Bulgarian AK-74 price drop (TGI builds at AIM)

I just noticed that AIM is now carrying TGI built Bulgarian AK-74s for $499.95, which is the lowest price I can recall seeing for them (the ad says they are built from Bulgarian parts kits with original Bulgy chrome-lined barrels too).

I just noticed that AIM is now carrying TGI built Bulgarian AK-74s for $499.95, which is the lowest price I can recall seeing for them (the ad says they are built from Bulgarian parts kits with original Bulgy chrome-lined barrels too).

And if you do a search you will find that others have reported that they have the lowest quality of any 74 built Stateside.

I have heard the TGI 74s make WASRs look like Ted Marshall's Premium rifles.

And if you do a search you will find that others have reported that they have the lowest quality of any 74 built Stateside.

I have heard the TGI 74s make WASRs look like Ted Marshall's Premium rifles.
Sounds like somebody is mad :mad_small at the price drop :uhoh_smal

TGI is selling the Bulgy 74 kits on AKFORUM (corrected) for $250 with original barrel and free shipping. Mags @ $10 each for refurbed with free pouch if 4 mags ordered.

Sounds like somebody is mad :mad_small at the price drop :uhoh_smal

Not in the least. I bought dozens of new unissued AKS-74 kits years ago at $125 each. Not a problem for me there Dave. I just don't like crap shot out kits built into crap rifles by crap builders then everyone getting shafted with a crap purchase when things get a bit scarce.

Crap sold cheap is just cheap crap.

AKBLUE, have you a link to the $250 AK74 kits? And, what is AFFORUM? Thanks.
ztruke

And if you do a search you will find that others have reported that they have the lowest quality of any 74 built Stateside.

I have heard the TGI 74s make WASRs look like Ted Marshall's Premium rifles.


I've done some research on them. Look pretty solid. Maybe I was lookng in the wrong plce, care to post some links please favor? I got rid of my WASR-10 due to it being nothing more than a cheap toy, I was hoping this wouldn't be the same.

AKBLUE, have you a link to the $250 AK74 kits? And, what is AFFORUM? Thanks.
ztruke

Sorry, typo ., it is AKFORUM. You have to be a member to see posts or to order.
Excerpt here: >>>>>>

Good Morning guys,

I want to extend you guys a special offer since we finally entered the board as a point of contact after lurking all these years. AK Forum members can order from our website a Bulgarian AK-74 parts kit COMPLETE with original Chrome-lined Bulgarian barrel for $100 off regular price, making your kit $250!

If ordered with the kit, you can also have original Bulgarian AK-74 30 round magazines for only $10 each Free pouch with every four mags!

The special pricing will not show up in your shopping cart yet, our web programmer is working on that today. Our system does not automatically charge credit cards, that is done manually so we will adjust your total to reflect the special Forum pricing on kit and mags before your order ships.

As yet another THANK YOU, all orders placed by September 30th will receive FREE SHIPPING for the ENTIRE order!

To get the special pricing and free shipping, YOU MUST enter your Forum Handle along with your name. Also please put The AK Forum Special and your Handle again in the comment section.

http://www.tnguns.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_15&products_id=841

Thanks guys, let me know if you have any questions. ENJOY!!
_________________
The Source For Military Surplus, Parts, Accessories http://www.tnguns.

Not in the least. I bought dozens of new unissued AKS-74 kits years ago at $125 each. Not a problem for me there Dave. I just don't like crap shot out kits built into crap rifles by crap builders then everyone getting shafted with a crap purchase when things get a bit scarce.

Crap sold cheap is just cheap crap.

Until fairly recently Bulgarian AK74 kits were not common at all and not cheap. Mostly controlled by Arsenal USA and K-Var. I guess you were lucky back then. I bought a lot of kits in 2004/2005 but Bulgies were not around. Mostly Polish, Yugo, Romy, Hungarian.
Most Bulgarian kits I have seen, built and handled are in good shape. Light wear and not in bad shape by any means. Dunno

And if you do a search you will find that others have reported that they have the lowest quality of any 74 built Stateside.

I have heard the TGI 74s make WASRs look like Ted Marshall's Premium rifles.

And I have heard that running up a huge deficit can help the economy, redistribute the wealth, and give everyone free quality health care for life. :wink_smal
You have heard or you have seen/handled? I cannot recall having seen any large number of widespread reports putting TGI builds in the same league with the Century stuff. And Century is now building Bulgarians it appears... I have a TGI built Bulgarian AK-74 I got through Atlantic some months back. I would say the parts they used were not new and had some wear on them before it got (re)built, but it's certainly not shot out, and functionally it's fine (no canted gas block/sights, etc.).Worked out of the box. Reasonably accurate. I would have been a lot happier to have paid $499 for it though and I would rate the Interarms/High Standard Tantal builds as markedly better, but they are now part of history it seems. Maybe I got lucky, but I have at least one actual experiential data point.

Some of the TGI builds came from In Range (they list those separate on Atlantic for much more) and others with standards. It seems that now the TGI builds that are left over are kind of rough. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison with the $499 Century model.

Until fairly recently Bulgarian AK74 kits were not common at all and not cheap. Mostly controlled by Arsenal USA and K-Var. I guess you were lucky back then. I bought a lot of kits in 2004/2005 but Bulgies were not around. Mostly Polish, Yugo, Romy, Hungarian.
Most Bulgarian kits I have seen, built and handled are in good shape. Light wear and not in bad shape by any means. Dunno

There were tons of cheap brand new Bulgarian AK- 74s in full and side folding stock sold here on the AK files by several of the vendors. Thousands of them were sold here from 2004 on just before and at the the point where the AWB sunset. I helped more than one vendor sort and pack 74 kits by the thousands. Crates containing 74 kits were warehoused to the ceiling and magazines spilled onto the concrete floors. All brand new.

Do a search.

There were tons of cheap brand new Bulgarian AK- 74s in full and side folding stock sold here on the AK files by several of the vendors. Thousands of them were sold here from 2004 on just before and at the the point where the AWB sunset. I helped more than one vendor sort and pack 74 kits by the thousands. Crates containing 74 kits were warehoused to the ceiling and magazines spilled onto the concrete floors. All brand new.

Do a search.

I guess none of those thousands and thousands cheap kits falling all over the floor were in my neighborhood. As I said lots of other fairly inexpensiove ($59 Milled Yugos and $90 Romy's and stamped Yugo) variants but not so much on Bulgies. Still one of the scarcer variants in my world, until more recently. Glad you got so many cheap ones. Most in great shape as well.

AIM is OUT. I guess they were such crap that people bought every last one.

They usually do.

I got me one of them TGI Bulgarian AK-74s and its a beauty....solid construction, original chrome lined barrel, functions flawless.

The Century 74's dont have the original barrels, their US made so the potential for a repeat key-hole fiasco is there.

I got me one of them TGI Bulgarian AK-74s and its a beauty....solid construction, original chrome lined barrel, functions flawless.

The Century 74's dont have the original barrels, their US made so the potential for a repeat key-hole fiasco is there.
Don't tell Nick that, he says there junk.

Did anyone here buy one? Any feedback on them? I want to order one when they get some more

Did anyone here buy one? Any feedback on them? I want to order one when they get some more
I got 2, will let you know next week. Nick says there crap though. TIG is selling off all their kits so I don't know if they will make anymore or not.

Well I called AIM to reserve one today. Let me know ASAP, so I know if I should cancel it or not!

Well I called AIM to reserve one today. Let me know ASAP, so I know if I should cancel it or not!
Will do.

Look guys, I am not the only one who has seen or mentioned issues with TGI's builds. There was a thread a while back that had several rifles with pictures of the shitty assembly techniques.

Looks like that thread disapeared, but here is some discussion of proplems mentioned before.

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53303&highlight=TGI+AK-74

Even though I have never seen/handled a TGI built 74, I heard the same thing, bottom of the barrel builds. I think it was mainly cosmetic though, like badly formed rivet heads and the finish that was applied after the rifle was built.

I don't really care one way or another. I bought an ORF 74SF kit, NDS 2SF w/plate
receiver and had a guy local to me build it for $50.00 I have less than $600.00 total in the build.

Bill

Got a TGI-built AK74 from AIM. Came with wrong color furniture. While taking it off in anticipation of the new furniture's arrival I noted the following:

1. Demilled kit was not thoroughly cleaned before assembly. Petrified cosmoline in seemingly all nooks and crannies.

2. Paint, well whatever it was they used, was thin enough to scratch off with a fingernail. Moreover, the rifle seemed to have been assembled while the paint was still wet.

3. But the thing that most concerned me was the riveting job. Although from the outside the formed rivets looked OK, not perfect but OK, the inside was another matter. The rivets were not symmetrically flattened at all. In fact, some were barely flattened enough to keep them in place and it looked like they could vibrate out in short order.

Bottom line...seems "expediency" characterizes TGI's build philosophy. I'm very disappointed and although it will be a PITA, I'm sending the rifle back. Maybe an InRange build?....

TGI claims two levels of assembly. Standard and custom or something like that. They are also building for In Range they announced recently.

Rivet crush area does not have to be pretty. A rivet shaft is abiout .150" so you can measure the rushed area to see how much it is expanded. Sounds like the finish is niot too great. Good Luck.

Got a TGI-built AK74 from AIM. Came with wrong color furniture. While taking it off in anticipation of the new furniture's arrival I noted the following:

1. Demilled kit was not thoroughly cleaned before assembly. Petrified cosmoline in seemingly all nooks and crannies.

2. Paint, well whatever it was they used, was thin enough to scratch off with a fingernail. Moreover, the rifle seemed to have been assembled while the paint was still wet.

3. But the thing that most concerned me was the riveting job. Although from the outside the formed rivets looked OK, not perfect but OK, the inside was another matter. The rivets were not symmetrically flattened at all. In fact, some were barely flattened enough to keep them in place and it looked like they could vibrate out in short order.

Bottom line...seems "expediency" characterizes TGI's build philosophy. I'm very disappointed and although it will be a PITA, I'm sending the rifle back. Maybe an InRange build?....

ztruke, DON'T get the InRange. I recently bought an InRange (also from from AIM), and I had to send it back yesterday. The sights were canted, the finish left something to be desired, the "new" stock was chewed up, and in general it did not live up to expectations.

Also, I caught TGI lying about the InRange rifles. They claimed on another forum that you are "buying InRange quality" when you get one of the $599 InRange guns. But when I complained of the quality directly to Troy at InRange, he told me that he only built those guns with parts provided to him by TGI, and that these cheaper "InRange" guns are in fact NOT up to his usual quality standards.

Get a Lancaster. These are $599 (same price as InRange), and you won't be sorry with the Lancaster build.

I would absolutely buy again from AIM! My InRange build is perfect and a real beauty. The usual top notch quality, great finish, everything straight and shoots like a dream. You could listen to the poster above and purchase a gun with a US barrel and enjoy alll the keyholing you choose. Seems someone has an axe to grind. Buy with confidence from AIM and IR

I would absolutely buy again from AIM! My InRange build is perfect and a real beauty. The usual top notch quality, great finish, everything straight and shoots like a dream. You could listen to the poster above and purchase a gun with a US barrel and enjoy alll the keyholing you choose. Seems someone has an axe to grind. Buy with confidence from AIM and IR

A few points:

1. That's great. It sounds like you got a good one. Not everyone did.

2. These InRange rifles are NOT the "usual top notch quality" of InRange. And you know who told me so? THE OWNER OF INRANGE HIMSELF! Moreover, if you look at threads here and elsewhere, you will see various complaints, especially regarding the finish and furniture. Again, the fact that you got a good one, does not mean that everyone else in imagining it when they claim otherwise.

3. Can you please share with us what evidence you have to back-up your claim that the Lancaster 74 barrels keyhole? You are the very first person I've heard make that claim. I'm assuming you actually have some first-hand knowledge of this, and aren't just pulling it out of your ass?

4. I have no axe to grind with AIM. In fact, I went out of my way to tell people that AIM took care of the problem for me, and that I will most certainly do business with them again. They are a great bunch of people. I have an axe to grind mostly with TGI, the company that advertised these guns as being "typical InRange quality" when, again, even the owner of InRange himself said that isn't true.

Please make certain you're informed before you post this type of garbage.

Screw you loser! do your own research to read about keyholing, its not hard to find! I paid over 1K for a build from InRange lil over a year ago and its a beauty, one of my favorites, now we get an InRange built gun for $600?? Dont look a gift horse in the mouth.
And was i speaking of you when i mentioned an axe to grind?? Lil defensive arent we?

Screw you loser! do your own research to read about keyholing, its not hard to find! I paid over 1K for a build from InRange lil over a year ago and its a beauty, one of my favorites, now we get an InRange built gun for $600?? Dont look a gift horse in the mouth.

Yeah, you couldn't refute or reasonably respond to a single thing I said, could you?

Figures. You don't exactly appear to be a rocket scientist, if you know what I mean.

I dont respond to demands from morons. If you are not smart enough to use your keyboad to find your own research, then its too late in life for you.

I dont respond to demands from morons. If you are not smart enough to use your keyboad to find your own research, then its too late in life for you.

Translation of your post: "I know you thoroughly and correctly called me out, and it's best if I just say as little as possible right now, before I make an even bigger ass of myself."

Id call your wife out if you had one! Loser

I dont respond to demands from morons. If you are not smart enough to use your keyboad to find your own research, then its too late in life for you.

Oh, and since you claim that keyhole information on Lancaster AK-74 barrels is so easy to find, maybe you can post it? I did a Google search on "Lancaster, keyhole, 74", and the only threads I found were related to the Century Tantals keyholing...which everyone already knows about.

Again, you are the ONLY person I have ever heard claim that a Lancaster AK-74 barrel might keyhole. If you're going to make such a claim, please back it up. You said it's easy to find, so let's see it...

Time to put up, or STFU.

P.S. I'll bet $20 you won't post anything. You'll make some dumbass excuse like, "I'm not going to do your research for you", when everyone reading this thread - including you - knows that the reason you won't post a link to this is because you have no knowledge whatsoever of Lancaster AK-74 barrels keyholing.

Prove me wrong...

Hi Stephen,

I think that he may have honestly confused CAI with Lancaster, just like you said. So it's no longer an issue, and getting in to a pissing match just makes both parties look bad. We all have something very unique in common: our love for '74's. Now let's FEEL the love and get over it. Dig?

Of course, you're right Serb :)

:) And thanks again for the informative post. I'm sticking with Lancaster, myself. I received a '74 from them in almost flawless condition: a canted front sight was the only problem. Shipped it to them and it was back in a week, beautifully corrected. US chrome barrel, and my most accurate '74. AIM is great. I'm sure they will send you a perfect replacement. Then slap some original Bulgarian wood on that baby and shoot it! (So far, I've purchased 4 sets from Apex. Every set is a keeper!) Don't forget to post some pictures for us, when you get the replacement.

I asked AIM to refund my money, as I don't want another InRange. I'm a little soured on this batch of InRange rifles. I will, however, take the money and re-invest it in a Lancaster. I've only heard good things about the Lancaster builds, so I'll go that route.

And yes, when I get it (hopefully next week) I will definitely post pictures and a review over on the "other "forum.

I bought a 74 from Centerfire , a TG when they 1st came out and returned it. I didn't like the look of a couple of rivets and when I field stripped it and took off the gas tube and lower handguard that rifle had cosmoline on it.

s...

stevie73. Praytell, of what "other forum" do you speak? I'm about to return my TGI AK74 build to AIM, am still uncertain which build to go with, and desperate for all objective input, hence my question. BTW, you were right in your interpretation of my "Maybe an InRange build?" question. But postings on this and other forums has put even their (InRange's) builds in question. My goal is to find a quality build with an original Bulgy barrel. Does it exist? Thanks.

Sheesh! :uhoh_smal

stevie73. Praytell, of what "other forum" do you speak? I'm about to return my TGI AK74 build to AIM, am still uncertain which build to go with, and desperate for all objective input, hence my question. BTW, you were right in your interpretation of my "Maybe an InRange build?" question. But postings on this and other forums has put even their (InRange's) builds in question. My goal is to find a quality build with an original Bulgy barrel. Does it exist? Thanks.

ztruke, I was speaking of ar15.com, in the AK forum. I generally prefer to post there, as that forum gets more traffic than this one. I will post a lengthy review of my Lancaster (with pictures) when I get it...hopefully by the end of this coming week. If that rifles is good, you might want to consider it. As I said before, I rarely hear anything negative about the Lancaster builds.

Yeah, the Lancasters have a U.S. barrel, but from what I hear it's a good barrel. In fact, it's probably a little more accurate than the military barrels.

If you really want a military barrel, I'm not sure who else has cheap builds. The TGI and InRange rifles are the only ones I know of that have original barrels. Of course, Gun Plumber here on Akfiles has some really nice Bulgy builds with the original barrel. But, his prices are a little on the high side, considering that you can get a factory-built Russian 74 for $200 less than his kit builds. But, I'm sure his rifles are probably as nice as a kit build can be.

If I was you, and if the U.S. barrel isn't a deal-breaker, I would look at the Lancaster. Again, I'll have an in-depth review next week on Arfcom.

Hi Stephen,

I'm really glad to hear that your giving Lancaster your business. They are great people, and I'm confident that you'll be completely satisfied with their '74. Mine came with a side scope mount, and with the barrel being so accurate, I plan on this one being my "scoped" '74. You'll have a choice with furniture, but whatever you chose, it will be great. You can select the original Bulgarian wood, or the upgraded wood with Lancaster's trademark finish. Of course, Russian plum looks amazing, too. :)

Those AK-74s from AIM are very nice.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/In_Range_AK-74_5.45x39_Rifle.html

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/TG_AK-74_5.45x39_Rifle.html

enjoy :ak47:

My AK74 kit from TGI was not only unissued it was unfired.
There was not even the smallest scratch on the bolt.
So I picked up a Romy PSL kit too, also unfired.
I love these kind of deals!