"...they are "entry" level AKs yet time and time again they prove themselves against every other brand, country, etc out there."
-BlckM70
The saying "entry level AK" never made that much sense to me. AK's quickly plateau when it comes to performance. They're either crap from the beginning or they're good to go, but the best AK's aren't that far ahead of just average AK's. They really are far more accurate than given credit for. I have yet to see this crappy AK that can't hit the side of a barn from 50 meters away.
As for build quality, yes I believe they vary a lot from the more expensive models to the cheap ones. I think a base factory VEPR shows far more quality than any Saiga I have seen yet.
Then there's the collectible prebans and rare one-off imports. I guess in that case a cheap, yet still foreign built AK would be considered an "entry" into the world of dropping lots of money on a collection that most likely will never be complete.