Last edited Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:50 PM - Edit history (1)
for a civilian-transferable pre-'86 model, yes? They are exceedingly rare collector's items. An actual full auto civilian-transferable AK *starts* around $15,000, and they are even more rare. You have to get special authorization from the BATFE to own any automatic weapons (BATFE Form 4, which involves a very extensive background check, and your local chief law enforcement officer signs off on the application). Possession without a Form 4 gets you 10 years in Federal prison; they are as tightly controlled in this country as artillery and shoulder-fired missiles.
There are non-automatic civilian Uzi lookalikes, but they are high quality firearms that work like any other 9mm pistol (one shot at a time, and they fire from a closed bolt like a regular pistol).
There are civilian AK lookalikes, too---also non-automatic---but none have been imported from China since the early 1990s. All American-market AK's are quality firearms, and would cost more than mass-market AR's if they were made entirely in the U.S. at U.S. labor rates, since they require a lot of hand fitting.
The Chinese AK's were always regarded as nicer than most in terms of fit and finish. Even the Romanian AK's shoot well, though some of the early ones had cosmetic blemishes and the finish is typically more industrial than the nicer Chinese variants. I used to shoot a nice SAR-1 in local USPSA matches, and put a couple thousand rounds through it without a single failure of any kind.
The thing is, civilian Uzi lookalikes and civilian AK's are among the safest and least misused of all firearms, so the "safety" argument against them is bunk.
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-20/table_20_murder_by_state_types_of_weapons_2013.xls