My under-rated WASR AK47

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leadcounsel

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Picked up a beater WASR recently for cheap.

Spotted rust on the receiver cover, poorly done rivits on the wood, inexpensive wood furniture, typical trigger, stiff magazine release, and fussy with some magazines (some won't fit). Standard iron sights.

But I inspected it and the barrel, sights, and gas ports were all aligned so I forked over my cash.

Finally got it to the range this weekend. For fun, I loaded the magazine (with surplus steel ammo) and my first rounds were at the 18" gong hanging 200 meters away.

Bang - Bang - Bang -
Gong!!!!

Bang
Gong!!!

Bang - Bang
Gong!!!

Bang
Gong!!!

I was good when standing, but then I moved to seated benchrest sandbags and was able to ring the gong with relative consistency. I was hitting the gong on about every 4th shot on average, and got successive hits at times.

Quite impressed.

(By comparison, I was able to hit the gong about every 2-3 shots with my dialed in AR15 with iron sights, hitting 5 our of 8 in one string of shooting with the AR15. I was using commercial ammo.)

I nearly sold this AK47, but glad I held onto it. Going to put some nicer hardware on it and replace the rusty top cover.
 
This must be a joke as no AKM (especially a wasr) could do that.
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I assume you're joking? An 18" target at 200 meters should be an easy target for any rifle, even a rusted-out old AK.
 
Fatelk, agreed.

Leadcounsel, a good WASR is as good an any AK out there. WASRs are very capable. Don't listen to all of the gun snobs. Enjoy your rifle.
 
WASR: Wassenaar Arrangement Semiautomatic Rifles

I have never owned one (though I would). I have certainly seen some very rough (brand new) examples though.

I actually went to a LGS that had WASRs retailing for close to $600!! This was in Fort Worth, Texas!!
 
Wasr's are going for $429.00 on sale in my area right now. They are at Dunhams sporting goods. That is a very good price.
 
I just sold my WASR for $700 last weekend at a gun show. I love pre-election hysteria!

It was a good rifle... it never failed to fire, and would keep them all in a 20" target (man size) out to 400 yards.

I found a bunch of highly rusted ammo in the back of my Jeep one time, and loaded it into mags. It all shot fine. One was extremely rusty with pieces of the packing paper rusted to it. It chambered and fired fine, but caused a stovepipe on the next round. A pull of the charging handle and she was back in business! I have to say I haven't owned any other firearms I would try that kind of stunt with... and none that I am confident would handle it as well!
 
I've shot 20lb (empty) propane cans out to 600 yards with an AK. It's challenging. BANG.. wait... watch for the puff. DANG I MISSED AGAIN. BANG... wait... watch for the puff of sand.. DING! OOOOH MAN I GOT IT THIS TIME!!!!!

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, really. Quite a bit more fun than trying to get 10 bullets through the same hole on a piece of paper!!
 
i paid about 300 for my wasr back in the day it was a good deal. the wood was a little rough but some sand paper and finish and grinding the metal pins looks pretty good. now that i reload this round the wasr can shoot clays at 200 yrds with no problems. you can bash them or make them what you want them to be just get one that has been assembled right.
 

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Aahhh the AK love them or hate them but with the right ammo they surprise most folks who shoot them. There are less than perfect AKs for sure but even those will work for room cleaning.

Glad you found out you yours is a keeper
 
Love the WASR - cheap, reliable and quite accurate! What's so great about it also compared to the AR-15 is that has so few parts to clean. Actually, I don't even clean it.:D
 
I picked one up recently for the sole purpose of abusing the hell out of it. And I am. It shoots well enough. I haven't grouped it yet, but from the kneeling, I was shooting repeatedly into an eight inch target at 125yds. That's about as good as I can shoot an AR, too. If I *really* concentrate and pull myself into a loop sling, and if the moon, sun, and stars align, I *might* be able to keep six of ten in a five inch target at that distance with an AR from the kneeling.

So, the couple of minutes of accuracy lost might be the lack of a loop sling, might be the lack of skill (mine) or might be the accuracy of the rifle. Who knows. But I think it'll fit my purposes.

I can tell you this, though. My WASR is shiny new. And it has a MAJOR improvement in the trigger since the last one I bought about six or seven years ago. There's no trigger slap, and the trigger is actually FAR better than a stock AR LPK trigger. I was kind of shocked. I really was.

So, WASR folks, is that the new "norm," or did I just luck into a great trigger on an AK?
 
Most WASRs available in the US these days come with a Tapco single stage trigger. The trigger generally breaks at 3-4 lbs, at about 1/2 inch. Usually a big improvement over the stock AK trigger.
 
It's surprisingly good. My first rounds through it, I was expecting the heinous old trigger, and figuring I'd have to dremel off the tab to get rid of trigger-slap.

Honestly, I found the trigger equal to my sig 556. It really feels nearly identical. And both are better than stock AR triggers. I really was pleasantly surprised, and I'm no AK fanboy. I've been an AR and Sig guy for as long as I can remember. My WASR is a beater. And I do mean beater. I'm going to do my best to destroy that rifle through abuse and neglect for the foreseeable future.

But the trigger is actually nice! Go figure, huh?
 
AKs are accurate enough for combat out to 300 meters or so. Their biggest draw back in accuracy is cheap ammo and the iron sights.

WASR rifles are very good rifles if Century assembled it correctly. I dont hear people bad mouthing the WASR because of a fault of the rifle....it's the importer that everyone bashes.
 
Century does not assemble/build WASRs. They cut out the mag well to accept standard AK mags and add 922r parts. A lot of WASR issues are due to poor quality control in Romania.
 
Adam123 said:
Century does not assemble/build WASRs. They cut out the mag well to accept standard AK mags and add 922r parts. A lot of WASR issues are due to poor quality control in Romania.
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Didnt know that. I thought they did the barrels as well.

Ive had two WASR rifles and other than the first one having a mag well problem, which was easily fixed, they were good guns. That being said I would rather save some more and buy an Arsenal.
 
I have a WASR 10/63 for about 3 years now . Bought it "new" , broke it down ,cleaned & degreased it , stripped & refinished the wood & painted all the metal with a high heat engine rattle can . It will hang with ANY of my friends models . LOVE IT........
 
finally got a wasr 1063 m (cugir), been wanting one for a while now and finally on the shelves at jg. picked this over the saiga/arsenal
 
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