I found a used SAR III that's on the way that I'm going to use for a project base.  Rifle comes with the original 74 mag marked ".223" (not very reliable if fully loaded) and two Promag AK magazines (probably going straight in the trash).  My understanding is that the Wieger  style mags are the proper ones for this rifle and luckily I have plenty.  

I'm planning on replacing the furniture with red laminate wood, putting on a Bolton gas block and chopping the barrel to 14.5 and permanently attaching an extended flash hider.  Finally going to refinish the rifle in Duracoat.  

Anyone ever done anything similar?  How did you like the results, and what issues/ pitfalls would I possibly deal with?

Thanks in advance for your time Gents.

Red Star Sar 3 hammer is what you need first. I used that and rest of the trigger parts are Tapco G2. The hammer protects the firing pin from being peened. I put on a Romy dong and Romy folding stock and threaded the barrel 1x28. I'm lucky I have weiger mags, but I hear good thing about the new polish 5.56 mags being imported now. It's one of my favorite rifles, smoother than 7.62.

Unfortunately the seller forgot to mention that he's throwing in a "free binary trigger"  When I function checked it the hammer would release about half the time I released the trigger (didn't see any evidence of "Bubba work" on the trigger).  I have an AKT trigger to replace the fire control group whenever the rifle gets back from the smith installing the gas block and muzzle device.  Thankfully the rest of the e seemed to be in really good condition.

Tag for later.  I went down the SAR-3 rabbit hole big time with multiple guns and configurations, complete reworks.  An incredibly crazy amount of money.

I am assuming the binary is a Franklin. The Franklin AK binary is supposed to work on "most" AK platforms, but not all. I have a friend who installed it on his WASR and couldn't get it to work right. He then switched it to a Romy G with an NDS receiver and it runs fine - go figure.

If you have the old FSB with the lug directly under the FSB (not behind it) and / or the 22mm FS, I would like first dibs if you are willing to sell.

Good luck with the project, post pics.

Sorry Carlos, I was being sarcastic with the "binary trigger" remark.  I meant that something was wrong with the trigger group when I got it and the hammer was falling forward about half the time I released the trigger to reset.

No problem, I should have caught the humor, but I can be a bit slow sometimes.

This is one of several SAR-3 rifles that I have owned - I was a big fan - and this is my last one, which I decided to turn into a Russian AK-74 lookalike.  I purchased this rifle brand new and unfired, immediately replaced the FCG with a Red Star Arms adjustable FCG with correct geometry hammer.  (Many of the factory SAR-3s came with hammers that had incorrect geometry and they would damage the bolts if the owner didn't correct or replace it.)  After testing for function, the barreled action was sent to Chris Butler at AK-USA where the Romanian front sight base was removed and replaced with a US-made clone of the Bulgarian/Russian front sight base that is correct for the AK-74 and a US-made copy of the correct Bulgarian/Russian AK-74 muzzle brake.  The entire barreled action was then re-parkerized and a smooth baked-on enamel was applied over the parkerization.  While this was going on, I procured real Russian AK-74 handguards and buttstock which were then refinished by Z_Recto in Russian Brown.  He also produced a US-made, matching wooden pistol grip.  After getting the rifle back and put together, I fired exactly 90 rounds from it, cleaned it, and it's been sitting in a temperature and humidity controlled safe for over a decade.  The case for the rifle is a real Russian AK-74 case with 5 magazine pockets and a large cargo pocket.  In the large pocket, there is a spare SAR-3 firing pin, still in wrapper.

I tried MANY different magazines in all of my SAR-3s, and without exception, the Wieger mags are flawless and the only way to fly.  At $60+ each in today's dollars, they're pricy.  Luckily I bought a ton of them back then.  

Happy to help you with any questions you have about your SAR-3 if I can remember.  I've steadily been getting out of guns and this one is gonna get listed at some point.
 
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Beautiful rifle!  Hope my project turns out as nice.

That's a nice SAR-3

Pay close attention to the comments about the bolt length. The SAR-3 has a unique bolt that doesn't play well with all hammers. Check to make sure that the hammer sits square on the bolt tail face when dropped. This was mostly an issue with the Century FCG as well as the G2 that was very commonly used when they were imported.

The Red Star Arms FCG is usually recommended for the SAR-3 but I've read that anything that more closely follows the AK-74 hammer profile will work well. I usually recommend the RAK-1 to people nowadays but I don't know if it plays well with the SAR-3.

Unfortunately you missed the cheap Weiger mags but quite a few people have confirmed that the cheap Tapco Galil mags work well - problem is that Tapco is now out of business. I have heard the newer AC Unity mags work as well.

If you change your mind about the SAR-3 PM me.. have always wanted one

I have a SAR 3, along with a SAR 1 and SAR 2 sitting in my safe.  This year, I’ll finally de-ban them and pretty them up a bit since I’m retiring within the next 35-40 days.

On the SAR 3, I’ll be adding an old KVAR US made Black plastic side-folding stock with the matching handguards and pistol grip.  Also replacing both the gas block, which “I” think is Bulgarian, along with the front sight assembly a new Romanian one that will accept a threaded AIMs muzzle brake.  I have both an original Romanian AIMs muzzle brake and a better looking, US made one that I bought back around 2009/2010.

I also have a Romanian reddish colored Bakelite handguards with the forward grip, I’m thinking of having ceracoated black to go with this project as well.  ALONG with a Red Star SAR 3 FCG.

Do to the current political situation, I have three other AK projects that need to be built into rifle first, the Romanian SAR rifles will follow after that.

OP, if you don’t have a min of 7 East German or Romanian Steel 5.56mm steel magazine...  Buy them now!!

Good luck!!

My SAR-3. I bought it used way back when. It came with the Red Star hammer. I bought a bunch of Weiger mags too. I picked up a couple more last year when GunMagWarehouse was blowing them out. I have a total of 14 now. The muzzle came threaded 1/2-28, with an AR FH welded to a chopped off AR FH since the threads are so long. I have an adapter on there to match metric threads. I tried all kinds of 5.56 AK mags. None fit other than the Weigers. Not even the new Polish mags.

My first ak was an sar3. The rs hammer and fcg are a must with several weiger mags.