Some articles of information in this review were provided by "Anders", co-author of the Practical Survival blog http://thepracticalsurvivalist.blogspot.com/
SGL 21-94
The SGL 21-94 perhaps the closest thing one could get to a factory-made AK-103 in the United States. Made in the same factory as the Russian AK-103s, the SGL 21-94 was imported into the United States in an import-legal configuration as a Saiga sporter. After arriving in Las Vegas, Nevada, FIME Group, LLC., (previously Arsenal, Inc.) put them back into their "non-sporting" configuration: pistol grip, folding stock, standard handguards, muzzle brake, et cetera. The fit and finish are absolutely superb (though the finish is easy to scratch as it is paint-over-parkerization). Every part moves very smoothly as you would expect from a genuine, Russian AK. Outside of civilian clones, the actual AK-103 is used by some Russian police and special forces units (Spetsnaz), as well as the Venezuelan military. As mentioned, the rifle is chambered for 7.62x39mm and accepts any standard AK/AKM magazine.
As mentioned, here's a look at the SGL 21-94, the side-folding variant in the SGL 21-series of rifles. Here we see the right-hand side of the rifle, showing us sling swivel locations, etc. Let's go ahead and take a closer look at this rifle starting at the muzzle. Note that while this rifle is sold as a "clone" of the AK-103, there are many small differences between these rifles and their true, all-Russian, military-used counterparts. For the average shooter, these differences do not matter. For someone looking for a 1:1 down-to-the-last-detail clone, it could very well matter, however.
The muzzle of the SGL 21-94 features a US-made brake from Arsenal. It is the same brake found on all of their rifles, and it is kind of a knock-off of the true AK-100 series muzzle brakes found in Russia. However, "knock-off" simply refers to the build details. Its effectiveness is the same as the true military devices. These brakes are practically identical to those found on the AK-74 series of rifles, as well, as the SGL 21-94 utilizes a front sight block with a 24x1.5mmRH thread pitch for muzzle devices. This allows it to still use the larger, AK-74-style muzzle brakes, albeit with a slightly enlarged bore in the break to ensure there are no bullet strikes when firing.
This brake has not changed substantially in overall design in relation to the original AK-74 brake: a large expansion chamber immediately after the muzzle which also has three gas ports that help direct muzzle gases in a fashion that reduces muzzle climb and drift. At the front of the expansion chamber are two "half-moon" slits. These slits force gases forward at a fairly high rate of speed, and these gases then contact the front face of the muzzle brake that houses the bayonet ring mount. When the gases hit the forward face of the brake, this pushes the rifle forward slightly, reducing felt recoil. Thus, the SGL 21-94 is going to have a lessened amount of felt recoil and muzzle movement in comparison to, say, any other 7.62' AK variant you may handle.
This brake has not changed substantially in overall design in relation to the original AK-74 brake: a large expansion chamber immediately after the muzzle which also has three gas ports that help direct muzzle gases in a fashion that reduces muzzle climb and drift. At the front of the expansion chamber are two "half-moon" slits. These slits force gases forward at a fairly high rate of speed, and these gases then contact the front face of the muzzle brake that houses the bayonet ring mount. When the gases hit the forward face of the brake, this pushes the rifle forward slightly, reducing felt recoil. Thus, the SGL 21-94 is going to have a lessened amount of felt recoil and muzzle movement in comparison to, say, any other 7.62' AK variant you may handle.
Also borrowed from the AK-74 series is the rifle's gas block. As mentioned, these rifles use an AK-74-style front sight, so they also feature that same integrated bayonet lug. Since under-barrel grenade launchers for the AK series need a lug at the gas block, though, the bayonet lug at that area is still retained (it also helps retain the cleaning rod). So, why the use of a 90 degree, AK-74 gas block? While bullet shear is not a big issue at all on 7.62x39mm AKs, the Russians figured "why not?" No reason to build separate gas blocks for the 7.62' variants of the '100-series if the new, 90-degree blocks aren't causing any problems. It helped keep their prices down and speed up production.
On this particular rifle, the gas tube has been replaced with an aftermarket rail (the standard gas tube can be found on the SGL 21-61 review). This particular rail is an Ultimak M-1B gas tube rail (won't go into too many details on it), but this is not a purely American addition. Photographs exist of Russian special forces using these exact same gas tubes, and since the AK-103 is really only used by special forces in Russia, anyway, this Ultimak really isn't out of place. The AimPoint optic will be discussed later.
The lower handguard on this rifle, at the time of review, had been left stock. It is the standard black polymer found an pretty much every AK-74M, AK-101, AK-102, AK-103, etc. The Russians managed to get the durability they wanted with black plastics in the late 1980s, right around when the AK-74 was being perfected, and the AK-74M was being designed to replace it, so that's what all the new-production AKs use, as well. They do a great job at dissipating heat while still being a pretty ergonomic design. They use the same mold design as the plum handguards before them, as well as a heat shield to help diffuse barrel heat. Only the color of the polymer has changed in comparison to the plum furniture before it.
The lower handguard on this rifle, at the time of review, had been left stock. It is the standard black polymer found an pretty much every AK-74M, AK-101, AK-102, AK-103, etc. The Russians managed to get the durability they wanted with black plastics in the late 1980s, right around when the AK-74 was being perfected, and the AK-74M was being designed to replace it, so that's what all the new-production AKs use, as well. They do a great job at dissipating heat while still being a pretty ergonomic design. They use the same mold design as the plum handguards before them, as well as a heat shield to help diffuse barrel heat. Only the color of the polymer has changed in comparison to the plum furniture before it.
Moving back to the receiver, you'll notice the top cover on the SGL 21-94 is a little different than the AKs before it; some may even refer to them as "retro." Why's that, though? As you may or may not know, the first AKs adopted (1949-1958) has a smooth receiver cover, but that was later replaced with a reinforced, ribbed top cover. With the '74M and '100 series, the smooth cover was reintroduced since the material quality has improved, and a slightly thicker, smooth cover is faster to produce. Also visible from this angle are the rifle's safety and the rifle's magazine. Let's go ahead and take a look at those, starting with the magazine.
The AK-103 uses the same style of magazine set-up as every other AK variant you'll find. Rock-and-lock, using a spring-loaded tab to retain the magazine via a rear lug. Let's go ahead and remove the magazine.
In order to do so, you'll want to depress the magazine release tab. Simply press it forward with your thumb while grabbing the magazine body with your palm and fingers.
While depressing the magazine release tab, go ahead and begin rotating the magazine out of the rifle's magazine well. You'll want to rotate the bottom of it towards the muzzle of the rifle, as seen here.
Here is the magazine removed from the rifle. This particular magazine is a "Bakelite" (in quotations as it is not made of actual Bakelite) magazine made by Tula. These magazines were made in the late-'60s/early-'70s for the AKM series just before the AK-74 was adopted. They're basically the 7.62' version of AK-74 magazines. Current-issue AK-103 magazines differ in that they are made from modern polymer, sometimes vertically ribbed along the sides, sometimes slabsided like this.
On to the safety of the rifle. It is just like any other safety you'll find on an AK variant. Seen here in the uppermost position, the rifle is on "safe." The safety physically prevents the trigger from being depressed, and also prevents the bolt from cycling rearward enough to chamber and/or eject a cartridge.
Moving the safety to the downward position puts the rifle on "fire." As you can see, this allows the charging handle to move fully rearward and exposes the charging handle's cut-out in the receiver cover. If this were to be a true, select-fire, military-use AK-103, the safety would be moved up about a centimeter to a center position that allows for fully-automatic fire. Since this is a civilian rifle, though, there are only "safe" and "fire" selector positions: semi-automatic fire only.
As mentioned, with the safety "off," you can pull the charging handle fully rearward to chamber and/or eject a round. As we can see, the rifle is clear: while it may not be totally visible, the chamber and barrel of this rifle are chrome-lined.
NOTE: The rifle can also be chamber-checked with the safety on.
NOTE: The rifle can also be chamber-checked with the safety on.
On the opposite side of the receiver, we see this strange protrusion. In 1991, with the adoption of the AK-74M, all new AKs were to be made with this dovetail mount. This mount is, as mentioned, a "male" dovetail. Russian optics tend to have an integrated, "female" dovetail mount, so to install an optic on this rifle, you'd simply slide it in place on this rail.
Since the mounts have a stopper built into them to prevent them from being mounted too far forward and hold themselves via an adjustable friction lever, these Russian-style optics are quick-detachable, but will also return to zero upon reinstallation assuming you've adjusted them properly for your rifle. A very cool feature for any rifle: if your optic goes down, you can remove it in half a second and switch to iron sights. Once you get that battery replaced or mud cleaned off of it, just throw it back on the rifle and you should still be zeroed.
Since the mounts have a stopper built into them to prevent them from being mounted too far forward and hold themselves via an adjustable friction lever, these Russian-style optics are quick-detachable, but will also return to zero upon reinstallation assuming you've adjusted them properly for your rifle. A very cool feature for any rifle: if your optic goes down, you can remove it in half a second and switch to iron sights. Once you get that battery replaced or mud cleaned off of it, just throw it back on the rifle and you should still be zeroed.
The AK-100-series buttstock, since it folds to the left-hand side of the rifle, features a rectangular cut-out. This is so it clears the optics rail mentioned previously, but only when no optics are installed: these stocks will not fold with an optic in place. Since optics are quick-detachable, though, and return to zero, that's not a huge issue. Rarely ever will you be folding your stock, anyway. Worth mentioning, a true AK-100 series rifle (or any military sidefolder) would have a pistol grip reinforcement plate spotwelded to the bottom of the receiver, between it and the pistol grip. The SGL series of rifles did not have these installed by Arsenal/FIME when converted into sidefolders, however. You may have also noticed that this particular buttstock has a bit of a weird buttplate. Let's go ahead and take a look at it a bit closer and see what all it does.
On the left side of the buttplate, you'll notice that it extends forward into the buttstock a bit. Note that there is also a ramped cut-out in the buttstock leading to it: this is half of the mechanism that secures the rifle in the folded position, which we'll take a look at in just a moment. For now, let's look at the back of the buttplate itself.
The rear of the buttplate is like any other AK: it features a trap door that houses an internal cleaning kit capsule. By depressing this trap door (suggested to do so from the top with the thumb), a spring inside the buttstock will push the first centimeter or so of the internal cleaning kit capsule out of the buttplate. You can then grab it, open it up, and use it with the rifle.
You will also notice a large block protruding from the buttplate. This block is spring-loaded, so don't worry about recoil: when shouldering the rifle, this button sits flush with the buttplate. Firing the AK-74M or any AK-100-series rifle feels no different than firing a fixed-stock AK variant.
You will also notice a large block protruding from the buttplate. This block is spring-loaded, so don't worry about recoil: when shouldering the rifle, this button sits flush with the buttplate. Firing the AK-74M or any AK-100-series rifle feels no different than firing a fixed-stock AK variant.
So, on the rear-right of the receiver of these AKs, you'll see a rectangular piece that is rounded on the front side. This is part of the folding mechanism. This side simply prevents the parts from falling out due to how it's designed, so let's go ahead and take a look at the "active" parts of the mechanism.
On the rear-left of the receiver, you'll see a circular button. This one you can push in: it disengages the stock from its spring-loaded lock in the rear trunnion of the receiver, allowing it to fold.
To fold your stock, you're going to want to depress this button with your thumb. I've found that it's easiest to do so if you're grabbing the wrist of the buttstock with the rest of your hand.
Once the button is fully depressed, simply rotate the stock to the left side of the receiver and push it against the receiver until it snaps into place (we'll look at this shortly). For now, let's see what exactly makes the stock fold, though. As you can see here, there is a hinge on the left of the receiver. On the right, you can see a metal block inside the receiver's rear trunnion. Note the folded buttstock: see that elongated cut-out on the side of it? That metal block is basically a hook (the rearmost portion of the right-hand side of the button) that engages that cutout. Due to constant spring pressure forcing it inwards, when the stock is extended, it is locked solidly into place. Be depressing the button, that hook is moved out of the way of the stock so it may be rotated freely. Now, let's go ahead and see just how the stock locks into the folded position.
At the front-left of the receiver, you'll see a spring-loaded hook (its axis pin being visible on the bottom of the receiver). This hook serves the sole purpose of locking the stock in the folded position. Let's go ahead and see just how it does that.
Here we see the hook from an upward angle. You can easily see the hook on the receiver here, and you'll also see that buttplate from earlier. That "flap" on the buttplate pushes the hook backwards when the stock is pressed flush against the receiver. Once the hook clears the buttplate, it springs back forward inside that ramped cut-out in the stock itself. Thus, it locks the stock in place simply by holding onto the buttplate. How do you unfold it, though? The hook can't be reached with your finger like on a metal, triangle-stocked AK variant. Let's find out.
Remember that spring-loaded block on the buttplate? It is shaped in a way that allows it to contact that hook holding the stock secure. By depressing it, you are also pushing the metal hook backwards, disengaging the stock from its latch, allowing it to be unfolded.
To lock the stock in the unfolded position, simply unfold it with a little bit of force. New AK-100-series rifles can have their stocks unfolded with relative ease, but many get a little worn over time and perhaps get some debris or burrs in the mechanism. All that amounts to is you needing to handle the stock a little rougher when unfolding it. Just treat it like an AK, basically.
To lock the stock in the unfolded position, simply unfold it with a little bit of force. New AK-100-series rifles can have their stocks unfolded with relative ease, but many get a little worn over time and perhaps get some debris or burrs in the mechanism. All that amounts to is you needing to handle the stock a little rougher when unfolding it. Just treat it like an AK, basically.
Here's a look at the SGL 21-94 when the stock's folded. As you can see, it sits out of the way enough to where, if for whatever reason you needed to, you could still operate all of its controls easily regardless of which "handed" you are; left-handed or right-handed. While it is not at all recommended to fire with the stock folded simply due to it being massively ineffective, it is still possible to do so.
Let's go ahead and take this rifle apart. Like any other AK variant, you'll want to start by finding the take-down button at the rear of the receiver cover. Once you've found it, depress it with your thumb. This will disengage the receiver cover from the rifle's receiver. Next step is pretty simple, so we'll make it brief.
While depressing the take-down button, simply lift up on the receiver cover and pull it off of the receiver. This may be difficult at first, but the parts will eventually loosen up a tiny bit over time, making disassembly a bit easier.
The take-down button is built into the recoil spring assembly. As you can see here, it is held in place in the rear trunnion under its own spring tension. There is a lip at the rear of the trunnion preventing it from going too far backwards, and since it sits in grooves in the trunnion itself, it won't move sideways or lift out the top of it, either. Thus, we'll need to push it forward.
If you grab a hold of the spring assembly like so, you can simply pull it out of the rear trunnion. Once it has disengaged its grooves and is free of the receiver, you're almost there.
Once the recoil spring free of the receiver's rear trunnion, go ahead and lift the spring assembly above the receiver and pull it out the rear of the rifle like so.
With the spring removed, you can go ahead and remove the bolt-carrier assembly from the rifle. You need to make sure the selector switch is in the "fire" position first, then grab a hold of the charging handle and start pulling rearwards.
Note here how the rear of the bolt-carrier is running into the hammer here. This is going to cause some friction, so if you encounter some resistance when removing the bolt-carrier, think nothing of it. This is something that happens with all AKs.
Note here how the rear of the bolt-carrier is running into the hammer here. This is going to cause some friction, so if you encounter some resistance when removing the bolt-carrier, think nothing of it. This is something that happens with all AKs.
You'll be moving the bolt-carrier fully rearwards in the receiver. As you can see here, there is a cut-out in its rails at the back of the receiver. This allows the bolt-carrier to be disengaged from the rifle.
Once disengaged, the hammer will again press up on the assembly (this time from underneath the bolt face itself), and that will push the bolt-carrier assembly itself up and out of the receiver as seen here. To remove it, simply lift it up out of the receiver and pull it rearward until the piston exits the gas tube.
To remove the bolt on the AK series, you'll need to rotate the carrier assembly to where it's upside-down, as mentioned. The bolt will likely be in the forward, unlocked position seen here.
Begin removal by pushing the bolt almost completely rearwards into the locked position. Pay attention to the flat cut of the bolt stem near the lugs. If the bolt is too far rearwards, this will prevent it from being rotated/removed. This is to help keep the bolt locked in place when chambering to fire, but it can be a little frustrating when disassembling if you aren't used to it.
Once you've got the bolt positioned properly, go ahead and rotate it 180 degrees. This will get the locking lugs out of their cam grooves, freeing it from the entire bolt-carrier assembly itself.
Once disengaged from the bolt-carrier, simply pull the bolt forward. It will come out of the carrier assembly at that point, and you'll be good to go for basic cleaning.
If you're using a stock-configuration rifle, this step is for you: removal of the gas tube. To remove the gas tube, locate the gas tube lever as seen here. See that flat side of the gas tube lever's axis? Pay attention to it. Worth mentioning, what's interesting to see here is that this particular SGL 21-94 features a mid/late-1980s gas tube lever even though it was made in 2011. The gas tube lever found on the SGL 21-61 is actually the correct lever for an AK-74M or other AK-100 series rifle, so finding this style of gas tube on an AK-103 clone is somewhat peculiar (although at least one other SGL 21-94 has been located in this configuration, as well).
Take the lever and rotate it upwards. You'll be rotating it upwards until that flat piece sits vertical. In this vertical position, the gas tube would be freed from the rifle: lift it off to remove it.
The Ultimak gas tubes are secured by two barrel bands screwed and loctited into place, so they are not to ever be removed from the rifle. I'll go ahead and address how it should be cleaned if ever you feel it should be.
The Ultimak gas tubes are secured by two barrel bands screwed and loctited into place, so they are not to ever be removed from the rifle. I'll go ahead and address how it should be cleaned if ever you feel it should be.
If you're using an Ultimak gas tube rail or any other type of rail/accessory that disallows you from removing the gas tube, lest you lose your optic's zero, there is a pretty easy way to clean the gas tube when needed with no worries about your optic. What you're seeing here is the rear of the rear sight block/beginning of the gas tube channel. Simply get a cleaning rod, attach a 12 Gauge bore brush, and go to town on it. A cleaning rod with a bore brush/patched/etc. will get your gas tube and gas block as clean as it'd ever need to be.
Next step: muzzle brake removal. As you can see here, the muzzle brake is held in place with a detent pin. This pin is spring-loaded, preventing the muzzle devices from rotating out of their proper timing during firing.
To remove any muzzle device, simply depress that spring-loaded detent with a punch or your thumbnail. Once it's depressed fully, just start rotating the muzzle brake off of the front sight threads.
These 24x1.5mm RH muzzle devices and threads are what needs the most attention during cleaning. Due to the expansion chamber and loose fit of AK parts in general, carbon and corrosive substances left behind by the fired cartridge can work their way into the threading. If neglected, this can cause rust that more or less makes the device attach itself to the rifle permanently. Since the SGL series uses non-chromed muzzle devices (unlike military rifles), this can be an even bigger issue, especially if using corrosive surplus ammunition. Liberal applications of CLP or even a light coating of graphite will keep your threads preserved between firing sessions. Be sure to clean the inside of the brake, as well.
These 24x1.5mm RH muzzle devices and threads are what needs the most attention during cleaning. Due to the expansion chamber and loose fit of AK parts in general, carbon and corrosive substances left behind by the fired cartridge can work their way into the threading. If neglected, this can cause rust that more or less makes the device attach itself to the rifle permanently. Since the SGL series uses non-chromed muzzle devices (unlike military rifles), this can be an even bigger issue, especially if using corrosive surplus ammunition. Liberal applications of CLP or even a light coating of graphite will keep your threads preserved between firing sessions. Be sure to clean the inside of the brake, as well.
Last thing to be removed is the cleaning rod. Since the SGL 21-94 uses an AK-74-style front sight assembly, the cleaning rod is pretty easy to remove. Note where my thumb is here.
While difficult to do with one hand due to not being able to support the rifle completely, you can see here that applying some pressure to the cleaning rod behind the gas block lifts the cleaning rod's head clear of the sight threads. You can either do this or just use a punch through the hole in the cleaning rod's head to ensure it clears the muzzle threads.
A variation of the thumb-pressure technique is to give the cleaning rod a brief slap in the same location (between the handguard and gas block) while applying a little forward pressure. If done right, it should pop the cleaning rod right over the sight threads and an inch or more beyond the muzzle.
A variation of the thumb-pressure technique is to give the cleaning rod a brief slap in the same location (between the handguard and gas block) while applying a little forward pressure. If done right, it should pop the cleaning rod right over the sight threads and an inch or more beyond the muzzle.
Once the threads are cleared, simply grab the cleaning rod and pull down. This keeps it from scraping across the sight threads while pulling it forward, out of its fixtures in and on the rifle. It is simply held in by friction, so no rotation is needed. The basic field-strip has now been completed.
As mentioned before, here's that gas tube and its optic. It is an AimPoint Micro H1 with a 2MOA red dot reticle. They are one of the better optics you can get for an AK. We won't go into details on it too much since this is a gun review and not an optic review, but let's go ahead and see how the dot appears when aiming the rifle using only the dot.
Here's the sight picture as it'd appear with the aiming eye only. With both eyes open, the optic housing practically becomes invisible. Anyway, as you can see, the dot is pretty precise and is very easy to pick up. Even with the optic as far forward as it is, you've still got plenty of room for error with your cheekweld while still being able to stay on-target. Let's take a look at the iron sights on this rifle, though.
The SGL 21-94 uses the standard rear sight found on about any AK variant. It is graduated in hundreds of meters, going numerically from "1" to "10"; 100m to 1,000m. While the rifle's true effective range is really only about 400m, the 1,000m marking has been left on the rear leaf sight basically because "why not?" You may have also noticed that there is a "П" setting just behind the "1". This is not a sub-100m setting. Rather, this is a battlefield setting.
On the battlefield setting, the rifle is using the equivalent of a 300m zero. When aiming center-mass on an enemy soldier, this would keep the AK-103 on-target somewhere from neck-to-gut from point-blank clear out to 350m. As you can imagine, this makes for a very flexible zero.
On the battlefield setting, the rifle is using the equivalent of a 300m zero. When aiming center-mass on an enemy soldier, this would keep the AK-103 on-target somewhere from neck-to-gut from point-blank clear out to 350m. As you can imagine, this makes for a very flexible zero.
The front sight of the SGL 21-94 is pretty basic and traditional, too. To adjust elevation, you simply tighten or loosen the front post: it is threaded just like a screw into the windage drum. To adjust windage, simply drift said windage drum left or right in the sight housing. While not as high-tech as other rifle's sights, it is actually fairly easy to make precise adjustments with as this type of sight has infinite adjustment positions, practically speaking, opposed to set increments that may or may not overshoot your grouping when zeroing.
Here's a look down the rifle's iron sights. As you can see, it's the Russian standard of post-and-notch. You can also see that the AimPoint Micro on the Ultimak M-1B is still usable when using the iron sights: it allows a lower 1/3 cowitness. This is helpful if your optic's battery dies (perhaps you forgot it needed changed after the first five years of use) as you can simply revert to the iron sights until you swap batteries.
That about sums it up: the SGL 21-94/AK-103 is a pretty simple rifle. Since it's a rechambered AK-74M, I suppose one might consider it an "AKMM" of sorts; a sort of modernized AKM. Anyway, these rifles are pretty flexible, and the increased penetration from the 7.62x39mm round has really made it a popular choice with special forces in more urban areas, a great example of which being conflicts in Chechnya. It has also proven itself to be very effective in inherently closer-quarters fighting areas, again, such as cities or even forests where visibility is limited. The 7.62x39mm goes "far enough," and the extra penetration can come in handy there, as well. About the only things an AK-74M holds over these rifles are lighter magazine weights, lesser recoil, and an extra 100m or 200m of effective range.