Got a real feel for a Krebs KTR-03S but a grand is painful. I hear Vector is good but don't know what reciever they use. Ohio Rapid Fire has a good rep from what I read here but I have read that OOR recieviers are soft?  What is the real deal?  looking for advice on a good AK.  I want to buy a bunch of mags and ammo also. How are the Romanian's offered for sale these days? TIA for responses.

my advice is to buy a cheap one and have alot of fun!

OOW receivers work well. I've had  tp PMKMS kits built on them and thay work just fine. Romanian SAR's work just fine too.

Quoted: my advice is to buy a cheap one and have alot of fun!

Ditto.

Does the KTR have no-ban features?

Anyone actually seen the new no-ban AKs available. What is the quality like out there?
Arsenal USA, CAI, etc?

Might consider the KTR even at the higher price given the poor choices at Arsenalinc.

I'd go with one of ORF's ready built. I was just there picking up and dropping off some work they did for me. While I was there I took a look at one. It was a Bulgarian AK 74 kit on a OOW receiver with wood furniture. Looks like they had about half a dozen in the show room ready to go. $530.  

Quoted: Got a real feel for a Krebs KTR-03S but a grand is painful. I hear Vector is good but don't know what reciever they use. Ohio Rapid Fire has a good rep from what I read here but I have read that OOR recieviers are soft?  What is the real deal?  looking for advice on a good AK.  I want to buy a bunch of mags and ammo also. How are the Romanian's offered for sale these days? TIA for responses.

I'm pretty sure Vector uses Ohio Ordnance Works recievers.  Some people "say" that these are too soft but I have never heard anything from anyone with an actual incident of these recievers cracking or deforming.  I recently started at thread at Gunsnet asking peoples opinions and NOBODY had anything negative too say about them.

It depends on what type of features you want on it?  Do you care about the "evil" features?(Bayonet lug, threaded muzzle, etc.)  If you DON'T then your best bet would be to go for an Arsenal Inc. SLR105.

http://www.arsenalinc.com/slr105.html

These use authentic Bulgarian recievers which will no doubt be tops among stamped recievers.  Arsenal Inc has a tremendous reputation for quality.  "Suggested retail" is $450, but I've seen several people say they have ordered them for $366.  If your going to go "cheap" then this is the way to go.

They also offer milled Ak rifles like the SA M-7 in 7.62 and the SA M-5 in 5.56 but these are around $600-$700.  These are extremely high quality rifles as well, BUT they use milled recievers so your stockset options will be severely limited because the number of milled stockset options is considerable less then stamped.

You could also go the custom built route.  If you would like a more info I'd suggest starting a new thread and asking about all the things you would need for a custom built rifle.

Several companies such as Atlantic Firearms offer "custom built" rifles(Not really custom built because they are already built and you can't make specific requests such as type of finish, specific markings on the reciever).  Atlantic Fireams offers a discount on several itmes for being an AR15.com member so you may want to consider them.

Hope this helps.

I saw the Vector line yesterday at Knob Creek and they were sharp.  Nice finish and good trigger.  $450.00 for fixed stock and $495.00 for side or under folder.  You could not go wrong  with Vector or ORF.  Seems like SAR 1s are running $400.00.  I would rather pay $50.00 or $100.00 more for a better built/looking rifle.

If you can find one, an Arsenal Usa SSR-85B is a nice one. I love mine. Picked it up for $600, like new.




Stamped receiver, parkerized, nice wood, nice metalwork.

Check out their site here:

www.arsenalusa.com/

The SSR-56-2 doesn't look that bad, cost-wise.