The Styer Maddi is considered to be the closest variant of the Soviet AK available on the market today.  The Maadi was massively imported in to the U.S. by Styer-Daimler-Puch of New Jersey.  It is considered to be one of the most reliable AK's available today making it the perfect weapon for rugged country.  The Egyptian Maadi is available today in both Pre-Ban and Post-Ban variations.  The Pre-Ban variation comes complete with a pistol grip stock, bayonet, muzzle break, cleaning kit, sling, and a 30rnd mag.  Also included in the Pre-Ban variation is a trap door in the wood stock where cleaning supplies can be stored.  The Post-Ban variant comes with a Dragunov style stock, cleaning kit, sling and 5rd mag.  Both variations are stamped receivers with a solid construction. We have found that while the Styer maadi's are of extremely high quality the post-ban's quality varied from rifle to rifle.  This was due to the fact that Styer no longer imported the rifle and did not have to comply to their standards.   We currently own a pre-ban maadi with a folding Bulgarian stock and wouldn't trade it for the world.

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Outside Source:

"The Maadi can be a very nice rifle. I have hand picked some at gun shows and had very nice looking guns. This was after rejecting several before I found one that would cycle smoothly, or didn't have gas blocks, rear sight bases or front sight bases mounted crooked. The finishes are pot luck. Most do not have all parts consistently glossy or satin finish and look like several methods or workers were doing the finishing work on them. I saw one dealer who had several that would not dry cycle without binding up out of battery.

I bought one that had a trigger pin that was shaped like a banana and I had to hammer it out. Otherwise, with a little effort you can choose a relatively nice one or take your chances with mail order. The one's I have owned have all shot average groups without any reliability problems. The first Maadi's were pretty well made, them most of the post ban guns began to show sloppy assembly and crappy cast parts and haphazard spot welds, etc. mostly cosmetic stuff. But, I have heard from several people who have said the newest imports have noticeably better quality castings and receiver stampings. Bulgarians (or Russian) they are not.
By Tantal