Many of us remember the days when you could walk into your local gun shop and peruse through endless Century Arms imported AK variants with price tags under $450. Sadly, while those days are behind us, Century Arms is still providing affordable AKM rifles imported from former COMBLOC countries. 

The Century Arms CGR is a Romania-made AKM that is reminiscent of the Romarm WASR and CUGIR rifles that once littered every gun shop’s AK section. 

The American-made AK has taken a long, slow road to development. While there are several reputable U.S. manufacturers now, any serious AK owner must have a rifle that was produced by a country in the Eastern Bloc. The decades of history and experience mass-producing the old communist design are what put former COMBLOC-made AKs at the top of the food chain. 

THE DESIGN OF THE CGR

The Century Arms CGR is a semi-automatic version of the stamped-receiver AKM. The M stands for “modernized” in Russian, represented by the cheaper and easier to produce nature of the stamped-receiver rifle. Most modern AKs are called AK-47s in error, as almost all modern AKs feature stamped receivers. 

The CGR is a typical and traditional AKM design, featuring a 16.5-inch barrel, wood furniture, an adjustable ladder sight, and a barrel-mounted cleaning rod. The rifle has a “slant” AK muzzle brake on 14X1LH threads and uses a standard lever-style safety selector. 
 

Chambered in 7.62x39mm, there are very few places on this planet where you cannot find ammo for the CGR. The .30-caliber projectile is one of the most mass-produced cartridges of all time, still being manufactured on a massive scale. 

The rifle feeds from standard AK-pattern 7.62 magazines and includes one 30-round US Palm magazine to comply with the 922r requirement of having a domestically produced magazine.  
 

Added Features

To further modernize the platform, the rifle features a hinged dust cover, similar to the dust cover featured on the AKS-74U. The dust cover also includes a mounted plastic Picatinny rail for quick and easy addition of an optic. Although there is the option, I am not sure the combination of the location and material of the mount will hold up to recoil while maintaining zero. 
 

Another note of difference is the original Romanian-manufactured trigger. Almost every other imported AK in the United States features the Tapco G2 trigger. 
 

WHY BUY THE CGR?

The CGR is the classic Eastern Bloc AK that reminds us of the robust quality of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s rifle design. With the AK market skyrocketing in price over the last decade, it is refreshing to know that Century Arms is still working to bring affordable quality options like the CGR. 

There is a timeless argument of “AK or AR?” I can’t stand this argument. You know why? It’s the United States of America – exercise that Second Amendment right and get both. Every serious gun owner needs an AK, and with the affordable nature of the CGR, there is really no excuse.