How often do you clean your WASR-10?

Hi i just bought a WASR-10 and will shoot the black box Wolf steel case ammo through it. After how many rounds should I clean it? Thanks.

Want a firearm that will last and stay in nice condition?....... Clean it EVERY time you shoot it, whether its 1 round or 1000.

People brag about not cleaning or not needing to clean an AK. You can do this, but the gun will deteriorate from lack of maintenance.
You "can" simply not clean the AK and it'll work, and you "can" never change the oil in your car.
It all depends on what you want to do, its your rifle.

I clean my WASR ever time I shoot it, just like I do with my other guns.

Okay, I always keep all my guns clean but just wondered how many shots you guys shoot through them before you clean them. Thanks.

I clean mine at least once a year or every 1K shots, whichever comes first, except for the test I did when I decided not to clean it until it quit working. At about 2K I broke down and cleaned it even though it never failed to work.

Wow, thats pretty tough. I have about 150 rounds of Wolf trough it now and its dirty as heck! Im gonna strip it down and clean it now. I couldnt imagine going 2K rounds!

This should be printed on a tag and attached to every AK sold.

It was dirty, but the crud had no effect on function except it required lubrication more often.
The rifle is designed to operate under adverse conditions. As a result it ,will operate without the amount of maintenance necessary to keep other rifles functioning.
And just to be clear, the rifle hasn't "deteriorated".
It still operates 100% and has the same level of accuracy it did when I bought it.
To be perfectly honest, if I had to clean these rifles as often as I clean all my other firearms, I wouldn't have much interest in them. I have rifles that are more accurate and fire a more powerful cartridge, but those require more maintenance to keep them running.
The AK gives up accuracy and power but gives reliability with low maintenance. If you do just as much maintenance, you've given up accuracy and power and gotten nothing.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Same here.

For me it's a ritual.
After a shoot, clean everything.

While I'm shooting my WASR-10 I give it a quick bore snake cleaning after about 100-200 rounds.

I cleaned it when I got it 8 years ago.

Unless you're shooting corrosive ammo not cleaning a gun is not going to cause its condition to degrade. So long as you keep steel parts oiled you're good to go.

The tolerances in an AK are pretty loose so worrying about dirt, grit and carbon somehow wearing the gun down over time is pretty far fetched.

I clean my firearms every 500-1000 rounds as needed. Cleaning after one round is obsessive and overkill as far as im concerned but again, thats just my two cents.

I clean after I shoot it. Like all my guns. Although I did toy with the idea of not cleaning my AK after this weekend when I shot 220 rounds though it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it since I don't know when I'd be shooting it again.
IDK if all AK's are like this but my gas tube & piston get really black.

They all do that, but the rifle is designed to operate with a lot more residue in there than you had. That's the reason the tube is much larger than the diameter of the piston. The crud accumulates where it doesn't interfere with the piston.

This one here.

Mine does too.

listen to pam, she knows what she's talking about.

I would rather listen to Abbey Road myself

We can all agree on that, can't we?

Do you think the carbon that accumulates on the piston acts as kind of a barrier that keeps the two metal parts from wearing away at each other?

Kind of like an "un-lubed" lube?

The issue with that is that the carbon is typically rather gritty. This is relevant because the carbon likely increases the friction vice metal-on-metal contact. Of course, it may prevent galling, but it would also contribute to accelerated wear from all the grit.
All in all, not something I would suggest. If you don't have time to clean it, at least squirt some oil every once in a while.

If it makes you feel better, go ahead, but realize the oil will be gone after the third shot (if it lasts that long).

You spent the money on the firearms so why wouldn't you want to maintain them? Yes, the AK is very resilient but its still a machine. Some act like its a right of passage to not clean their AK. I wish I had that kind of money to throw away.

really?

Metal on metal contact w/o lube will cause wear... if I dont have time to clean something, I will generally lube it up nice before going to the range.

Yep, you are shortening the lifespan. You really think the AK is made of some magic metal that doesn't respond to the properties of tribology?

I woory not so much about how clean it is but I make sure it is always well-lubed.

i'm sure there is wear. is it enough to make a difference with the ak? i would like to hear from someone who has wore their ak out from not lubing it.

there are alot of dirty sandy non-maintained ak's around the world going bang bang bang. i bet you could buy a wasr and never clean or lube it and you would go broke from buying ammo before the gun quits.

And there alot of them that were trashed for scrap because of said abuse. I doubt the not-so-well maintained AK's were really fired that often. Carried much and fired little. The parties that could afford significant ammo generally cared for their rifles.



I doubt it would quit. More likely you would start getting excessive headspace and case head seperations due to bolt/reciever extension wear. Not quitting per-se but becoming unusable nonetheless.

so how soon would it get excessive headspace issues or bolt / receiver extension wear?

A lot sooner that if you properly lubed it and cleaned it. Lapping compound on the bolt lugs and reciever extension is not good.

With care, you ak might last several barrel changes, wth none, it might croak after thirty thousand rounds or less.

There is nothing magic about the steel in an AK that makes it immune to wear.

so how many rounds without lube until it becomes unusable? are you saying 30,000 rounds?

Why do you want to me to give you an exact round count? Is their something different about the 4130 grade steel in an AK reciever that excludes it from normal triboligical process? Do you understand the concept of galling? Someone about a year ago posted pics of an AKM he has fired close to ten thousand rouns thru without lube. It definately showed patterns of abnormal wear.

What is so expensive about a few cents worth of lube that you seem dead set against the expendure of time and cash to apply it?

You are postulating based on pictures of abused rifles from locations like the middle east where the weapons are carried much but fired very little.

the obvious is that it will become unusable, the question is when. you stated 30,000 rounds earlier, i'm just wondering how you came up with that number.

i don't think the receiver has alot to do with it, the receiver would be one of the last things to wear to the point that it would effect function. the wear between the rails is almost a non issue in this case, as long as continues to slide it works. it's the wear of the barrel and the bolt that would be the determining factors on when the gun is not accurate enough or possibly even dangerous.

Worrying about how long the rifle will last without lubrication seems pointless. Once you've shot one enough, the rifle will tell you when it needs to be lubricated - the carrier slows down. Carry a small bottle of your favorite lubricant with you. When the rifle needs lubrication, remove top cover, lubricate liberally. Problem solved.

Yep, this ain't rocket science and oil ain't expensive.

You supposed to clean these?

it's an urban legend, i read it on the inner net.

I clean my guns in order of precedence: 1911 first, then any other rifle, then AK. The longer I spend cleaning guns, the more boring it gets, so I do my AK last in case of distractions or a time issue.

I always lube it up, I almost always take the solvent/toothbrush to it, and in the 2.5 years I've owned it, I only took a small pick to it once. I was bored that day.

I clean mine even when i don't shoot them...

1- Yes, the AK is designed to function in adverse conditions under inferior or substandard maintenance routines
2- Low maintenance doesn't equal no maintenance. Barrels must be scrubbed to reduce fouling, BCGs cleaned to reduce rates of wear, and the whole deal oiled to preserve preserve metal life and reduce unnecessary wear
3- If you're used to giving every weapon a good field cleaning after each use, then you never have to worry about whether your fired corrosive ammo or not and it becomes a quick process (a typical 4-5 gun range day equals roughly an hour of field cleaning). I also live, work, and play in a salt water environment and keeping surfaces oiled/greased deters salt water corrosion as well. I do mine while catching the History channel or a movie or some such
4- You can use up your AKs life now if you like to avoid a 15min cleaning job or you can use it when it counts and your stern quarter is on the line. When you need it and don't have it, you sing a different tune. Me? I bought my AK because I liked the weapon, it was easy to clean, robust, and all that. I clean it and preserve it so that when I need it, its there ready with life remaining to carry me through. I travel long distances for work frequently. I don't get the comforts of my home and it stocked supplies. Its why I take the AK and the mag/oiler/tool bag with me in the trunk. A gun I don't feel guility about the scratch marks and is replaceable in the event of loss but able to carry me home should I be where ever the next disaster is (which happens alot).

Hardly. Oil is used before shooting for preserving springs and small metal parts. Grease should be used on rails, BC-Bolt interfaces, etc where it will stick for a reasonable period of time. As a shooting session extends past the grease's life (500-750 rds), then you add oil to maintain lubrication. Once the shooting is over, you clean and reapply the proper lubes, including the grease.
A gun is an investment. Treat it as you would treat any other life preserving device and it'll work when you need it. Don't, and be that guy the rest of us mention when we drink beer and discuss Murphy's little laws.

(edited for spelling)

One of the range safety officers was talking to me about gun cleaning one time. The guy is a great shot and knows tons about the guns he has, but is an idiot about mantaining them. He says that he only cleans his guns after shooting corrosive ammo, so many of his guns have gone their whole miserable lives without being cleaned once. I feel sorry for them.

1947... russian army was made up of conscripts......even they cleaned thier weapons when time permited, ppsh-41 russian main stay in ww2 troops cleaned them in the advers conditions of winter ( pleanty of pics to support that), afganistan...hey even they clean them.... you do need to maintain the weapon what ever it is.. guys that seldomly or never clean thier semi ak.... have NEVER used it in combat.... use it in that senario and not clean it will over time be less reliable....

Ive been using high temp red bearing grease for a couple years now, just a q tip on the rails and bolt parts and trigger, thats it. After a couple hunderd rounds the rails are shiny and bolt it too, even spraying brake cleaner grease seems to still leave a residue, so I have to wipe it all out and reapply, but just a tiny amount. I dont get crazy. Sometimes the residue on the q tips go in the receiver to keep rust from forming. I will sometimes use oil too but the grease seems to last longer.

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