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Posted: 5/7/2012 7:47:09 PM EDT
| So I do know that this is an election year but it seems like the AK market has been going crazy with new growth and increased demand for the past year. What gives are people just now realizing how kick ass the AK platform is or maybe the coverage over the past two wars has something to do with it, I dont know but I know its making parts harder to find and driving parts up I dont like it lol |
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So I do know that this is an election year but it seems like the AK market has been going crazy with new growth and increased demand for the past year. What gives are people just now realizing how kick ass the AK platform is or maybe the coverage over the past two wars has something to do with it, I dont know but I know its making parts harder to find and driving parts up I dont like it lol There's just something about these crude weapons that I find very intriguing. I'm sure many others feel the same and our love for the Kalashnikov system is very hard to explain. I think the reputation of the AK has sparked a lot of interest in them for new buyers. They are usually quite a bit less expensive than ARs as well. Entry level AK = $450.... entry level AR $600.... and so on. |
| For me, personally, it was bad timing on my part. My first AK was a CAI GP-1975. Not a horrible AK, but it had a lot of faults and I found I prefer the smaller rounds in "assault" rifles. I bought an SLR-105 this year and couldn't be happier. Mag prices seem a little high, but they are quality mags. Thing I love the most about the 5.45 platform, is the price of ammo. I enjoy shooting this rifle very much. |
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I wonder if AK sales are really that high or if that is just a perception due to a lack of availability. The AK market is a shadow of what it was 3 or 4 years ago in terms of the numbers and variety of rifles to choose from. Could just be the same number of people fighting over fewer rifles. Need to see some hard data/real numbers to know for sure. |
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I sell a lot of them on the weekends to new shooters so there is still demand out there. I think the constant attention they get with the media, and gamers, over the years with wars and such have just ingrained the rifle into their heads.
It also has been priced 3 to 4 hundred below an AR so people will gravitate to it that don't have the funds. |
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I'm sure the various gun mags have helped out quite a bit. Also, the AK's are portrayed as "tacti-cool" in many articles these days, which adds to their increased popularity. For example, the Guns & Ammo - "AK" special editions, have definitely helped. When you see hardware stores carrying them in their gun sections, (ie: Fleet Farm & Ace Hardware), you know AK's have finally gone mainstream.
I'm torn about their popularity because it has made AK's more expensive with the increased demand. Genie is out of the bottle and all that. 
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I got into the AK platform in a big way over the past year. I got a WASR as a beater rifle, but it ended up kicking so much ass that I had to buy another, which was an SGL21. well that kicked even more ass, so I sold my ARs and bought 3 more AKs. (SLR106, AMD, Draco)
For me the pure reliability, simplicity, ruggedness, plus how fun they are to shoot brought me to the dark side. I will never but an AR again. But as I have found that the supply is drying up. On gun trader classifieds AKs aren't being sold by individuals add much either. People are probably seeing the writing on the wall and realizing that they need to buy and stockpile nit sell. That's my guess. |
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The Ak is robust, simple, easy to maintain , easy to clean (if you choose to clean it) and low in cost compared to other weapons. Win,win,win,win and win. Case closed. Low cost? Have you seen what good AKs run for these days?  High end AKs are still a great deal cheaper than a high end AR 
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I got into the AK platform in a big way over the past year. I got a WASR as a beater rifle, but it ended up kicking so much ass that I had to buy another, which was an SGL21. well that kicked even more ass, so I sold my ARs and bought 3 more AKs. (SLR106, AMD, Draco) For me the pure reliability, simplicity, ruggedness, plus how fun they are to shoot brought me to the dark side. I will never but an AR again. But as I have found that the supply is drying up. On gun trader classifieds AKs aren't being sold by individuals add much either. People are probably seeing the writing on the wall and realizing that they need to buy and stockpile nit sell. That's my guess. thats awesome because......I did AlMOST the exact same thing. But I got the SGL21....then I sold off the ARs...then i bought a beater WASR! |
| I gave my son my Bulgarian milled receiver with 5 mags and a couple of K mixed brand ammo........The piece looked new and shot very well.......I sold my Chinese with the folding metal stock for $675.......The things are real common in the SC low country.........................I have a GSG AK in 22 cal that fills my need for the AK 47 rifle without the ammo cost..........For the same reason, my son now has my Colt AR 15 and about 50 rounds of ammo I had left............................I got the Umarex Colt AR 15 C 4 carbine to fill my need for a tactical rifle that shoots all day for peanuts. |
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I gave my son my Bulgarian milled receiver with 5 mags and a couple of K mixed brand ammo........The piece looked new and shot very well.......I sold my Chinese with the folding metal stock for $675.......The things are real common in the SC low country.........................I have a GSG AK in 22 cal that fills my need for the AK 47 rifle without the ammo cost..........For the same reason, my son now has my Colt AR 15 and about 50 rounds of ammo I had left............................I got the Umarex Colt AR 15 C 4 carbine to fill my need for a tactical rifle that shoots all day for peanuts. Tell me where I can get a chinese for $675? 
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Prices have been pretty unreal the past year or so, but I am actually starting to see prices come down a little bit. There are several nice milled ak rifles on gb at the moment for between 6 and 900, including a milled east german ak on an slr bulgarian receiver that was supposedly built by mario at pohf for 880 or so. I think that arsenal bringing in some more of the slr rifles definitely helps, but I also think that people aren't freaking out as much this election as they did last time. But again we are still ~5 mo away, so who knows.
Because of all the prices going up, I have actually scaled my purchasing back to just mags and ammo for the rifles that I do have, and have been consolidating into a single rifle caliber and 2-3 pistol calibers to both simplify things and also enjoy what I do have instead of stuff collecting dust. There is a lot I see that I wouldn't mind having, but I will pb wait til next year when I graduate from nursing school and everyone is getting over the election jitters. Also need to get my trust setup.
Edit- I will also ad though, that on the local texas gun trader website, it is often littered with overpriced guns being bought and sold by wanna be gun dealers operating without an ffl. You see stuff pop up for a decent deal, and show up again less than week later for a $300 markup. Hell I have had that happen to a gun or two that I have sold on there, only to see it pop up again I shit you not 1 or 2 days later. btw nchapa, I really hope you held on to those sam7 rifles. Its too bad I wasn't into guns back in the late 90s early 2000s. I was too big into offroading back then and throwing away money and didn't get into the game until the past couple of years. oh well, live and learn. |
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I gave my son my Bulgarian milled receiver with 5 mags and a couple of K mixed brand ammo........The piece looked new and shot very well.......I sold my Chinese with the folding metal stock for $675.......The things are real common in the SC low country.........................I have a GSG AK in 22 cal that fills my need for the AK 47 rifle without the ammo cost..........For the same reason, my son now has my Colt AR 15 and about 50 rounds of ammo I had left............................I got the Umarex Colt AR 15 C 4 carbine to fill my need for a tactical rifle that shoots all day for peanuts. So, in the event you need a tactical rifle for non range purposes, you are now stuck with .22's? Also, where in the world do you shop that has chicom folders for under $800 - $1000. |
Sadly I hear Mitt is going to be just as good at the job.
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ALL guns are seeing record sales, not just AK's! We can thank Obama for that, he has been the top firearm salesman 3 years in a row! http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/SemperFirearms/1333653839_firearms_salesman_of_the_year_xlarge.jpg |
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I started off with a WASR thinking, "this will be my last one"
Then got a Hungarian AMD-65 and thought, "this will be my last one" about 12 AK's later I got a SGL-31/94 and thought, "this will be my last one.... ppssshshhh, I can't quit!" AK's are fun as hell and very easy to accessorize, plus they are somewhat exotic, that's what got me into AK's, plus my WASR was $350 back in 2004 and ammo was $88 for 1000 shipped, miss those days |
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You sure do! I don't see a single SBR!! FIX THAT PROBLEM!!! |
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Sadly I hear Mitt is going to be just as good at the job.
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ALL guns are seeing record sales, not just AK's! We can thank Obama for that, he has been the top firearm salesman 3 years in a row! http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/SemperFirearms/1333653839_firearms_salesman_of_the_year_xlarge.jpg Maybe, but I don't think he would want to piss off his entire base, not to mention the biggest lobby out there in his first term. I'd be more worried about a 2nd term Mitt than 1st term Mitt. |
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My first semiauto rifle was a VEPR in 2005. Purchased a NDS lower today to build an SBR Krink. My brother has a Russian AK (VEPRS are too) and we have been talking about having some AK range days this summer and leavin' the AR15's at home for once. I love that VEPR but WOW it gets heavy after a bit. |
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That is what I call a good problem |
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Sadly I hear Mitt is going to be just as good at the job.
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ALL guns are seeing record sales, not just AK's! We can thank Obama for that, he has been the top firearm salesman 3 years in a row! http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/SemperFirearms/1333653839_firearms_salesman_of_the_year_xlarge.jpg He will not DARE touch guns. Not after taking that endorsement and running as "THE conservative". He might want to, but I don't think he will. |
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You sure do! I don't see a single SBR!! FIX THAT PROBLEM!!! Or RPKs!!!!! FTW |
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