The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Well after six months of research and changing my AK rifle "final" decision like I change socks...AND after swearing up and down that I would never buy a WASR AK rifle, guess what I went and did. Yep, I bought a WASR AK rifle. I went to a gun show today with the intention of buying a higher end AK or maybe a lower end AR. After walking around for awhile and looking over the $800 AK rifles with the ploy stocks and 74 style muzzle brakes...and looking over the $1000 AR rifles, I noticed a table with 10 or so WASR 10/63 rifles. They were all basic models with one coat of cheap stain on unfinished wood stocks and covered in grease and oil...and you know what...I loved 'em.

For all the beauty that the higher end AK's and AR's have there is still nothing quite like the down and dirty look of a basic, classic AK. I walked over to the table, not really intending to buy...just a quick look. I picked up a couple, checked them out for proper alignments, tight seams, neat mag wells, painted over rust, etc. Then I decided to look at the price tag...$475 out the door. I asked the sales guy if the price included a magazine, "sure" he says, "the price includes two 30-round mags, a manual and a bayonet. Damn, I couldn't say no. He even agreed to let me check each rifle with a magazine to check for excessive mag wobble.

It was nice to be able to inspect each rifle in person. Some of the rifles had mag wells with very rough work and some rifles had obvious rust spots that were quickly painted over, all had slant style muzzle breaks and tapco G2 triggers. After all of my best intentions to buy a higher end rifle I settled on a decent WASR 10/63. The dealer at the table is fairly local and agreed to fix any problems that I might run into and told me that if he cant fix whatever might happen he will replace the rifle with a new one. You cant beat that. I am now the proud owner of my first AK-47, a WASR 10/63.

That's a good price and a great pickup.
Wood and metal, what an AK should be

your off to a good start .i like the way they shoot and not much maintance needed for it.

I've been eyeing an AK for a while but kept hearing about all the problems with the WASR, but it seems that if you know what to look for in one they seem like a pretty good deal. I like yours and gives me some hope in finding a good one.

And you picked a good one out of the bunch, too. That is a Cugir (1973) trunion, meaning that it was originally built for military use and not the civilian market. Nice choice.

Since when has there been such a thing as a higher end AK? The AK was never designed to be higher end anything, it is the proletariat of rifles. My Maddi, or my Arsenal Bulgarian, they shoot exactly the same, so one has slightly better finish that the other, no matter, it's still an AK. The Romanian AK looks just like any other AK, why should it be lesser, or more than any other. The AR is another playing field altogether, Every AR is the same shit under all the accessories piled on them, some of them are just tuned to shoot better than others. That Romanian AK47 looks fine, at least it is free of that butt ugly thumbhole stock the early models had to use.

My guess is since the advent of polymer. Lots of polymer AK's out there, and folks that want the fit and finish to match. A little polishing there, a little tightening there.
Kind of like a Finn is considered a better shooter than a regular issued Mosin Nagant. Same rifle, just tweaked a bit.