NVBeav, Per your criteria, consider an AMD65. You can find them right now on close out at www.classicarms.com for $400. Or Centerfire systems has them for $460 at http://www.centerfiresystems.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=835 and there are loads of accessories on sale as well (mags are currently fairly cheap). Here's a couple of pix. First one is a pair of my AMD65's. Here is a picture of where I'm going with one of the above AMD65's. Remove the front grip, do a little banging to smooth out the bottom of the metal foreend grip and you end up with something along these lines. You can either keep the side folder, or remove it - at least that's MY theory. Note the loop sling. Makes carrying it simplicity itself. And, if you want to just do some research OR are interested in adding optics to your AK, consider visiting Tantal Avtomatics http://tantal.kalashnikov.guns.ru/ . I have a PSOP that is made for the 7.62x39 on a side mount. The mount was extremely easy to mount. I'm seriously considering adding a Kobra optics on side mounts to both my AMD65's. Hope that helps.
