Follow-up to my WASR-10 purchase regret

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The Swede

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Original post: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=353976

Well after getting the rifle home I first did a little clean up. I used two cans of degreaser, put on a light coat of oil, and did a quick refinish job on the furniture. I think the rifle looks pretty dang good for about 2 hours worth of work! I was a little worried because of all the bad things I've heard about the fit and finish of the WASR series.

Today I brought it to the range and to my suprise it shot pretty well with no site adjustment. I am going to have to do a small windage adjustment next time I am at the range. I didn't have a hammer with me this time which is what I've read you need to do the adjustment. I was shooting 2-3 inch groups at 75 yards. Not even close to what I can do with my AR but this was my first day with it. The damn thing felt more like my 12 gauge than my AR, and I loved it.

Anyway at first I listened too much to the naysayers and I was regretting the purchase for a couple days. After shooting it I love it. I love the look of it. It's brutish. I like that I can take it out in the field and get down in the dirt and mud without worrying about ruining the finish like most of my other guns. For the price I couldn't be happier.
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The damn thing felt more like my 12 gauge than my AR, and I loved it.
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:) one of the rules to a gun fight "bring enough gun"

you will soon see X39 is an awesome round. and all the clamor to find a new round whether its 6.5, 6.8 or what ever. is just realizing what Uncle Mich. got right the first time.

oh and nice looking wood, much better than mine.
 
Thou Shalt Not Hammer Thy AK, Lest Thou Livith in Regret

I think the WARSs and SARs get a bad rap because of their looks and low price. We've had several of them and really put them through the wringers in testing, and I have little cause for complaint. Some of them are assembled a bit crooked, and one was so bad that all the windage was taken up to get a zero on a calm day. But they all shot very well. OK, one had some trigger slap, but reworking the camming angles between the hammer and disconector eliminated it.

Rather than using a hammer, you should use a tool designed for the AK front sight. It makes it a lot easier, especially for fine adjustments, and you won't end up dinging your AK. We have one available (it's from Tapco) and I have complete instructions here:
http://www.ultimak.com/AKST.htm
 
Yo Swede..I own one and 6k later,my son and me have never been happier shootin' it.
we take it to Ft.Dix range every weekend and it keeps on shootin'. 'bout one of the best bangs for the bucks. Enjoy your toy bro!!!
 
congrats on the ak, i am glad that you like it and you did a fine job on the refinish btw.

i wouldn't use a hammer to adjust the sights i would get me a sks/ak sight alignment tool and use that.
 
I just did some work on a WASR.

A friend of mine got his hands on one. He thought it was garbage, trigger slap, terrible pull, ect.

The origional parts were fine, but the Americanized parts sucked.

A double arm trigger, dremel, and 600 grit sandpaper was all it took to save it.

Their great, but minor work seems all but mandatory. I bet no more than a Friday afternoon after work, leaving plenty of time on Saturday.
 
Wasr

I bought a WASR and have a few misgiving myself about it. After shooting it I decided that an AK is an Ak is an AK...it just depends on how much you want to spend on the finish.

I can remember in the 90's were the Maadi was the ugly kids on the block. They were about $125 to $175. No one wanted one. IMHO a Maadis look like they were built monkeys on crack. But, today you can't buy one for less than $400.00.
 
I picked up a used WASR-10 a couple weeks ago. The shop I got it from had 50 of them (all gone now). Their story was that these rifles were used to train US soldiers that were heading to Iraq, and they only fired blanks. It was pretty dirty inside and outside, but the bore is in great condition and didn't see any copper fouling that would lead me to believe they were lying.

It was pretty ugly when I got it, but some refinishing made it prettier. I degreased and sanded the wood down a bit, used some 'gunstock' colored stain, then rubbed on about 6 coats of Tru-Oil. I might try to dull it down a bit, it's kind of shiny.

I'm going to duracoat the metal parts someday. Mine came without a cleaning rod, but the one I ordered should be here today. I also picked up a muzzle brake (the slanted kind) and a Romanian side-folding metal stock.

Attached are before/after pics. The 'before' was taken with my cellphone camera so the quality is bad, but the rifle didn't look much better. The wood furniture was almost the same color as the rest of the gun!
 

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Cool. I've got one on layaway...so I'm putting money down when I can on it...I also pick up ammo and mags when I come across them...
 
I have a Wasr-10 and an Arsenal slr-95, and I have to say an AK is NOT an AK is an AK. There is a huge difference between a milled reciever AK and a stamped reciever and also a difference between a Wasr-10 and a stamped quality built AK. Dont get me wrong I love my WASR but if you honestly think that every AK is the same than you are sadly mistaken. If you want some quality info about AK's you should look for Dstorm as he has spoken extensively on the subject.
 
I have always liked the look of those romanian milled underfolding stocks. It's good to know they are using that old tooling for something sience they replaced the folding mechanism on all the folders to side.

I have one of the old MD63 kits like that marked 1966 that i have been wanting to build for a while, but might just end up buying one of the WASR-UF's to spare the trouble if i can find one for a fair price. I guess now that they are getting to be cheaper than the Yugo underfolders it might actually be starting to become worth it.
 
oday I brought it to the range and to my suprise it shot pretty well with no site adjustment. I am going to have to do a small windage adjustment next time I am at the range. I didn't have a hammer with me this time which is what I've read you need to do the adjustment. I was shooting 2-3 inch groups at 75 yards. Not even close to what I can do with my AR but this was my first day with it. The damn thing felt more like my 12 gauge than my AR, and I loved it.
Click to expand...

2-3 inches -- sounds good to me.

Regrets? Sounds like you did all right to me. Enjoy it for what it is. And get the right tool to adjust your sight. It's inexpensive, easier to use and allows more precise adjustments than a hammer.
 
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NICE ct has banned folding stocks and aks in 7.62...... can you imagine how envious i am...? i was gonna buy a yugo or a wasr.
 
2-3 inches is fine. Consider the ammo you are shooting: even .223 or x39 Wolf (or similar Russian stuff) out of an AR or bolt gun is gonna give you similar results. The rifle is designed for shooting human beings which are much larger than 1 or 2 MOA.

As for your front sight, if the sight tools gives you trouble, spray it down with some kind of penetrating oil, or even CLP. Sometimes the dried cosmoline makes them near-impossible to move without some help from chemistry.

I love my WASR. It's all I need in an AK.
 
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