I had a VEPR K .223 back in the day. It was my first "black rifle" and though it had some things that should have been addressed, I should have kept it and had someone like Krebs make it more AK-ish. Looking back, I do regret selling that one.
Mostly, it was front heavy and the sling swivel/forearm screw would heat up during firing and burn me a little. But it was utterly reliable with modified AK-74 magazines or Bulgarian Circle 10 .223 magazines and it would shoot! Ten shots from a hot barrel, prone on sandbags from 100 yards, group just over an inch with the issue sights. And IIRC, it had a great trigger in it. They got a lot of press among AK guys back then and they were very high quality. I'm not sure who's importing them now though.
Though I'm liking AR's these days for a lot of reasons and want to start a build or at least get a lower soon, I'd like to have a Mini-14 eventually too... just to round out the collection. I may add one of the thumbhole stock VEPR's shown above too.