I just picked up my first AK, a WASR10 last week and i have some questions i was hoping some of you guys can help me with.

first, how in the heck do you get this cleaning kit open? its like the endcap is welded on there or something. no amount of twisting or pulling will budge it. there has to be some obvious trick im overlooking.

Second, when i bought my ak, it came with both stocksets that normally come with an WASR10 (the pistol grip and draganov(sp?) style). the wood is unfinished. I planed on redoing the wood myself but have some questions about what i should use. ive read a few guides online but found nothing about using water based stains. im looking at staining it a dark green to give it a more orginal look (plastic is not my thing). looking around online all i have found is www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/accents.cfm . how well would a water based stain hold up? i was planing on covering that with a polyurethane topcoat, would the oil top coat work well with a water based undercoat? any suggestions would be appreciated.

make it easier on yourself- use a gel stain for the stock set. You will get more even coverage with a gel.

I sanded down the butt fugly stock furnaturewith 160 then down to 240 then , then a simple wood stain (choose you flavor, there tons of colors) and followed up with about 10 very thin coats of clear hi gloss polly (sand smoth  with fine 1500 grain paper between each coat).

you cant really see the shine to well, but overall it looks great up close.

AK Pic

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