Feel free to point out where I am wrong, with verifiable sources.
I don't have the time to scavenge through your posts and validate all the inaccuracies, but most recently in a discussion towards Glock's you through out some information that was false and I took the time in correcting it. You possess some good knowledge in other threads I have seen you comment on, but credibility with an attitude like yours goes a long way so at least take the time to validate your information before throwing it out there. The same thread, and others I have read, is where you came off extremely biased and with an attitude that does not make it difficult to profile your character. But, I know things are not always as they seem and for all I know you could be the nicest guy off here and someone I would enjoy drinking a beer and talking firearms with.
I am not acting in defense of individuals who you have words with here, I am just noticing a trend of people not taking kindly of your attitude is all. I'm sure this site has the intention of growing and treating individuals this way is not helping. You have the knowledge that many on here can benefit from, but don't turn your knowledge into arrogance.
Now back to AK's. For the life of me I cannot remember the company, but there was a relatively new company that put together shit rifles with shit customer service to boot, and they recently just got acquired by someone else who is turning things around. Does this ring any bells to you, as I am bothered by forgetting the name now? Anyhow, there have been companies in the past who have come and go due to shit products, and CAI although surely does produce some here and there, sticks around and does what it can to progress. In the case of my rifle, you can sometimes make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
For what it's worth what I had to do it make mine function better was smooth out the rails internally so the bolt carrier glides smoother, reprofile the hammer, and take a bit of material off the dust cover where the charging handle rubbed. Along the way I polished the bolt carrier (not performace related, just easthetics) and put in a Krebs trigger pin retaining plate to hold the unit together better. It also had a terribly stiff safety that had I had to work on. Several thousand rounds later, it is still performing above my expecations for a rifle I payed around $450 for. I promise that you would be quite surprised taking the "Pepsi Challenge" with my WASR. And for the record, I would ofcourse rather have the Arsenal built Saiga I used to have, but I regretfully sold it a while back needing some funds for a firearms unrelated matter. Regardless I am very pleased with this AK and by no means do I feel like I am missing out peformance wise compared to other higher value models.
If the OP is willing to throw out the loot for an Arsenal, by all means pick it over any CAI build. If not, you may get a CAI rifle you will be very happy with, but with that you are running the risk of a lemon by getting anything with CAI stamped on it. If you know what you are looking at and have access to a retailer that has several in stock, there is a very good chance you can find a pretty decent WASR AK.
I agree that CAI does not have a very good track record with putting out several lemons out of a batch, but do not completely disregard their products. In reply to your statement about no one with knowledge would buy there stuff, well I am an educated individual with a decent amount of firearms knowledge and a good bit of experience both formal and informal, and I would put my CAI rifle through a course anyday and I would trust my life to it if I ever had to.