When did the WASRs stop being kind of junk and the new ones that have a good reputation come in?   What year should I not by a WASR before?

I was never aware they were junk - you just had to watch out for canted gas blocks, but even back from the 1999 series they were still good quality stamped AKs, and even to this day you might find a canted gas block.

Very first WASR-10 were known for issues, but later WASR10-63 got much better in quality. Now there is no new imported WASRs so they are going up in price. New made in USA AKs are now considered junk with trunnions getting bent so people now know WASR was not that bad.

WASR was always considered a budget gun and when compared to the other imports coming in at the time, they were indeed labeled as bottom of the barrel rifles. Once imports starting drying up the WASR climbed the ladder in terms of quality in comparison to what is being offered these days in the AK market. Yes, the newer produced WASRs with the blonde wood seem to be a cut above the WASRs of a few years ago in terms of cant, mag wobble, etc. but it's essentially the same damn rifle. Just that the competition has lowered the bar that WASRs seem to be the best buy these days for a quality Romanian import.

I don't think there was a date that they got magically better or worse.

There were always a few lemons that got through all years.

I would inspect each WASR you come across before purchasing and treat each one as an individual case. Your chances of getting a good one are pretty good IMO. Just do you due diligence.

Rifles imported around 2008 era seem to be more likely to have poorly ground mag wells. Some time around 2009 or 2010, Century started doing the mag well milling on a jig or with CNC machinery,  and the mag well milling was clean at that point.

Also keep in mind that the 10/63 is generally a rebuilt military parts kit. Most of these kits were originally made between the 60s and 80s, and quality on the core parts and barrel components can vary. The more recent WASRs are built from new production parts,  and are more likely to  be a bit nicer simply due to Cugir using newer tooling and production methods than they did during communist era.

I bought two of the new WASR AK's last year, about six month apart, the second was noticably better put togther, straighter front sight, tighter cut mag well.  Both were usable as they came, I did change the furniture for real AK wood, cleaning kit cuts and palm swell lower forends.

I've owned 3 wasr's.  The first I bought the day I turned 18, and the third I bought a few weeks ago.  I beat the hell out of my first one.  I ran cheap ammo through it, never cleaned it, and just treated it like crap.  It never once skipped a beat.  The second one I ran thousands of rounds through, cleaned it regularly, and was always able to get good groupings at 100 yards with iron sights.  Never once a hiccup with that one.  I haven't taken my newest one to the range yet, but I'm assuming that it's going to live up to the standards of my first two.  

I look at wasr's like something that might not be ready right out of the box, but with some TLC they are a fantastic AK.  Would benefit from a stronger barrel, but unless you're shooting full auto it shouldn't matter.  I've ran 10 mags through my second rifle in a single range day fairly quickly, and I never had a problem.  Except for the hand guard almost melting my skin haha.  

Bottom line, there's nothing wrong with them.

Dong grip FTW

What ever made them junk?? It's an AK, and the WASR's have always been as reliable as any other AK.
They just didn't have as nice of a finish and wood as other AK's.  Newer WASR's have a nice finish and wood, if you care about that.

I own more Arsenals than WASR's.  I had to pick through the Arsenals before selecting my purchase, the same way I did with the WASR's.
Arsenals have canted sights too... I would say an equal amount to the WASR's.
The Arsenals just had a nicer finish and furniture.

Bought two just before Election Day '08 for *maybe* $425. I shouldn't have sold the second one.

I bought this Under-folder in 2007 and it's not junk by any means.  Just check them before you buy

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Junk?

Nooo...

The one in the pics below was purchased about 3 months ago...it came with the blond furniture but I had a Romanian surplus stock set stored away and put that on...