AKs are basically milsurps at this point. Can you get shit done with a milsurp? Yes of course. But you're spending more money, effort and training, to get something that's not even as effective as a "trash tier" Ar15. Which is fine imo, that loss of performance will likely rarely matter. Personal skill makes up a much larger piece of the performance pie. So trading some performance for a platform you're much more passionate about is probably okay. Especially if it keeps you training. If only the AK crowd would admit that and stop trying to infect others with their autism. In other unrelated news, I bought a AK.

Never thought I would see the day where my favorite lesbian character is reviewing an AK

"Hi guys I'm Hop. I hate this platform, so I'm going to throw money at it and then still end up hating my bastard creation" Always fun to watch hop loath something from being to end

That butterfly was trying to tell Hop that the AK platform is his destiny and that he should embrace not having a bolt release.

"If I had to take a 200 yard shot with an AK I would take it into the roof of my own mouth." - Hop ModCast 368

I love that AKs maliciously refuse to be modernized. They are like little dogs people keep trying to dress up for pictures.

The Sureshot 2.1 chassis would have solved most if not all of the problems the MI had and doesn’t require any modifications to your AK. You gotta try one.

What people tend to forget is that the AR-15 was designed in the '50s with literal space age technology, it's really only been in the past 20 years or so that ARs have been economical to produce and purchase, which is also why we're seeing so many countries adopting AR platform rifles despite it being 70 year old technology. The AK, by contrast, was designed in the '40s with '40s era technology. Imagine how difficult it would be to modernize any WW2 era firearm and realize that the AK is a contemporary to that.

You know how old, old buildings these days got wires and satellite dishes and antennas and whatnot all over them? that's kinda what kitted up AKs look like.

“Go summon the eagles.” Deep cut, sir. 👍

“Do you have a toolbox?”

As an European: What the fuck 1/2x28 even mean? Americans: What the fuck is M14x1LH?

This is the modernizing the PTR 91, 51 and 9 all over again.

You can tell Hop actually wants to give the AK a chance to endear itself to him because he took the MRO off

One of the coolest things Robski at AKOU will teach you about slings is: FIRST, make loops with paracord where you want to attach the sling to the rifle. Then attach the sling to the paracord loops. This paracord method eliminates the metal on metal rubbing/clicking for better stealth.

As a guy that builds my own AKs, my morbid fascination with Hops hate for AKs compelled me to watch this. I was not disappointed. 🤣 Like Jim Fuller says, "If you want to work on AKs, you have to be part gunsmith, and part blacksmith." Nowadays, theres a lot better aftermarket than there was when I bought my first AK in 2002... That was a shit show.

watching AR guys work with AKs is one of the funniest things known to man

Hop is one of the few channels that'll make a video on something I'm not even into and I'll still watch it just because.

I can't even begin to explain, how much it offends me, when hop says things about the ak i secretly whole heartedly agree with

This is not a drill - he is using an xps 2-1. Obscure-maxxing has never been so chic

Fifteen minutes of quality Kalashnikov content and half the comments are going to be about that lovely butterfly, because sometimes you just can't shake off a nice thing. Definitely looking forward to seeing more out of this platform on the channel, mostly out of morbid curiosity because the system is so limited due to a nearly centennial design. I feel like you had fun with this actually, I'm glad. : )

This hobby is in a very different place than it was 20 years ago. I still love AKs, but those glory days of $350 rifles that come with a free ammo can are long gone. I will always be greatful that I was able to learn to shoot these things so cheaply when I was stocking shelves.

"Butterfly of the field, what is your wisdom?" - Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ "Fuck import bans" - And so, we went to war

So Hop turned an AK into something less capable than a Galil Ace but more expensive.

Finally some AK content. So cozy.

Nice MRO

The algorithm requires engagement

The Sureshot chassis I reviewed never required modification of the rifle and didn't have any issues as far as configuration after installation literally does everything you wanted to do without any of the experimentation.

I switched from the AR 3yrs ago to the AK and never looked back. Freaking love the AK.

I'm impressed by the lengths AK guys go to pay premium AR prices to make a suboptimal AR. However, I still want an AK because I too enjoy eating paint chips.

Hop wants to review the Mini 14 next.

It’s way more enjoyable watching this knowing I have no intention of building out an AK to this level.

I know comments can be a mixed bag of bullshit, but I mean it when I say this channel has made me a smarter consumer and really helped me appreciate this hobby in a way I never would have normally. Thank you for all that you do Hop.

Welp, that one guy did ask for caterpillar footage. We got metamorphosed caterpillar footage.

20 round ak mags are so cool looking tbh

Exactly why I sold my space AKs. Rifle truly was fine. Just want an SBR krink or beryl and call it good.

Sureshot MK2.1 can be found for ~$500 (PA when they have site sales), requires 0 modifications and is a really solid mounting platform.

I just love the straight talk from HOP. No holding back 👍🏻👍🏻

I have an alpha stock on my RD AK. It like it. The adjustable cheek riser is helpful to get the right cheek weld if you are running a higher optic mount.

Hop isnt flashy or any of that,he just gets down to bizness,facts and the truth!!

Hops voice isn’t nearly as buttery smooth in this video :((( Also Socko cameo at 14:58

I got all excited for this build when I saw the title. I started researching and pricing out parts. After I watched the video I tossed my AK back in the safe. It's good enough stock. 😅

“Makes it unpleasant to look at” 🤣 Good review, Hop.

As someone who's personally been in Russian service, I get your frustrations. They're not as easy to work with west side as they are back home. Back home it's like how people work with AR's here in the US. however that doesn't fix your issue because you still have to go through hoops that you wouldn't with an AR because of aforementioned location funny part is back in Russia an AR is a bitch to get certain parts for

Getting earlier Hop PTR saga vibes from this, love it. As a recovering AK guy, I can attest that trying to modernize the AK to try and make up for it's many ergonomic shortcomings is an exercise in frustration, expense, and futility. They're fun to shoot and use but compared to basically any AR they're not great candidates for a go-to fighting rifle.

I’m glad you know your famous shootout history.

Fixed Magpul Triangle stock is seriously the best, been running it forever, extremely tough, rigid, light, and comfortable. Probably like it better than the CTR stock honestly lol

ah yes the dovetail mount, where my first optic died (RIP TRS-25, you will be missed)

* butterfly lands on Hop * Hop: "And I took that personally."

15:28 Hop makes a LOTR reference

I love how you just say it as it should be. You back up your words with experience in what works and what doesn't and I appreciate that

Hahah. YOUR SPIRT ANIMAL IS A BUTTERFLY 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

The AK platform is 100% second kind of cool at this point, in my opinion.

The Attero arms mounts are great I have a few of them. I dropped my MRO mount one on a rock and it tweaked it enough that it could not be zero'd again so I'd advise against doing that

That butterfly a real homie

I recently had a 14.7” PSA GF4 built out by Redbeard Gunworks here in south Texas. I went pretty nuts with some tanodized JMac Custom parts and had everything else cerakoted. Even had a custom “mustache camo” pattern applied to the receiver. It’s my first AK to own. Can’t wait to run it in the competition at Kalash Bash in April!

AKs made more sense in the 2010 meta where folks weren’t able to bolt on all the possible things and really only needed a sling, a weapon light, and maybe an optic. I love the AK, and I cannot ever recommend it as a modern project

So what you're saying is... you really like the AK.

15:27 "Go summon the eagles, c'mon man" Grin! You got a laugh out of me

Hop pretending to have AK autism when we all know he just has regular AR15 autism, cute

Very telling how every attempt to "modernize" an AK consists entirely of trying to turn it into an M4

I love hop’s potty mouth. Perfect inflection and timing for his explatives

I have the alpha rail and the t1 mount on a 5.56 gun and have noticed that the brass will hit the mount occasionally. The ejection pattern of my gun hasn’t caused it to jam however so i think it is on a case by case basis.

If AKs were cheap, it would be a great tinkerer's gun. There's really nothing wrong with them as a range toy or even a lower level competition gun, especially in 5.45. But the second you want them in a caliber you can find at Cabelas, good luck. But that's really the issue, they aren't cheap. Even buying from PSA, they're still not cheap. In fact, I suspect that the price of the AKs is partially what led PSA to make the JAKL. The JAKL is basically an American AK but you can get parts for it. You can get it in different calibers. You can use AR mags. It actually has a concentric bore so you can suppress it without baffle strikes. I still have this crazy idea of making a modular upper and lower that takes AK parts from kits, but even kits have gotten too expensive to fuck with.

Whether people want to admit it or not. The AK is slowly (or quickly) joining the ranks of the G3, FAL, and other 60s battle rifles. They'll have their dedicated forums and enthusiasts who are 100% convinced it's the greatest rifle ever built. The rest of the community who is being realistic about training won't take them seriously. This is because they know any real emergency scenario will produce a bunch of guys with AR's and STANAG mags and there won't be any x39 to be shared. You can call me an AK hater but I used to own one. I believed it was crucial to own one and train on it in case you needed to use one. Yet, I can't find anyone who owns one other than the guy I sold mine to.

Glad someone made a video about modifying an AK instead of getting one pre built

Nice video Hop. I found a ton of success running an Ultimak gas tube with an rs regulate handguard. Makes it light weight and no compatibility issues.

What a nightmare.

This video has overlooked one of the key reasons of why you should modernize an AK. That reason is that it is very cool.

Hey brother, Try the Ultimak gas tube with the Mawl c1. Thank you for showing love to the AKM. Regards,

Thank you, Hop, for once again affirming my adherence to the AR platform. I appreciate anybody who has the time and resources to muck around with this kind of stuff, and as a hobby it even sounds fun. Would I like to own some AKs (or AR-18 variants, or whatever) and play around with modifying or modernizing them? Hell yeah, but as an everyday slob of limited means, I get a lot more for my money on the AR platform. Anyway, thanks for going through all that for us, if I'm ever lucky enough to meet you drinks are on me.

A stock 74 is the peak AK experience.

Why buy a $2400 Daniel Defense AR when you could buy a $700 AK and put $1700 in parts on it to get rail space and a stock made for people over 5'4"?

Have never bought an AK but they're pleasant to shoot. In an unrelated comment: at 9:13 it's cool to see that the end of the sling is fed into the buckle again for a secured hold. Thought I was the only one doing this.

The way they can fix the top portion of the rail by replacing the gas tube with their own and that will allow a full length picatinny section. The original extended midwest AK handguards had its own gas tube that fit under the top portion of the handguard completely and had a full top rail with no interruption.

"cant get a high cheek weld on aks but I hate these hipster stocks"

When did Segorney Weaver start buying guns??

That butterfly footage was fun.

Thank you for your sacrifices, great content.

Wow, thats a lot of money sunk just to match a basic AR

Here for the mental gymnastics from AK dudes rationalizing why going through the clusterfuck of a modernization attempt that Hop demonstrated in this video is better than buying literally any AR15 on the rack at your nearest Cabelas My personal favorite flavor of copium is when they say “not everyone wants a super tactical modern rifle!!” okay, that’s fine, do what you want, but the fact remains that if you do want a super tactical modern rifle, then AK’s fucking suck lmao Edit: Everyone in the replies needs to realize that (1) no amount of yapping is gonna change the fact that modernizing an AK is the least cost effective way to get to 80% of what every AR15 offers from the factory (and if you disagree, then watch the fucking video you’re commenting under again); and (2) my opinion is objectively correct (cool, smart, awesome, i enjoy whole milk) and yours is objectively incorrect (dumb, loser, you drink soy milk).

Glad to hear Midwest is aware of it. Had the same issue with Midwest optic mount and had to switch to the railed dust cover.

Awesome video. I would have given up a long time ago. Great to see where you have taken it so far.

All you needed to do was throw an ultimak and RS Regulate on there and you’d be golden - Instead you dropped like $500 and wound up with a front heavy monstrosity. Why do you do this?

No, You do not need to make modifications to the the rifle for the Sureshot Chassis.........lol. The only exception being the slim but that's a customer demanded item and on them if they want to snip the retainer. I offered to send one and still will do so.

Thank you Hop! Finally, someone points out the lame obsession over folding stocks!

Thanks for your review, I'm planning on doing the same thing to my AK, I think you've saved me some money and some trouble with the optic mount. I was gonna use the one that gave you reliability problems. Now I know to use a different mounting system for my optic. I'm not planning on replacing the dust cover. I think to start off with I'll just mount my micro optic on the hand guard rail and see how that goes for me before I try mounting it further back.

"AKs are fine bro just add on $1200 in accessories bro there's literally nothing they can't do that an AR can once you spend the price of the gun and 20 hours installing and tweaking it bro" The hipster nonsense isn't the midwest stock, Hop - it's the entire platform itself. If people admit that they just love the aesthetic and being special for not using ARs that's fine, but it's pure cope trying to pretend it's even close to the functionality of any AR.

There is zero reason to run AKs now that the ammo is more than 5.56, absutely no benefit

I got a Texas weapon systems Dog leg rail for my Reverse dong Romanian parts kit Psa. Took a tiny bit of fitting, then struggle with the recoil spring because you swap out the dust cover release button.. but i do like the thing. Easy to take on / off and so far held zero.

Gotta love the honesty. Great material!

All of those “cool dudes” are ironically leviathan shills

Tries to make modular AK, deliberately avoids several of the most modular options 🌚

"go summon the eagles" lol

RS Regulate Handguard extended handguard is a good choice too. Drop in and doesn't require any modifications.

I just received the full Midwest industries Alpha series in FDE..took 4 months to get it all on back order but yesterday it all came in to put on my G5 PSA 47.. not going to lie. I love that AK…even the way it came. I have the EOtech for also.

A supreme choice of camouflage pattern good sir. 👍

KNS makes a smaller diameter ported piston head for the gas piston ... I have had to change to it on many of the PSA AK units in my shop. Works great! Thanks KNS!

New hop vid, is good day

I did a similar project last year (or maybe it was 2022, I forget this was a slow process): same PSA GF5 you have Sureshot Mk3 chassis KPYK left side folder stock Sig Romeo 8T -- complete overkill, I just wanted one Dead Air Wolverine suppressor KNS piston Zenitco Perst 4 -- had one from a long time ago, this seemed like an appropriate home Surefire 640V light Far more expensive than your build but it was a project I was deadset on In a more budget build that's more in line with what you did here, another one I did: PSA AK-105 Midwest Alpha handguard w/ Aimpoint Micro mount -- had an Aimpoint T2 that had been homeless for a while, figured this was an excellent host Lage left side folder I pulled off my MPX. Forget who makes the side fold pic rail mount I added to the back of the receiver for it. Inforce WML white/IR light Dead Air Wolverine suppressor -- had extra money last year, got two Both shoot great but good lord that 7.62 one is smooth. She's on the heavy side but pleasant to shoot even indoors.