Century Arms International RH-10 Review

So Kalash Bash 2019 left a lasting impression on me. As did Brandon Herrera’s magnificent hair. After all these years I still love the AK platform. The first rifle I ever purchased as an adult was a WASR-10 back in 2006, and I wish I had never let that rifle go, but life comes at you fast sometimes. You know the good old times when you were able to get them in cyclic labeled crates for $300 American dollars? Sadly, those days are long gone, and yet that itch to add an AK to my collection just wouldn’t go away. So I hunted around, trying a few rental AK’s at a local gun range. It was surprising that I only ended up finding one dealer selling AK variants while wandering around a gun show. After some quick Google-fu and contacting friends with superior AK knowledge, I settled on the Century Arms International RH-10 to get my AK on. This came coupled with a cash price that could not be beat.

Romanian Strong

The CAI RH-10 is an imported AKM made by the Cugir Arms Factory in Romania, and has compliance parts included by Century Arms International. It’s built off of a stamped receiver that includes a side rail mount for mounting various optics, along with a RAK-1 enhanced trigger group. It is chambered in the ubiquitous 7.62x39mm round that everyone from Kurdish freedom fighters to the backwoods country boy knows, cherishes and loves. It features a cold hammer forged chrome lined barrel for extended barrel life and a 1:10 twist rate. Along with all this, you get a bird cage style flash hider on a 14×1 LH threaded pitch that can be exchanged for other muzzle devices.

What makes this rifle a bit interesting is the ninety-degree integrated front gas block and hooded sight system. For you short barrel loving guys out there that makes the rifle “form 1 ready”. This along with the RPK style adjustable rear sight for both windage and elevation make for an interesting and easy to sight in combo.

A quick note on the RAK-1 Enhanced trigger: I found it to be an extremely well made upgrade to the AK trigger system. I tried some rental AK’s at a local range of mine during my AK hunt and what I found was that their triggers were horrible, inconstant pulls, and that weird as hell slapping happens. The RAK-1 solved that with a consistent trigger pull of around 4.5 lbs to 4.7 lbs in my testing.

Stock problems

It also comes with a “wood” stock. I put this in quotations for good reason. The wood just feels cheap and is almost like balsa wood (at least the one I got). It took one minor spill while I was loading my gun safe and it got this lovely mark on it. While some may contend it adds character to the gun, I for one just saw it as something to be replaced later on. Worst still, was when I went to fully tear down the rifle after the first range trip, I decided to do a full take down of the components. The lovely gulf coast humidity combined with a rainy day at the range caused the rear stock to swell up and become damn near impossible to remove.

I did remove it however with some good old soviet style engineering. I tied a leather belt around it and hung it off a metal pillar in the back and then yanked it off. Suffice to say I did replace the stock, hand-guard, and upper hand-guard down the road with better products.

“Enough with the bullshit talk”- Rob Ski

As always, talk is one thing, and doing actual shooting is another. I have stated in other reviews that I am not the best shot in the world, especially when taking on a new weapons platform. Yes, my inexperience with the platform does show in some of the photos below. I am honest enough to say this up front. However, I did manage to get a good handle on the firearm with more experience shooting it. Overall I found the felt recoil quite pleasant, coupled with the flash hider and RAK-1 trigger it made for a perfect combo and quick follow up shots.

Initial testing for windage and elevation was done at 50 yards to get me a baseline for where I was shooting. The testing done below was all shot at 100 yards bench rested with iron sights. For the AK purists out there, yes I am well aware that this is not 110 yards with that 100 meter sight setting. I have to work with what I’ve got.

The magazines used in the testing and for the past several months were the KCI AK-47 30 round magazine , the Magpul AK47 MOE Gen 2 , and the obviously superior XTech Tactical Banana Magazine . I found that all three of these mags worked quite well in the fit and finish of this particular rifle.

As you can see above the worst ammo out of the bunch was the Tulammo 122 FMJ. At first I thought that this was a complete fluke. I did a re-shoot of the target and got similar results which was wildly odd. I’ve decided to no longer use any Tulammo for testing. I did find that my RH-10 loved the Monarch “Brown Bear” and Wolf Military Classic best. Again, this testing is just a small sample based on what was available in my wallet.

Conclusions

After having owned the rifle for several months, it has gone through some changes, as you can see in the picture below. It’s now configured with the current set up I know and love. I have a little over 2K in rounds down the barrel with no issues found at the time of writing this. You can say I am still ‘breaking’ the gun in. In conclusion, I consider this a must buy if you’re looking to get into the AK market with a reasonable budget. These can be had for anywhere between $550-$750 depending on your locale and the configuration it is in. So if you need to get yourself an AK, consider adding the Century Arms International RH-10 for your collection.

Current RH-10 setup is as follows: Pro Mag Opfor adjustable stock, Khyber Customs AKM/74 Length “Swiss” Grater Upper Handguard, MOE® AKM Hand Guard , MOE® AK+ Grip – AK47/AK74 , Midwest Industries AK47 Gen 2 rail, Sig Sauer Romeo5 Red Dot