AK buying advice.

I want to buy an AK either one in 7.62x39 or 5.45x39 heck or even one in .223. I'm looking for one in the $500 dollars or less range. I would personally like to try to stay away from buying anything that Century Arms makes. It seems like I will also have to order one, the local shops around here want $900+ for the ones I've seen. So any suggestions on where I can find one for my price range somewhere online? Any other advice is also welcome.

Save up an extra $100 and get a VEPR K chambered in whatever round you prefer.

Save up an extra $100 and get an Arsenal Inc chambered in whatever round you prefer.
http://www.arsenalinc.com/

Arsenal for life yo. It gets more use than any other gun I have ever owned and it is my nightstand gun. Mine was only 550. I paid another 200 and got a PK-AS red/black dot for it (another purchase that was worth its weight in gold). My only gripe with the arsenal guns is that some of them dont accept 75 rd romanian drums or polish synthetic mags, tho they all apparently take chinese drums and metal bananas and all the other synthetics. This is apparently due to slight dimensional differences between bulgie and other eastern bloc mags.

I am using a bunch of bulgarian 40 rders I picked up for 9 bucks each with silver bear Uly EM1 match.

What Gary said. You will not be disappointed with anything Arsenal makes.

'nother vote for an Arsenal, Inc. AK, especially those with milled receivers.

Maybe this is a stupid question but, where can you get an Arsenal AK for $600?

Joe Mamma

I bought a post-ban Arsenal SA-M7S (milled receiver, optics rail, 7.62x39) at a local gun store just a few weeks ago for $399. The only difference from the current models is that it has a pinned instead of threaded muzzle brake and it lacks a bayonet lug. It wasn't new, but you'd never know it from looking at it. I don't think it's ever been fired.

So shop around and go to a few gun shows. You may just be able to find an Arsenal or VEPR in your price range.