Hey All,

I think the title says it all.  So can anyone tell me what the hell happened with all the Bulgarian 74 kits?  Did they stop exporting them, did we somehow ban their importation, seriously what went down?  I can’t even find one for less than $800 and that doesn’t include a barrel.
The situation has me actually considering one of the American made 74s.
My God, how far I’ve fallen…

The vast majority of the Bulgarian 74 kits never were imported with original barrels.  Kits started to dry up during the Obama years.  R-Guns had them in stock longer than most vendors, but eventually they sold out their remaining kits.  Their Russian 74 kits at R-Guns stayed in stock longer simply because they were priced much higher.

I didn’t jump onto the 74 wagon until mid 2000s and by them vendors didn’t have original barreled 74 kits in stock.  I was able to acquire a couple of these early kits in the forum marketplace but they were selling for a premium even 12 years ago.  I was fortunate enough to buy over 25 kits back the, some had extra accessories such as mags, slings, scope bases, and bayonet/scabbards.  Many were just the kit with nothing else.   I was able to buy new Bulgarian  74 barrels back then for around $100.  

Since 2021, I’ve been slowly selling my surplus kits, but even then prices were even higher than $1000 for just a good matching number base kit without barrel.  Any kit listed cheaper usually sells immediately.  Just simply supply and demand.  

If PSA could get their quality control improved that would be nice, but it remains to be seen.  I’ve seen multiple cases online of problems with firing pins getting jammed up, and also bolt lockup problems-tight headspace.  They need to get this figured out.  We shall see.  Even then, their production still sells out within hours after they list them, so demand is out there.

Almost all kits had barrels until the barrel ban.

make great shooters

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The barrel ban thing is the real killer because any "new" kits that come in a simply garbage IMHO unless you can get a factory barrel which is rare.

I have beautiful Bulgy side folder kit with barrel that I bought from old Wolfsburg bob back when the chief was bringing tons of shit in. Had it assembled years ago and still have it along with a pile of mags.

Should have bought more.

All the Bulgy 74 kits with original barrels were in the US importation process before the barrel ban in 2005.  Thanks George.

I have 3 builds and a mint kit left and they are beautiful.

I can't imagine any US parts build equaling the quality and reliability of a good build with an original parts kit.

Those are two beautiful rifles! Thanks for sharing them.

I got one of the last kits with an original barrel from AK builder.  I built it with my daughter who was 5 years old at the, i would hold the parts in alignment while she cranked the press down to snug.  

We were out shooting it Saturday afternoon.  It's a very special gun for both of us.  I will try to post pics when I get home from work.

That gun is priceless to us

Back in the day KVAR drop a bunch of circle 10 74 kits on the market.

They were new rifles that fell in the band saw.

Retail price was $165 plus shipping if I remember correctly. At the time I thought they were over priced but now it would have been a good investment.
Other AK kits with barrels were selling for $100 or less.

I picked up 3 74 kits built 2 and still the last one seal in the plastic just as it came from KVAR

I worked at TGI when we were bringing in all the Bulgarian kits. We brought in 10's of thousands of the kits with the original barrels. When the ATF cracked down on the barrel ban, we had to cut the barrels in 2 places. Then specify that the Bulgarians cut them to save us time.

We still got a he'll of a lot of kits in with the barrels. I bought 5 kits at employee price. Plus a 100 ct box of mags at a ridiculously low price per mag.
I built up 2 '74s for myself. Built up 1 each for my twin sons. Gave them each 25 mags and 2 cases of 7n6 that we also brought in really cheap. Kept 6 cases of 7n6 , but bought a lot of Wolf 5.45

Funny, I just found a triangle folder kit I got from Bob from back in the day-- I had thought it had been stolen. Now I have to build it up. I think they were like $140 or so, a lot for a kit for the time, but it looks like it was manufactured, spent 18 months in a rack and was then cut up. I talk to Bob on the Book occasionally, he seems to be doing fine, grandkids are doing great, not involved in the biz any more-- I'll let him know you were bragging the kit