Im thinking of picking up another WASR after not owning one for about 12 years as a basic no-frills AK for my collection.

I remember owning two of the older 10/63’s - one was really nice and the other was functional but kind of a mess with a terrible finish and pretty canted sights.

I did see a pretty nice used 10/63 for sale at an LGS earlier this week that was nice and straight. I probably should have grabbed it in hindsight, but ultimately I passed as it was priced about what i could get a brand new one for online. And also this gun shop is notorious for getting really bitchy if you ask to field strip anything for further inspection so it would have been impossible for me to check out the internals.

Before I order a new one online, how is the current crop of these rifles? Is there still a high chance of getting one thats a canted mess or have they improved in this regard? Is Century doing a better job on the magwell conversion than they used to? I know the wood they use currently is supposed to be awful but I figure i can grab better furniture for not too much investment.

I know a WBP is probably better, but i kind of want something other than Polish already owning Beryl, already have a Zastava, and don’t care for kit builds and US made stuff. So that has led me to a WASR with there being such limited options for foreign built AKs in this day and age without getting into stuff only available on the secondary market.

It seems like canted sights are pretty normal for WASRs of any pedigree, I've had a CAI GP1975 and an older 10/63 and they both had canted sights. By the looks of product images and user feedback it seems like the quality of the blonde wood they put on these rifles now sucks in comparison to the furniture they used to have. I would probably just splurge on the WBP AKM if I were in your shoes.

Best to buy one in person but online is always the better price. If you buy online go over it good before filling out the paperwork. I bought one recently because the price was good. It was full of chips, canted front sight base and the selector stop plate was too far back so mags sat low. I had to drill the rivets on the trigger guard and move the plate forward. Not worth the trouble unless you have the tools and know how.