I bought a WASR in 2008 around the time Obama was elected (they were 350, I mean why not?). I shot it for several years, and took good care of it with cleaning, etc. I eventually sold it to my best friend in 2012 when I went into ARs.

My best friend passed away in a car accident two years ago, and his dad asked me if I wanted it back, which of course I did. I now have an AK that has tremendous sentimental value to me to keyholes pretty bad at 50 yards with multiple types of ammo. I'm attaching a target for reference from this past Saturday.

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I have emailed Century and they just said it needs a new barrel (no way this thing was shot out). They also refused to help, which is fine.

1. What replacement barrels are out there that I should buy? I'm not an AK guy.
2. Are there any smiths in the upstate of South Carolina that can work on AKs?

I've read it is a little bit more involved to replace a barrel on them than say an AR. I really want to make this gun a shooter again.

Thanks in advance,

Bryant

Check the crown carefully for damage, that's one of the biggest sources of problems, and the cheapest and easiest to fix.

It's also possible the barrel is, in fact, shot out - you don't know what firing regimes or abuse it went through, or the environmental conditions it may have been subject to. Only way to know for sure would be to inspect it and/or have it gauged.

Barrel replacements are possible, and I know Green Mountain, at least, makes US AK barrels which could be used to rebarrel a WASR. I don't have any smith recommendations for you, sorry.

It'll be expensive, probably be 50% of the cost of a new WASR, to rebarrel the one you have, though.

Atlantic Firearms has new Polish Radom barrels, however they are not threaded. For ak builders I recommend Arizona Response Systems if he is taking work. Troy Sellars at In Range also has a good reputation and was used by many people here in the past, though I have no personal experience with him.

There are newly imported Romanian barrels available from Arms of America. I'd get one of those and have the barrel replaced. I'd replace it for you if you were closer.

Wait a sec before going crazy, lol, OP what muzzle device is on the rifle?

Reason being, I have had one in the past start stringing and keyholing on me due to a new muzzle device with a very tight throughhole and a WASR that (like a lot of 'em) doesn't have perfectly concentric threads on the muzzle. Result was bullet was lightly scraping the side of the muzzle device as it exited.

One problem you may run into is that the older WASRs often had oversized barrel pins, due to being rebarreled former military rifles. It's possible that the barrel pin you have is already too large to safely rebarrel without also replacing the front trunnion.

As is suggested I would look at the crown first, and take off whatever muzzle device is instslled, if any.

If you need the barrel changed out, I'd get an original Romy cold hammer forged barrel and have a smith install it.

Romanian barrel

Thanks all for the replies.

I have already removed the muzzle device, same deal. No change.

What exactly would a damaged crown look like? How would I know? I can put up a picture of mine in a few days when I get back from this trip.

The crown is the last place where the bullet engages the rifling as it leaves the barrel. Imagine a marble placed on the muzzle of your rifle. Where the marble touches the barrel face is generally the crown, although there can be recessed crowns, as well.

Having identified the crown, any visible dings or deformations there could be an indication of a damaged crown.

What do you guys think?

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Doesnt look like it was "damaged" but looks like it could very easilyhave been shot out.  Try the bullet test, set a cartidge in the muzzle backwards if you can push it easily to the laquer line the barrel is toast

Very possible on the corrosive ammo but I believe it was also well maintained. He always cleaned his guns after he shot them, he took real pride in it. I will have to try pushing the bullet in backwards.

Thank you all again for your help. This was a real head scratcher for me.

OP, I am sure you have done this, but have you tried several different ammunition types?

Windham Weaponry has AK barrels on sale, nitrided or in the white for $70.

I would see if someone can recrown your current barrel. Several (PT&G is one) sell hand tools that can recut the crown.

If you were going to have it rebarreled, would it be better to have an original Romanian barrel installed or a new manufacture American barrel? A surplus Romanian barrel might have the same problem the original barrel had. I have a WASR that has an original Romanian barrel, and those parts kits they import to make those rifles had who knows how many rounds through them. It might be better to put a brand new barrel on it. And if it's American-made, then it will be much more likely that the threads will be concentric to the bore, so if you decide to shoot it suppressed later it will work with a suppressor mounted. I tried shooting my WASR with a suppressor, but the threads are not concentric so the bullet just barely touches the baffles on my suppressor, which throws them all over the place. If it had an American barrel it wouldn't be a problem.

An American-made barrel may be more accurate. I haven't shot an American-made barrel in an AK though, so I can't speak with experience on that. But I have shot new production Russian and Bulgarian AKs that were made within the last ten years, and they were a lot more accurate than my old WASR which was made in 1983. The WASR shoots 7" groups at 100 yards and may have a worn out barrel. One of the Bulgarian AKs I owned shot 4" groups at 100. The Russian one did the same. I was also able to hit a steel gong at 600 yards with the Bulgarian one, but could never do that with the WASR. I believe the newer barrel is the reason. I know that a new barrel can make a big difference. I have a competition AR15 that has a 20" heavy barrel. The barrel itself cost $300. With that barrel, the AR is getting groups about half the size of my budget AR. Maybe you can preserve your AK and keep it alive, since it has sentimental value, but also have it be an accurate rifle too.

I tell you right now that barrel was fired with corrosive ammo, not properly treated to neutralize the corrosive salts and put away in a fairly humid place (like in a shed or detached garage) for some time. The corrosion has already attacked the chrome lining around the muzzle which goes a long way toward causing your problem. The bore probably looks pretty bad, but it could be that a muzzle device was used, the bore cleaned but not the muzzle, which allowed the salts to attack the crown. In that case, you would simply re-crown and/or counterbore if needed. Otherwise the barrel is toast.
If this has happened, you will have to neutralize the whole gun, especially the gas system and inside the gas tube. Use an emulsion of Ballistol:water at about 1:10 and wash the entire gun, inside and out. Blow out/drain/let dry and use straight Ballistol for your CLP. You typically find Ballistol at gun shops, sporting goods, etc.

Yeah it looks a little rough, seems like everything else has been ruled out so maybe the barrel is just shot out....how many rounds did your buddy put through it? Probably a combination of a lot of rounds and some corrosion making it worse, time for a new barrel.

Unless he shot 15-20K+ rounds out of it which i doubt, or toasted the barrel with loads of mag dumps no way is the barrel shot out

I'd still believe there's damage to the crown rather than the barrel having been shot out unless the bore is gone from shooting corrosive without proper cleaning afterwards.

I don't see anything on that crown that immediately makes me say Aha!  That's not to say there isn't an issue...that spot at around 4:00 on that pic looks suspect. But I just don't see something that would make the bullets fly sideways at 50 yards. A little wobbly, a little elongated maybe. But sideways?  I also think you have got to shoot a TON of ammo, even corrosive, to burn out that barrel. I've got a Yugo that I'm pretty sure was used in the Balkans, with the original dark barrel (Yugos didn't chrome line) and it shoots great.

Did you take your muzzle device off for the pic?  I feel like the only thing that could make things that bad would be a bullet strike. So maybe a bit of a crown issue makes a strike on whatever muzzle device makes the bad keyhole. But I could be wrong, that's for sure.

So we're still waiting to hear how your bullet test went, and let us know what muzzle device, if any, you're using.

I agree.

I have a very well worn Yugo underfolder that has seen some action before being imported into the states as a kit.

Almost fails the bullet test,original barrel is dark with weak rifling and it shoots better than some of my new Arsenal AK's accuracy wise.

Could have a burr on the bore somewhere,really doubt its shot out.

Run a bore snake through it, shine a light into the chamber, and take a picture of the bore.

Want to see a shot out barrel? Here was my Yugo 59/66 before I rebarreled it.

Sorry for the delay on this, will answer some of the questions you all have asked:

I do believe it is most likely that the bore was cleaned but not the muzzle. I do live in SC, it is a hot and humid place. Of everything said that makes the most sense to me.

It had the factory muzzle device (slant brake) on there. Once it started key holing I took that off to see if that was the issue. It continued to keyhole.

I called a local smith and the cost to rebarrel is close to or more than the cost of a new AK at this point...I may just have to keep it in the safe the rest of my life.

I do have a can of ballistol and could to the wash/emulsification if I needed to.

Thank you all again for your answers here, definitely a few things I hadn't considered.

It sounds like I may need to clean barrel and take a picture...I just don't believe the barrel is shot out. I could be wrong...but I just doubt it. It wasn't shot that much. Maybe 1K rounds over the 10 years my friend and I owned it. Granted it could have been shot before...and it never was very accurate but I always chocked that up to being milsurp, being an AK, and crappy ammo.

As already mentioned by others - if it passes the bullet test, barrel is not likely to be shot out. If that is the case, most likely needs to be recrowned.