Obviously I'm not too familiar with these but I just barely bought an SAR and I know because of their price they aren't top quality AK's, but I'm wondering if this type of thing is normal?

Foregrip not flushed: u.cc.utah.edu/~gmj06b50/Guns/AK-47-SAR-1-foregrip.jpg

Some rust: u.cc.utah.edu/~gmj06b50/Guns/AK-47-SAR-1-scopemount.jpg

Crack on the stock: u.cc.utah.edu/~gmj06b50/Guns/AK-47-SAR-1-stock.jpg


Is all of that pretty normal for a new gun or should I be taking it back and getting an exchange.

All my SAR's have been flawless when I bought them.

These arent really major issues with your gun, but its up to you if you are happy with fixing these monor problems. Or like you said, go and exchange it for one thats in better condition.

There minor problems as M4 has stated, but if it was me with the cracked stock and rust I would be wandering if there are more problems.

I see your from Ut. I Yet to find a dealer in the state that can come close to Aim's or J&G's price with shipping and transfer fees included. If you can get your money back  and live in the north Shooters Oasis in Ogden will do the transfer for $20. Either of the two dealers I've mention will do you good.

I see tw0 options depneding on how much you want to to put into it. First, check the rifle out well, there may be other problems.

Then decide if you want to send it back.

Otherwise, I would replace te furnature with a new K-Var polymer set. Then remove the rust, and apply a bake on finnish yourself.  You can get one for cheap at Brownells.

The bad part is, if you send it back, they will just turn around and send it to the next guy who comes along and hope he won't complain.
Another way to keep the wood, would be to talk to the members here.  Many have replaced their wood with polymer and might have good stocks laying around they would part with cheap.  Its worth a shot.

The rust pic does not come thru for me, but I would send it back for that. The foreguard is easy to tighten up. Cracked butts are not common, but varied degrees of fixable finish are common.

So those types of things are not normal for these cheap Romanian AK's? When I bought it the guy told me that sometimes you need to tighten up the stock (I did have to do that and the pistol grip). He also said it's normal that there's a litle bit of rust on them? I didn't notice the little crack on the stock at the time. There's also a little gap where the stock attaches. u.cc.utah.edu/~gmj06b50/Guns/AK-47-SAR-1-stock-2.jpg Normal?

I field stripped it and everything seems fine. It's just the condition of some of the wood, the way it's attached and a few little specks of rust in places.

For the price I wasn't expecting something machined to medical equipment standards! :) And it's going to be my "beater" gun anyways, but it would be good to at least start out with as nice as you can get for $359.

It's a local store, so exchanging it probably won't be much of a problem if I decide to.... it's just that I want to shoot this thing today! That's why I bought it so quick. I wonder if they'll care if I put a hundred rounds of ammo through it and then take it back because I noticed all that junk.

You SAR-1 looks better than my SAR-2 did when I got it! LOL!

That rust is probably grease or cosmoline which is my guess, eventhough I can't see your rust photo. That stuff is very hard to get off but can be done with the right nitro solvent.

The stock will work fine if you want to shoot, etc. I would be more concerned about a canted front sight or gas block. That's the most important thing. If it's straight, then don't worry about it.

Double check the sights and gas block for straightness. If they are OK, then take off the buttstock, preheat the oven to 150deg, stuff it in there, see if the 'rust' runs out. If it does, it is cosmoline and you are fine. Your wood finish appears above avg for a SAR. Get some ZapAGap glue from a hobby shop; RC plane guys use it at the field for wood cracks and fly it right away, so it should keep your butt crack from running. If the handguard moves, it can be shimmed a bit.
Fit/finish is never perfect on these, and you may come out fine. If it really is rust, return it. Rust is absolutely NOT normal for a SAR.

The front sight looks straight up and down. u.cc.utah.edu/~gmj06b50/Guns/AK-47-SAR-1-frontsight.jpg

I'm actually not even sure what the gas block is but if it's the upper part that attaches to the barrel then everything looks straight. I'm probably going to have to take this rifle up to my brother-in-law and make sure he thinks everything is good.

TheOtherOne,

Welcome to the site!  I'm a newbie as well to AK-type rifles, and everyone here has been very helpful.

I recently bought a SAR-1 myself - no rust, decent wood, and non-canted sights/gas block.  Here's my review:

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=4&f=79&t=55421

Here's a discussion of what is meant by canted front sight blocks and gas blocks:

www.nothingbutguns.com/linx310/cant.htm

I agree with the others, "real" rust (versus dried cosmoline) is not normal, even for a SAR.  However, it might be tough returning it to the store after you've fired 100 rounds through it...

I wouldn't worry about the crack in the stock.  I have an identical crack in the stock on the opposite side of my SAR-1.  I also have a minor "dent" in the wood in the stock that was obviously placed their after refinishing.  I've got no problems with either flaw.  Adds character.  If that really is rust and the gun is brand new from a local store, then I would return it for another.  I got mine special order, so if I'd gotten the same thing I'd have steel-wooled it away and refinished the area.

   - Nw -

Thanks for all the advice! I've decided I'm just going to keep this one. I showed it to my brother-in-law and he said it looked fine to him. He's got a Norinco AK though and dang, my finish SUCKS compared to that gun and I had always heard that Norinco wasn't that great.

Quoted: I see your from Ut. I Yet to find a dealer in the state that can come close to Aim's or J&G's price with shipping and transfer fees included. If you can get your money back  and live in the north Shooters Oasis in Ogden will do the transfer for $20. Either of the two dealers I've mention will do you good.

Yeah, I figured I could of saved $40 if I would of bought from AIM. They are $299 and they told me $20 shipping.. then there would of been another $20 for the transfer free. So it would of been $340 all said and done but I didn't feel like waiting on shipping and didn't want to learn how to do all the dealer transfer paperwork junk. I ended up paying $380 after tax. That's not too bad of a price... I hope! :)

Functionally my SAR is perfect right out of the box, it was also suprisingly accurate.
Cosmetically, the stock looks like it was drenched in molasis LOL. I changed the trigger group to one from FSE and the trigger slap is gone.

As far as trigger slap, you will most likely have it.  It's an easy fix, just remove the disconnector and grind off that friggen tail.  I know there's a website somewhere that shows how to do it.  Easy and FREE cure.