izmash...the firm that used to WELD front sight bases and gas blocks to the barrel! lol!

izmash and molot are two the russian producers of kalashnikov variants. izmash concentrates on military/export ak-100 series production, and, of course, the saiga variants. molot handles the rpk side of things, along with derivations thereof.

there are several folks currently producing "restorations" of the saiga sporter. from hesse to gary (solstice arms) the quality ranges from so-so to "you couldn't distuinguish it from soviet issue". the price varies accordingly.

hesse, is the entry level, pistol-gripped saiga. 4 bones and you are shooting and having fun...but please...don't ever make the mistake of telling a kalashnikov afficionado that you have a "gen-u-ine roosian kalashnikov".

informer (gary at solstice), on the other hand, will gladly take your $220 saiga plus about $600-1000 more american dollars and build you a near museum grade duplicate of any era akm or ak-100 series rifle you can imagine. as the man said, "speed costs...how fast do you want to go?"

marc krebs will be glad to add to his list of satisfied saiga conversion buyers, also. figure about $800 and up for marc to get one of his beauties to you.