Hey guys, I have tons of ARs and just wanted something different, so I grabbed my first AK yesterday. It's a WASR 10 made in 2014.

I knew to look for the canted front sight, which I did. This one is canted, but it wasn't extreme so I just sort of guessed that it would be ok. I wanted to show you guys and get your opinion on whether this is bad or just sort of normal for this platform.


This may be common knowledge to some, so I apologize in advance if so. I have nothing to compare it to, though, so I need your eyes. One thing to note, it looks like they may have rough zeroed the rifle at the factory. The front sight post is moved way over to the left (opposite of the cant). Guessing they adjusted for it at the factory?

Anyway, here are some pics. I appreciate any input.

Not bad.  Century only puts the parts on their receiver and has nothing to do with the front sight. The rifles come from Romania as a military ready rifle with the front sights not always perfect.  As long as the rifle was able to be sighted in and be usable in battle it passed inspection and yours is perfectly able to be used with the iron sights even if it is not the best example of quality control.  
A hand made collectors item to be a safe queen is not the original purpose of the AK47. The canted front sight just gives your rifle character and authenticity.

Cool, thanks for the info. You said that this rifle was a military rifle in Romania, does that mean the rifle was used? Really just the barrel is the only thing I'm concerned about.

I just thought these rifles would be "new," but I can't see that it has been shot. So that is either some test firing, or it has been used.


I don't know enough about the AK world to know which it is. Thanks for the info!

My wasr is probably a little worse than that, but it sighted in fine with plenty of adjustment left

Just as note, I'm totally not complaining. As long as I can zero the rifle and use it I'm totally happy.


There is something really cool about having a "military grade" rifle (really I just mean functional, not meant to be pretty) that uses irons. Like the ultimate SHTF/truck gun. I like it.

Your rifle was most likely zeroed at the factory (notice the mark on the front sight drum and the matching mark on the FSB) and will probably shoot to pretty much POA. Might take a small bit of adjustment to sight it in to your taste though. If you find that the cant bugs you, you can straighten it out by driving out the two FSB retaining pins and straightening the FSB then take it to the range to make sure everything is centered to your liking. When satisfied that it's shooting where you want it take a needle file and true up the FSB retaining pin holes so the pins can be reinstalled.

Yours doesn't appear to have much cant, though the front post being anything but perfectly centered always makes it appear worse than it is since it's framed by the protective ears of the FSB on either side.

Your cant isn't bad.  Should zero fine.  

As long as your rear sight base and gas block are aligned, it's pretty easy to correct the FSB (as mentioned above) if you want to.

It all depends on where it shoots relative to where it's aimed. If it's actually sighted and you don't have to move the front sight more to the left, it's good. If you can't zero without moving it over to the ear, you'll have to fix something.
BTW, the rifle is not 'military' - the military AK is a machine gun. Various USA-made or USA converted parts were used to make it legal to sell here - receiver, fire-control set, etc. That's how things get installed crooked. Real military rifles are usually better-built than that.

Yeah I didn't mean military grade to mean mil spec. Like I said in parentheses above, I just meant a utilitarian gun that is meant to work and not look pretty.


Thanks for the info

That is really all that matters.

A lot of guys seem to think any cant is unacceptable.  Other guys are in the "if it zeros it's fine" camp.  It's all personal opinion.

For me, as long as it zeros and has a good sight picture (I've seen some that will zero, but the post is so close to the sight "ears" that the sight picture is crap), I really don't care.

Nah...that's perfectly acceptable...

Actually this is/was pretty common for military AKs. If it can be zeroed the factories didn't really care if the sight block is a few degrees off.

The WASR has a minimal amount of US parts in it, out of the box they have a G2 FCG, US gas piston, US pistol grip, and usually a US slant brake or tack-welded muzzle nut. The barreled receiver is as-is from Cugir in Romania, they are to blame for any crooked barrel components.

As to the OP's question about his WASR being a military rifle..It depends. There was a time span where the WASR was a rebuilt rifle, I would say it was mostly in the 2006-2012 time frame. Romania was demilling Pm. Md. 63 military rifles and rebuilding them with new sporter receiver and a new barrel - some appeared to have new bolts as well. Most also appeared to have new or resurfaced wood furniture. In the last couple of years Cugir started making the rifles from all new parts again, presumably they simply ran out of rifles to demill, or Cugir wasn't getting enough time for workers by doing this - it is a part state-owned factory AFAIK.

If your trunnion has a dot-matrix printed serial followed by "20xx RO" it's a new rifle. Otherwise if it's a rebuilt military rifle, it will usually have trunnion stamped with an old date, as well as an arsenal approval stamp from one or more Romanian arsenals - usually Cugir (up arrow in triangle) but some few have shown up with Sadu arsenal marking - I thought there was a third arsenal but I forgot what it is. IMO the rebuilt WASRs were cool rifles from a collector standpoint - even though the rifle probably never was part of any war or even the Romanian revolution, you know that it still saw use in the RO Army..

Fixing the sight block is pretty easy, typically just drift out the pins, adjust the FSB as necessary, and re-pin. You may need to ream the pin channels out or go to a larger pin e.g. 1/8". But you can also just throw on an RPK adjustable rear sight leaf, center the front post, and be done with it - you will just lose the "battle" range setting with the RPK leaf, which bottoms out at the 100m setting.

The cant is not bad. If it can be zeroed it is considered acceptable. You have a Romanian factory new rifle. The Cugir factory in Romania has been making arms for military and civilian use since 1799.  Your U.S. made 922R parts for a WASR are the slant brake, trigger group (3), gas piston and pistol grip. Make sure you give it a good clean and lube before shooting. Some will still have Cosmoline or metal shavings in them. Get some ComBloc surplus mags, don't mess with Tapco or Korean
Enjoy you first AK.

Thanks for the info.


My example didn't come with a slant break, though. The shop said none of the new WASRs have been coming with them. Strange. I was hoping it would have one just because that's the iconic ak look. To me, at least.

Your WASR should have threads at the end of the barrel. I would guess probably covered by a protective cap. The cap should screw off. If it is welded the welds can be filed off. Any marks can be touched up with black spray paint. Your threads should be 14x1 LH. This is the slant brake you need. It is the same one usually shipped with the rifle.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/946194/tapco-slant-muzzle-brake-m14x10-lh-thread-ak-47-ak-74-steel-blue

At the base of the front site/ muzzle end there should be a protruding pin that springs back out when you push it in. That is your muzzle brake plunger pin. It looks like you have one by your pictures. Push it in and try to screw the thread protector off.  They are sometimes gritty and hard to turn. Tack welds will be obvious. Remember left hand threads. Clockwise to remove.

Dam man, every gun you buy has problems. You ever buy a gun that was fine right out of the box? Out of the past 3 guns I bought, one was a lemon. I'd be pissed if that was my AK. Shitty quality and craftsmanship.

You'd be pissed at this? I was under the influence that basically all AKs could come with a canted front sight post.


Oh well, I like this gun. As long as it zeros and shoots well I'm going to really like this gun. Wanted an AK for a while.

I would be upset if it was a $1000+ Arsenal that I bought to keep my safe company while increasing it's value, but it's a WASR that was built/bought for shooting.

Eh, everything I buy is bought for shooting. As long as the item I bought works as intended, I'm cool with it.

i would not consider that to be a badly canted front sight. As others have said, if you're okay with it and it can be zeroed, then you're GTG. I don't know why yours came with a muzzle nut, unless all Century had in stock were ban-state rifles. Being in GA, you should be getting rifles with slant brakes. No worries, though, as slant brakes are cheap.

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with Tapco mags.

Yeah I'm not sure either. After checking, this thread protector is actually welded on too. Not really happy with that part.


Hopefully it's an easy fix.

About 45 minutes with a flat file. Less with a dremel. Flat file will do it. Less chance of damage. Touch up with rattle can black.

Is it also missing the bayonet lug ears on the bottom of the gas block? Lug should protrude down with small ear tabs on both sides of the lug.

If so you somehow picked up a ban state rifle.

Does anyone else think that the sight tower looks pretty straight and it's the actual sight post that looks crooked?

Have you actually shot the rifle yet to see if it's really off?

It's definitely canted, quite easy to see IRL.   The post itself isn't crooked, just moved over to the left to make up for the canted sight. Came that way from the box.

You have to shoot the gun to see a crooked sight?  



This thread wasn't to ask if the gun will work. This thread was to ask what was considered "a lot" of cant, as I have absolutely nothing to compare it to.

Until you actually shoot the rifle you really have no idea where the front sight post will end up being in relation to the front sight ears.  

I think we are getting our lines crossed.


I'm talking about the front sight BASE, not front sight POST.  


I fully realize that the post might not end up being centered, and I'm totally fine with that.

Yeah I don't think you are getting what I'm meaning.  I'll try again:  It may not be as canted as you think.  Don't try to "fix" or modify it as suggested above until you actually shoot it.  Only then will you know how much it is out of alignment, if at all.

Ok I understand. Even if it is off, I'm probably not going to try and fix it. I don't mind if it's a little off, I just wanted to know what is considered really off vs just a little off.

I'll be damned, it looks like I got a ban state rifle then. Wtf? That kind of bothers me to be honest. What's weird is that it came with 2 30 round mags?


I don't really care about the bayonet, although it would be cool to be able to mount one. The welded thread protector is annoying, since I have to modify the rifle to switch it out.  

Some states care more about "features" than magazine capacity, as it's the "features" that differentiate a "rifle" from an "assault rifle."

You're acting pretty stupid to have attended a major university. It is common for any AK to be a little 'off' for any of several reasons. The guns are crazy and there are no 'plumb' surfaces you can look at to compare the sight base to. But the bottom line is, you have to take it to the range. Start at 25 yds. Use your front sight tool to adjust POI to the center, 1" low, with the rear sight on '1'. Leave the rear sight on '1' and go to the 50 yd range where you should be on-center. At the 100 yd range you might be a little high and you can make fine adjustments for windage with the front sight. So, assuming you get that done and the sight post is not right up on one of the ears, you are done. If the post is too close to the ear, then you'll be forced to find the reason and fix it, or simply put a red-dot in it which is better anyway.

Not sure where you bought it, but a lot of LGS and big box outdoor stores will order the "ban state" versions not really knowing what they're looking at, or might see that they're $20-30 cheaper and decide they can get a little bit more bottom line.

When I bought my first WASR at Cabela's I had no idea what I was looking at, I just wanted an AK. I ended up with a ban state WASR despite being in a state that has no feature bans whatsoever.

Like others have said the weld bead takes a few minutes to break off. Bayonet lug missing sucks, but what are the chances of ever using that?

I'm acting stupid, for asking questions about a subject I know NOTHING about? Really?


I guess you were just born knowing everything you need to know.  

Yeah that's probably what happened. They either didn't know it was ban state or didn't care.


I won't miss the bayo lug, I'd never use it. When I get a brake I'll just use the thin metal dremel wheel to cut the weld.

Cant is, as everyone else has said, fine as long as the rifle can be zero'd. Personally, it would bug me, since I'd rather have the post centered between the ears, but the FSB is where all the magic happens when zero-ing a rifle.

<removed> I said to stop it, this is not GD. dryflash3


 

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