[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

A big question is since the older models of AK are out of patent, will a US manufacturer make a high quality version?

While some early Russian makes were pretty good quality, soon quality went downhill, and their foreign manufacturers cranked out some worthless rifles.

Today, US manufacturers could not only make a good quality rifle, but a very high quality rifle. There likely are some people out there who would shell out $20k for a rifle, if it was really spectacular.

[Jed Eckert]

One of the big appeals of these rifles was cost. The imports could be had for a fraction of the cost of a similar American made rifle. Granted, the imports were uglier and not as accurate as their American counterparts but they work and for the most part are very reliable.

Case in point: a few years ago (pre Obama) you could pick up a Russian semi auto Saiga in .7.62x51mm Nato for just over $300. An American AR10 in the same caliber, about $1600.

Sure the AR10 is more accurate but the Saiga never skips a beat and is easy to disassemble and clean in the flield.