General Opinions of Romanian AK47

[smchop]

So I am looking at one, just for fun and plinking, what is the general conscensus of the Romanian AK47? I dont know what model it is, was just looking for general opinions about quality. Thanks.

[blackford76]

Right now I own a Romanian, a Yugo, an Egyptian, a Bulgarian and a Russian. They are pretty much all alike. I have had US made, and a couple from China. They are all AK's, as in they all always go bang, easy to clean if you feel you must, I have never had a mag that didn't work perfectly, they are fun to shoot, and ammo isn't the most expensive. You aren't going to do any "one holing" if you shoot paper, and they seem kind of crude after shooting an AR, well, because they are. They are fun and reliable, and relatively cheap. If you have found one you like, buy it and enjoy. If you end up hating it, well they are easy to sell.
My two cents.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt204/blackford76/S7303598.jpg

[smchop]

Perfect answer, thats all I needed. Thanks for the input. I think I'll pick it up, shoot the rifling out of it if its fun or sell it if its not.

[BPTactical]

If you are just looking for an inexpensive beer can blaster it is hard to beat the WASR10. They are easy to identify because they don't have the oval shaped "dimples" on the receiver at the mag well. The biggest advantage to them is the fact that they are the only AK's to reach the retail market as a complete Com Bloc rifle. In it's original form they are only designed and constructed at the Cugir Arms works in Romania to take a 10 round single stack magazine. That is how they can import the complete rifle into the US. Century then opens up the magwell to take standard AK magazines. They will come with the Romainian chrome barrel which you wont get on any of the Century builds since barrel importation has been banned.
Things to watch for on a WASR:
1- Sloppy mag well. Sometimes the beavers at Century get a bit rambunctious with a mill and the magwells can be a bit loose. A bit of side to side play is acceptable but accept no fore and aft play of the magazine. It can lead to feed issues.
2- "Canted" front sight. When you look at a WASR check that the sight base is straight with the barrel trunnion and rear sight. A pretty good clue at first glance is to see how far the sight post is centered in the sight base. If it is pretty well centered that is usually a good sign. And just because the FSB is tilted a SMALL amount that does not mean it is not a good shooter. If you get one that has a cant to it shoot it before you decide to "fix" it. I have seen some that were canted pretty well but they were spot on as far as shooting-usually it is more of an aesthetic issue.

For a beater AK/ truck gun they are pretty hard to beat. I had an underfolder WASR and flat out abused the crap out of it and it never once hiccuped.
You can refinish the wood on them and clean them up pretty well and have a decent looking rifle for not a ton of dough.
If it is a "Kit build" caveat emptor- Most of your "G" rifles are kit builds from part sets and they are only as good as the builder. You really need to look them over very carefully.

[stove]

Love mine! It replaced a milled Arsenal rifle (SA-M7).
I enjoy the WASR every bit as much and the extra $600 in my pocket was a nice bonus.
General/net conscience runs from bottom of the barrel junk to inexpensive plinker. In reality -- Its an AK.

[blackford76]

^^^^^THAT!!! Amen Brother, an AK is an AK is an AK.

[jreifsch80]

Romys are great blasters I have a romy g I built a while back, I've put about 500 rounds through it and still haven't cleaned it yet haha (I'm not normally that bad my m76 gets cleaned instantly after shooting haha) anyways romanian wood usually looks like trash untill refinished but stock sets are easy to clean and romys usually have to roughest finish, on some rifles I've seen it looked like they milled the parts with cutters that hadent been sharpened in years haha. But its nothing dura coating can't hide. For me personally just wanting a blaster I'd only pay more than romys go for to get a yugo. Here's an idea, why don't you get a saiga and convert it to non-sporting yourself? Anyway good luck with your decision

[bryjcom]

I have actually seen some pretty crappy Romies. I have had parts kits were the front sight is canted from the factory and I saw one the other day that had damn near everything that was pinned onto the barrel was canted badly straight from the romanian factory. I think Century arms got a bad rap from the romy front sights being canted but I now think they were getting them from the factory that way, they just were not fixing them.

Personally I like the yugo aks better. They Serbs know how to kill people and the made sure their AKs were going to do it....... Just wish they chromed their barrels and didn't use corrosive ammo.

[Marlin]

The only regret I have about mine is that I didn't wait a few more months and get all the post ban cosmetics on it. Decently accurate and fun to bump fire.[Tooth]

[68Charger]

canted sights aren't hard to fix... especially if you're building, anyway.

I'd agree the Yugo AKs are heavier-duty, and all around higher quality, but it is funny how they didn't chrome, but use corrosive ammo... so their barrels are frequently crap. they're also heavier.. so it all depends on what you're looking to do with it

I just got done building a pistol from Romanian parts... that thing is a blast!

[Daniel_187]

I got one a long while ago and its Sloppy but I like it, always goes bang really opens up when hot and at a longer distance, trigger is kinda shitty but I think it can be replaced with a Tapco trigger(got one on the Polish AK and its Sweet)

[Mista Bukit]

I have one with the canted barrel, the sight is adjusted as far as it will go and it is still 6 inches off at 100 yards. What is the fix?

[mikedubs]

If the front sight is canted that much, you can find a smith to press it off, align it properly, and re-fit it. I believe that Robert of BP Tactical works on AKs.

[jreifsch80]

Also for fixing the canted front sight you could come by a build party next time there's one going on and bribe with food or something the guys there to give you a hand fixing it, they're really easy to straighten. Either press off and back on correctly or might be able to clamp the barrel in a vice (with blocks of course) and tap the sight straight with a brass hammer. Then you need to redrill the retaining pin holes for the sight, use a cheapo harbor freight hss bit as it won't eat into the sight block much so the sight block's pin hole will guide the bit.

If you're not sure about doing it yourself then I doubt it would be that expensive to have an ak-smith (like mentioned earlier) do it for you.

[bryjcom]

I have one with the canted barrel, the sight is adjusted as far as it will go and it is still 6 inches off at 100 yards. What is the fix?


Remove the pins and clamp the barrel in a barrel vise or clamp the rear sight block in a vise and whack it into submission. Once it has been centered you can redrill the holes or if its not to far off just punch the pins back in.


They can be a bitch to move sometimes. If you feel like making a trip to windsor we can give it a try.

[Mista Bukit]

Thanks for the input, I am not going to be home until November so I have plenty of time to think about it.