the arsenal product is a partial chineses kit (mainly the front end) on a hungarian receiver (excellent receiver) with bulgarian trunnions, bolt and carrier...and filled out with the requisite number of american parts. the wooden furniture is hungarian and very attractive, imo.

they look darn nice. the authenticity or collector value is zero due to the various nationalities and mixed model types of parts used in the construction.

plateshooter bought one that had the older 'bushing/trunnion' setup and a very crooked bbl. installed. he sent it back to the factory. iirc, his replacement rifle had a crooked front sight. i have read that global has abandoned the bushung/trunnion setup in favor of correctly bored bulgarian trunnions.

for $500 you are buying something 'unusual' and it's a fairly priced deal in my book. like all purchases in this arena, be very clear on the reseller's return/warranty policy.

the wasr is reparked, cleaned up for appearance, massaged into hi-cap configuration and the naked muzzle syndrome is addressed.

i'm biased towards orf's service. i would assume these are test fired for function/accuracy (mike...todd, please comment on this) if they do the wasr's up like their other builds.

it is obvious that arsenal/global did not check either of plateshooter's ssr-56's by test firing.

the wasr is also fairly priced. take a wasr, add a blast/park job, a muzzle device and installation and the other details orf throws into the deal and you'll be hard pressed to do it cheaper at home.

again, this is a shooter...just like the ssr-56...and not a collector piece.

to answer your question about "better made", it depends upon the individual example and the guy that does the work/rework on the rifle. that's what it boils down to.

it's obvious that both arsemal/global and orf are capable of good work. being that you are in texas and possibly physically close to global it might make sense to give them a go.

since i'm up here in ohio, it's a no brainer for me. and i like the fact that orf test fires their work.