AK Sponsor
Posted: 2/24/2008 12:52:19 PM EDT
| I'm an AR owner but have had personal experience with an AK in Vietnam. A local gunshop has the standard Romanian AK47's at a great price and I'm seriously contemplating buying one. I'm looking for one that simply shoots everytime I pull the trigger and does so with fair accuracy. I maintain my firearms well so that will never be a problem. I'd hoped for something like a nice Yugo, but $$$ is a bit tight right now. Is a Romanian dependable? Thanks for the advice as I'm a bit out in the dark right now. |
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If you liked what you seen in Vietnam then Romanian AK is not what you are looking for. It will go bang, but it isn't the same quality and the one in Vietnam. Spend a little more and get at least a Chinees, Maadi, Vepr or Saiga, or US built once - some are very nice. |
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| Thanks for the replies. I guess then that I"ll go with something like a Yugo????? As for liking that AK47 in Vietnam, well, no. I got SHOT by the blame thing. Have no idea of what kind it was, but one thing I do know, that greasy little zipperhead that pulled the trigger went face down. |
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This is an old reply of mine I typed up about WASRs. If there is some slightly outdated material in there sorry, I wrote it last fall. I think it's an OK overview of how to go about picking a WASR though. I own two WASRs and another Romanian AK (an SAR-1; no longer imported though). They have all ran 100%. Very happy with them. They are VERY affordable too. That's what makes them so attractive. AKs are like potato chips, you can't have just one. ---------------------------- If you can hand pick a WASR, they are great rifles IMO. I own two. The first thing you want to watch for is overly canted front sight block and gas block. Some people ran into problems with these in the past. The second thing you should check is mag wobble. If it is horrendous, don't get that rifle. There are so many WASRs out there, if you don't like one example, just move down the rack to the next one. Both of my WASRs have some mag wobble, but it doesn't affect function. Just don't automatically freak out if the mag wobbles a bit. As you are checking mag wobble, just get an idea of what the quality of the mag well conversion is. If it is messed up the mag won't go in right (i.e. maybe they forgot to take a little metal out of the corners so the mag doesn't fit right). If it is an OK conversion job, you should be able to rock the mags in no problem (as long as you are familiar with AK mag changes; if you don't have much hands on experience you might rock it in wrong anyway  ).CHECK THE TRIGGER! If it says "TAPCO G2 USA" on the side of the trigger (side opposite the ejection port on the trigger itself), then it's got the good trigger already installed. If it doesn't, expect to pay about $30 to get a new trigger, or plan on polishing out the old Century trigger group. The Century no-name trigger will function, but it feels pretty crappy IMO. Do yourself a favor and get a WASR with a G2, or put a G2 in it. Your opinion of the rifle will be increased if you have a good trigger. Check the bore, the interior of the receiver, and the other parts of the rifle (the safety, mag catch, etc.) for any major problems. The bore will be dirty, but just make sure it has rifling and no major pits. Most WASR bores will clean up nicely. Check inside the receiver for any obvious problems (don't know exactly what you might find...it's good to inspect it anyway). Check the safety and mag catch for function. I inspected one WASR that had a FUBARed safety on it- it wouldn't click into the fire position for some reason. Just move on down the line- there are plenty of other WASRs! "Fit and finish" is pretty subjective. The finish is not mil-spec parkerizing for sure, but it's not horrendous IMO. It's black, and covers what would be bare metal otherwise. It works for me. The wood is sort of ugly I guess, but it gets the job done. I actually have grown a bit fond of my unfinished stock sets. They seem very rugged and utilitarian to me. I'll end up finishing them sometime, for now though though the bare Romanian pallet wood gets the job done.  Pics below of my most recent WASR, to give you an idea on what to expect. I got this one on sale for $289 at 5AM the day after Thanksgiving at Dunhams Sports.      If you get the WASR and find there is a problem with it, don't give up hope. It could very well be something very minor that is easily fixed. One VERY IMPORTANT step after getting the WASR home is to CLEAN IT inside and out. I know, clean an AK? Blasphemy. But honestly, after being converted to high cap in the Century import house, and being covered in cosmoline, the rifle will need to be cleaned. Once you do the initial cleaning to remove any cosmoline and metal shavings, you don't need to clean it anymore ( ), unless you really want to.As I've said a few times already. Hand pick the rifle if at all possible. Take somebody with you that knows their stuff if you are unsure about AKs. If you find a bad WASR, don't buy it. You're just going to complain about it then. Take your time and find a decent one. The one pictured above was my choice as best out of three. It looks to be a pretty decent one. Cost will be anywhere between $290 and $355 for a double stack model. $300 is a good price for a "simple" high cap WASR. You'll pay closer to $330-$350 for a high cap WASR that has the slant break and bayonet lug. (*as a side note, if you buy a "simple" WASR with no muzzle break you might still be able to cut off the welded on muzzle nut and install a slant break if it has threads. Most of the WASRs I've seen recently do have threads. The muzzle nut isn't too hard to cut off. I've helped remove one already, and will be taking the one pictured above off shortly. The slant break is a great addition to the rifle IMO. Just be sure and buy a US made muzzle device to stay within the crazy ATF import regulations [922r].) Hope this helps a little. Enjoy the rifle. -------------- I have since refinished the wood on all my WASRs. And I took the muzzle nut off the AK pictured above and installed a US made slant break. Below are some pics of my other WASR with the wood refinished on it.   Here it is at a recent arfcom HTF shoot. 
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If you just want a good beater AK, take the above advice, find a decent Wasr, slap a romy folder on it and go. Pretty effective arm on the cheap. If you think you'll want to really get 'into' the AK platform, get a high quality rig. Me, I wanted something I could beat the shit out of and neglect if need be, thus my wasr.
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Hey, no problem at all. Glad to help out. Always great to see the number of AK owners grow. If you can find a good deal on a Yugo those are good to go as well. They will cost a little over $100 more than a Romanian AK, but they tend to have fewer lemons off the shelf (there are just some bad WASRs, it's unavoidable...). I've shot a Yugo underfolder and they are nice, solid rifles. If you find one that you like it'd be a good choice. I just want to broaden the possibilities, you pick out what you like. Some people will say ALL wasr's are bad; but only some are. You can find a good one.So go to a shop somewhere and handle a few of them. See what you like. 
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