AK kit pricing opinions?

[RailroadGunner]

I got my first AK kit from AKbuilder today (Polish underfolder w/ headspaced non chrome barrel) for $399, what's your opinion on how the prices of kits are now compared to 6 months ago and the availability of kits should a ban not pass and prices hopefully go down?

AKbuilder has plenty of kits in stock (with uninstalled barrels) as of a half hour ago but already supply and demand has priced the kits up to $415 and thats with an uninstalled barrel.

Just curious as to how the homebuild folks feel about this as i'm very interested in building a few AK's for myself but am hesitate on picking up another kit in hopes that no ban happens prices will come down a bit.

[hellayella]

get it while u can...no guarantee for sure, the kits are not that expensive, just need to source for the Com-Bloc barrels over the US barrels

[AKSOG]

Prices are higher due to the lack of supply vs demand but you didn't do that bad. I think I recall the Polish UF kits selling without a barrel for $200 before things got really bad.

I doubt prices will come down much in the next year if at all.

[Ford8N]

They have all gone up in price. Even 6 months ago pricing was crazy. Of course, I was buying matching combloc barreled kits from Josiah for $89 shipped! And they were unfired with the paper still in the barrel. Times have really changed in just a few years.

AKBuilder does a real nice job populating the barrel, everything is strait. So get as many as you can. It's a good deal.

[Kingofthehill]

Ive never built one from a kit but is this like doing an ar 80% setup?

Do people do build parties for these? I know NOTHING about Ak's but i have quite a few mags for one. I would love to get my hands on one though if possible

[Jayruta]

Ak builder is no longer providing kits with barrels installed.

[nicoroshi]

A month ago you could get a polish uf kit for 230, and a com bloc barrel for 110. 6 months before that the same kit was $175. Kits have been drying up for the last year, nothing new except some maadi kits have really popped up. All the g3, fal, galil kits went a while ago, but the last month all the polish uf, amd, romy kits seem to have disappeared, he'll even the milled kits are getting sold out.

I agree with this assessment^^^
But remember Romy 'G' kits with matching numbers and original barrels used to be $99 all day long in the not too distant past.
Combination of a few things IMHO.
Devaluing of the dollar, amount of kits left, ban scare, etc.
There were still good deals to be had not that long ago with the Maddi kit for $229 matching numbers with crutch side folders.
Sell the crutch folder for $90-$100 on the forums, and you have a kit for $130-$140 with rear trunnion that will accept a stock.

Our hobby is not getting any cheaper that's for sure.

[hellayella]

yeah, on other AK boards, parts kits with original Com-bloc barrels are fetching from 600-800..

[Zamble]

Well I just bought my Polish UF from Akbuilder, being delivered today with a chrome barrel populated. I bought it a week ago. It was $399 for kit with non chrome barrel and an extra $60 for the chrome.

[hellayella]

Well I just bought my Polish UF from Akbuilder, being delivered today with a chrome barrel populated. I bought it a week ago. It was $399 for kit with non chrome barrel and an extra $60 for the chrome.

US made barrels run 60-90 bucks depend on chrome lined..i'm talking about original Com-bloc barrels that run from $130 to $260 depends on where it's coming from and for which rifle...

[eightmd]

I think I remember Solar Tactical having AK Romainan and Bulgarian barrels for like $110 or $120 about 6 months or more ago.

[Jeepers]

parts kits come and go , dist import whatever they can get a deal on, its just to bad there are so many countries we cant get imported from heck i can remember 50 and 60 buck sten mkII kits @ the overpriced gun shows in the 80's ... but anywho there will be more parts kits minus barrels unless the U.S. gov makes importation more difficult like the barrel ban and i just dont see parts kits getting the public spotlight like the evil AR's have been getting in the news cycle , so unless some legislation happens to try to stop importing the parts , the kits will return when the panic is done .....

[manuelcardenas77]

Got mine for 512$ should be here tomoorroa

[Flintlock Tom]

Ive never built one from a kit but is this like doing an ar 80% setup?

Do people do build parties for these? I know NOTHING about Ak's but i have quite a few mags for one. I would love to get my hands on one though if possible

Building an AK is nothing like "assembling" an AR. Check this thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=292985

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Looks like a rip off to me...