The AR family gets wide coverage here, so I’m gonna offer a little contrast today. I traded into a ‘new’ 2008 WASR-10/63 about a week ago. It’s just the basic Romanian AK-47, probably made in the same CUGIR toaster factory where my late-lamented SAR-1 was built. It has the plain, threaded muzzle with a nut on it. The wood on the WASR is uglier than that which came on the old SAR-1’s.

The WASR’s G2 trigger and is infinitely better than any SAR trigger I ever handled. Five times over the RCBS trigger pull gauge reveal an honest four-pound trigger. If you can finesse a trigger, it is two-stage. The first stage takes just over three pounds to 'set' and the final stage is not quite another pound. The final stage could be crisper... I'll look at it after it wears in and see what can be done about that.

The first outing proved the rifle pretty accurate for an AK, putting three shots of Tula FMJ in just over a half-inch at 50 yards- and that G2 trigger really helps. Problem was, it shooting five inches to the left at the limit of sight adjustment. So I knocked everything loose and straightened the front sight base out. This of course involved cutting the barrel nut weld, which was a simple matter with a fine Demel cutting wheel. Boys, that Front Sight Base was ON there! Even with the pins out, it took some PB Blaster, creative block and punch work to get it moving. I ain't bitching though... had to light a torch to straighten the FSB on the old SAR.

If I’m OC about anything, it’s iron sight zero. I centered the front sight and slogged out in a downpour to confirm the windage correction. At 110 yards I fired three shots, two of which landed in a 5" bull. The rain underscores the beauty of the AK. I had no problems with optics loading up with water, compromised iron sight co-witness, etc. Just blow the water out of the sight notch and keep on hammerin’.

There was just enough barrel showing through the holes, after the adjustment, that re-drilling was in order. I hogged the FSB holes with a 7/64 bit, cleared the proud barrel material and got a good snug drive-in with the OEM pins. While I had it apart, I also re-crowned the muzzle with a fine silicon ball and finished it off with some 400 grit silicon carbide paper. Most Century AK muzzles look like they were crowned by a drunk chimp with a chainsaw file. This one was no different. I’ve re-crowned several of them and accuracy usually improves 70-100 percent. Things got better immediately, with three rounds of Tula in about 2 inches at 100 yards. I simply can’t shoot stock AK sights any better than that.

I was pretty satisfied with this gun… except for one sharp edge on the dustcover. SOB bit me. Needless to say, that dustcover got a file taken to it in short order. I also discovered when you don’t have Band-Aids in the truck, electrical tape and a napkin will do.

The front post, as delivered, lacked parallel sides and the top of it was sorta lopsided. This was not helping me shoot it well. So I pulled the front post, checked it in a drill and worked it down to about 0.055", taking care to get the top flat and stone off any burrs. It got the standard cold blue baptism before being reinstalled and smoked with a lighter, to kill any glare. I re-zeroed it late today. The group is 5 rounds of Tula FMJ fired over the range bag at an 8” bull, at 196 yards. It measured 3 1/4 inches.

Re-crowning the muzzle & cleaning up the post made for substantial improvements. These rifles really aren’t supposed to shoot this well, particularly with five buck a box steel-cased ammo. No, I can't do this on demand. But when I can do it, if feels really, really good.