My local gun store has a used Norinco Mak-90 for sale.  10 round magazine, no muzzle brake, and wood furniture, not a thumbhole stock.  They are asking $499.  I did a quick search on gunbroker.com and it looks good to me, but you guys would know best.

I'm contemplating my first centerfire rifle purchase, and I think an AK is the best choice at this time.  Any comments?

Mike

I've seen them go for  that, but it would be very hard for me to hand over that much cash for a MAK90.  Don't get me wrong - I own a MAK90 and love every inch of it.  They are great specimens of the AK.  Gunbroker has them for sale on there for $499 and up, but if you watch them long enough, you will see that they don't actually sell.

I think a more fair HIGH price would be $400 to $425.  And that would be for a pristine, Unfired, NIB w/all the accessories original to the rifle.

My target price since it sounds like all of it MAY not be original would be more like $300 to $350.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but if it doesn't have the thumbhole stock - it isn't all original.

I know some will disagree w/me on the price.  MAK90's do draw a premium in some cases, but I just don't see that it is worth it.  I'd be looking at putting a little extra and shopping for a Vector or Krebs AK.

If you are dead set on a MAK90, be patient and look around.  I found my MAK90 at a local pawn shop for $250 just around a year ago.  It was brand spankin' new, unfired and in the box.  Someone had brought five of them in and pawned them.  I was lucky enough to buy two of them.  Deals are out there...........

DK

Thanks.  Checked at another local shop and they had a Romanian WASR-10 NIB for $299.  Only thing about that one was it wouldn't accept hi-cap magazines.  (I don't know enough about AKs to know if that's normal or not.)  One of the things that attracted me to AKs was the availability and cost of hi-cap mags, so one that wouldn't take 'em isn't gonna cut it for me.

Agains, thanks from a newbie.

Some of the WASR's were "low-cap" Ak's.  Now most that you will find are the "high-cap" versions.  Basically their the low versions that have been converted to a high version via grinding out the little guiderails in the magwell area.  It was all the BS associated with the assault weapons ban of 1994.

They are great guns for the money.  The fit and finish isn't comparable to the Chinese MAK90's though.

Above is a map I made from what people in different parts of the US report on several boards as to the price of  AK rifles in their area. As you can see you are in a high priced area so the price you quoted is about right. But it being a used rifle I would try to talk them down at least $50-$75.

 I got a mak 90 on GB Auction for $381 NIB