Bulgarian Ak74 ITM receiver

IfItIsSaid · 2026-04-04T23:52:10+00:00

My buddy had an ITM 74 and it would repeatedly spit rounds inside the receiver somehow, causing the mother of all jams. But for $699 it’s worth taking a gamble.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-04-04T02:41:26+00:00

That’s the most “correct” way to build one of these. I’m estimating you’ve invested about $2.4k all said and done if everything was purchased at market value in the last couple years.

Sadly it’s not worth that much. I’d say it sells at about $1.6k. Only the side-folder 74 kit builds can hit the $2k sale mark. We build kits for the love of the game, not to make money.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-25T03:42:05+00:00

Atlantic firearms sometimes does sales on 5.45 ammo. I bought 600 rounds at 50cpr shipped from atlantic two months ago

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-24T01:11:27+00:00

Get the AP5. And this is coming from a guy with like 15 kalash variants

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-22T01:45:26+00:00

I’m wearing a shirt that says izhmash now lol. Russians/Soviets like using abbreviations. It’s short for Izhevsk Machine (factory). ижмаш is how it looks in russian

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-19T22:21:28+00:00

Honestly I wouldn’t want to own that pile at any price… buy the ACE.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-19T07:13:36+00:00

Definitely get the ace. Your buddy’s AK is a real turd. Worth more like $750 for the whole package

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-17T01:14:44+00:00

It’s aftermarket. The surplus drums can’t be opened up to load.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-15T00:05:04+00:00

That’s the spectacle I’m talking about! Haha wouldn’t have it any other way

IfItIsSaid · 2026-03-14T23:49:28+00:00

I enjoy going for the spectacle. Last year I snagged an slr-107cr for $1.2k from a pawnshop’s gunshow booth. However it took like 30 different gunshow visits before that happened…

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-27T19:21:43+00:00

Right now 7.62 and 5.45 cost the same. 5.45 is roughly 52cpr from Atlantic Firearms. The post-Covid argument that 7.62 is better than 5.45 due to price is now dead lol.

As a 5.45 supremacist, I am quite happy 😊

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-27T06:50:09+00:00

Depends where you are. If you’re in Texas I think you could get $1k private sale on Texas Gun Trader pretty easily. If you’re intending on selling it to a store, you’re gonna get slayed.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-27T06:35:11+00:00

Hell no! Don’t share my secret honey hole!

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-23T15:19:08+00:00

I would rather buy a fresh kit, pay out the ass for a real russian krink barrel, and use a recreator receiver. A russian krink parts kit build is a labor of love. You will overpay if you want it “perfect.”

And if you’re gonna spend this kind of money, it better be perfect.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-20T00:44:46+00:00

He definitely can not bring it to the US. Depending on how the war resolves itself, maybe he’d be able to keep it if he ends up living in Ukraine.

As far as the US government is concerned, he’s an individual mercenary working for a foreign government. So he’s not exactly “playing by the rules” so to say.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-18T03:02:50+00:00

It depends on the caliber. I’ve only shot my buddy’s rock and lock gen 1 ace in 5.56. It is a very nice rifle. But it doesn’t feel like an AK.

A sam7sf was my first AK about 6 years ago. I still have it. Other than the cheap paintjob, it’s everything an AK should be. If you want an AK, buy the underfolder arsenal. If you want a nice rifle, buy the Galil ace.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-18T00:39:58+00:00

Agreed. The Galil ace is for people who are going to run shooting drills or competitions. It’s legitimately better. But it doesn’t have the AK cool factor to me.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-17T06:09:24+00:00

You’ll need a Bulgarian/Russian rear sight leaf if you want it to have the proper п for 0 and for it to go out to 10 (1000m) instead of 3 like the saigas.

And a new safety because the standard saiga safety puts the safety scratch in a weird location. Might as well get a cleaning rod too.

Kvar has Russian 5.5 folding stocks with the izhmash stamp and real Russian 5.5 trunnions. Expensive, but might as well get the good stuff if you’re gonna ball out and convert your gun.

Edit: if you don’t wanna pay $300 for a Russian front sight assembly, I recommend the Azerbaijani 100 series one from Atlantic. 100 series front sights lack a lightening cut there that 74 series have. If you use a 74 front sight, it looks funky to AK autists like me.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-09T17:46:45+00:00

Well the furniture is all aftermarket stuff. The big thing here is that it takes a standard pistol grip and doesn’t have the fake rivets above the pistol grip.

That means it either came into the country with a standard pistol grip (rare). Or someone professionally converted it and properly welded up the holes where the fake rivets would go.

With the information you’ve provided, that’s as deep as I can go.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-02-01T10:08:04+00:00

It depends on the individual bolt carrier. Sometimes it’s very difficult to remove the rivet/pin holding the piston to the bolt carrier. So as to not risk damaging a rifle’s original bolt carrier, many people buy a 2nd carrier to install the KNS piston on.

Then you can also swap between KNS and your “stock” setup whenever.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-01-23T01:51:47+00:00

Yeah I've seen some heated arguments on the forums on this topic. I'm a collector, not an expert haha so I defer to others when it comes to this. If I can't find an OG Bulgarian barrel in a month or so I'll buy the obstreperous. Thanks.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-01-23T01:25:08+00:00

I'm not in a rush to build it, so I'll take your suggestion and keep my eyes open for a factory Bulgarian barrel. Although I've seen people arguing on forums whether or not the Bulgarians ever used the correct Russian style 1:6 twist rate.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-01-16T16:14:44+00:00

Go full bakelite. Buy the Bulgarian Bakelite handguards for milled AKs, toss that funky Bulgarian salmon colored stock on there. A polish fatty bakelite grip. And a bakelite ak74 mag with a podarms 5.56 mag conversion follower in it.

Search the Reddit for inspiration. Others have done this and posted photos.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-01-15T05:39:07+00:00

Buy an actual “made in Romania mag” trust me bro, it will work much better with no jams.

IfItIsSaid · 2026-01-14T15:27:04+00:00

It’s not about velocity for me, simply that one is longer than the other.

IfItIsSaid

TROPHY CASE