the great AR/AK price discussion

Stogies

Stogies

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I lucked out when Trump got elected and got me a Ruger AR 556 for about 430 since there was a glut of ARs at the time. But in 2020 when the election looked funnier and funnier I also paid 1K for an AK that is now about 650 (😩) since people were buying guns left and right.

It seems like right now we have a peculiar situation where budget ARs are super low (Anderson recently below 350) whereas the more upscale mid level guns like Ruger and S&W still run in the 700-800 range. How did we arrive at this situation?
 
hp468 said:
The PSA business model (IIRC from watching an interview with Jamin) was to minimize profit per unit and make up for it in volume. They created a race to the bottom.
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PSA captures additional margin with its direct to customer business model. If you buy almost any other major brand (PSA is a major brand) the factory produces and sells to regional distributors and your local dealer buys from the regional distributors- 3 business make money - factory , distributors and dealer/retailers
PSA produces and sells majority of products direct to customers - only one business needs to make a profit and cover overhead. Low prices aren’t due to cheap materials or shoddy construction- they can be aggressive with price due to their business model
 
I like my PSA because its like a lego gun I never spend a huge amount of money on. Until a few years later when I have a massive box of parts that I sell to you people for pennies.
 
hp468 said:
Supply > Demand
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90% this, combined with some businesses (Ex. PSA) having near complete control of the supply lines for their individual products.

AK's have also gotten more expensive over the last 10-15 years due to a combination of a Russian weapon/ammo import ban and increased interest from both preppers (2020-2022 reminded people how fragile our quality of life can be) and collectors.
 
Stogies said:
I lucked out when Trump got elected and got me a Ruger AR 556 for about 430 since there was a glut of ARs at the time. But in 2020 when the election looked funnier and funnier I also paid 1K for an AK that is now about 650 (😩) since people were buying guns left and right.

It seems like right now we have a peculiar situation where budget ARs are super low (Anderson recently below 350) whereas the more upscale mid level guns like Ruger and S&W still run in the 700-800 range. How did we arrive at this situation?
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History is already confirming We All Lucked Out; and, as your AR / AK buying experience bears out:

“Everything Moves In Cycles and the only thing that is most important is how one is positioned to take advantage of any given point of a particular cycle. Or, not.”
 
commiecuriocollector said:
I recently got back into things....was shocked at the turnaround, the bizarro world now that we live in.

Who would have thought I'd finally buy my first AR, cause I couldn't justify the cost of another AK.

Hell I can't justify the cost of an SKS!!!

Where am I?!?!?!
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I, too, have a hard time overcoming the reality of my youth:
$129 AKs and $79 SKS. Add case of 762 for $39. Used to buy a can of Cope and a gallon of gas for $1.

Dangit, excuse me those damn kids are playing on my lawn again....
 
NKD said:
I, too, have a hard time overcoming the reality of my youth:
$129 AKs and $79 SKS. Add case of 762 for $39. Used to buy a can of Cope and a gallon of gas for $1.

Dangit, excuse me those damn kids are playing on my lawn again....
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Wow....Just when I start to think I'm old.....I heard brontosaurus steaks were 3 for $10 back then too right?

Good luck with the whippersnappers!
 
NKD said:
I, too, have a hard time overcoming the reality of my youth:
$129 AKs and $79 SKS. Add case of 762 for $39. Used to buy a can of Cope and a gallon of gas for $1.

Dangit, excuse me those damn kids are playing on my lawn again....
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Sadly I was not here yet when those prices were real! But I do remember a time when Century had 10 flavors of kit built AKs that started at about 400$.

It is somewhat infuriating how much more AKs are even today but there just are not that many made domestically (yet).
 
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Stogies said:
Sadly I was not here yet when those prices were real! But I do remember a time when Century had 10 flavors of kit built AKs that started at about 400$.

It is somewhat infuriating how much more AKs are even today but there just are not that many made domestically (yet).
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Well much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, utility is in the eye of the tool abuser, and by that metric at the present time, I feel like AK's/SKS's hold approximately the proper cost/value ratio relative to the base model AR-15's. This is a reversal from the past.

I was always keen on AK/SKS's back in the day because their cost was less than what I thought they should be. Now that prices have generally come around to where costs match up with value across the board (very generally speaking) and the absence of cheap overseas ammo in 7.62x39 as an added benefit, it feels to me that everything is on a more level playing field.

Now why is this? No cheap imports, or significantly less, means domestic production is now bringing the costs up in line with what they should be.

I am not happy about this development, just to be clear.

This increased cost, due to the lack of cheap imports and domestic manufacture proves inherent value in the system(s) (AK variants, no domestic SKS's, yet.). Increased cost is a real bummer, but now permanent access being guaranteed by domestic production, and the institutional knowledge base being built by this, is worth every penny in my mind.

I'm not happy about it, but I can't stop the smirking grin that takes over when I think about it all.

Stop the civilians from having AK's? Cut off imports.

Now they're making them out of kits? Ban the tricky part to make, the barrel, that'll fix em!

What? They're making barrels too now? Ban the kits!!!

Now they're making them from scratch using CNC machinery, all domestically produced?!?!

Govt=0 People=1
 
Those 180 dollar AKs we bought back in the day were paid for with 4 dollar an hour jobs too and discretionary spending was an unusual idea, Your hardwork went for food, a roof, gas, car,clothes and hopefully some savings. A 189 dollar AK was a pretty frivolous spend for a working family. Now people blow a thousand bucks like dandelion puffs. Thats why the price is up. That and clever marketing.. I used to work at a company where we took our worst failing products and marketed them to foreign countries as Gods answers to all your problems and charged a premium. Those ex Commies werent dumb, they sold us a lot of weapons made with the quantity over quality edict. I always thought thats what the assault weapons ban was about anyway.. Keeping out cheap Commie guns unless you stuck some American parts in em. I agree with someone above. AK as we knew then in the 90s are probably worth the asking price. Durable bullet pumps made as cheaply as possible. AR unless they are dirt cheap, probably not worth it to me. I do like my AR though dont get me wrong. I wouldnt pay a grand for it though.
 
Planet24 said:
Those 180 dollar AKs we bought back in the day were paid for with 4 dollar an hour jobs too and discretionary spending was an unusual idea, Your hardwork went for food, a roof, gas, car,clothes and hopefully some savings. A 189 dollar AK was a pretty frivolous spend for a working family. Now people blow a thousand bucks like dandelion puffs. Thats why the price is up. That and clever marketing.. I used to work at a company where we took our worst failing products and marketed them to foreign countries as Gods answers to all your problems and charged a premium. Those ex Commies werent dumb, they sold us a lot of weapons made with the quantity over quality edict. I always thought thats what the assault weapons ban was about anyway.. Keeping out cheap Commie guns unless you stuck some American parts in em. I agree with someone above. AK as we knew then in the 90s are probably worth the asking price. Durable bullet pumps made as cheaply as possible. AR unless they are dirt cheap, probably not worth it to me. I do like my AR though dont get me wrong. I wouldnt pay a grand for it though.
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Interesting. Is this in the 90s? We still had $200 wasr's in 2006/7.
 
Planet24 said:
Those 180 dollar AKs we bought back in the day were paid for with 4 dollar an hour jobs too and discretionary spending was an unusual idea, Your hardwork went for food, a roof, gas, car,clothes and hopefully some savings. A 189 dollar AK was a pretty frivolous spend for a working family. Now people blow a thousand bucks like dandelion puffs. Thats why the price is up. That and clever marketing.. I used to work at a company where we took our worst failing products and marketed them to foreign countries as Gods answers to all your problems and charged a premium. Those ex Commies werent dumb, they sold us a lot of weapons made with the quantity over quality edict. I always thought thats what the assault weapons ban was about anyway.. Keeping out cheap Commie guns unless you stuck some American parts in em. I agree with someone above. AK as we knew then in the 90s are probably worth the asking price. Durable bullet pumps made as cheaply as possible. AR unless they are dirt cheap, probably not worth it to me. I do like my AR though dont get me wrong. I wouldnt pay a grand for it though.
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I did a currency conversion, not sure how accurate:

$180 in 1990 is worth $423.72 today​

 
Stogies said:
I lucked out when Trump got elected and got me a Ruger AR 556 for about 430 since there was a glut of ARs at the time. But in 2020 when the election looked funnier and funnier I also paid 1K for an AK that is now about 650 (😩) since people were buying guns left and right.

It seems like right now we have a peculiar situation where budget ARs are super low (Anderson recently below 350) whereas the more upscale mid level guns like Ruger and S&W still run in the 700-800 range. How did we arrive at this situation?
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Obama and Biden are to blame for the high ass prices
 
commiecuriocollector said:
boy thats the truth. a couple of months ago I bought a basically new, shall we say, EconoAR for $350, not because I wanted it, but because it was $350.

What other choice did I have?
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To spend $600 on parts on sale and build 2?
 
NCLivingBrit said:
To spend $600 on parts on sale and build 2?
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eh, perhaps. the real value in the 350 one is that it is already assembled, and can go bang.

the 600 in parts for the additional 2, well I already have, and the way that they are turning out, they will never go bang if I can't decide what the "optimum" configuration will be. They're little more than expensive blunt trauma weapons at this point.

give me options to choose from and watch all forward progress on anything, come to a grinding halt.
 
commiecuriocollector said:
eh, perhaps. the real value in the 350 one is that it is already assembled, and can go bang.

the 600 in parts for the additional 2, well I already have, and the way that they are turning out, they will never go bang if I can't decide what the "optimum" configuration will be. They're little more than expensive blunt trauma weapons at this point.

give me options to choose from and watch all forward progress on anything, come to a grinding halt.
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Heck I feel you there. I had enough parts from indecision and changes laying around that a barrel I got in a trade and the cheapest gas block and tube midway sell was all I needed to build a rifle, with optic. And there's plenty of parts left over.
 
Simple supply and demand. Less imports, more interest in the platform equals higher prices. When I originally got into aks it was indeed the opposite. Aks were the "poor mans" rifle. Ars were jammomatic expensive paper weights...in my opinion. I always went for aks. Never thought the day would come where there are $350 ars and $3500 aks. Wild times.

Sandy hook and obummers assault weapons ban threats really made the ar prices dive into oblivion because of the initial panic and price hike causing everyone and their mommas start making ars.
 
Drftman said:
Simple supply and demand. Less imports, more interest in the platform equals higher prices. When I originally got into aks it was indeed the opposite. Aks were the "poor mans" rifle. Ars were jammomatic expensive paper weights...in my opinion. I always went for aks. Never thought the day would come where there are $350 ars and $3500 aks. Wild times.

Sandy hook and obummers assault weapons ban threats really made the ar prices dive into oblivion because of the initial panic and price hike causing everyone and their mommas start making ars.
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Yeah, when I bought my first wasr in 2007 the sales guy chuckled and said if I wanted a real gun, I'd get a DPMS. The wasr was $249 after tax and a handful of boxes of tula he threw in for amusement.
In the future, we'll wonder how on earth either platform was 'so cheap' when they were.
 
I wouldn't mind having an AK just don't know what is junk and what is not.Prices are high but other than AR's what isn't? I would really like an sks paratrooper but just can't justify paying what they go for.
 
The sanctions against Russia are a big problem on the AK price issue.
 
Is this when I get to talk about the new Chinese AK bought at a gun show in the mid 80s that came with three magazines, sling, cleaning kit, bayonet, and stripper clip and guide for a couple hundred? Or the Valmet M76 with wood buttstock in .223 for maybe 400? The new Chinese SKSs for under 150 and the Soviet SKSs for under a hundred? I didn't think so.
 
rufrdr said:
Is this when I get to talk about the new Chinese AK bought at a gun show in the mid 80s that came with three magazines, sling, cleaning kit, bayonet, and stripper clip and guide for a couple hundred? Or the Valmet M76 with wood buttstock in .223 for maybe 400? The new Chinese SKSs for under 150 and the Soviet SKSs for under a hundred? I didn't think so.
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It is the place if you want it to be ;). I just can't get over the fact that you can easily pay a grand for an imported Zastava these days. Insane.
 
I like my AKs, but there is zero reason to buy one now. Last time I checked, 5.56 brass was cheaper than 7.62 steel, not to mention the cost of the rifles themselves. The great AR vs AK debate is over.
 
rbell2915 said:
I like my AKs, but there is zero reason to buy one now. Last time I checked, 5.56 brass was cheaper than 7.62 steel, not to mention the cost of the rifles themselves. The great AR vs AK debate is over.
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Superior. Boringly superior. Boring.
 
rbell2915 said:
I like my AKs, but there is zero reason to buy one now. Last time I checked, 5.56 brass was cheaper than 7.62 steel, not to mention the cost of the rifles themselves. The great AR vs AK debate is over.
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The debate was not about which one to get but why the prices are they way they are.
 
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