I think the SAR 1 was one of the best AKM clones to come to the US since the Chinese imports of the 80s -90s

-Romanian military receivers
-Chrome lined hammer forged barrels
I de-banned mine

I have a SAR-3 that looks great and is the same with chrome lined barrel.  Just wish the mags were not so picky.  Other thing was the LOP was super short and annoying so had to add a rubber pad.

Forgive the ancient picture.

YES!!
the very best
not sure who said it
the cyclic action is like pushing a full refrigerator down a flight of stairs

However the one I have (named Aunt Ester as she is u-g-l-y) is accurate out to 300 meters around 6-8 Moa at that distance (with me using a sling, prone and stock open sights commie ammo)

Very nice.  Good job on the de-ban.  My Sar 1 is my favorite shooter.  It is very accurate and has had 0 malfunctions after thousands of rounds.  They are undervalued in my opinion.

Good, solid rifles.  No doubt about it.

They are very good AK's!  I also love the ROMAKs and INTRACs

Yes it is.

Love mine. First gun I'd ever purchased.

First one I purchased too!

SAR-1 goodness

My first as well. Been through a couple of furniture changes, debanning procedures and more rounds then I can count or have kept track of. Surely a special place for the SAR1 in my collection as it was my first in the AK world. Kind of got the hobby of AK ownership rolling for me.

I remember when they were considered the bottom of the barrel.

That's always the way it seems.

I regret selling an SAR 2 I had back in the day,I sold it and bought 2 romak II's to build Romy 5.45 clones both of which turned out to be great rifles.

the SAR had been repainted and refinished laminated wood added and it was a solid reliable rifle..

That, & $289. LOL. GARY

Picked mine up off my neighbor with everything else in the pic for $350 a few years back

When it comes down to it, basically all the Romanian AKs have had an undeserved bad rep for years. There have been some bad apples here and there, but just about everyone who has ever bought a Romy AK - of any type - has received a dependable rifle that will put up with tons of abuse for years and never quit. They're ugly, sometimes they have a canted part, etc. Who cares? It's an AK.

SAR-1 was about as close as most US AK imports have came to being a straight-up Soviet-era AKM. I was wasting my time on SKS gadgets around the time they were in the $200s, didn't even know about them. Oh well.

No.  I disagree.  That's the way it WAS.  

My first AK was a SAR-1.  I caught an unbelievable amount of crap for my "cheap POS" rifle.  I encountered a lot of grief for my "ugly spray painted rifle with plywood furniture".  Many fortunes were foretold that I would die from the rifle blowing up in my face.  I was told to quit being cheap and get a pre-ban Chinese, an Egyptian rifle, or even a used Intratec if I could find it - wonderful advice when a pre-ban rifle was $1200 and I was sweating a $330 purchase .  

I bought it in 2003.  It was $330 OTD with two 40 round magazines & tax.  40 rd mags were $20/ea, 30 rd mags were $35/ea, and I couldn't justify 30s at the time.  I was ecstatic a little while later when I landed two 20 rd mags at $25 for the pair as it doubled my mag count.  I was damn near broke when I bought my SAR-1, but I just HAD to have a centerfire rifle, and that AK was all I could afford.  Ammo was $2/box, or the same price as Wolf MT .22LR.  What really pushed me over the edge to buy a SAR-1 was all the advice I received to "Go buy an SKS, it's cheaper!"  No, it wasn't.  They were $350 on the rack next to my rifle.

I don't have a negative thing to say about the rifle, only glowing praise.  It has gone bang every time it's been asked.  Trigger is fine.  It's taken every single mag I've tried and used in it.   It's still about the same color as it was when I bought it, although the barrel has gotten too hot to handle more than once.  Sure, it still has shaved ears and a naked muzzle, but it's not been a priority to deban it.

Every time I see a nostalgic thread about a SAR-1, I have to shake my head and laugh.  Who knew this "cheap POS" would have a cult following?

Horrendous trigger slap anyone?  The gun that introduced canted sights to the Ak market? .....That's the Sar series of guns....Don't let dreamy eyed nostalgia cloud your memory. Yea, they got a bad rap, but there WERE real problems with many of the guns.


Seems that way because the world is going to shit.

Candy bars are smaller- and cost more, Craftsman tools, long regarded as "decent mid grade"-now pretty much SHIT, Gas even though on the down cycle is TWICE what it cost on September 11th, 2001, Wolf ammo is TWICE what it was and has a shitty polymer coating now vs. "milspec" lacquer and sealant-which is why Golden Tiger is so sought after and usually sells out quickly....Aks are of lesser quality (finish, chrome lining etc....) and cost more....though some of the latest guns are actually quite good-- though more expensive than in the past.......

I own a couple of SAR1's.....decent guns for what they are. I would take one of the latest WASR's, carefully inspected, over a SAR though if I was in the market right now......

My only AK. Unbanned it as soon as the ban expired.

The Maadi ARM is truer to Russian AKM, as far as post 89 ban imports, as they came with threaded barrels although I like my Cugir SARS too.

Interesting.  Every SAR-1 I saw was parked and had solid wood furniture.  You sure it wasn't a Maadi?

My SAR1 has always been great, its probably still my favorite rifle after 13 years. I threaded the barrel for a phantom flash hider and added a hogue grip and lower handguard. Also added a rear sling point under the grip.

Love my SAR-1  $238

I'm back on the net.



Fair questions.  Yes, it most definitely is a SAR-1.  Maybe the finish is parked?  I assumed it was paint by the way it scratches and discolors, just like my WASRs.  It was a "solid" wood stock, but it wasn't anything special, IMHO.  The upper handguard came with a crack from the factory I didn't discover until I was looking close one day a little while after I bought it.  It's fine.  It works.  I do like the orange palm swell handguards it came with, those are nice.





Well said, Will.  There are some good ones, and there were some that had some major problems.  Their reputation was well deserved.  In hindsight, sure, they were a good rifle that was close to military production, but all my WASRs have been great rifles, too, without the issues that plagued many SARs.  

It seems like the Battlefield: Las Vegas thread has given us cheapskates and our beloved Romanian rifles a nice surge in popularity.



Edited for spelling on a tiny screen.

Bought in 2003 my first centerfire semi auto rifle

Before the deban


Newer pic with romy gas block and front site

I love my SAR-1 and my Romak 1. The newer AK's are nice but nothing beats the old school cheap models for me.

I never saw an SAR-1, or 2 or 3, with a parkerized finish. Each and every example I ever saw had an unpolished, matte blued finish.

The one I have now and all the ones I had in the past are parkerized.