A Commie Classic In New Clothes
The basic chassis is 100 percent Kalashnikov. The receiver is stamped, and the trunnions are milled. There’s a polymer spacer within the gun’s guts to adapt the rifle action to fire a pistol cartridge. The top cover is pressed steel and pivots at the front like an AKSU-74. The stubby front sight base seems familiar when compared to other Century AK handguns. However, this is where the similarities stop.
The action is straight blowback. In place of a separate gas-driven bolt and bolt carrier, the recoil-driven bolt on the NAK9X is a single hefty piece. It’s massive, like T72-tank-massive. The charging handle is fixed to the bolt so it reciprocates with the action. This lets you manhandle the gun in the profoundly unlikely event it ever gets sticky. The safety is the standard AK pivoting ranch gate. Love it or hate it, with 100 million copies in service it definitely works.
The stamped sheet steel top cover has a Picatinny rail rigidly affixed. If this were a sniper weapon intended to ring steel at a kilometer, you’d fret about the tolerances. As this is a pistol-caliber room-clearing beast, it doesn’t matter. Given its pivoting design, the mount is plenty rigid for its intended purpose. I couldn’t make my copy wiggle.
The NAK9X feeds from standard GLOCK magazines and comes with a 33-round box for those living in a free state. Mags insert straight from the bottom, no rocking required and are held in place via a thumb-operated, side-mounted pushbutton.
The bolt does not lock back after the last round is fired, but the gun still runs plenty fast.
The iron sights are standard Kalashnikov. The front post is heavily fenced, while the sliding rear notch is adjustable for range out to 400 meters. However, since it fires the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, good luck.
The furniture is Magpul MOE, so you know it’s awesome. The forearm has plenty of M-LOK slots for accessories. Since the gun is considered a pistol you can legally mount an angled foregrip but not the vertical sort. I don’t understand it either, but it’s the law.
The muzzle is threaded a standard 1/2×28, so you can mount any common 9mm muzzle attachment. My NAK9X rocks a Gemtech GM9 sound suppressor. Thusly configured the gun easily pegs the cool meter.
The action of the NAK9X terminates at the rear trunnion but Century ships the gun with a buffer tube and Shockwave Pistol Stabilizing Brace installed. The Shockwave is a simple affair substantially enhancing the gun’s controllability, particularly when moving fast.
BATF was a bit indecisive about the legality of these marvelous devices early on, but we have since gotten a definitive resolution. It doesn’t matter how you hold or fire the gun, the addition of a PSB does not change the weapon’s pistol classification. The Shockwave is held in place via an ample Allen screw, letting you adjust the brace to suit your particular anatomy.