Draco and Mini Draco owners..

If you could only keep one of them, which would it be?

I love the Draco, but I've never shot the Mini and I'm looking to buy another one and I'm thinking about picking up the Mini.

For those who have both - what do you think?

Eventually, it may be SBR'd, that's the "plan."

I would purchase a "C" or Non-C Draco over a Mini no questions asked. I am not a fan of the front hand guard bolt on the Mini or the plastic buffer that keeps the piston from coming out of the rear sight base. To me the Mini is more of a range toy, but if that is what you are looking for then by all means buy away.

As an owner of the original Draco, I like it a lot. I would not buy a mini - so I can't comment on them because I'm already totally content with my standard Draco.

The regular sized Dracos are "just right" as far as I'm concerned. It's a "true" AK, built on a X/Y type AK receiver - not rebuilt from parts and compromised to be 922 compliant. It's accurate, reliable, reasonably priced, an ultimate "truck gun" since many State laws permit loaded pistols to be transported. Furniture is standard. It's a bad-ass sized 7.62 that fits in a tennis bag. Mine feeds reliably from a 40-round mag - or a drum.

You can SBR regular Dracos as many have done, and those projects have produced some really awesome results.

I feel the minis have their own market - and I'm just not part of that group. I can understand why some folks love the minis - but for me, the regular Draco is just the right everything... Some might say "get both" - but if I had it to do over again, I'd still go with a regular Draco.

For me the mini, have both and unsure of how many AK pistols I've been through before got the Dracos, think 5.

Can hit as well with the mini as the full draco. However as mentioned earlier the full size probly would hold up longer. The mini is rarer and has a bigger flame.

Out of the box my mini was more reliable, the dust cover one the draco was rubbing and caused the bolt not to always move freely.

People are doing thing to help over come the bolt problem and actually had mine front grip come off when shooting how ever the gun continued to fire. However the plastic buffer in the mini does cross my mind a lot. Back in the day when the only way to get something shorter than a 12.5" barrel (AMD pistols) you had to machine and do a lot of work. My first one had a small buffer in it.

I'm with Hedonist on this one, the Draco is pretty much a perfect AK and is pretty close to a real deal as far as fit and such. I SBR'd mine and love it, perfect balance and feel to it.

I'm not into the mini's at all. Something just isnt there for me with them. I saw a SBR'd one somewhere and it looked strange.

To each his own though and YMMV.

I have a Draco carbine, and so far it has been less than reliable. It's my 6th AK, and it's caused the most problems of any of them. I'm thinking of just selling it as is.

I've been watching videos on YouTube of the mini, ands most all of them are having reliability problems. It's not very encouraging so far.
I still want one, though.

I've had both.
Owning 2 AK pistols was something I couldn't justify so I sold my Draco-C and kept the Mini Draco.
The full size Draco was great (and it doesn't have the buffer, so it's less complicated) but I decided to keep the Mini to SBR.
It's more compact size appeals to me.

When I first stumbled onto the Draco- in here- while looking up info for a Pars Maadi 922r project, I knew I had to have one. The next morning I woke up and hunted one down and had it home within a few days- a non C. I saw Gardiner's SBR and decided I must do something similar. That is also when I decided to get another so I could SBR one and leave the other stock. Then the C came out. I got one right away with the intention of doing a UF SBR. Then I saw the Mini in a thread in here and I thought- "that's too short, I don't want to shoot my fingers off, I like my standard Draco better, I will never get one of those etc..." The next morning I woke up and had to have one. So I hunted one down and got it the next day and love it. All three were hand picked out of many and they have no issues at all. Generally, I never get rid of any firearms once I get them home, but assuming I had to chose, I would probably chose the Mini.

Reliability is not an issue for me because they all three function fine. If I had any issues with any of them, I would pick the one that runs the best. That is why I understand halfLife voting against the Mini due to what he went through.

For me, since function has been equal, size is the deciding factor. Side by side, the standard Draco is only a few inches shorter than my Norinco 56S-1 when folded. I already have a 7.5" AR SBR and really like my SBRs to be small. That's why I do not put large flaming pig brakes on my AR or large brakes on my Dracos. The way I see it, if you are going to cut the barrel down for size and then add length back with a large break or booster, you are probably better off with more barrel instead. The 7.62 round does much better than the 5.56 out of short barrels, so by picking the Mini you can take advantage of that factor. I think the Mini with an Ace adapter, a CTR folding stock, and a MI or UTG modified rail with a VFG is an ideal SBR for me.

So if I could only have one of them- the Mini would be it. It is a close call, however. In reality, there is no chance I am getting ride of any of them. In fact, if I do end up going SBR with the Mini, I will have to buy another so I can have one in original config as well.

... and don't forget, there is a Micro Draco coming....

ETA: I am starting the form 1 papers today.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks for all the replies guys..

Somedays I really like the Mini. Others it just looks funny to me. ;)

If someone came up with some traditional looking AK handguards like on a Krink, I'd probably be all over it. Not much on the hot dog bun. :)

Give it a little more time. MI or Ultimak will have something avail (fingers crossed) soon..

not if they dont import an ass ton more.........why would they make rails for only at max the 150-200 minis in country now? i hope that they do too but at the same time having one of only 200 guns in the country would be cooler

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