PSA AK-104 Review | What A Pleasant Surprise

AK-104 Review | Palmetto State Armory

Affordable American-made AKs would've been a good punchline to a joke years ago, but now with Palmetto State Armory's new line of AKs, we are seeing this dream come true right in front of our eyes. PSA has come a long way from their start of selling decent budget parts for your build kit, but now we're seeing their completes get put to the test. How will the new AK-104 compete? Let's find out.

Relationship and First Impressions

Let's start by disclosing something significant to me; what is my relationship with PSA? This is an easy question to answer; we don't have one. We asked for a gun to borrow for review purposes, and they were not able to send one. So we asked if we could have some form of writers discount, which they could not give us either. We want to make it clear that this doesn't leave any positive or negative bias on our end; we simply don't have a relationship with PSA. That said, we bought the gun at the total price, and we'll keep it around for a while.

We've heard everyone else's comments online: things like the PSA completes start failing after 1000 rounds or that they aren't made with longevity in mind. While we haven't quite put 1000 rounds through it yet, we will use it for comparisons and general shooting until we get an entire decision on if the quality holds up after a few thousand rounds to get put through it. So stick around for an update on our experience in the future.

Standing Out

There are a few things that drew us to the gun initially. The price is relatively affordable at around $1,100, that's not very unreasonable for an American-made AK. The short 12.5-inch barrel is also great, and the ergonomics are excellent for someone who doesn't usually shoot AKs.

The unique thing about this AK has to be the dust cover. Most AKs have a problem with losing their zero when cleaning, but this dust cover instead uses a hinge. Our testing found no issues losing our zero when cleaning the gun.

Overall Feelings

So far, this gun has been accurate and reliable while also comfortable in the hands. Granted, we haven't fired thousands of rounds through it, but we will keep updated on how it performs with time. As far as 7.62 AKs go, I think PSA has them figured out. We did eventually get our AK-105 in, and that one has been giving us some problems. This gun, however, has been enjoyable to shoot. The trigger is a standout feature as an incredibly well-made part of this gun; it breaks nicely with a short reset while still being light as a feather. Whatever flak we've seen on PSA, those comments are going to slowly disappear if they keep on track by making awesome guns like these. I highly recommend the 104 to anyone in the market looking for a solid American-made AK.