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Posted: 9/28/2013 4:56:14 AM EDT
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Looking at VEPR or SAIGA
Or what else should I look at ? I have been immersed in AR land for years - time to learn about AKs At first I thought of building - but after months of research - it appears to be more of a building process than I am comfortable tackling without somebody knowledgable in the process to mentor me At this time I'm a tinkerer / armorer type NOT a gunsmith - but I'm learning I'm kinda leaning the 74 route ...and I'm not really thinking of scopes or long range type Anyway I know this is kinda of a rambling post , I will appreciate any replies I get |
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Pick up a VEPR- it's actually factory built in Russia and under $700. Easy enough to put regular AK furniture on them if you want. Best price to quality ratio right now, though things may change as prices fluctuate. I haven't seen any of the 5.45 models in a while unfortunately. They have plenty of 5.56, x39, 54R, and .308 though.
Saiga would be nice if you could actually find one. Atlantic may have some in stock for about $500. They are a bit more involved to convert to normal furniture and standard magazine. Stock configuration is pretty gay. Arsenals are great if you want to spend over a grand. Romanians used to be a good deal. Now they're like $600 and cobbled together from kits with a new barrel. Yugo PAP... may or may not have issues with the hi cap conversion. Polish Archers, Beryls, etc... too many problems. All the parts guns with US barrels kind of put me off. You'd have to do some research to figure out which ones weren't re-manufactured by trained chimps. Kind of sucks that the AR-15 platform is cheaper than AK's now. 
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The wasrs/ m&m m10s, and Zastava pap rifles are the most affordable foreign factory produced guns as of now.
Wasrs wont win any beauty contests but mine has bin flawless functionally. And I have heard a lot of good things about the Paps. They fixed the bolt issue with the N and O models. Veprs are some of the best made rifles coming in, bad as said above the calibers are limited. But if you want something in .308/7.62x54r then you can make a sweet rifle, just look around for pictures. |
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Really tough right now to find a Vepr or Saiga in x39 or 5.45, but they are definitely the cream of the crop.
The M&M M10's are great little rifles if you can find one, was a pretty good batch out there not long ago. I see some of the Century converted Saigas out there in 5,45, they don't have as many features as the Arsenals do, but they are a lot cheaper and it's easy to fix them up yourself if you have a modicum of skills. AIM surplus had some James River armory 74's yesterday, they are good rifles by all accounts, around 700 bucks and change. |
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Why not get a 5.45x39 upper for an AR? I currently own 3 AK rifles in the caliber but I also have an AR upper in 5.45x39. Mine works fine, I have C Products type mags and they are cheaper than AK74 mags these days by about 1/3. If you decide you don't like it you can always sell off the barrel, bolt and mags and use the rest to build up another upper.
If I was going to buy another AK it would be a VEPR in .308 or 7.62x54r as they will increase in value the most in the future. I bought a Saiga .308 for $325.00 and look at what they go for now. |
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The VEPR rifles and shotguns are of very high quality. Of course, many of the squareback receiver guns came in with very rough wood, like mine, but they were ordered that way by the importer because they knew people would most likely want to change it out and they wanted to keep the cost down. The factory triggers can be made to feel great and they are 2 stage. Mine has evolved a bit and I finally got a couple of different scope mounts and optics for it, but haven't had a chance to try them out at distance. I have been impressed at what I have done so far with the irons on it though. The barrels are excellent on the VEPRs. IMO, they are what the Saigas should have been all along, especially the shotguns.
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