I just found a reference showing exploded actions of several different rifles:
http://www.urban-armory.com/blueprints.htmI was curious why lever actions are so expensive, at least compared to some of the semi autos.
I would have thought being older technology that it would be possible to produce them at lower cost than newer types of actions like simple blowback semi autos.
Guess I was pretty far off there... it seems like autoloaders are the cheapest of them all.
I just got my first rifle about a year ago. It is a Saiga AK variant. It's obviously not a great hunting rifle - it's heavy, not spectacularly accurate, there's virtually no factory hunting ammo for it, and I still can't figure out a decent way to mount a rear peep sight... but it's surpremely reliable and fun to shoot.... and it was less than $200 new.
If only I had more money...
Thanks for the info!
-Jacob