Man, I put 300 rounds of that Brown Bear .223 through my Sig 556 once. It was the same greenish hue casing you're describing. I took my gun apart to clean it right afterward and HOLY SHIT, there was that pink lacquer residue all over the place. I was cringing the whole time I was cleaning it. I'm never using that cheap Russian shit again.

If any of you out there have that ammo, I would say use it as your last resort emergency supply in case of a zombie apocalypse (IDK why you would be using .223 against zombies, but whatever) or clean your gun immediately after firing even a single shot.

I may be overreacting and maybe that lacquer shit isn't so bad, but it just looked horrible and it was everywhere.

yah, that's what I'm worried about. I'll never shoot that cheap Russian crap in anything but my SKS.

Heh it's the old rule....russian ammo is for russian(designed) guns...

I agree, there are a lot of high mark up items including ammo at them.

I have a few guns/rifles in mind what I want. But I'm not paying rip off prices.

Dick's had bricks of CCI 22lr ammo and a lot of .40 cal ammo today btw.

I may have a chance at a Russian ak74 with 6 mags, dark wood furniture+$400 cash. He wants my Ruger LCR 38 special and my Para Ordnance 1911.

Or both my guns for the ak74 and a ruger lc9.

I really want a 74 but don't want to trade my 1911.

I would wait, I think these AK prices are going down bigtime soon... 7XX.00 AR's are being seen here now

I know the Russian ak's are worth more, just dont know how much more. I highly doubt i trade my 1911. My two guns are probably $1150 or so.

A Russian AK even fully converted is worth maybe $400-$600. Remember Arsenals that came in and were built were only ~$900 retail. Those are the 'best'. Most people who say 'russian' have a crappy converted Saiga. Those came in at what $300-$400 retail plus another $100 or so in parts for the conversion.

AKs aren't really worth shit, good shooters but have next to no value.

Also look at the deal he's offering he says both your guns for the AK + $400 or both for the AK + an LC9.

You can buy a brand new LC9 for 420 right now...and probably less in a bit and he wants to charge $400 for a used LC9? Someone's math isn't right, unless there is a TON done to the LC9 or a ton added to it.

It has a crimson trace laser grip. I'm not interested in the lc9. I really only want the ak74. I've been wanting one for a few months. He's supposedly coming across a chinese ak47 and a russian ak74.

The AK supply situation had a double whammy effect recently(well for the russian). You had our panic, combined with restructuring at izhmash which has seriously delayed production. But I believe the production issues are resolved now. Actually you can buy AK74s today new from K-Var, but they have introduced a $300 price rise. Personally I don't believe in the new pricing right now, it seems like still profiteering from reduced supply.

The AW ban is dead and frankly it's unlikely to come back. Supply will return to normal soon. The only wild card is if izhmash prices will go up because of the restructuring. Possible but I don't think it represents the 30% increase that kvar put on. You'll get one it will just take time for supply and prices to normalize. Unless your state is doing something stupid there's no reason to rush to buy one right now.

I'm not a big .45 guy myself, but I know the value of these guns. I wouldn't get rid of the PO 1911 if I was you.

What do you guys price the 74 at with the 6 mags, trade value wise?

Site unseen? $400-$500

The mags could be something special but realistically they're more likely Tapco at which point 6 mags is worth about $30

An Arsenal/Legion/FIME that comes factory converted would be worth more, but most likely it's someone's converted saiga. Without knowing who built it and what parts they used to convert it the gun might only be worth $300. Base gun probably only cost 350-400 and you can convert for ~$100.

Brand new might be worth more but I assume this is used. The problem with the AK market is that the devil is in what parts are used and what mags they are. Without knowing specifics it's really hard to price. 'Russian' doesn't really mean much because of all the converted saigas on the market.

The market is whatever someone will pay for it, but honestly I wouldn't pay much for a used AK unless there's something special about it. Likely in a month or so we'll be flooded with them and great deals will be had new. Frankly, rather than buy used if I were to do it inexpensively I'd rather buy a cheap unconverted saiga for ~400 new and pick the parts I want to convert it with.

I don't believe it's a Saiga or Wasr. I also don't think it has been fired much if it all. When he gets it I'll get the specifics of it, upload a few pics. The owner of it currently is a class III dealer in Texas, some ATF guy.