Any body get into the AK74 game "late"?

They're still a huge bargain in my opinion. You can still get a Tantal for under $600, 1080 rounds of 5.45 surplus ammo for under $200 and a dozen surplus tantal mags for a little over $200. That brings you in at right about $1000 for the complete set-up. I don't see many other comparable firearms that you can get into for that price. heck, if it's more of a range toy, go with the Tapco mags and save even more. They're usually around $12 a piece and I've never had any issues with mine.

Plus, the Tantal that I have from Century has been trouble free and is an absolute blast to shoot. Very low recoil and fairly accurate. I wouldn't hesitate to get into the AK74 game now. It's not too late.

I can respect that. In that case, I'd get a Waffen Werks Bulgarian AK74 for ~$700 delivered and transferred. Chrome lined barrel and a high quality build. Still puts you a little over $1000.

Classicarms has Waffen 74s for $599 right now if you don't mind unrefinished wood.

I've got a Century Arms Tantal too and I have had no issues with it. It is a lot of fun
to shoot and even my wife likes to fire it. 5.45X39 is still available and relatively cheap
and easy to find. Some of the early Tantals that Century put on the market had barrels
that were chambered for 5.56 rather than 5.45 and this caused keyholing issues and gave
Century a bad reputation. The newer Tantals work fine and have the correct barrel
installed. If you look at a Century Tantal and the number on the barrel starts with a
Y, you have one of the newer rifles and you should have no issues as a rule of thumb.

If the price is right, I could see myself picking up another AK-74. I'd love to get
a Russian of Bulgarian build with wooden furniture. I'm not a big fan of the folding
wire stock on the Tantal. I would also like to get a chrome lined barrel this time as
well.

If you are completely set on having a gun with a real combloc barrel then your options become few and expensive. FIME Group still has the SGL-31 series of rifles that are based on Saigas, but those are now running over $1000. You can pick up an unconverted Saiga for around $500 and do some of the conversion work yourself, but 922r parts will drive the cost up.

Another option is the Vepr series of rifles. They are made in Russia like the Saiga's, but are based off of the RPK series of light machine guns. They come in a sporterized configuration but can be converted over to a pistol grip setup and to take hi-cap mags much the same as a Saiga. There are some non-standard parts though and not all AKM accessories will work with them.

I ended up getting a Waffen Werks AK74, but I purchased mine for $700 back before the great 2013 firearms panic when they were still using NDS receivers. It does have the U.S. made barrel, but it is chrome lined and since it's mainly a range toy it wasn't really a big enough issue to make me want to spend another $300 or so dollars to pick up an SGL 31 up at the time.

5.45 ammo still very affordable. Get them now when you can .

Neither you nor your target will ever notice a difference between a CHF barrel and a US made barrel. We have millions of quality rifles built here in the US with USA made barrels that are very accurate and durable. I have the WW $599 from Classic Arms and the wood looked new. Its about half as accurate as my BCM 16" LW (which shoots 1moa), but I can still hit beer cans at 100 yards with the irons.

Not too late. I recently built a '74 using an AK Builder kit with a US chrome lined barrel and an NDS receiver. With a Tapco trigger, grip and some rivets I spent about $650.

I'm sitting here looking at a couple like new circle 10 mags that cost $25 each.

And my last can of 7n6 was $177 shipped from Copes.

ETA: AK Builder has Tantal kits too!

I really like the 74's. Ive owned a CUR2, two diff. SGL31 and a Saiga. They are all fine rifles. I think they truly are an upgrade over the 47 being lighter when fully loaded more accurate and manageable. I noticed that milsurp ammo is indeed corrosive but hotter than silver bear and shot better for me. wolf is fine. They are every bit as reliable as the 47. I believe their only real shortcoming is lack of a solid top rail for optics. Some rifles will hold close to 2 moa, if you get one of these its a keeper. The sgl31 come with a 25 meter test target. The cheaper saigas shoot just as well as the sgl.

My shtf semi auto will be my Lancaster Russian Red AK 74 with the chrome lined Bulgarian barrel. It grouped 3 inch at 100 yrds on rest using Russian surplus. Very sweet shooting gun . I payed $560 back in 2010. I had it sent back bec of the rivet problem. They fixed it and also replaced with the original Bulgarian barrel. The stainless steel US barrel they first put in was also good as my groups were 3 inch groups as well. But im glad they changed mine bec of the many complaints at the time.

My son and I have been in the process of building to Bulgarians with US chrome line barrels and Nodak Spud receivers. It's been a very slow process. The problem wasn't the cost of the parts, it's the cost of the tools. I can probably sell them when we finish. The bulgarian kits we bought are from new unissued rifles and should make some nice rifles.

I had one for a couple weeks and it was garbage. That thing couldn't make it through a mag without jamming. I'm sure my gun was an exception though.

Is a nodak spud receiver as good as a bulgy or russian original.

If you can find a Waffen Werks with the NDS receiver for a decent price, then you will definitely be good to go.

Really nice build for the $$ spent.