Century Tantal worth it?

local shop has a tantal. i would like to get it, but have read lots of bad reviews on these rifles. have the issues (i.e. keyholing) been resolved or should i just spend my money on something else?

buy a wasr 10.

The tag on the gun needs to say 1:9 twist. If it does then you're good to go. The one I have, and many of the ones I have seen are very nice.

called the shop about the twist. guy told me there is nothing on the barrel and could not give a manufacture date. in response to my concerns, he told me century is selective in their customer service and that if i have these concerns about the barrel that i should just not buy the gun.

I assume he has the box, if it says: RI-1576 then it's 1:9 twist. Did he take the tag off the trigger guard? Pretty dumb for a dealer.

My century shoots true and straight. Recoil is almost 22ish, and ammo is cheap (corrosive milsurp and non-corrosive bear brand). Recommend: yes

Do the bullet test in the barrel, if it doesn't swallow the redline it's fine. In reality the only thing giving Tantals a bad rep is 5.56 barrels being thrown on by Century. Otherwise it's a great gun that you will enjoy tremendously.

That issue has ben corrected, as long as you have the model number mentioned above and or a 1/9 twist you'll be fine.

The recoil is still to much for my wife's surgically repaired shoulder. I wonder if I can make some sort of butt pad for her.

You can get a recoil buffer for about $10 or get a small slab of rubber and make your own. I have a new century tantal and love it!

Where did you see this? I've been doing some research about the keyhole issue, but haven't found anything saying CAI fixed the issue.

TIA

I just picked up one of these rifles, and have been putting it through it's paces. Here's what I've come up with:

My rifle came in a cardboard box with the caliber, model number, and serial number - there's two serial numbers: the arsenal one where you'd expect to find it, and C.A.I.'s on the bottom of the receiver, forward of the magwell, and virtually invisible - the second one is on the box and on the ATF's books evidently. It came equipped with an East German bakelite magazine painted black, a basic manual, and a fired cartridge case. I gave the rifle a very thorough cleaning, given I noticed the casing had rust inside it. C.A.I. apparently test-fires their Tantals, and packs them up with little cleaning. I'm not entirely sure who cleaned inside the receiver (dealer or C.A.I.), but the receiver itself was immaculate. The bolt face showed evidence of firing, as did the gas tube, gas block, and piston. I ended up cleaning some light rust from the gas tube and the gas block with Ballistol, as well as taking carbon out from inside the trunnion. Nothing was at a level that would affect reliability or operation, and the gas tube showed pitting that existed prior to refinish, but nothing that impacts performance. I lubricated the whole rifle with Ballistol.

After cleaning, I took the rifle to the Benning Rifle and Pistol club and zeroed it the rifle using Russian mil-spec 5N7 ammunition made in 1977 at factory number 60, loaded in Arsenal magazines. This wasn't a scientific bench-vise session, and I don't have one of those. I found that the rifle could shoot very consistent groups at 25 meters while zeroing, and had I bothered to stabilize my rest or been able to shoot prone off a sling, I have no doubt that my groups wouldn't have been far off an M4 - average groups were 2 to 3 inches, mostly due to shooting seated off the magazine, which is not a position I shoot from given I have never ever shot at someone in that position. I managed some good groups - dime to quarter sized as well. Once I was satisfied with the quick and dirty zero, I shot it at an M9 pistol silhouette target placed at 100 meters. My first shot group was dead on, high and slightly left of center within the 5 ring of the target, in a roughly 4"x4" group. Subsequent groups were about the same, but drifted directly left by six inches, and stayed there, until I drifted the front sight. I believe this may be due to my handling of the rifle as much as anything. The sight has a rather wide U aperture which I believe can lead to greater sighting errors when combined with the wire-style stock. As I've shot the rifle and practiced dry-fire with it, I'm getting a more consistent hold which helps compensate.

Unique features: There is a selector switch on the left side of the receiver, allowing ambidextrous manipulation as well as when the stock is folded. The recoil spring has a block that slides upward when the receiver cover is in place to retain it. The side folding stock locks solidly in both positions, and has zero play fully extended. Shooting this style stock takes some getting used to, but I compensate by "kissing" the sling which is just forward of the stock's hinge, but some slings more high-speed than a standard Romanian military one may not allow this technique. The gas tube and hand guards also deviate from standard Kalashnikov. These are retained by clips installed within the hand guards, a roll pin that must be drifted out, and a retaining lever is rotated. This is placed between the barrel and gas tube that is on a sliding plate that retains the forward ends of the hand guards. The muzzlebrake is retained in a standard Kalashnikov manner, and is spaced with a piece of spring steel off the front sight post. The Polish muzzlebrake is much trimmer than the style familiar to 5.45 caliber AKs. The muzzlebrake does it's job during long, rapid strings and impressed me, aiding in keeping my muzzle in the neighborhood of where I wanted my subsequent shots.

Overall, I've rapidly become a big fan of this rifle, nearly to preferring it over my S&W M&P 15R, and I've dropped a lot of money on my 15R. I plan to keep my Tantal completely stock, with the exception of a Black Jack Buffer and possibly putting a better sling on it. It's light and handy, I love shooting it, and I've been dying to get my hands on an AK74-style rifle for years in 5.45x39. As a Kalashnikov fan, I give this rifle a big thumbs-up.

Well earlier today I ordered 1 from Classic Arms. The lady on the phone, who by the way was very nice (didn't get her name), told me the Tantals they are selling are the "new" CAI Tantals with the 1/9 twist and they do not keyhole. She also assured me that if it did, but she again stressed it wouldn't, they would take the gun back. So I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Relax. I have one of the newer ones from classic and it does not keyhole, it fires great, and the only thing I had to do to get it zeroed was lower the front sight post about 3 turns. Great rifle for the price A+++ for classic arms.

Sweet, just what I wanted to hear. Now I need to stock up on 5.45, get a sling and a bayo.

i bought mine just a few days after i started this thread and i am yet to try the darned thing out! i can say the rifle passed the bullet test.


i got myself a few hundred rounds and hope to finally try her out tomorrow!

Since I'm in NC, it will be here tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll get to the range with it though. If I don' get to the range tomorrow, I'll have to wait until next Wed or Thu.

You can find a bayo here http://www.copesdistributing.net/product_info.php?products_id=686
as for a sling, I guess any will do. As for the gun...you'll be happy for sure. Try ammoman for ammo, rguns has it too. Buy in bulk I always say.

Thanks for the info!

I saw some earlier posts about the bayos on copes. They also have polish AK slings.

Ordered a crate of the 5.45, but I want to stock up. Plan is 10-12K

finally made it to the range today. i put maybe 150 rounds thru her; not a single hiccup. i used wolf and silver bear ammo. the last 2 mags were fired as fast as i could pull the trigger...not a single keyhole that i could see. the recoil was very low and the metal stock didnt feel uncomfortable at all. i noticed the gun seems to shoot a bit to the left, but its more likely user error than anything.

so far i am enjoying my century tantal.

Grats You going to try surplus?

Picked mine up a few hours ago. Won't get to the range till next week, but looks to be in excellent condition. Mags fit a little tight, but not something I can't live with. Noticed it has a tapco trigger. Do the Tantals use a different setup to hold the trigger pins in? Mine doesn't have the shepard's hook, instead it has something that looks a lot like the RSA retainer plate.

Serial number is in the 3xxx range

Great! The numbers on the box that my Tantal came in (serial number 035XX) say RI1436-X. I suppose that means I have the screwed, up, keyhole barrel? It's brand new. Will Century take it back and fix it just based on it having that number or do I have to go out and prove it keyholes?

No they wont, they will blame the ammo

I would spend the money on a different 5,45 platform.

I have gone through 3 tantals from Century. All of them keyholed, all of them were beautiful guns. The irony is that century would blame the ammo, then after enough bitching I finally got them to replace the gun, two more times......

Personally, if I were to own a century gun ( I do, a GP1975) I would stick with 7.62 platforms.

If you want a 5,45 there are many awesome options out there. I shot a Bulgarian 74 that was a TN guns build. It was a nice shooter, closely priced to the tantal.


just my $0.02

Ok stupid question..........what is "keyhole" mean?

shell doesn't hit straight on the target, it hits sort of on the side, one person around here had key-hole hell on a target, literally the shells were hitting the target on their sides, there's more to it and it has to do with the barrel

So far I've shot a little over 300 rounds through my CAI Tantal, but only out to about 65 yards, and no signs of keyholing yet. It's been the Bulgarian ammo for the most part and 10 rounds of some Barnaul HP at the end of the session to slow down the corrosive crap until I make it home for the full flush. But I know I'd still be a bit leary due to the large amount of complaints of keyholing by others. Mine seems to be an early build, got it 8/08, with a serial# TTL022XX box had the RI1436X decal on it. I'm not sure if it may have been a turned in rifle for a new barrel and possibly resold, I guess anything is possible.

Last Tues. I did a clean and lube of the Tantal, what better way to relax, and while I had the handguards off I noticed a 9 stamped into the barrel there. So I'm assuming it's a 1 in 9 twist. While I had it torn down and cleaned up, I also noticed down into the chamber what appeared to be an awful bright ring of what looks to be chrome, but I can't believe it could be a chromed lined U.S. barrel. The Poles didn't stamp 9s on there chrome lined barrells did they? I did try to remeasure the twist, but I couldn't get the rod to rotate with the patches like they did last time. Anyone have another method of measuring twist?

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