have positives and negatives. I did have a chuckle at one course with about a dozen students. Only two of us had AKs; the rest were mostly ARs, and some of them were very expensive. At least half of the 5.56 group had to come off the line at some point due to serious malfunctions. I think this was back when smaller custom shops had just gotten popular, so people were spending a lot of cash on souped-up shooting bench princesses with 10 lbs of tactical garbage stuck on for looks. I didn't win any gold medals for tightest group, but I didn't spend time at the fixit table either.

A lot of AK enthusiasts do have American AK Derangement Syndrome and do not believe redemption exists for firearm companies that once had a bad repetition. The idea that a rifle company can improve their product is completely beyond their ability to believe. Paul's presentation here is fair. Many videos like this one, showing the reliability, accuracy, and functionality of this rifle is fair. I have yet to find someone with Century Arms AK Derangement Syndrome provide current, reliable evidence that this rifle is as dysfunctional as they claim. Most their evidence is from a one off lemon, which every firearm company has one, or from obscure reddit post without quantifiable evidence, or from outdated material. That being said, this is my number one favorite Paul Harrell video.

Love the Team America montage segment lmaorofl. Paul once again you dont fail to entertain and educate.👍🇺🇸

The montage felt like falling through a hole in the time space continuum back to the 80s. Damn good times. Thanks Paul.

My feeling after owning several Century AK's (and having problems with some of them) is that with the introduction of the VSKA rifles they have changed their quality game to the better.

Two points: first, hearing the opening notes of "Montage" made me literally laugh out loud. Well played! Second, a Century-import WASR-10 was my first semi-auto rifle purchase in 2009 or 2010. I take it to the range, and I keep getting failures to feed. An embarrassingly long period of investigation later, I came to realize that when the fine folks at Century built the receiver, they milled out too much material on the left side of the magazine well, so magazines were wobbling side to side under recoil and (I guess) the feedlips were getting in the way of the bolt. Now, I was a broke-ass college student who had just blown six months of disposable income on rifle, magazines, and 7.62x39, so there was NO WAY I was getting rid of the thing; it was one of the Super-Cool WASRs with the Super-Cool native front Super-Cool hand grip! You CAN'T get rid of something that Super-Cool, so I shimmed it with a couple of pieces of cereal box and some packing tape on the inside of the receiver. No more wobble, no more failures to feed, and it's been a perfectly serviceable rifle ever since. So, my position on Century: often trash, but trash that generally isn't TOO hard to fix (like a bent front sight post), and, once fixed, trash that becomes, if not a DIAMOND, at least a $20 dollar bill in the rough: not much, no, but nothing to turn your nose up at, either!

I don't know who this Paul guy is, but man. He went from a beginner to a pro in that montage.

I'll never stopped being impressed how Paul can just stand in the rain and not give a F about it at all.

At least the statements given in this review are backed up by demonstrations of what the weapon actually did.

I get so tired of all the hate people give the century arms vska. I am glad that your willing to give it a chance and have an unbiased professional opinion. You have my respect

I love the Pop-Tarts ads at the beginning of the video

Paul this is your channel and you run it how you damn well please but there are many of us that enjoy watching you shoot all the rounds. Thank you for all the firearm education you provide and I look forward to learning each time.

Well-spoken and informative content as always. Bonus montage. Love it.

Loved the montage. You have truly upped your game sir. Semper Fi Paul.

Excellent presentation as usual 👍

Great video. Thanks Paul !

Love the way you present information in as unbiased a way as possible. Keep up the good work. You're a real one.

Mr. Harrell, THANK YOU for all that you do on your Channel throughout these years!

The montage segment is 100% pure Paul awesomeness!

Thanks Paul!!! Excellent as always!!!

Great job as always Paul

Your ability to crank out high quality, entertaining content year after year truly amazes me, Mr. Harrell. Thank you for your hard work, professionalism and commitment to providing this community with unparalleled resources on our favorite topics and questions. Keep up the good work good buddy. We truly appreciate it.

In the most manly way possible, I love spending time with your videos! Your common sense view points are exceptional in these times, and your non tacticool logic is superb! Thank you for your time and effort making these for us!

Dear Mr. Harrell, as always, this has been time well spent for me. Thank you - all the way from S.E. Tennessee

Great Video, Paul!

You just keep getting better! Love the montage song!!!!

Awesome video!!! That rifle was impressive and did a great job. Can’t wait to see a 5000 round update on it.

Great vid Paul 👍👍👍👍👍

I am beyond amused and thrilled at the way the montage was scored and handled overall. Wonderfully ingenious!

Sounds like the argument I used to hear all the time some years ago about the AR platform, where people were still repeating outdated information from the '70s, whereas today's ARs are perhaps the finest rifles of their kind in the world.

I have watched Paul for years and have learned a lot, I really like his sense of humor , This video has got to be some of his finest work. I don't know how many people worked on this one but they all deserve kudos on this.

Great Video Paul, as always very informative and just damn enjoyable.

Another great video...thanks Paul !

The montage was fantastic. You are a very artistic and wonderful individual.

Paul, wonderful presentation, as always. That praise comes with a caveat. I am dissatisfied you did not demonstrate toasting a pop tart on the heated barrel of a Century Arms AK. I have read forums which state it either is horrendous at this task, or even that it can’t do it. What good is an AK if it can’t toast your Pop Tarts? Keep up the great content, and “Keep up the Fire.”

Great show!

Loved the music in this video, entertaining as always...Thank You!!

A big issue that comes up when you're talking about practically any AK is that the AK crowd is pretty notorious for hating anything that isn't an original parts kit directly from the eastern bloc that costs just shy of a Barrett 50. I have routinely heard from AK enthusiasts that "an AK not made in Russia isn't an AK" or "any AK made in the US is garbage" and *hate* any gun RU-vidrs who say anything good about them. I've seen people suddenly go from loving to hating Rob Ski from the AK Operators Union simply because the PSA AK47 passed his torture test.

Paul like always very intuitive, love watching your informational videos and your polite way of being a smart-ass. Thank you sir

Good commentary! Thanks for taking the time (and money) to put this video together.

Excellent presentation Sir!

I've had my VSKA "Trooper" for a couple of years now- great rifle (Except for the triangle 'Circle 10' stock, which makes it sit WAY too low and is uncomfortable...but luckily that can be changed). The bad reputation that Century Arms AKs had comes from earlier models when they first started manufacturing their own AKs, and used a cast trunion as opposed to a forged or machined trunion. These modern ones have machined trunions made from tool steel and are great. A very reliable no-nonsense rifle.

Never stop being you, Paul. We love it.

Nicely made video. Thanks,

Another great video...as always... Thanks Paul.

Paul tells it like it is. Sure, Century has had some issues in the past, but that doesn’t mean every one of them is bad. All of mine function just fine. Keep up the great work!

I have three boxes of pop tarts, a primary and two back up boxes so I am good to go for this video.

Excellent video!

Absolutely loved your choice of music for the 1000 round shooting sequence. Thanks... I needed that.

I can’t believe you actually got a montage song for your montage of the shooting. 😂😂😂. You guys are the best! And yes, practical accuracy on a gun with no optics, and not the best sights. Also, I agree completely that a 1000 rounds does not prove durability. Only reliability from the factory.

Hahahaha, Paul Harrell’s Montage absolutely hilarious. 1000 rounds, had to be taxing considering for this presentation. Paul and Crew, thumbs up 👍 I’d love to see the M1A testing 1000 rounds as I have heard a lot of hate for the iconic rifle. Mainly the gas system and how many rounds it takes before the gas cylinder needs cleaning. As always a pleasure Paul and Crew!!!!!

Awesome video Mr Harrell

Love the montage!! Keep up the great work

Paul had the best thumbs-up to thumbs-down ratio I've ever seen and youtube took it away from him. Press F

I do just want to add that the front trunnion in an AK is where the locking lugs are, as well as holding the barrel in place via the barrel pin, and deformation can lead to a loss of headspace. If you had to pick one part of the AK that was the most important, it would be that. Older century AK's (I say older loosely as the culprit rifles are still being sold, if not manufactured) used front trunnions made from cast, rather than forged steel, which does not stand up in the long term and will eventually lose headspace as the locking lugs on the trunnion deform, eventually resulting in an unsupported case rupturing. It may happen fast, or it may take many thousands of rounds, but the cast trunnion eventually gives way. The VSKA does somewhat unfairly suffer from Century's reputation, but the reputation is of Century's own making via cost-cutting measures in the wrong places. It should however absolutely be known that their imported rifles are rock solid, and the Romanian Cugir rifles and pistols (WASR/Draco series) are wonderful entry-level AK's, the Draco itself being an excellent SBR candidate if you wanted to clone the PM.MD-90.

Thanks for the content

Thank you for your analysis.

This has been one of my favorite videos that you have put out in a while. I am not a big "AK guy", I just like reliable firearms that are reasonably accurate. I don't compete in competitions but I can bring home dinner if I need to. I think you hit it on the head when you said that the early versions of Century Arms firearms may have had their problems and a lot of people have seen or heard about examples of those problems. You are also correct when you said that Century Arms seems to have learned from their early issues and for a while now has produced good quality firearms at a good price. I did my research and bought my first and only AK about 4 or 5 years ago. It is a Century Arms AK with wood furniture and it was accurate (thankfully) right out of the box and has been completely reliable from day one. I don't care about the AR/AK comparisons or how accurate one format is over the other. We are around the same age and I served in the military around the same time as you, Paul. I was around a lot of older guys that pushed the "I will never own a commie gun" talk, etc.. It kept me away from AK's for a long time. I enjoy shooting and I still remember how impressed and pleased with the AK I was from the very first time I shot one. So, I was very late to the AK game but I have tons of fun when I shoot the AK and that's what I like more than anything else nowadays..... having fun with reliable and reasonably accurate firearms. Oh yeah, especially when they are well priced. Great job on this video. 👍

Paul Harrel consistently produces excellent content that is also relevant to my interests. As a Patreon supporter of this channel, I am well served.

Excellent review.

What a kick-ass video! Much love to you, Mr. Harrell.

It’s like an early Christmas present! Paul Harrell uploads!

The montage was comedy Gold

As always, very informative. Great soundtrack for the montage!

Another good one... As always Paul...

Always fade out in a montaaaaaage. Another entertaining video from Paul. :D

“I don’t care if trunnions are more fun than Funyuns.” Only a gun guy would find that funny. But coming from paul harrel….it’s friggen hilarious.

Great video. As usual.

Great presentation Paul! This goes to show you cannot rely on second hand information. Good to see you back!

There is a thing that is called a “trusted source”. That is what I call you sir, a trusted source! Information is power, thank you for sharing some of that power with us mere mortals! Stay safe out there…

Have you checked headspace after shooting the 1k rounds? From everything I've heard, the headspace tolerance can become out of spec after shooting somewhere between 1k-3k rounds. Maybe once you get to the 3k round count, you can check the headspace and show us how your rifle is holding up. Have a great day Paul. ✌️

Epic montage Paul.👍🏻👍🏻

Very well done. Tanks.

Great video. At 14:28 your reference to 'real conditions' is spot on. I have always termed it 'field conditions'; and after all, I think the design theory behind the AK was, per Soviet doctrine, for it to perform well enough, not excellently, in the field.

I took a friend to the range and let him shoot my Walther PDP. I'd already put 500 rounds through it with no problems at all. He immediately started having stovepipes every round and said it was a "trash gun". After a few minutes of working on his limp wrists, suddenly he was shooting without issues as well. I know that limp wristing isn't an issue with a rifle but it does make you wonder what the perspective is when people screech about how bad a gun is. Just because a pretty cool gun reviewer had it jam when he froze it solid doesn't mean the gun is going to give you issues, redditor.

Thanks, very informative 👍

I have watched every video you have made thank you for taking the time to teach others your videos are greatly appreciated and loved by many the content is always to the point and non bias

12:40 Can't be mad though, your talks are educational and entertaining in their own rights. Furthermore, we just got a Montage! and even got to see the Banana mag. What more could we want?

Paul, I love that your promise to spare us all thousand rounds carries weight because you have posted full length thousand round tests in the past. For the record, I like the full thousand round video as well.

Great video paul, so glad to see you back after the "issue" with youtube! Loved the montage, wonder how many ppl will know what thats from!? Loved your rapid fire action in it, keep it up as always, your my favorite channel on here.

The montage was f@cking brilliant....thanks Paul....

The pop tart intros are comedic gold 🥇

This video almost has it all. If only he’d had a reason to surreptitiously deploy the middle digit in response to something… Fantastic as always. And big ups for the Mozambique drills!!!

Thank you Paul!

Love the montage!

I think it's safe to say "Pepto Bismol Man" had a bad day with that second group...and an even worse day with that last one!

I have to say I'm a bit jealous, I always wanted an 80's style montage and yours was really good! LOL

I love your videos. Always my best for real world application.

Thanks for a great video, Paul. The montage song was a hoot. I love the happy mountain man standing in the middle of a downpour and calmly giving his talk to the camera. You don't often see that. I believe your tests and outcome, though I know you don't need that.