I have a friend who is looking to get rid of an AK. It's a Saiga Composite AK47 w/ a pair of 30 rd mags & a single 10 rd. Says he's only fired about 100 rds with it. No frills, nothing extra. Just base model. What's a fair price on something like this? My window of opportunity is pretty slim, and I know very little about AKs.
Fire it yourself first. Fair is relative, of course, anywhere between 500 and 1500 these days. A pic would be very helpful, we have some AK guys around that might be able to give you a better idea.
It's a sellers market, and it is insane. I was at a gunshop well know to charge MSRP or less even when others are gouging to the max last week. They had 5 new Saiga's in .223 and 7.62 X 39 for $900 each. As I said it's an insane world.
The "advantage" of Saiga is not being a parts gun assembled from imported parts on a US receiver by CAI. That means it is built with new parts in Russia. If it is one I believe it is, in its original configuration it does not have a pistol grip. Saigas and others are imported with a single stack mag well and legally modified to accept 30s after they arrived here in the US. This is no different than WASRs and other AK clones. The difference between a Romanian SAR and WASR is the SAR had a mag well which accepted a double stack 30 round magazine and the WASR accepted a single stack and was opened up to accept double stack legally. The easiest way to tell is the mag well opening will be bare metal because it was opened up after the firearm was completed (painted). Short form is it a good serviceable AK variant. The disadvantage is if a new AWB is not passed; you paid way too much.
Thanks all. I still haven't seen it, and don't have a pic. However, it is a 7.62 x 39, and the guy is asking $550 for it. I haven't been able to get hold of him today, but from what I'm reading here and around the net, it looks like it might be a pretty good deal. Now I just have to hope he still has it.
