Clang, I only Visit Romania every year for the past 10 years, have two aunts that work at Sadu (where the WASR is assembled) and have only been inspecting guns for import for 15 years so I Might be mistaken....... oh wait nope They are still useing the military reject components as of last week so........
QUALITY the Yugo was recomended for much much better QUALITY so tell us how many AKs have ya built? surly some at least so ya can be an authority on riveting correct? I build about 4-7 per week every make and model as well as dealer post sample "Real" AKs....... been doin it goin on 20 years now so how much experience ya got riveting an ak together?
Its like with anything done from factory seconds, sometimes the flaw ya really really gotta search to find othertimes its very obvious when ya put the pants on and find one leg is 6" longer than the other...... the WASR flaws can be as subtle as a gas block cast outa square othertimes its real obvious when the front trunion cracks from improper heat treat or the chrome peels outa the chamber etc.... it all comes down to how thorough your initial inspection is....
The components go through the military arsenal first and are inspected several times any that don't pass get tossed to a conveyor that dumps em in a bin which gets rolled to the 3 commercial lines in a seperate building there they get inspected by 2 inspectors anything that fails at this point goes to Dragomiresti to be re-smelted parts can be failed for military use for any number of reasons, the front trunions for example ya have a metal bench 3 feet wide 20 feet long at the back 1 foot is a conveyor ya have 2 inspectors at the back side one at the middle and one at the end ya have 3 inspectors at the front side and a 6th who is a fill in if anyone has to use the restroom etc... this one also rolls the filled bins to the correct line, the first inspector has a milled pad in front of her (they are all women generally most in their 50s on up) the milled block is a gauge the trunion can only fit into the various recesses if it is within Military spec requirements if it fails to fit any of the recesses it gets tossed to the conveyor the next inspector will test hardness in 4 points and test for cracks or fractures any failure it goes to the conveyor the last inspector will check barrel journal size and stamp the size number etc.. it goes into the bin at the end of the table for military production if it fails to fit any of the 4 gauges or is outa round it goes to the conveyor.. the other two inspectors are simply to make sure parts that do meet mil spec are not being disposed of on the cheaper commercial lines
Now when that bin of trunions gets to the commercial building the parts will be inspected by 2 inspectors sitting at a 3'x10' table they check for cracks or obvious flaws the fails here go into a bin for re-smelting the rest go into your WASR or STG2000 etc....
There are no "G" rifles being dissasembled for parts etc... thats Century marketing BS as much as wishful thinking on the part of buyers and WHY None of the WASRs have the correct arsenal markings on their trunions etc... there are G RIFLES that are converted back to Full auto capability and sold all over the world ya see Romania doesn't have huge piles of chopped up rifles etc... that is the responsibility of the importer to hire people to cutup rifles they buy with the intention of being imported to the USA there are many other countries also buying these same rifles for use by their armies as well as less than popular groups buyin em etc... there is absolutally no reason for Sadu Arsenal to employ people just to demil and reassemble G rifles as WASR rifles its simply not cost effective to destroy a $30 complete rifle (the going rate for a military surplus AK at the wholsale level more on the black market) then they are going to use a USA specific reciever to build a $13 commercial rifle...... doesn't happen if the G gaurd rifles don't sell to American importers then it gets sold as a complete rifle to the next bidder.......
Romania produces a huge number of modern military grade weapons its onea the countries primary means of funding....... they try to avoid wasteing anything thats why ya can buy a cheap WASR its better to sell the parts cheap as a commercial rifle than to have to retransport the scrap 150 miles then resmelt em down etc...
heres ya a break down on Romanian Arsenals and production I put together awhile back for someone who wanted to know which arsenal RATMIL was.......
RATMIL (actually its patromil) is not an Arsenal it is the merge of Sadu and Cugir as well as all the other arsenals of Romania,that the Romanians had to pull off to apease the UN after gettin busted smuggling weapons to a very nasty terrorist we all love to hate. Cugir is no longer producing small arms, they were the sole producer of the Arms used by the Romanian military and is located up in the Beutiful Alps in the district of Alba Cugir is the City name as well , Sadu always produced the weapons sold as contract arms to other countries as well as any militant group with the $$ to pay, Sadu is located in the district of Gorj in the town of Bumbesti there are other arsenals in Romania however these are the only two that produced the AKM rifle and Cugir no longer does so its just Sadu AKA Sadar, The primary clearing house for all things Romanian is
TRANSCARPAT SPORTOURS INTERNATIONAL is the actual business branch that is responsible for all the sales of everything commercial outa Romania they are Located in Bucharest in the second district, they are the ones ya gotta deal with if ya want to order 30,000 WASRs or parts sets etc.. they also provide the instructors to train customers in the use of the Artillery or bombs they might have just bought etc... they are also who ya gotta deal with if ya wanna sell anything to the Romanian military..... These are the people who have the final say when it comes to all things being exported or imported into Romania, The address is used with all exported weapons and ammunition (this is why most think Cugir, Sadar/Sadu Ratmil etc... is located in Bucharest as thats the address used for everything that leaves Romania) they are also responsible for all the Police equipment and training for Romania....... Additional Arsenals in Romania are as follows
FILIASI located in the District of Dolj they make training devices, smoke grenades and such.
DRAGASANI located in the District of Valcea they make light/medium machine guns and ammunition
BABENI located in the district of Valcea they make specialty weapons and dispose of bad ammunition lots etc.. VERY tight security so don't plan on just dropping in there
FAGARAS located in the Brasov they make anti-tank weapons and land mines etc...
TOHAN located in the district of Brasov this is were Romanian RPGs and other such toys are made
PIROCHIM located in the district of Brasov They make gun powder as well as arial burst munitions
METROM located in the district of Brasov they make the brass for the ammunition
MIJA located in the district of Dambovita more hand grenades and reactive anti tank weapons
DRAGOMIRESTI located in the district of Dambovita in the City of Targoviste this is where all the parts that don't pass inspection go to be re-smelted down and where they dispose of bombs etc...
PLOPENI located in the district of Prahova they make really big bullets....... artillery rounds that is .....
ORASTIE located in the district of Hunedoara they make bombs and grenades as well as gun powder
ARMS located in the district of Alba in the town of Cugir this is a relativly new Arsenal which picks up where Cugir left off it is specialized in the new 5.56 x45 weapons as well as the 9 mm caliber subguns and sidearms yes the current Romania battle rifle is .223 and the issued Sidearm is a clone of the Croation sensation the rest of us know and love as the S.A XD!!
I'm kinda burned out so have probably forgot a few but that basically is all the arsenals Of Romania that I've been to, I also have contact info if anyone would care to call any up for a chat LOL Ya will need to learn to speak the language however as very few speak english.....
Since the "removal" of Ceausescu in 1989 Romania has depended heavily on weapons manufacture to pull the country out of the massive hole Ceausescu had placed Romania in during his years as dictator
Sorry I just get really irritated by people who haven't been there, don't build guns for a living but can tell ya all bout em.... and are more than willing to pass on mis-information based on what they have heard versus what they have seen
