In Order By Price (And For The Most Part Quality).
701 : Who makes the best AK?
It more depends on what you want to spend, what company you think is best and what features you want on it. At the top (in both price and often quality) you're going to have custom AK's like those made by Krebs Custom. There are other custom gunsmiths that are just as good, but he seems to be the most well known as far as AK's go. Krebs is kind of expensive for an AK ($900 to $1600), but they are nice though.
Also included in this category are the various Pre-Ban AK Models that some people really prize that are no longer imported by decree of George the 1st in 1989. Since alot of these that are listed below are "No-Ban models" that have the same exact features that the Pre-Bans do and cost less doing it and due to the fact that you're probably not going to start collecting various models of AK's that are rare and expensive, then I'll leave those out for another time.
1) Expensive, but very well made.
Krebs Custom.
http://www.krebscustom.com/KalashnikovRifles.shtml#AK103KPKFS
http://www.krebscustom.com/KalashnikovRifles.shtml
http://www.krebscustom.com/KalashnikovRifles.shtml#AK103S
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Very good quality, but less money. Top of the regular AK's
Then you're going to have AK's by these guys.......
http://www.globaltrades.com/
........., these guys (which are my favorite), and then......
http://www.arsenalinc.com/calibers762.htm
....these guys which are all in basically the same category as far as quality is concerned.
http://www.robarm.com/M96_Home.htm
Out of the three I personally like the Arsenal SA M-7, but the other two are great too.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) In the middle in both price and quality
Then you have companies like these of which there are several.
http://ewbankak47.com/AK47_Rifles.php
Yugo AK's
www.centuryarms.com
For several other companies like it click on here...
http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/index.html
...or here and see what they have to say about various mid-level companies.
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4) The most inexpensive of all. Some don't have a great finish, but they work fine.
Then you have the Romanian AK's...
http://www.southernohiogun.com/aks.htm
...the Chinese AK's...
http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/mak90.html
...and the Saiga by EAA which is pretty cheap, but that from what I hear works great..
http://www.militarygunsupply.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=FIEAA762
You'll see alot of the Chinese and Romanian AK's both used and new as they're the most inexpensive and they do work well. They were imported into the country in the most numbers. The Saiga's are starting to get popular as guys convert them to No-Ban, so the price on them will go up eventually. They make a great truck ranch or trunk carbine as they only cost about $300 out the door tax and everything.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Used AK page so that you can check out the prices.
AK Classifieds if you're looking for a deal on a used one.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=7&f=122