Arsenal’s Remarkable Durability

An Arsenal rifle survives a total loss house fire!

On December 20^th, 2024, a house erupted in flames in Northern Wisconsin. The cause of this total loss fire was a chimney fire in the upper level of the house. The home was an A-Frame design with a metal roof, because of this the fire and heat funneled and vented through the front and back of the house.

Therefore, those ends of the house had the most intense heat and flames. An Arsenal SAM7SF-84 (manufactured in 2013) was positioned by the back door, unfortunately, right in the path where the heat and flames were most extreme. Fortunately, the rifle is still completely functional as of today August 6, 2025!

The owner of this rifle reached out to us at Arsenal in April of 2025. He immediately informed us that it had been inspected/cleaned by a local gunsmith. He had stated that the springs were soft, the bolt would open under its own weight, the trigger was soft, and the mag release was soft. The local gunsmith had informed him that barrel was warped just slightly after the gas block.

We issued the RMA instructions to get this AK-47 back to the Arsenal facility. Our first course of action was a hardness test on the receiver, which the rifle passed. The second action was fixing the barrel, our gunsmiths had to spend time aligning the barrel. We confirmed that the receiver and barrel passed inspections (mil-spec standards). Then we installed various components that had been melted or compromised from the fire. We test fired ten rounds through the SAM7SF at that time and got great results.

We were happy to report that the rifle is in fact functional! A list of about 12 parts needed to be replaced, most of those were springs and pins. The owner decided against a black finish or Cerakote, stating that the current condition is now nostalgic! A clear Cerakote finish will be performed at some point to protect the rifle from rusting. We were so happy the owner decided to send his rifle back to the manufacturer so we could get it functional again!

An Arsenal rifle survives being submerged in a river too!

This is not the first time that an Arsenal AK-47 has endured extremely harsh conditions and proved to be still functional. A few years ago, the Pennsylvania State Police discovered a SAM7R-61N submerged in the Delaware River. The rifle was badly corroded, rusted, and filled with mud, stones and debris. After a lengthy cleaning the department was able to determine that all the parts were present and functional. The department was impressed that the chrome lining on the barrel was still a mirror finish with zero pitting! They were able to test fire and discharge the rifle for further analysis. It has since been destroyed by the department. These situations above are the reason we make a durable milled receiver.