Palmetto State Armory to Begin Offering AK Rifle in 2015
Matt Korovesis 01.24.15
One of the more surprising announcements of SHOT 2015 was that Palmetto State Armory (PSA), one of the top suppliers of affordable ARs and AR parts, would begin producing an AK-pattern rifle.
The South Carolina-based manufacturer and retailer had an all-black Kalashnikov on display next to their usual assortment of firearms and accessories. PSA’s AKs will be fully American-made, and appear to be AKM-spec rifles—that means they’ll be compatible with almost all of the AK accessories available in the US market. They plan on starting with 7.62x39mm and moving on to other calibers later.
The PSA AKs will be built using receivers made from the same supplier for NoDak Spud, a well-known name in the AK building community. The guns will be nitride-coated, inside and out (including the barrels), and built using all-new parts.
PSA plans on bringing the guns to market within the next 90 days at a sub-$700 price point. It’ll be a strong competitor for WASRs, NPAPs, and other affordable Kalashnikovs.
The finish on the gun was impressive, all the parts looked well-made, and the action was smooth—which is about all you can determine about an AK without range time. I’m excited to see a major American manufacturer enter the Kalashnikov market at such a fair price. Make no mistake, 2015 is looking to be a fun year for AK fans.
Note added 1-27-2015: This article originally stated that the model on display at the PSA booth was wearing foreign-made furniture. That was incorrect, and the text has been corrected accordingly.
I've been a history and gun enthusiast since I was a kid. I love to shoot just about anything, from silenced bolt-action .22s to fully automatic heavy machine guns, and I love even more when I get to write about them. My main interests are modern small arms and the military small arms of World War II and prior conflicts, with a particular focus on Russian and Finnish firearms. Reading about guns like the Mosin-Nagant rifle in books and on the internet got me interested in collecting, shooting, and writing about them, and I hope to do the same for others through my work.
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