Has anyone see the price of SVD Dragunov's or fake Dragunov's?!

[AbitNutz]

I was perusing Gun Broker and saw several Dragunov's and NDM86's going for catastrophic money. The Russian military SVD's were at $20,000 or more and the Tiger's were over $10,000. Even PSL's were over $3,000. I almost couldn't breathe the air was so rarified. The price of these rifles has moved them into the status of "mythical", even if the reality doesn't match the legend.

It would be really interesting if Brownells would expand their Retro series and make SVD Dragunov clones for under $2,000. Would you buy a Brownells SVD Dragunov for $2,000? The Scopes are plentiful.

 

[AbitNutz]

Well, you have a point but someone paid 7 grand for an NDM86....and you have to admit prices are sill, no? I would buy a Brownells clone Russian military SVD Dragunov clone for 2 grand. I have one of their BRN-10a's and at $1,100 it's a really nice rifle.

 

[samnev]

There Is a 7.62X54R NDM 86 on Guns Arizona for $3950.

 

[AbitNutz]

What I was getting at was that the SVD Dragunov is a victim of supply and demand. The SVD Dragunov's performance is not in line with the price that it's commanding. There is nothing intrinsic in the Dragunov's design or construction that can justify the prices people are paying for it. The sky-high prices are strictly a function of the market's perception of it and its rarity.

Is the Dragunov more difficult to produce than today's crop high-quality semiautomatic rifles? With today's technology couldn't you make a Dragunov as easily as any other rifle? No matter what the Dragunovs are currently selling for, I think we can all agree it's too high for what you are actually getting.

From what I understand, Brownells has had good success with their retro line of rifles. Based on the desirability of the Dragunov, Brownells could introduce an SVD Dragunov clone into their retro line and it would likely be more successful than anything than they have produced before.

If their Dragunov's quality was equal to or better than the original, as was their AR10 clone, and less $2,000 would you buy one?

 

[Constructor]

What I was getting at was that the SVD Dragunov is a victim of supply and demand. The SVD Dragunov's performance is not in line with the price that it's commanding. There is nothing intrinsic in the Dragunov's design or construction that can justify the prices people are paying for it. The sky-high prices are strictly a function of the market's perception of it and its rarity.

Is the Dragunov more difficult to produce than today's crop high-quality semiautomatic rifles? With today's technology couldn't you make a Dragunov as easily as any other rifle? No matter what the Dragunovs are currently selling for, I think we can all agree it's too high for what you are actually getting.

From what I understand, Brownells has had good success with their retro line of rifles. Based on the desirability of the Dragunov, Brownells could introduce an SVD Dragunov clone into their retro line and it would likely be more successful than anything than they have produced before.

If their Dragunov's quality was equal to or better than the original, as was their AR10 clone, and less $2,000 would you buy one?

Right, they just aren't that accurate.

 

[Mudburner]

I'm gonna step in here, and say that ALL AK type rifles are overpriced now. Two years ago the cheapest AK sold for $450-650 (+/-). Then along came Sniffy Joe & Coco(vid) and the price of everything gun related went up. It seems like AK stuff in particular went up $1000 overnight.

AKs are cheap guns, cheaply made. Supply and demand/rarity/no longer importable etc makes some models seem very highly collectable to some people. I don't understand the whole collector thought, but nobody cares what I think. And if somebody wants to pay those prices for a gun they want, who cares? Not me. I am grateful that we still have these freedoms here in the US and can still buy stuff we want.

I personally would not spend $2000 on ANY AK type rifle. If I wanted something like that, I'd get a kit and build one. But that's just... y'know... like, MY opinion, man.

 

[AbitNutz]

I have to admit that I'm not an AK fan. I own one AK variant and it's IWI Galil Ace and it's a B (for blem). The only other AK anything I would buy is Galil Gen 2 but at 2 grand msrp, which I doubt you can get one for, I'm an unlikely buyer. I would buy a Dragunov for two grand. I admire the history and the sheer novelty of it. It's not an AK in any way, shape, or form. I've shot them before. I like the weirdness of shooting the 7.62x54R out of a semi-automatic. They do run. They do shoot better than minute of pie plate but I was never able to get less than 3" groups out of it. I have seen smaller but I don't think they're sub MOA rifles by any means, nor were they ever meant to be.
I do believe there is a very good market to be had for a high-quality clone of it. I would never have thought there was a market for the BRN-10A, Brownells AR10 clone. I bought one and it's a really nice rifle. Again, if they made a Draganov to that standard they would sell a lot more of those than they did AR10 clones.

 

[ChidJ]

AK prices are also going up because imports are drying up. The time window to get authentic combloc militaria is closing quickly. Where we used to get a lot of soviet era surplus, now its mostly gone, sold to terrorists, given to poor countries, etc etc. Really the only countries still sending AKs on the regular is Romania and Serbia and the WASRs of not but 10 years ago have already more than doubled in shelf price. I foresee in the very near future, those will dry up too with more stringent weapon import restrictions and higher tariffs likely on the horizon.

But hey, there's always PSA. I'd bet you could get them to make an SVD clone

 

[RUTGERS95]

I'm gonna step in here, and say that ALL AK type rifles are overpriced now. Two years ago the cheapest AK sold for $450-650 (+/-). Then along came Sniffy Joe & Coco(vid) and the price of everything gun related went up. It seems like AK stuff in particular went up $1000 overnight.

AKs are cheap guns, cheaply made. Supply and demand/rarity/no longer importable etc makes some models seem very highly collectable to some people. I don't understand the whole collector thought, but nobody cares what I think. And if somebody wants to pay those prices for a gun they want, who cares? Not me. I am grateful that we still have these freedoms here in the US and can still buy stuff we want.

I personally would not spend $2000 on ANY AK type rifle. If I wanted something like that, I'd get a kit and build one. But that's just... y'know... like, MY opinion, man.

it's not just AKs but yeah, they are definitely ridiculous