Decent AK47 Company?

[Judicator]

Who makes a decent one(thinking around 700ish give or take)? I was thinking Romanian seems to be the most popular. My buddy tells me Bulgarian but having issues find one cheap. I also like the classic look I guess you could say. And sadly has to be MA compliant

 

[flintoid]

AK47 company... well, you're listing country of origin rather than who made it.

A lot of this depends on what you define as "decent."

Romanian AKs, in their most common form, come into the US as WASRs imported from the Romanian Cugir factory, and are converted by Century Arms in Vermont to be compliant under the 922(r) regulations. What they do at Century is modify them to accept large capacity magazines and toss in the correct amount of US parts to make them 922r compliant.

There is a common myth that Century Arms makes them and therefor they take the blame when front sights are canted, or rivets suck ass, etc. All of these things are done at Cugir by drunk romanians... unless! unless the rifle had to be demilled for a US barrel. Then you can blame the drunk Vermonter that pressed the parts onto the barrel. So they come in various forms, depending on how the ATF was feeling during that importation lot.

WASRs should run more around $450 but around here they're creeping past $500. I've seen them at $600 recently, which is hilarious to me. Then again, I am an a**h*** and am not ashamed of calling someone out on bullshit like that.

Bulgarian rifles, as "imported" into the United States are typically older Arsenal imports, and they are usually milled 7.62x39 rifles. You can find various 5.45x39 stamped bulgy builds, but they are a little more hard to find. They are nicer as they were built by more competent builders and their platforms are closer to military specs, unlike the WASR where the receiver was designed for semi auto civilian usage with low capacity magazines. Finding these is more difficult since they aren't regularly imported anymore. However, there is a single stack bulgarian AKM that is being imported currently. I've never held or seen one yet so I don't know how nice they are.


The "classic" look of an AK would be best achieved with a preban rifle that will cost you more than $700. or you can deck out a WASR with new furniture, etc.

another option you can look at is Chinese- they build a fine AK. A wise man told me once that the best Chinese knock-off of a product is their AK. And he's right- they function flawlessly, tend to be fairly accurate, and the fit and finish on them are very good. $700 may yield you a MAK-90, which will be MA compliant, and if the receiver didn't get slant cut in it's ass, you can put a wood stock and pistol grip on it in replacement of the thumbhole stock. It'll give you more of that "classic" look that you desire and you won't be able to tell the difference.

Me, on the other hand, would see the chinese rivet pattern and I'd want chinese wood on it. So I just build them myself.

 

[flintoid]

or you could buy a Saiga from MFL in NH for under $400 and convert it to a pistol grip configuration. Then you'd have a russian made ak variant that shoots 5.45x39, and is incredibly accurate and reliable.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/125147-Saiga-5.45x39-Rifle-Mod-Thread

 

[ChevyGuy91]

or you could buy a Saiga from MFL in NH for under $400 and convert it to a pistol grip configuration. Then you'd have a russian made ak variant that shoots 5.45x39, and is incredibly accurate and reliable.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/125147-Saiga-5.45x39-Rifle-Mod-Thread

This, I love my converted Saiga.

 

[Roymond]

WASRs should run more around $450 but around here they're creeping past $500. I've seen them at $600 recently, which is hilarious to me. Then again, I am an a**h*** and am not ashamed of calling someone out on bullshit like that.

There have been several wars lately that have increased the price of WASR's. At least that's the reason given to me by several dealers (My dad wants another one)

On topic, My family owns a WASR-10 and the Saiga and I've got to say that I love both. You really can't go wrong.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

There have been several wars lately that have increased the price of WASR's. At least that's the reason given to me by several dealers

4 REALZ?

 

[Roymond]

4 REALZ?

Yea, it was right after the conflict in Libya started. So I don't know how much it's true/if it's still the case.

I've been leaning more on a somewhat sleazy dealer trying to make a quick buck off of someone who doesn't pay attention. But who knows, I've been wrong before.

 

[chinalfr]

Yea, it was right after the conflict in Libya started. So I don't know how much it's true/if it's still the case.

I've been leaning more on a somewhat sleazy dealer trying to make a quick buck off of someone who doesn't pay attention. But who knows, I've been wrong before.

Totally BS. We're in MA where we always tagged some premium. Let just say, inflation and gas price raising cause the AK price to jack up.

 

[drgrant]

Totally BS. We're in MA where we always tagged some premium. Let just say, inflation and gas price raising cause the AK price to jack up.

The WASR price hikes have nothing to do with MA... it's the same industry wide. The "MA price premium thing" is largely a myth. It only applies to things like preban rifles and some handgun compliance BS (eg, like the overpriced 3rd gen glocks you see in every MA gun store) but even in those forms it's still mostly a lie/myth.

-Mike

 

[flintoid]

The WASR price hikes have nothing to do with MA... it's the same industry wide. The "MA price premium thing" is largely a myth. It only applies to things like preban rifles and some handgun compliance BS (eg, like the overpriced 3rd gen glocks you see in every MA gun store) but even in those forms it's still mostly a lie/myth.

-Mike

This. WASRs prices went up immediately after the ATF dinged CAI on a giant shipment of rifles. For reasons that can only be linked to the ATF being a bunch of flaming a**h***s, they "decided" one day to order CAI, or their importer (I am not sure) to chop all of the barrels of an imported stock.

They were deemed "machine gun barrels."

This is the same jackassery that got parts kits FUBAR'd- if the barrel was on a military rifle, or intended to go onto one, it's deemed a machine gun by our lovely ass clowns at the ATF.

So, somehow, someway, Cugir got it through to the ATF that their new shipments now have barrels meant for civilian usage. So now CAI WASRs have their lovely hammer forged romanian barrels again.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is that the price hikes happened right after this batch of rifles got destroyed. Why would this happen? Well, let's say you're an importer and you make a living off of importing these rifles. One day, a large shipment of yours gets confiscated by a pack of baboons and they decide to dry hump the shit out of all of the rifles to the point of you having to chop them up into pieces and sell them for pennies on the dollar as parts kits.

What are you going to do about this?

You're going to raise prices so you get a better margin on your next shipment to 1) cover the money you lost to the homosexual horny baboons and 2) insure your ass for possible homo baboon attacks.

This is also when Apex got an ass load of barrel-less romy AK parts kits- some very fine examples... I'm not sure if this coincides with any sort of connection or not, but I'm sure it does- they were the typical parts that you'd find on a century "oxided" WASR. But I could be wrong here


Your story about Libya is bullshit.

 

[Dench]

The ATF needs to go away.

On a AK note, I would recommend buying a Saiga and converting it. Its your best bet to get the highest quality for the cheapest amount.

 

[flintoid]

also- this probably has a little something to do with your WASR pricing...

http://www.google.com//finance?chdn...7470440&chddm=359060&q=CURRENCY:RONUSD&ntsp=0

(it's the value of the Romanian Leu to the US dollar... hint: the US dollar is approaching dog shit level value, lately, thanks to our fearless leader)

On a AK note, I would recommend buying a Saiga and converting it. Its your best bet to get the highest quality for the cheapest amount.

Dench is right- in today's AK market (parts kits, rifles, junk rifles, etc) these Saiga conversions beat the hell out of anything out there. Jim at MFL is doing us a HUGE favor by offering them to us for what he's selling them for. It's cheap coin for a high quality AKM.

 

[chinalfr]

also- this probably has a little something to do with your WASR pricing...

http://www.google.com//finance?chdn...7470440&chddm=359060&q=CURRENCY:RONUSD&ntsp=0

(it's the value of the Romanian Leu to the US dollar... hint: the US dollar is approaching dog shit level value, lately, thanks to our fearless leader)

How so?

http://www.google.com//finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Linear&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1309208703705&chddm=1751108&q=CURRENCY:RONUSD&ntsp=0

The graph make me think US dollar is actually premium.

2007-2008 is the weakest. 1 RON can exchange about 0.425-0.435 US dollar
mid 2010 is the strongest. 1 RON can exchange about 0.3 US dollar
Now 1 RON can exchange about 0.3383 US dollar.

 

[flintoid]

How so?

http://www.google.com//finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Linear&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1309208703705&chddm=1751108&q=CURRENCY:RONUSD&ntsp=0

The graph make me think US dollar is actually premium.

2007-2008 is the weakest. 1 RON can exchange about 0.425-0.435 US dollar
mid 2010 is the strongest. 1 RON can exchange about 0.3 US dollar
Now 1 RON can exchange about 0.3383 US dollar.

...


you buy a AK for $350 in 2008. Cugir gets 150.5 Leu

you buy a AK for $350 in 2011. Cugir gets 119 Leu


Romanians don't like that shit. So they raise their price. $400. Cugir gets 153 Leu! Everything back to normal! Raise glass vodka for celebrate motherland.

 

[drgrant]

...


you buy a AK for $350 in 2008. Cugir gets 150.5 Leu

you buy a AK for $350 in 2011. Cugir gets 119 Leu


Romanians don't like that shit. So they raise their price. $400. Cugir gets 153 Leu! Everything back to normal! Raise glass vodka for celebrate motherland.

I wonder what it was in 2004 when WASR-10s were $259.

-Mike

 

[chinalfr]

...


you buy a AK for $350 in 2008. Cugir gets 150.5 Leu

you buy a AK for $350 in 2011. Cugir gets 119 Leu


Romanians don't like that shit. So they raise their price. $400. Cugir gets 153 Leu! Everything back to normal! Raise glass vodka for celebrate motherland.

This make more sense.

Just because US dollar is premium and RON value dirt cheap, they need to jack up premium dollar to get the same amount of cheap axx RON.

 

[chinalfr]

Who makes a decent one(thinking around 700ish give or take)? I was thinking Romanian seems to be the most popular. My buddy tells me Bulgarian but having issues find one cheap. I also like the classic look I guess you could say. And sadly has to be MA compliant

If Saiga build is not a consideration, A good Arsenal (mass compliant) AK only cost about 8+ bills off the shelf. Why not spend a little premium and get a good Arsenal AK?

Or I can sell you my Romanian WASR for less than $600.

 

[Mass-diver]

A good Arsenal (mass compliant) AK only cost about 8+ bills off the shelf. Why not spend a little premium and get a good Arsenal AK?

What MA shop stocks Arsenals (and prices them around $800)? That would be a great purchase for the OP.

I have a polytech sidefolder that I love, but the market price is ridiculous.

 

[KMS]

I would put my SAR2 up against any russian junk made today.

Long Live the $200 Ak variant!

 

[flintoid]

What MA shop stocks Arsenals (and prices them around $800)? That would be a great purchase for the OP.

I have a polytech sidefolder that I love, but the market price is ridiculous.

try GFA Armstec. I *think* I heard of someone picking one up that was Mass-ified for that price.

edit: actually it was closer to $900, but still under that mark.

I would put my SAR2 up against any russian junk made today.

Long Live the $200 Ak variant!

This is ground control to Major Tom. There is no such thing as a $200 AK variant anymore.

And as far as Russian AKMs go, if you call them junk, your SAR2 would be classified as pure liquid shit. Not saying that your SAR2 in 5.45 isn't a good rifle, but your comment is clear off of the reservation.

 

[RUT]

Arsenal/Saiga