-AKs don't have nearly the depth of suppliers (especially cut-rate overseas ones) as the ARHave parts kits really dried up that much? With import restrictions (e.g. no barrels), is the US cost of labor and parts that high to drive these things above the $1k mark? I'm not looking for the simple generic supply vs. demand answer - I want to dig into the drivers. The contrast, of course, is the dip in AR pricing ...
hi @barnbwt ... With the prohibitions for saigas and veprs this got really bad also as a source
of donors for other conversions.
VEPRs are not banned and are widely available.
And press the barrel & headspace it in an antiquated fashion, and press on & align the gas block in a similar antiquated fashion, and fold & weld/rivet rails & trunnions using more operations. The whole gun is simply labor-intensive by modern standards, and it's not like anybody's gonna invest in a robotic assembly line to automate the fabrication of trash-can guns (but a robotic assembly line is precisely how AR receivers get machined)I think it's because on an AK, you have to rivet the lower in place, and this is a procedure/skill that few people are set up to do.
There's just a teeny bit more gold in circulation these days than back then; your gold also won't be paying for anywhere near the same value in terms of labor or materials (machine-stitching, machine-looming). Similarly, there's just a teensy few hundred thousand more AKs that are no longer parts kits than a decade ago, but a few ten thousands more kits have been imported subsequently. In the 80's, ARs cost more than nearly any other military-issue semi-auto. In the 70's (I think, could have been the 80's) HK products and FALs were the most affordable option, and STGW57's were cheap since their ammo was scarce.New
We don't have inflation except in our currency. If you had a $20 gold piece in 1850 you could buy a nice custom tailored suit. If you had that same $20 gold piece you could still buy a nice tailored suit. See no inflation.
what are the parts not made in the USA? There are a few US made trunions but not sure about carriers and bolts?
otherwise everything else can be found.
For the money/value, a decently home built AR simply cannot be beat in todays market. I'd take my home built $500AR over a $750 Wasr anyday.
All foreign made AK's receivers are not made here and are imported either in parts or a whole rifle. Unlike AR15 parts which are all made mostly in the USA. All the good quality AK's (Bulgarian, Russian, Chinese etc) are all imported.
So the cost and burden of importation adds to the price of AK's. AK's are also not as easy to build as AR's. And as already mentioned, AR15's are built by countless manufacturers here in US, so competition drives down prices.