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Maadi AK-47
1852agc
Member Posts: 8 ✭✭
Been looking around, where does this brand rank versus other Ak-47, if money is not a problem.
Comments
In answer to your question, the Maadi isn't a bad rifle depending on the price. Medium grade
AC-Tactical
"There are those who make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that say, what happend?"
the thing that scares me is that we could be living in someone else's own reality
Overall the basic Chinese ones were fine guns at a vary reasonable price. The Polytech ones were a bit more refined, but a bit more money. The Hungarians were initially very under rated, but soon were considered one of the nicer ones available from any of the countries. The Yugoslav AK's were very nice as well, but their overall finish was no better than most of the Chinese ones, the Hungarian ones were notably nicer for initially less money.
Anyway where did the Maadi's fall into all of this you might ask? Well I never sold too many of the Maadi's in that time period (pre 1989). Why, you might ask? Well, while I was able to retail the Norinco and KBI Hungarians for between $300-400 (and making money at that). The Maadi's were wholesaling for over $800 to almost $900. They were costing dealers as much as 300% the price of a Norinco or Hungarian. They were costing 200%+ that of a Yugoslav or Polytech Legend. Were they really worth that? Not a chance, unless you thought you had to have the one closest to the Russian (since they were made on Russian equipment in a Russian built factory). Let's see, they came with one 30rd magazine (not three like the Norinco, basic Polytech, or Hungarian). They did have the bayonet and scabbard and a sling. So short 2 mags and they cost only 3 times the price? It gets better. The Chinese AK's were nicely blued steel. So were the Yugoslavs. The Hungarian ones had the baked enamel finish with steamed elm wood stock, very nice fit and finish too. As for the Egyptian Maadi's, they looked like they had been built in a garage by a 12 year old. The wood was poorly fit. The metal showed signs of rushed forming. The finish looked like someone sprayed it on with a can of Rustoleum spray paint. You would actually see runs in the finish. But they were 3 times the price? That was what always blew me away. I could buy Norinco's from the suppliers for under $300 and the same suppliers wanted over $800 for the Maadi's. I knew a few dealers that bought them and later wondered "Why?".
I will admit, I didn't start selling the Maadi's regularly until the early 1990's. By that point the Chinese and the Egyptians had figured out what they needed to do to get around the 1989 ban. At that point both companies started putting on thumbhole stocks, took off the bayonet lugs (the Egyptians took the "ears" off the lug so that it wouldn't allow a bayonet to attach, but left the lug in place). At different times both could be found with either the threading removed or covered by a thread protector (slant flash hider cut off and welded on the Egyptian in some cases). The guns came with just a 5rd mag, but took any of the high caps. The Hungarians eventually followed with their post ban version as well. The majority of the Yugoslav ones were merely pre-ban ones that were modified in the US by the importer to meet post-ban requirements. They put on thumbhole stocks (in some cases leaving in place the folding stock that couldn't be unfolded. They electric penciled out the old model number and put in a new one. They just had to remove or change the offending features and they were good to go.
Anyway in that time period through the end of their availability in the late 1990's the Egyptian Maadi AK's were notably lower in price from what they had been before the 1989 ban. At times they were as cheap or cheaper than any other AK on the market. There were times they actually cost under $200 new. Over time they did occassionally improve their finish, but they still weren't all that great. I received one shipment of 5 Maadi's in the late 1990's that I had to send back 2 of the 5 rifles because they were defective. One had the front sight assembly off angle by about 20-25 degrees. There was another one in the batch where they had actually attached the barrel to the receiver at an off angle (to the left) at about a 7-10 degree angle. The gas piston was actually binding in the gas tube because of it, since the tube was running parallel to the barrel and the piston was running parallel to the receiver (a little problem there). Anyway I sent those back to the supplier. I had other stories from customers with similar problems.
Just for reference, I never had to send back a new Norinco, Polytech, Yugoslav, or Hungarian, ...EVER.
So in general, I wouldn't get too excited about the Egyptian Maadi AK's. Initially they were WAY over priced, especially for what they were. Later their price was fine, but their quality control still wasn't the best. Don't get me wrong, some of the Maadi's were okay. They shot fine, looked acceptable, etc. But I never had to fix an AK new out of the box from any other country. I never had to send back a new AK from any other country because they made it wrong. (except the Norinco's that accidently came in built on Full Auto receivers, those had to go back to the importer to get new receivers). I'm sure those would have worked fine, they were just illegal was all.
So all said and done, what is a good price on an Egyptian? It depends on whether it is new or used. Anywhere from under $300 to over $400, maybe more. They haven't been importer for some time now. Beware of supposed "PRE-BAN" models. Very few of the TRUE pre-bans ever existed. At the price they were going for at that time, most people passed on them especially for what you got compared to anything else available at the time. The other problem is that while the Chinese ones were properly modified to be imported after the ban of 1989, many of the Egyptian ones were done questionably. Since they left the bayonet lug (without ears), and the threads (covered, but the welds broke easily), many people got a hold of the pre-ban parts and made their Maadi's "LOOK" like they were actually a pre-ban. That was very common in the early to mid 1990's. Of course the very late ones had the US parts put into them at the importer and were legal with the pistol grip, but they still weren't a true pre-ban gun. Some of the Maadi's will actually have the year of production on the side of the rear sight housing, but not all of them will have this.
I hope I didn't sound like I hated the Egyptian AK's. It just sounded like maybe you were under the impression that they were the best ever. They weren't. The Hungarian ones used to hold that honor. Now I would have to give that to the Bulgarian Arsenal ones. I started selling those in 1994 and still do to this day along with the Romanian ones and the occassional Chinese or Hungarian. I still might have a few Maadi's around from time to time too.
I hope this helps to give you a better idea of what once was and in some cases, still is. Overall I would probably recommend a Romanian over an Egyptian for the money, but in the long run it should be whatever you want. The only thing the Maadi's were ever claimed as being was that they were "As close as you could get to a Russian issue AK". I always thought "If this is what the Russians are issuing, we're pretty safe". I think, or at least hope the Russians received AK's that were made with a bit more care than those made by Maadi in the Russian built factory. Don't get me wrong, throughout the 1990's I sold a lot of Maadi AK's. For the most part they worked okay. I still however would not rate them in the top 5 of the various AK models ever available in this country over the past 20 years.
LRARMSX
Another thing to check is the importer. If it is Century International Arms, it is definitely a late post-ban, not a pre-ban. There were several importer of the Maadi's over the years. I know Tennessee Guns also imported them in the 1990's again post-ban time period. There were a few others as well. Prior to the 1989 ban, I believe they were imported by Steyr, but there may have been another one as well.
Many would try to make you believe that they are "pre-ban" because they have the threaded muzzle and post-ban ones don't have threads, so if theirs has threads and a bayonet lug they are pre-ban. As I mentioned in the post, the Maadi's often had the threads left on the barrel, but had a muzzle nut left on. In most cases, they simply cut off a standard slant muzzle brake flush with the end of the barrel, then did a spot weld to hold it in place. I had several come in that had the weld broken or almost broken new from the importer. At that point then, you could twist the "nut" off and twist back on a standard comp or flash hider, no problem, giving it the appearance of a pre-ban once again.
Unfortunately there are a lot of "fake" "pre-ban" Egyptian AK's out there. Many people didn't know it was illegal to modify them. They didn't like the thumbhole stock, so they took it off and put on a regular stock and pistol grip. They wanted their gun to "look" that way. The parts were readily available, so they ordered them up and put them on. In other cases, unscrupulous dealers made the modifications to get more money for what they had by changing the look of the gun to look like what people thought of when thinking about an AK. It was supposed to look like that, with a grip, regular stock, and flash hider, not a clumsy thumbhole stock. Some "dealers", or people selling them if you will, didn't know any better either. They saw the parts available and figured " what the heck, I can put that stuff on". Some didn't know, other knew, but didn't care that it was a violation of federal law to make those changes. It wasn't until the late 1990's that the importers figured out that if they put enough US made parts into the gun, that they could "legally" put on a regular stock and pistol grip. By putting enough parts into them, they technically made them a foreign/US hybrid, which could legally have a pistol grip. The imports could not have a pistol grip since the 1989 assault weapons ban. Also no bayonet lug, flash hider, folding stock, etc. The 1994 ban affected US domestic production the same way, with one exception. The US made guns could retain "ONE" of the features, but not "TWO". In most cases they went with the pistol grip. That is why AR15's could still have a pistol grip during the ban. They could have the grip, but they couldn't have a bayonet lug, flash hider, or collapsible stock. For the AR, the grip was the most logical choice to leave on the gun. On M-1 Carbines, they didn't normally have a pistol grip nor a flash hider, but they could have "one" feature, so they left on the bayonet lug. On the Springfield M1A (semi-auto M14), they left the flash hider, again the standard configuration didn't have a pistol grip and the bayonet lug was not terribly useful. Without the flash hider, the guns profile looked wrong, so that was the feature they left on.
Anyway, as I mentioned in the post, there are very few true, real "pre-ban" Egyptian AK's. Supposedly the true pre-ban ones are worth a significant amount of money. The $1000-1200 range probably isn't out of line for an honest to goodness "pre-ban" Maadi. But the big problem is being sure that it really is a pre-ban. The best fakes, by that I mean the hardest ones to confirm, have been the Egyptian ones. Unlike the Chinese ones, they didn't change the model designations or markings all that much from before to after the ban. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, they left several features either intact or more easily reversible so that they could be put back to "pre-ban" appearance. Again making it easier to make a post-ban look very much like a pre-ban to the average observer.
I wish there was a definite way for me to tell you whether it is or isn't a pre-ban model, but I would really need to see it in person to say with 100% certainty. I've even seen Norinco ones were somebody went to all the effort to take off the front sight assembly and swap it with a pre-ban one WITH the bayonet lug. Then they added the factory under folder stock as well. It was the markings on the receiver that gave it away, they were exclusively "post-ban". Initially the guy that I first saw it with wanted $900. I told him what it "really" was and he was a combination of pissed and doubtful. He had bought it from a guy for big money because he was told it was a valuable "pre-ban". I told him all that had been modified and wasn't original. I also told him how illegal it was and that I wasn't interested in buying it since it was illegal. Not as important, but still serious was the fact that it wasn't worth anything near the $900 he wanted for it.
A few months later I saw another gentleman, a guy I had done business with previously, he now had that same gun. He had bought it recently and thought he had a valuable piece. I told him that I had seen it previously with the other guy and that I had informed him of what it was (and wasn't) and also that it wasn't worth what HE was now asking either. He knew me from previous dealings. He knew that I knew my stuff and wasn't blowing smoke up his butt. I wasn't trying to talk him down on the price. In fact I didn't want that anywhere near me in the off chance that there was a knowledgeable ATF agent in the general vicinity. Being caught with that rifle would have meant at a minimum the rifle would be confiscated and possibly the person in possession could be arrested, fined, or even put in jail along with losing the right to own firearms.
To conclude, be very careful on this thing. If it is a real honest to God Pre-ban, it would be worth the previously mention amount in original condition. The shear fact that it has had that folding stock put on it has me concerned. Those East German stocks weren't available until many years after the 1989 ban. Not that it couldn't have been added a number of years later after being imported, but most of the people that spent that much on the pre-ban Maadi's, left them in "ALL ORIGINAL" condition because they knew ANY modifications to their valuable, rare "Pre-ban" would actually depreciate the investment. The post ban ones were 1/4 the price or less, so yes, many people modified those without a care.
Anyway, just be careful.
LRARMSX
I remember the first ones that showed up at the local gunshows. They had people 3 deep around their table touching it, as these were the first clones on the market locally. Unfortunately the folks that first sold them were trying for the big bucks, and the asking price was around a $1000. Big money in the 1983/84 time frame.
The quality was much better then the later Egyptian imports. I shot one of the Steyr's at a range. Accuracy fit and function, impressed me.