What has been y'all's experience with WASR's as far as reliability and ability to accecpt magazines?

I have stayed away from them until now, due to some of the stuff I have heard about Century doing botch jobs on the mag wells. Now I am thinking about getting one. Probably after I get my Saiga converted and get a Polish AKMS underfolder.

What A Shitty Rifle

mine (2004) version is absolutely horrendous. i have about ten 30 round mags from different countries and one or two actually fit without me having to completely manhandle it in there. i havent gotten around to dremelling it yet. also it  has jamming issues which makes me seem pretty stupid when people shoot it and wonder why it isnt as notoriously reliable as thought. i hate century arms

I have one that I also picked up in 2004...was the first no ban AK I saw so I bought it.  Yes, when I got it, it was a POS, but it was fairly cheap, plus it had an evil bayonet lug and slant brake on it.  I tore it down and dremeled out the mag well, polished off the fire control parts (went from feeling like rough sand paper to nice and really smooth), stripped and restained the wood and some other work.  

I used this site to greatly improve it....IIRC, the guy is a member on this site...
www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/index.shtml

Is it the greatest firearm on the face of the earth?  No.  Is it reliable now and a nice plinker for the quarry?  Absolutely.  Besides, nothing like telling your gun ignorant friends you have an AK47

Quoted: I have one that I also picked up in 2004...was the first no ban AK I saw so I bought it.  Yes, when I got it, it was a POS, but it was fairly cheap, plus it had an evil bayonet lug and slant brake on it.  I tore it down and dremeled out the mag well, polished off the fire control parts (went from feeling like rough sand paper to nice and really smooth), stripped and restained the wood and some other work.   I used this site to greatly improve it....IIRC, the guy is a member on this site... www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/index.shtml Is it the greatest firearm on the face of the earth?  No.  Is it reliable now and a nice plinker for the quarry?  Absolutely.  Besides, nothing like telling your gun ignorant friends you have an AK47

I'm familiar with that site. You guys seem to be confirming Steyr Aug's original review on these things, which was basically that they were put together by untrained chimpanzees.

I don't want to spend money on a rifle that I am going to have to futz with to get it working right. Especially since I can get a good one right out the box from Robinson Arms or someone for a couple hundred more.

spend the extra money and get a Vector.

Quoted: I'm familiar with that site. You guys seem to be confirming Steyr Aug's original review on these things, which was basically that they were put together by untrained chimpanzees. I don't want to spend money on a rifle that I am going to have to futz with to get it working right. Especially since I can get a good one right out the box from Robinson Arms or someone for a couple hundred more.

If you don't want to futz with it, Vector and several other companies are spitting out some nice AK's right now.  And trust me, if you get one of the Century ones, you will have to futz with it to make it decent.  

However, if you have a few spare hours, a Dremel with some assorted grinding bits and polishing compound will take care of 90% of the mechanical problems you have with these rifles.  (canted gas block and front site aside...try to avoid those ones...)

Functional, but not exactly pretty...but then again, I'm a broke college student.  Probably doesn't help that I was looking at a Vector V51 tonight and trying to figure out what to sell to pay for it....

If you're on a tight budget go for it. Otherwise, there's better value out there, even in the AK47 market.

Quoted: If you're on a tight budget go for it. Otherwise, there's better value out there, even in the AK47 market.

+1

its a rough AK, it will work, but its not pretty

Quoted: Now I am thinking about getting one. Probably after I get my Saiga converted and get a Polish AKMS underfolder.

Get the quality projects done first. With a hi-cap Saiga and a Polish underfolder in your gun safe, I doubt you'll have any desire to own a WASR.

Mine works just fine, besides the usual canted frontsite.

Although I wish I waited to buy mine til after the AWB was over so I could of got a threaded barrel .