Summary: Bottom Line Up Front
Summary: You can expect to pay a bit of a premium for this extremely well-built Arsenal SAM7SF. However, it has been 100 percent reliable and comes stacked deep in the features department.
Our favorite highlights include an excellent muzzle brake that makes the gun run flat and fast, an upgraded ergonomic thumb safety along with the traditional side safety lever, a skeletonized side-folding stock that cuts weight while still providing space for your cheek weld, and a surprisingly nice two-stage FIME enhanced trigger group.
There’s a lot more, like a hammer-forged and milled receiver complete with an optics rail and multiple sling points. We’ve got it all broken down in detail below.
Features
Sometimes, a gun’s name sums it up pretty well, and that’s the case for the Arsenal SAM7SF. While not explicitly stated, one could surmise that the SAM designation in the model name stands for semi-automatic, milled receiver, which is true of the entire SAM7 line of AK-pattern rifles.
This gun’s receiver is milled from a hot-die hammer-forged receiver blank. The process results in a stronger steel with a finer grain. Even your normal non-stamped receivers are generally produced from standard bar stock, but not this Arsenal. According to the company, each blank takes more than 5 hours of milling before it’s ready for assembly.
Similarly, the SF designates this particular variant as a side-folding AK. The skeletonized stock is far more rigid than the classic-cool underfolder designs, and it locks into place on the right side of the receiver with a spring-loaded tab that keeps it nicely secured. This keeps the optics rail free, and the charging handle still runs with the stock folded.
The folding stock is just one next-gen feature on the SAM7SF, but my personal favorite is the ingenious thumb safety selector located on the left side of the pistol grip. This safety fixes two issues that I normally hate on AK-pattern rifles.
First, it allows me to check the status of the gun’s safety with my thumb instead of having to shift the gun to look at the lever. Second, I can finally run the AK platform without shifting my shooting hand to operate the safety between strings of fire.
I love it.
Arsenal opted for weight reduction and durability when it came to furniture. The pistol grip and handguard are made from reinforced polymer. There’s a stainless-steel heat shield tucked inside the handguard. I burned through 90 rounds as fast as I could without feeling the need to shift my grip or let the rifle cool before continuing.
In addition to the traditional AK-pattern sights that offer up to 800-meter adjustments, there’s a scope rail on the left side. I ran Arsenal’s second-generation low-profile SM-23 scope mount for most of my testing with a Vortex Viper PST 1-6x24 LPVO. That’s a fairly beefy optic for a relatively lightweight AK, but the rail, mount, and optic survived just fine.
I’ve been a bit negligent to get this far without mentioning the SAM7SF’s enhanced FIME Group FM-922EUS trigger group. Offering a scant 2.8-pound break, this two-stage trigger has a light 1.7-pound take-up with 0.25 inches of travel to the wall.
Unlike most slappy AK triggers, this one is easy to stage at the wall for more accurate shooting. There’s 0.1 inches of further travel to break through the wall. That’s followed by a positive 0.15 inches of reset.
As far as AK triggers go, this one is borderline luxurious for a factory gun. It runs fast but still provides enough finesse to crack off well-timed shots. AKs are hardly known for having good – or even predictable – triggers, so it’s worth noting that Arsenal put the work in on this one. That quality showed well on the range, too.
Finally, we have extras like bayonet/accessory lugs with extra sling points on the stock, receiver, and forend.
Specifications
Here’s a quick rundown of the basic specs for the SAM7SF:
Weight (Empty): 7.15 pounds
Total Length: 38.12 inches
Folded Length: 28.35 inches
Barrel Length: 16.25 inches
Sight Radius: 14.5 inches
Caliber: 7.62x39mm
Capacity: 30 (standard)
Barrel Threads: 24x1.5mm, right-hand twist
Rifling: Four grooves, chrome lined
Twist Rate: 1:240mm (1:9.44 inches)
Receiver Type: Milled, hot-die hammer-forged steel
Trigger Type: Two-stage FIME Group FM-922EUS
Trigger Pull: 2.8 pounds
Trigger Travel: 0.35 inches
Trigger Reset: 0.15 inches
You may have noticed that Arsenal does things a bit extra, and that includes the specifications it lists with its guns. The company lists other handy specs that most other manufacturers skip. However, they are useful for those less familiar with AK-pattern rifles.
Useful shooting specs include:
Muzzle Velocity: ~2,329 fps (standard ball ammo)
Effective Range: 437 yds (400 meters on this gun’s sights)
Maximum Range: 1,476 yds
Rate of Fire: 40 rounds/minute (Arsenal’s “practical” rate)
Rear Sight Max Range: 875 yards (i.e., 800 meters)
Range Testing
I’ll start by stating that this is the flattest-shooting factory AK I’ve gotten to test in nearly five years of writing reviews for Guns.com. The overall build quality of the rifle deserves some of the credit, but that lovely AK-74-type muzzle brake gets the rest.
That brake tames recoil and muzzle climb exceptionally well for standard 123-grain 7.62mm bullets. That recoil control was great for fast shooting, but the enhanced two-stage FIME trigger group excelled for accuracy testing.
Most of the AKs I test get decent accuracy, but I always have to caveat that by saying something like, “for an AK-pattern rifle.” Unfortunately, match-grade 7.62x39mm ammo was not in my inventory for testing. However, I was still very pleased with what I saw from the budget-friendly ammo I did have on hand.
I put 800 rounds through this Arsenal SAM7SF without any failures. That’s not unheard of for AK rifles, but it’s always worth pointing out.
My test ammo included 300 rounds of 123-grain brass-cased Ammo Inc. FMJ, 200 rounds of 123-grain brass-cased PMC Bronze FMJ, 200 rounds of 123-grain steel-cased hollow-point Wolf, 40 rounds of 123-grain Sterling Steel Case Select, 40 rounds of 123-grain brass-cased Belum Tactical FMJ, and 20 rounds of 125-grain lead-nosed Remington Core-Lokt.
For my accuracy testing, I settled on the 123-grain PMC Bronze FMJ. I shot my test groups at 50 yards. Part of that was simply due to range availability. However, it also eliminated some other variables, since my LPVO scope only offered 6x magnification, and my budget ammo was not exactly precision quality.
I did my shooting off a simple shooting bag to somewhat limit the amount of user influence on the results. Here’s what I got out of that budget-friendly PMC ammo for accuracy.
I always seemed to sling one round a bit off, which spread my total group sizes. I ran a second test on another range visit.
I have never found AK-pattern rifles to be exceptionally accurate, but we can extrapolate the 100-yard MOA by doubling our group size. Taking four targets shot with the Vortex optic, here’s what we get.
I’m plenty happy with that kind of accuracy from a platform like this. It’s not precision-competition great, but it’s great for a 16.25-inch barrel flinging budget 123-grain 7.62x39mm AK ammo. I’m sure others could pull off better, but that’s pushing my boundaries.
Pros & Cons
Here’s my short list of the top pros and cons for the Arsenal SAM7SF.
Pros:
- Excellent build quality
- Extremely reliable
- Muzzle brake limits recoil and muzzle climb
- Milled, forged receiver
- Thumb and lever safeties
- Lightweight design
- Accurate
- Enhanced FIME FM-922EUS trigger group
- Folding, skeletonized stock
- Tons of other extra features like sling points, optics rail, etc.
Cons:
- Premium price because of the quality
- It’s very accurate, but not a precision rifle
-
Um, well, it’s not a full-auto gun, but is that even fair?
Final Thoughts
I look at guns like the Arsenal SAM7SF from a different perspective now that I’ve spent a few decades collecting and shooting guns. I started out as a budget-minded buyer, and I’m still very much a penny-pincher when it comes to most of my personal firearm purchases.
However, I’ve also put enough budget guns in my safe at this point to buy several Arsenal-built AKs. From an investment perspective, I wouldn’t mind going back and trading some of those low-cost purchases for higher-end guns like the SAM7SF. It’s a lifelong investment in a gun that will outlive me and, most likely, several generations that come after me.
For the money, you get a battle-ready rifle that has great upgraded features while still maintaining that classic AK feel. It’s a gun you can actually brag about and still hit the range for extensive, high-volume shooting sessions for many, many years to come.
