Review: Century Arms Polish Tantal

[Tripp11]

I'm out of rep for you FA; however, your time and effort in reviewing these products are greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work, and I hope Century stands behind their product and does right by you...however, I won't hold my breath.

 

[MilitaryArms]

Ok, one more update.

Good news.

A quick overview of what's transpired:

My first phone call I was told the rifle was out of warranty even though it was brand new in the box when I bought it on Saturday. I was forwarded to a gun smith, Fairfax Firearms Repair.

I was told by the gun smith at Fairfax who used to head the warranty service department, that it was a known issue for the Tantals to have defective barrels. He actually lists fixing Tantals with out of spec barrels on his website.

This prompted me to call Century back and insist they help me with my rifle. My point was that it's not right that a warranty starts on the manufacture date or the date they ship it out of their facilities. It was also my point that they knew the barrels were defective as their own gun smith they referred me to said as much. I asked that a manager review my complaint.

It took two days and 5 phone calls but this morning Ann in customer service came through for me. She said that while their warranty statement stands they will, this one time only and just for me in this situation, not repair my rifle but instead replace it. I didn't get into why they wouldn't simply fix my rifle... I'm just happy to have a second chance. She said my rifle has a 1/9 twist and the replacement will have a 1/8. She can't guarantee that I will get another rifle just like mine, meaning a Polish Tantal - which is concerning. I asked that she do what she can to get me the same model as I have no interest in another model. Hopefully they can get me the same rifle.

If they send something other than a Tantal I'm even more screwed I guess. I won't be able to return it to my dealer and Century has made it clear this is a one time deal. If something is wrong with the new rifle I'm SOL. They won't exchange it again or warranty the replacement.

She said they would hand pick the rifle and even said they would test fire it.

It's a gamble but I'm out of options. Fairfax will fix my rifle for $425 using an East German barrel that won't have the proper profile but *should* work. I really don't want to invest another $425 into this rifle.

So, I guess I will roll the dice and hope I get a new Tantal back with a good barrel. I'll keep you posted.

I appreciate everything Ann at Century has done thus far in trying to help me out. I'm glad they're now willing to do something to rectify the situation.

 

[E5RANGER375]

sounds effed up big time to me. screw century. I wont be buying anymore of their products.

 

[theweakerbrother]

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And don't forget to complete that last youtube video.

 

[Clay]

Would running milsurp ammo make any difference vs. the commercial stuff?

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

And some people wonder why I don't just go out and by a CAI AK-pattern rifle.

It's because of crap like this!

-J-

 

[sporter]

Sounds like from Century's response your going to get one of their newer Bulgarian AK74 type rifles.

I would not own a Tantal due to the keyholing issues.

 

[shooter521]

My first phone call I was told the rifle was out of warranty even though it was brand new in the box when I bought it on Saturday.

I was told by the gun smith at Fairfax who used to head the warranty service department, that it was a known issue for the Tantals to have defective barrels.

She can't guarantee that I will get another rifle just like mine, meaning a Polish Tantal - which is concerning.

That situation is so jacked up that if a stranger had told me about it, I wouldn't have believed it.

Seems like Century is giving you the high hard one. Saying they can't guarantee you'll get a replacement of the same make and model sounds like a tacit acknowledgment that ALL their Tantals are problematic, and I would speculate that they give EVERY customer who presses a complaint the "one time, just for you" spiel.

Whatever rifle they send you, I would sell it straight away and cut your losses.

My

 

[SnowCountry]

I guess I got lucky. I bought a Tantal last week and ranged it yesterday. First shots and dial in at 50 yards and then at 100 yards. I fired Wolf Steel case 60 grains and milsurp Russian 52 grain and found every round at both ranges to be perfect holes. Not a keyhole in sight. I looked on the receipt and the box my rifle came in and they are both marked 1-8 twist. I have read many posts on many sites that Tantals originally had 1-7 twist barrels and this is what caused this keyholing problem. CAI has since had their barrels made in 1-8 (which is the proper twist the Russians used on their original 74's.)

I can only assume I have the latter barrel. The Tantal is a fine rifle. It is as tight as any ak I have ever handled. No slop anywhere in this rifle. There are sites on the internet that sell barrels for 74's. WHATACOUNTRY is one of them. I would think that buying a barrel and having it installed would fix this problem. In my opinion, the worst thing CAI could do would be to "forget" all those who got screwed over buying the earlier Tanatals and (at no cost) repair all those that keyhole. That kind of "guntalk" on the net could crush a company's bottom line.

Good Luck with CAI.

 

[MilitaryArms]

I guess I got lucky. I bought a Tantal last week and ranged it yesterday. First shots and dial in at 50 yards and then at 100 yards. I fired Wolf Steel case 60 grains and milsurp Russian 52 grain and found every round at both ranges to be perfect holes. Not a keyhole in sight. I looked on the receipt and the box my rifle came in and they are both marked 1-8 twist. I have read many posts on many sites that Tantals originally had 1-7 twist barrels and this is what caused this keyholing problem. CAI has since had their barrels made in 1-8 (which is the proper twist the Russians used on their original 74's.)

Actually, the problematic Tantals have two problems according to the former head warranty repair gunsmith.

1) The bore diameters were out of spec. The bores were too large.
2) These same barrels had 1:9 twist rates

Every single one of these rifles, and there's a LOT of them out there, keyholed.

I can only assume I have the latter barrel. The Tantal is a fine rifle. It is as tight as any ak I have ever handled. No slop anywhere in this rifle. There are sites on the internet that sell barrels for 74's. WHATACOUNTRY is one of them. I would think that buying a barrel and having it installed would fix this problem. In my opinion, the worst thing CAI could do would be to "forget" all those who got screwed over buying the earlier Tanatals and (at no cost) repair all those that keyhole. That kind of "guntalk" on the net could crush a company's bottom line.

Good Luck with CAI.

Yup, I thought my rifle was simply beautiful. Certainly nicer than 90% of the other Century products I've seen. It was beautifully finished, the sights were straight, it just looked great. I really-really wanted that rifle.

Now I don't know what I'm going to get because Century has only promised me "something" in return. They initially said they weren't going to warranty the rifle at all. But after being a pain in their side for a couple of days they finally agreed to one time take my rifle back and exchange it. They said they couldn't promise I would get a Tantal back, and they said they wouldn't repair my rifle.

So who knows... I rolled the Century dice a second time. Hopefully I land in a better place the second time around.

 

[SnowCountry]

It will also be very interesting to see what they offer you. I hope you get satisfaction from CAI regarding this rifle. If you ever need ammo in a hurry, Blythe's in Valparaiso has a bunch of 5.45. 25 rounds for $3.99 is a gas. I really think that you will see this caliber of ammunition become a lot more popular in the months and years ahead. It is cheap, a great caliber and has such little recoil when firing it through a 74 it is nearly like shooting a 10/22 with long rifles. I do not know for sure, but would bet it has something to do with the muzzle breaks on the ak-74's.

Good Luck!

 

[40calPUNISHER]

Get your "new" rifle yet?

 

[MilitaryArms]

Yup, and got rid of it immediately. I'm sticking with Saiga's and Interarms for AK's now. I'm done with Century. I never fired the replacement. It looked pretty, but so did the one that keyholed.

 

[40calPUNISHER]

I actually just finished your follow up youtube video... Man, I gotta say I saw that one coming. When they initally told you they would replace it and no more help after that I knew you were gonna get another dud.. Sorry to hear that.. but glad too because I had kicked around the idea of getting one myself. I enjoy your reviews and keep up the good work.

 

[MilitaryArms]

I don't know that the rifle I got in return was a dud, other than the canted front sight. That's easily fixed. I never fired it so I don't know if it had a good barrel or not. I just didn't want to mess with Century anymore. I'm done with that organization.