I LOVE the Saiga. Price point is around $650, as I’ve seen it. Nothing like a semi-auto 12 ga. shotty for CQB.
Glad I bought my SAR and WASR AKs a while back. I’ve got a handful of Izhevsk-marked 91/30s and some Finnish captures (one with an hexagonal receiver). The Ruskies know how to make functional weaponry!
I bought a Vepr-K in 5.45x39 several years ago. It’s a little heavy but rock solid and handles very nice for me. I think I paid $425 new in the box. The ammo is still cheap too. About $150/1000 rounds for Russian surplus and about $220/1000 rounds for Wolf.
Trivia: The Russians had an aircraft cannon — YVa, I think, in 20 or 23 mm — that used a helical feed rotor. The feed rotor was not heat treated for hardness. Instead, as the rotor got burred, the Soviet armorer dressed the burrs with a file and put the gun in service. If the rotor got deformed, it was thrown out and a new rotor was fitted. The idea behind not heat treating the part was ingeniously simple: (1) it was easier to make; (2) not heat treating meant more parts in less time; (3) burrs meant the part was approaching the end of its service life and would need replacing; (4) expensive inspection gages were eliminated.