As for aks i have three a preban hungarian , a century m-70 yugo under folder and a romak. The hungarian and yugo are what for what on accuracy while the romak opens up just a bit past 50yds. If your friend is looking for quality I would go with either an arsenal,or a feg imported hungarian(hard to find). The century yugos are nice if you can find a good deal on one(under foldedrs suck to shoot but sure do look cool). But in the grand scheme of things the romak will be just as good. Then there are the poly tech guns(china) which are nice but a $1800 ak is rediculous. Its all about how much you want to spend. As a later thought you might want to steer him towards a ak in 223. 7.62x39 is getting hard to find and expensive.