gunsamerica.com reports that their SHOT show preview of the Akdal MKA-1919 lit-up their website like the Christmas tree at 30 Rock. So the firearms blog pursued a review of the AR-15-style-that-doesn’t-use-genuine-AR-15-parts shotgun like a lingerie marketing maven chasing Candice Swanepoel. The result (of the gun review)? As my father used to say, “another myth exploded.” You don’t need to be able to read between the lines to see that the Akdal MKA-1919 makes a great club (rather than an excellent self-defense shotgun). But it helps. To wit: “Out of the box performance hasn’t had a great reputation, and our test gun didn’t work that well either . . .
The MKA-1919 needed a couple boxes of shells to run fairly reliably. Out of the box every magazine had at least one stovepipe or failure to extract until about 40 rounds in, which comes out to 8 magazines. This was with Federal target loads. Now she runs pretty well, but still experiences an occasional stovepipe jam. Once the gun looses up a bit more and comes apart and back together for cleaning, it will probably run reliably, but in today’s American firearms market, you really aren’t going to make it unless you can produce out of the box reliable guns.
But at least the Turisk scattergun’s better than the I Double M (It Must Be Modified) Saiga. Seemingly.
The 3 Gun customizers who have been working on Saiga guns for more than a decade seem to prefer the Akdal MKA-1919, so take that for what is worth. Saigas nearly always need serious work for hard shooting . . . The gun doesn’t work so good right out of the box . . . After my initial excitement about this gun at SHOT Show, it is something of a disappointment.”
Ya think?
Pity. I was just about to put one of these on layaway at my local shop. But I’m just not dropping $700 or $800 on something I have to tinker with to get it to work right.
Maybe if I could someone else figures out a working fix.
My Siaga shoots just fine. It may not run low brass bullsh*t ammo, but why would I want to?
My Saiga .308 runs like a top, my Saiga 12 ran great and I sold it to buy the .308. The guns run great if you don’t tinker with them. And if you do tinker with them stay away from Crapco parts and mags. If you want to compete with a Saiga you have to dump cash into it, they aren’t imported in a condition that makes competition easy. So complaining about spending money on 600 shotgun is laughable.
what a bummer, I thought these looked sweet and was a really creative idea…
I tend to agree with “it should run new out of the box flawlessly”
It does run flawlessly out of the box , heavy loads only, OObuck and slugs. Not set up for light loads but you can change out the spring and it’ll work. Call RAAC , they’ll get you a light load spring if that’s what you want your gun set for.
Regarding the ongoing practice of making cute allusions or references in a post utilizing a non sequitur, random model or pin-up girl…
…Keep up the good work.
+1
40 rounds is 2 boxes which is about $16. I can live with that small a break in period (heck, I had Kimbers that required more). I would only consider this gun for 3Gun matches, so I would need to know how it holds up after 500-1000 rounds.
I have one of these. Actually only shot 2 mags of 3″ slugs then tried walmart 71/2 target loads. After the 2 mags of 3″ no issues. At least 300 rounds through it in one day. I did take apart and clean/lube before doing this. So far, very HAPPY!
I think this is just more proof that the shotgun is a technological dead end in the firearms world.
The shotgun rolls flawlessly with OObuck and slugs , it is set up for heavy loads , not light loads. You can change the spring out and it’ll roll that light stuff fine.
Kahr pistols require (both by maker recommendation and what I’ve read from owners) a break in period, yet owners generally seem happy with them. I would still consider buying one of these – if I could.
Meh…I did the break in period (200 rounds) with no name Academy brand 9mm on my CW9. The result? Zero failures to fire or eject. Ever since (about 1K rounds)? Zero failures. YMMV but I think most of that stuff is just a CYA. Though the trigger pull has gotten smoother over that 1K rounds, it’s a joy to shoot now.
I
I have 2 Saiga 12′s.One 2008 and a 2011.Both run 100%.I do not like the drum mag
used in the shot gun,it’s cuts into load time and bulky.I guess a day on the range shooting is fine,but in terms of reloading and engaged,ill pass.I learned one thing,each one is independent.The 2011 needed gas ports opened more,2008 runs 100% stock.Both guns are ready for self def in confidence.
Committee Chairman Renzhou Jiang announced Project Foundation
The MKA 1919 is ( out of the box) not set up for light loads. This can be adjusted by replacing the spring. Clyde Woods at RAAC will be glad to help you set up this shotgun any way you like. I use 00 buck and slugs , heavy loads , and it’ll roll flawlessly. The target market for this gun was police and military. Out of the box they didn’t intend for it to be a ‘toy’.
I bought a 1919 had a problem with it out of the box,it would only fire like one round out of five, tightened up the nuts inside the hand rail, its getting better using slugs but still have to tighten the nuts after each mag that i shoot, getting 4 out of 5 shots fired , its breaking in i guess . thinking i will put lock tight on those nuts above the spring, anyone else had this problem?
Actually I’ve had wonderful luck with this shotgun. I will admit the first 100 rounds were not that great but after that I don’t think it has burped since and I’ve put several hundred rounds through it. From light bird shot to 3 inch slugs it works great. Sorry about your luck with yours but I love mine.
has anyone else had a problem with the gun not firing shells.sometimes fires fine and other times just leaves a small divit in the primer, i put the same shell with divet in my winchester pump and it never fails to fire
My Akdal BONZ 1919 worked great right of the box with heavy loads…buckshot and slugs…bird loads need a lighter spring…but who wants to shoot bird loads thru this anyway? I bought this for home defense. Back before the mass shootings…I got a case of RIO brand 00 for a great price and worked flawlessly. The only issue I’ve had is with the cheap front ar style sight. It kept turning under the recoil…tighten the screws down as far as they would go and it still rotated after a few rounds….so I removed the front post and carry handle and mounted a reflex sight. BAM! perfect!
By the way…..dont forget to remove the choke for the slug rounds!!!
Akdal has a next generation model, the Akdal MKA-1919 XN. According to RAAC, the differences are:
* XN has a commonized magazine that fits both size shells, 2 3/4 and 3 inch;
* XN has a reverse thread locking nut on the op rod to keep the barrel tight. Early guns have the tendency to work loose after firing;
* XN shotguns have a gas system that has been reworked to give about 30% more power coming out of the barrel. This helps on break in for those of us that try to break the shotgun in with low power shells;
* XN shotguns also have a metal trigger;
I thought the readers would be interested in the latest and greatest.
glocks need 1500 to 2000 to break in. why would a break in period be used to consider the reliabilty of any gun? if you want to shoot some light loads reliably man up and put a few hundred big boy shells through it to loosen it up. or there is parts you can change to allow you to shoot ight loads out the box but then you will have to worry about reliabilty problems later on. guns that need a break in is not a bad thing.