Folks due to members on another forum going on bout how the AK is a spray and pray rifle at best etc... or theirs won't hit accurately because its got a wore out bore or the trigger is crap or..... a plethora of other excuses I decided to run a little test.

I took a 1964 Rommy "GP" (regular army full auto) parts set that's been sitting on my desk for months (I use it for demo pics etc..) and put it together this morning on a NODAKSPUDS NDS-3 receiver, it is by far the most worn out AK I have either assembled or still in kit form, Below are a few pics to show just how worn out it is.

I used ALL the original components for this test; other than the Full auto disconnector and the rest of the full auto parts and receiver of course otherwise it was tested EXACTLY as it was last used by a Romanian soldier who ran easily a couple hundred thousand rounds through this thing in full auto, Don't worry after the test I replaced the FCG with a REDSTAR FCG it has a Stainless gas piston and a USA Bolt since I have a few dozen on hand, but for the test I wanted all totally worn out parts I even used the original recoil and hammer springs, now out of 500 rounds total fired this afternoon the only failure was that occasionally I'd have to bump the trigger forward with my finger tip as the worn out hammer spring wasn't providing enough force to reset it (about twice out of every mag) otherwise she ran like a Swiss K31 even better in fact

Now this is a TOTAL matching kit even the sling has the rifles serial electro penciled on the metal end keeper! Its one of 30 such kits I got from Century when I dropped in on them last year, 17 of those kits had the rifles original slings still with them! All 30 will be built on my own stamped receivers when I get some time; so as to get around the nasty USA markings, but for now this one can live in the NDS receiver.

Anyone wanna argue that this bore isn't a tad loose?







Some pictures of the outside; I hit the NDS receiver with some 1200 grit to at least sort of match it to the wear on the rifle and here is a worn out Romanian rifle.

































OK, now lets take a look at the insides starting with the springs, I've put the originals next to brand new versions from my inventory y'all ought to be able to figure out which is which











Now one thing I really need to stress since it's one of my pet peeves; folks putting buffers in AKs that don't need them!! The bolt carrier is designed to stop 3/16" BEFORE it ever contacts the rear trunnion, if you get marks on your rear trunnion you need a new $5 recoil spring, this rifle was used for years in full auto with that recoil spring and here is the only damage that was done







That's it, a very tiny little scuffing of the finish HOWEVER if you add a buffer for no reason other than its the latest fad item you are now adding something for the bolt carrier to actually make contact with and it's not just a little contact -- its hitting that buffer hard because the buffer is how thick? Now you are adding pounding to a rear trunnion that was never designed to even be touched this creates shearing force on the rivets as the rear trunnion rivets are not designed to get slammed into.......

OK now more pics of the guts, note the bolt next to a brand new American made bolt for comparison of wear etc...



















O.K Now for the FCG pics then we'll see what this worn out bunch of parts can do...

















I really hate to hear people blame a gun for their inability to hit a target, once upon a time about 2 decades ago Uncle Sam depended on me to be able to hit a Man at ranges out to 800 yards with a single shot, this is how we used to deal with folks like Osama and Sadam etc... we didn't spend years "chasin em around the country side" ............ THIS is what a worn out Romanian AK shooting over the counter Wolf Military classic can do at 100 yards from a kneeling position properly using the sling with iron sights and a 15 mph crosswind this was two 20 round mags rapid fire









BTW, That's a B-24 target folks normally used for 50 foot rapid fire pistol competition, I do believe that worn out AK could still stop a bad guy what do y'all think?


Please folks, don't blame the Cheap Rommy WASR (it may be reject parts BUT it can still shoot better than most American shooters can, just not very reliably. Don't blame the monkeys at Century for giving you a bad barrel, don't blame the trigger, Sometimes you can blame the ammo but not really, (this was cheap a$$ Wolf) if you cannot hit anything you want with ANY rifle generally it means YOU need to practice more on your shooting technique and less on trying to play machine gun kelly bump fireing away an hitting nothing........ Take all those video games down an trade em for ammo. Don't think adding a red dot is going to magically make ya a better shot you have to practice! I turn a TV on maybe once a month to watch a DVD movie the rest of my time is spent primarily working with MilSurps or shooting, I'll occasionally take one of the trucks out on the road but even then I take a cap an ball pistol with me to keep practicing.......... DON'T TELL ME AN AK IS ONLY A SPRAY AND PRAY RIFLE!! I'll just tell you that you need to learn how to actually use one , the ONLY reason more American soldiers haven't died at the hands of Communist forces has absolutely nothing to do with the guns used it was because those Communist troops did not receiver proper instruction on how to use the weapons they were given.

Cool post! I wish I could any kind of AK. How much were the kits? -Ben

I get a dealer rate from most of the distributers, ea Kit was $45 no shipping as I was there Wandering around the warehouse when I stumbled on the bin of 1these old kits, they let me dig through em an pick out the best of the lot, the rest went on sale a week later and are all gone now, I wanted some worn beatup AKs to offset all my nice shiny new ones in the racks each rifle will eventually be built on my own recievers with original selector engravings and NO USA serial numbers on em so they will never be sellable, but they will be as close to original as legally possible

i wish i shared your talent. you have done the AK good justification.

Awesome article..Good work dstorm

Wow, if a worn-out rifle can do that in the hands of experienced shooter then my interest in the AK-47 has been piqued again.

This thread is very, very informative. *Bookmarked*

I need to add either an SKS or AK to my collection soon.

Dstorm,

I am glad to see this thread. I have a Wasr and am always impressed with it's accuracy if I do my part. I'm not a good shot but it seems to perform very well. Thanks for the article and your work with Omega and hooking us all up. I for one appreciate it.

Very nice report, dstorm. Thanks for sharing.

I've been a firm believer in the AKs accuracy ever since my first outing with my WASR. Didn't know one with so much use could still shoot like that, though. Maybe I will build that shot out M70B1 after all.

Great post. I love the AK design and I've always believed the AK-47 was looked down on too much on it's accuracy potential. Too many people own Wasr's and never even try for accuracy. I see people at the range shooting 6 inch groups at 50 yards and whooping like crazy cause they hit the target than turn to their buddy and say that's great for an AK cause they weren't designed to shoot better than that!!!!

Thanks for the informative article, as you said many folks discredit the AK but as you have shown they can be very accurate in the right hands with good practice. I was amazed at my WASR's accuracy when I really tried to get good groups. BTW, dstorm, how do you hold your sling when shooting?

Where could a snot nosed punk with a big mouth and a bad attitude, such as myself, go to learn this kind of shooting skill sort of joining the military?

As far as sling usage, basically the same as a standard marksmans sling, if a sling does not have enough material to form a double loop at the lower end then I will wrap it around my bicep, with a sling like the one seen on this AK I walways make sure there is a good tight keeper if one is missing I add one as I did for this sling that keeper is actually off a Purchogese leather sling for their mauser.. here is an old military training manual exerpt on how to correctly adjust a sling, I basically pre-adjust all slings (none of my rifles are missing their slings) so that I can either use a double loop system as described in the artical OR enough leangth so that it can be looped quikly around my bicep comfortably with a steady tension when my left elbow is in position.

http://www.fulton-armory.com/slinguse.htm

BTW, this is why a single point sling isn't the best solution for actual best accuracy, For best accuracy ya want the sling to form a lopsided triangle which provides 3 points to steady the rifle.


Lets see best non-military weapons training, Non-lawenforcement so rules out my Buddies at Thunder ranch here in AZ they only train military or LE, so that would leave private instructors , I'm at a loss for an answer here I just checked some of my contacts and they have all gone strictly Military personel or LE only... ya might do some asking around then WATCH and see what they are really about, I left some voicemail messages if anyone gets back to me I'll PM ya the info..

Thanks for the info!

Brilliant Artical!

I always get kicked out of the pistol range by my house for shooting the heads on my targets. The tell me "you don't get any points for shooting the head "I tell them "don't I don't really?" For me it has more to do with being able to use the target more before I have to change it. Some people at the range do not like the idea of shooting the targets in the head only in Maryland.

They also do not let me shot 7.62X25 they say it tears up their range.