The Mini Draco is a Romanian-made AK gun. It has a small barrel that emits fire. You don’t need to talk about 9mm, 10mm, or.45 ACP. Those are all pistol calibers. But, as the old adage goes, “The only good purpose of a pistol in firefight is to fight the path to your rifle.” I am referring to rifle calibers. Most people would prefer to have a rifle if things get bad. We resort to handguns, which have all the limitations of handgun calibers. But what if your gun is your rifle? It would negate all limitations handguns have. Century Arms’ Mini Draco is designed to accomplish this purpose. The Mini Draco is an AK pistol that chambers in the legendary 7.62x39mm Soviet cartridge. It was built in Cugir, Romania and imported by Century Arms. It’s a fun plinker, equipped with the Wolverine PBS-1 suppression. It is a stamped sheet metal receiver that incorporates rivets to hold the front and back trunnions in their original Kalashnikov design. It measures 17.5 inches in length and weighs 5.6 pounds with no magazine. Despite its small size, the Mini-Draco’s receiver is just as large as a standard AK. This is to be expected for an AK variant so small. The barrel and gas tube are shorter. However, to compensate for this, the front sight has been combined with the gas block. It is longer (measuring from fore to aft), so AK front sight windage adjustment tool will not work with it. The front sight spring-loaded retainer plunger secures it to the muzzle. The direction of the muzzle blast depends on which notch you choose. The bolt carrier, bolt assembly, and recoil spring assembly all work the same as a standard-length AK gun. To compensate for the shorter gas tube, the gas piston rod was removed and only the head of the piston rod is left. The bolt carrier has the head attached directly to the piston rod. The head has been cut from the piston rod and attached directly to the bolt carrier. The most important function of the recoil buffer is to prevent the bolt carrier/gas piston frothing. The recoil buffer looks a bit like it came from a 3D printer. It is also a bit rough around the edges. The longevity of a piece of rubber would have been better. The recoil buffer must be pulled out of the receiver (it is not attached) during disassembly. This is to allow for bolt carrier removal. This Mini Draco trigger doesn’t recognize Tapco so it looks more like a Romanian “government trigger”. It is a stock trigger though, so it works well. It had a pull weight of 5.1 pounds and a crisp break. I have pulled many worse Combloc triggers. There is no stock because it’s classified a pistol. The only furniture is the polymer pistol grip, and the front handguard. The handguard is made from blond plywood. It has an industrial-looking finish. The Mini Draco is an AK pistol that has a 7.75 inch barrel. It doesn’t have a top handgrip like most AKs. It’s here sporting a Wolverine PBS-1 suppressor by Dead Air Armament.
Century Arms has had some dings in the past about the roughness of their Romanian AKs. In general, they have been criticized for being “entry-level” AKs. The rivets are flush with the receiver surface and look great. I don’t see any creases, bends, or creases in the sheet metal. The exterior surfaces of the parts are free from machining marks, and the interior surfaces/parts look good. The magazine well is free of any burrs and the edges of any other sheet metal are also clean. It is extremely difficult to remove the safety selector from mine safely. It is difficult to remove the safety selector from mine safely, but that’s not a problem. The receiver end plate is too sharp. It’s right where the grip hand rests during shooting. The second is the finish. The second is the finish. It has a semi-course look to it, which is typical of AKs from Cugir/ROMARM. However, it seems to show wear quite easily. It’s been quite some time since I last owned it, so it’s not as new as I thought. It doesn’t bother my, but it might bother others, especially those who want to keep their “safe guardians looking minty.” The Mini Draco has a stamp sheet metal receiver, just like the AKM it was derived. All of these things are forgiveable, as the AK was never meant for being pretty. The most serious issue is the broken recoil buffer. It is against the ethos of the AK rifle’s 3D-printed polymer parts to be fragile. Mikhail Kalashnikov must be rolling in his grave. Although I don’t like the fragile part, it is easy to replace and it’s cheap. It’s not a deal breaker. The Recoil Buffer is an extremely important part. It looks like it was made by a 3D printer. It is extremely fragile. It is cracked through the bottom (bottom right), and the top chipping away. It hasn’t been run 300 rounds by the author.
The Mini Draco won’t be able to replace or replicate a rifle in terms of performance. It’s not going to be as effective at close ranges as 50 yards. In accuracy, it has many problems. The Mini Draco’s barrel is only 7.75 inches long, which is less than a competition-length handgun like the Glock G34, which has a 5.31 inch barrel. They averaged 4.74 inches five-shot groups at 50 yards. Red Army Standard had the best 3.0-inch group and G2 Research had the worst with a 6.0-inch group. G2 Research’s accuracy at 25 yards was significantly better with a 2.01 inch five-shot group. This data was not included in the article because I was unable to test all loads at this distance. These upgrades would make it a very accurate little AK. I was surprised to find that there were some malfunctions with my Mini Draco, but they were all magazine-related. During my testing phase, I had ten malfunctions and then my buddy had eight malfunctions in the thirty rounds he fired with a South Korean-made steelmagazine (I have never had any issues with this magazine before). All of these were situations where a round was loaded and it would fire, but the next round wouldn’t feed properly. My feed issues came from the South Korean magazine and one of the X-Tech magazines. Other magazines have been used by me, including Tapco, Polish surplus, and Russian steel surplus. I had no issues with them. This is the AK magazine model. It also includes a magazine “unloader.” This makes loading magazines easy, prevents sore or frozen fingers, and is even more shootable than you might think. The AK’s recoil impulse is quite mild. It’s a slower, spread out recoil that’s spread over time. Compared to other rifles like the AR, which can produce more recoil, it’s a more sharp crack.
The Mini Draco is a fun gun to use, and there aren’t many downsides. The range time is great, the barrel is 7.5 inches long, which makes it loud and shoots flames like a WWII flame thrower. If you are looking for a practical reason not to buy one, don’t. The Mini Draco is a great choice if you enjoy AKs and want to have some fun. The Mini Draco is small and loud, and it can be used for rifle or handgun range purposes. Target grids and bullseye sizes can be found in MOA. Get Free Targets
