At least as far as the TM AK74 line goes thats not accurate. I shot my LCT AKM (stock) against a friends stock AK74 a couple of weekends ago, both were roughly the same accuracy and range (LCT maybe shaded range). Apart from a tiny bit of recoil and a bolt moving give me the LCT any day.
I think part of it is that maybe 5-10 years ago TM were genuinely the best thing since sliced bread and the reputation has stuck. Now, (at least from my own experience) they are easily equalled by cheaper rifles. For instance, I would happily buy another CM4-10 ERG over a TM M4 recoil shock and still have £150 left to play with.