hands of foreign intelligence. Century’s Centurion 39 Sporter Rifle took two years of engineering time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tooling to bring to fruition. The Centurion is based on the early AK milled receiver (circa 1951-59). Century had three choices for the production of their receiver: a milled receiver, a cast receiver or a stamped AKM-type receiver. A fully milled design was selected because it simply radiates quality and durability. Milled Steel The Centurion receiver begins life as an 11-pound block of 4140 ordnance-quality steel. After it’s cut and shaped into a rigid AK receiver, the end product weighs a mere 1-1/2 pounds. On my Sunbeam scale, the total Centurion with an unloaded magazine weighs in at a handy 8 pounds, 2 ounces. There’s a new feel to Century’s AK as well. The fixed buttstock is 1" longer than standard military models, and it’s a significant improvement. The standard fixed AK stock has always felt a bit unnatural to me. Mounting it, you feel like you’re scrunched up in a firing position. Frankly, it’s much easier to compensate for a long stock, if needed, than one too short. With commercial ammunition and open sights, CIA’s AK will easily hold 2" at 50 yards. Century got it right with their new stock. It mounts easily, positions your face more naturally along the comb line and places your hand in a better position for positive trigger control. Century’s proprietary upper and lower handguards are a revelation. Formed from a high-strength polymer, they provide four Picatinny rails—top, bottom, right and left—for mounting sights, lights and lasers. The lower handguard is a particularly nice design for comfort. Just behind the right and left rails is a generous, checkered panel for grasping the foreend. One of the typical problems with side mounted Picatinny rails is if they’re left uncovered, they bite the hand holding them. Not so with the new Century design. Light Up With the growing popularity of vertical fore-end grips on tactical weapons, it was a natural to mount Century’s Picatinny rail compatible, MTL-225, high output, 225 lumen LED, tactical fore-end grip on the Tactical Laser Illuminator 125+ Lumens Class IIIa Visible Red Laser Ambidextrous Rocker Switch Constant or Momentary Operation Three Rail Interface Options Limited Lifetime Warranty To find a dealer call or log-on: Toll Free: 866-509-2040 WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM 33 InsightTechnology.com
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