The end of the AK-47

[Seadog]

yeah i got into ak's early because even "entry" level ar's that i consider to be worse than a cheapo poverty pony / aero / psa of today were going for $800-$1000. you could buy two or three saigas in just about any caliber for that price. or like.....12-15 mosins.

ak's SHOULD be more expensive now because psa basically destroyed the ar market. sure you can still spend a lot on a "quality" build but like....is there *really* any point?

imo it's like the "cheap" ak argument. i didn't buy ar's when the cheapest ones were $1k. but at $400? absolutely.

I fail to see your logic on the reasoning AKs should be more expensive. Just because PSA and others flooded the market with ARs doesn't correlate that the price of AKs should go up 3 fold.

When Saigas were coming into the country in the mid 2000s they were like maybe $300 in any caliber. And Then there were Yugos that were 400-500ish. Polish tantils. AMD 65s. Could get an Romanian AK in 22 for like 250. The list goes on and on. Cheep guns. Always have been and still are. Crazy inflated prices is what we are seeing. Some are still imported and some are banned. So I see supply and demand with some. Not the majority.

A stamped metal and riveted amalgamation of metal and wood. The value is not there. There is no reason they are going for the prices they are.

 

[1911DA]

Maybe l have the wrong name.

 

[Seadog]

oh absolutely. it's an "association with a winner" thing. heck i've heard hi points are actually just fine firearms; i just think they are ugly as sin lol.

lord knows i love a cheap functioning firearm. that's what made the ak so special. i fully believe unless there's congressional intervention PSA ak's, american made, will be sub $500 in a few years.

I’d love to see that. The Selection of AK rifles that they have to offer are very enticing.

 

[joegrizzy]

I fail to see your logic on the reasoning AKs should be more expensive. Just because PSA and others flooded the market with ARs doesn't correlate that the price of AKs should go up 3 fold.

When Saigas were coming into the country in the mid 2000s they were like maybe $300 in any caliber. And Then there were Yugos that were 400-500ish. Polish tantils. AMD 65s. Could get an Romanian AK in 22 for like 250. The list goes on and on. Cheep guns. Always have been and still are. Crazy inflated prices is what we are seeing. Some are still imported and some are banned. So I see supply and demand with some. Not the majority.

A stamped metal and riveted amalgamation of metal and wood. The value is not there. There is no reason they are going for the prices they are.

no i'm saying ak's are more expensive now due to import bans and zoomers really wanted them and there simply being less of them.

record gun sales all thru the trump covid years, all those antifa types weren't buying ar's lol. can't overthrow the bourgeois with a plastic rifle.

i'm saying PSA brought the price of ar's down and now they are doing that for AK's. heck they already have, like i said you can get a gf3 for $600. that's the cheapest ak in the game right now pretty much.

i know all about $300 saigas. they weren't "cheap" in the sense that they didn't any value then. they were, in fact, a bargain in the firearms world and that's why some people stocked up on them lol. i don't know anyone who didn't think their value would increase, even before any kind of ban was talked about. it was a brand new russian ak, most of them with dimpled receivers right off the military line. calling that a "cheap" rifle means you might now know much about saiga and izmash.

not all of them are stamped. you can get plenty of milled ak's, you'll just pay more. or a cool milled kinda ak like that first gen galil that sold here recently for a GREAT value.

there's never going to be more saiga's in the US than there are right now. you have to realize that just like us, millions of people are turning 18 and might want an AK. they might want a russian one that is new. there's never going to any more vepr's.

same for all milsurp and c&r guns. they are just going to go up. people our age have(had) the advantage of taking advantage of things determined to be "cheap" but are actually *underpriced* and when they correct to the market and become more rare they actually become priced correctly.

like those turkish mp5 THEY ARE DOWN TO $1,200 THAT'S UNBELIEVABLE. they aren't "cheap" it's just people have stigmas about buying turkish guns or whatever. but if/when some sort of turkish import happened, you bet everyone's Canik is going to skyrocket. just the way it is.

 

[Seadog]

No, takes a real man to take an AR apart and put it together again. But I love the AK's for the simplicity of taking it apart to clean or whatever. Personally we should have went with the AR18. Just think what the AR18 and AR180 could have morphed into by now and then there is the FNFNC. A little heavy but far better than lugging around a M14.

AR18? I thought that was built for poor 3rd world countries that didn’t have as advance machining capability’s. It more like the sten of ARs. Definitely easier to have a folding stock with one of those.

I have an Australian rifle that is similar to an AR180. It is a Leader T2. The BCG and double recoil spring is similar. I think it’s an even cheeper version of the AR180.

 

[leemozoid]

Granted my appreciation of the AK platform has come on of late but I think I picked up a couple of good ones. I got a ban era Romanian era CUR2 AK-74 that I had the muzzle device removed and replaced by a threaded bushing pressed and pinned onto the barrel that would accept the AK-74S flash hider. The Yugo underfolder is basically as built except that I've deleted the Houge pistol grip and installed a correct Yugo grip.

 

[leemozoid]

Posted to the SE of OP. Let's see some more availability to that area please.

 

[cjjtulsa]

A stamped metal and riveted amalgamation of metal and wood. The value is not there. There is no reason they are going for the prices they are.

Which negates the argument of many that the SKS is "overpriced" now; it has always been undervalued. Fully machined, hardwood stocks, most - even the Chinese, were decently built. Could be said for milled AKs as well, though I'm not really a fan. Just more weight with no real benefit that I can see.

I like the AR rifles, but much less than the AKM. They function well, accurate, dependable, but are just.....sterile to me. No "soul". The AKs I've owned have been reliable, easily accurate enough for their design, easy to maintain, and fun to shoot. But then like Rick, I really like the G3, and FN49. And FAL. And prefer all three of those to any AR-type.

 

[TedKennedy]

Which negates the argument of many that the SKS is "overpriced" now; it has always been undervalued. Fully machined, hardwood stocks, most - even the Chinese, were decently built. Could be said for milled AKs as well, though I'm not really a fan. Just more weight with no real benefit that I can see.

I like the AR rifles, but much less than the AKM. They function well, accurate, dependable, but are just.....sterile to me. No "soul". The AKs I've owned have been reliable, easily accurate enough for their design, easy to maintain, and fun to shoot. But then like Rick, I really like the G3, and FN49. And FAL. And prefer all three of those to any AR-type.

I can't argue with any of this, heck, my favorites are Mausers. Blued steel and wood retains something that plastic just doesn't capture.

That being said - if I knew I had to walk into a fire zone downtown tonight, I'd pick up my AR before I'd take the AK. Elegance and collectability, leisure shooting at the range do not trump usability, parts interchangeability, versatility, prospects of ammo resupply, etc.

Apples to oranges. I think that makes my collection a fruit salad. Sadly, it's all at the bottom of Keystone now.

 

[cjjtulsa]

I can't argue with any of this, heck, my favorites are Mausers. Blued steel and wood retains something that plastic just doesn't capture.

That being said - if I knew I had to walk into a fire zone downtown tonight, I'd pick up my AR before I'd take the AK. Elegance and collectability, leisure shooting at the range do not trump usability, parts interchangeability, versatility, prospects of ammo resupply, etc.

Apples to oranges. I think that makes my collection a fruit salad. Sadly, it's all at the bottom of Keystone now.

If I had to walk into a fire zone downtown tonight, I'd probably take a G3. Ammo resupply would be the only benefit of an AR to me, and absent a 7.62 NATO rifle, I'd likely go AK. If parts availability and interchangeability are a concern, then just grab a new "battlefield pick-up", and soldier on. I've never understood the mindset of the wargamers online that always choose an AR because of the availability of replacement parts in some SHTF scenario. It's not like there will be parts vendors or online shopping, so if your AR takes a dump in a full Lord of the Flies climate, I'm sure there will be "donors" who don't need theirs anymore. Take theirs.