I'm going to be out of state for a while, so I'm gonna take advantage... Stamped steel verses Milled receiver... any real difference in performance or durability? What's a good brand name? Mind you, this has to be 7.62 ruskie, not NATO, not .223 or .240sumthin. I want something that will actually take a 30rd. mag. (I hear some of the new ones only take ten-rounders)

What's a good price?
What's a good brand?

...oh yeah, and made in america,if possible.

I can recommend the Arsenal, Inc. SA-M7S. Probably the best made-in-the-US AK yuo can buy. In fact, I'd venture that it's the best AK, period. I base this on a 2 main factors:

1) Arsenal's are based on the Bulgarian AK's, which utilize milled receivers, as opposed to stamped. Beyond appearance, this difference is otherwise indiscernable to the end user. But, milled receivers are stronger & a little heavier (better recoil dampening).

Roughly $750.00 - a little more than the $300.00 Ak's out there, but definitely worth it, IMO.

2) Arsenal is licensed by the actual AK firm in Bugaria to mfg. their AK's, & even uses some of the original set & tolerance guages from said factory in the mfg. process.