Went out and tested my new WASR 10 as I wanted to familiarize myself with AK operating characteristics. I gave it a decent cleaning before I took it to the range. I got 4 30 rnd mags and while 1 was too wide & did not fit, the other 3 locked-in fine w/ a bit of a wobble but I don't care.

I used what looks to be Serb or Yugo ammo that came 15 to a box in a ~60 box wooden crate. Some of the markings were 15 KOMA?A 7,62 MM METAK NNY 7801 (date?).  Many characters were in cyrillic script so the markings I've provided are not exact.  The s/n on my receiver ends in 81 (date?)

Sometimes after firing the charging handle did not close fully when feeding a round. It left about a 1/4 to 1/2" gap, but it still fired. Is this normal for an AK or do I need to affect more cleaning, repair, or different ammo?      

I was with family members to I did take time to sight it in, but got decent paper at 50 yards right out of the box. For the money I am impressed.

TIA
 

The bolt carrier should always run forward completely. I would investigate further.

ETA: The ammunition you used is probably Yugoslavian, which means it's corrosive. Clean the rifle accordingly.

I had to sharpen the radius in the corners of my wasr magwell to be able to use the plastic mags(polish maybe).

Some people have problems feeding hollow point ammo. Try to slowly manually feed a round into the chamber to recreate the problem. The bullet might be hitting the flat face of the barrel rather than the angled ramp making it come to a sudden stop.

IF this is the case I would lightly sand and polish the feed ramp to put a little more angle on it till the round chamber consistantly.

When chambering the 1st round I find it's best to pull the bolt all the way back and let it slam forward on it's own force. As they say all semi autos, don't ride it.

Most of these guns need some break in time. Keep an eye on it but I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Thanks for the input fellas.

I removed as much cosmoline as I could get at, and the cycling/closing action improved a bit.
Then I disassembled & cleaned the bolt some, it got better.
Then I soaked the bolt in 104 octane gasoline, lubricated all the metal I could get at, and now it's working pretty darn good. Firing 15 rounds per mag, I cycled 6 mags for 90 rounds. 89/90 times the bolt closed flush w/ the receiver only 1 time it didn't. As in the past all rounds fired successfully.

The only usual condition as drobs pointed out, is that each time I chambered the 1st round, pulling it all the way back and letting her go, I did not get complete closure. So something is different about that manual stroke vs the firing action.

I've got the sight-in elevation dialed-in for 25 yards now I need that tool (in the mail) to adjust windage. Gunsnet.net says to use 25 meters, my range has 25/50/100 yards. What distance do you guys use?    

Quoted: Sometimes after firing the charging handle did not close fully when feeding a round. It left about a 1/4 to 1/2" gap, but it still fired. Is this normal for an AK or do I need to affect more cleaning, repair, or different ammo?

We took my dad's new WASR to the range yesterday and had the same issue.  It seemed to resolve itself later in the day and we had no futher problems.  I'm gonna give it a good cleaning and take it to the range again next week and see if the problem resurfaces.

Quoted: Thanks for the input fellas. I removed as much cosmoline as I could get at, and the cycling/closing action improved a bit. Then I disassembled & cleaned the bolt some, it got better. Then I soaked the bolt in 104 octane gasoline, lubricated all the metal I could get at, and now it's working pretty darn good. Firing 15 rounds per mag, I cycled 6 mags for 90 rounds. 89/90 times the bolt closed flush w/ the receiver only 1 time it didn't. As in the past all rounds fired successfully. The only usual condition as drobs pointed out, is that each time I chambered the 1st round, pulling it all the way back and letting her go, I did not get complete closure. So something is different about that manual stroke vs the firing action. I've got the sight-in elevation dialed-in for 25 yards now I need that tool (in the mail) to adjust windage. Gunsnet.net says to use 25 meters, my range has 25/50/100 yards. What distance do you guys use?

In that case I would get in the habit of slapping that bolt handle closed with the heal of your hand for the 1st 500 to 1000rds. I bet it will break in soon.

I usually start at 25 to see where I'm hitting then move to 100.

I had the same problem, in under 500 rounds it has worked itself out fully.  A little scary at first but several full mags of ammo later the gun is a dream to shoot.  Still has a tiny problem sometimes when i dont let the charging handle go fully, but that is more of my problem than the guns.

When I first got my WASR and went to the range, I chambered a round the bolt did not close properly. All I did was gently push the handle forward till it was properly closed. I haven't experienced that since.

Got my Tapco windage cylinder adjustment tool so went to the range to finish the 25 yard sight-in.
Prior to this tool arriving I had already set the front-sight elevation, but the POI was way left. I had my gunsnet.net directions & proceeded to move the cylinder. The Tapco tool is well made. I moved the cylinder some, results not good. Moved it some more, POI seemed worse. Finally realized I was going in the wrong direction moved it all the way in the opposite direction, boom 3-shot grouping bulls-eye.

I've got a very nice gun now. Next outing 100 yards. Where do you think my POA should be?
With my AR I've got the 50/200 IBZ, and at 100 yards my POA is about 2" lower than POI.