[telewinz]

For the past 6 months I have not been cleaning my SAR1 after shooting. I had noticed after firing some 10 year old DIRTY surplus ammo that the gas piston would bond itself to the gas piston tube after the "gunk" would harden after being hosed down with WD40. No rust mind you but I would have to use a rubber mallet to free the action. I've done this 3 times now and fired 50-80 rounds at each session with NO ill effects and no cleaning except for the hose-down with WD40. I still prefere the AR15 in its many versions but I've got to rate the AK design as the best if accuracy doesn't count.

[Dave Markowitz]

There was an article last year in SOF by a VN vet. He said he had a Chinese AK that he picked up in-country that he and the guys in his unit used for fun shooting, not as a weapon. The gun received NO maintenance, e.g., after they were done shooting it it went back into storage until the next time they wanted to do some plinking. They'd put it away without cleaning. Naturally, the corrosive primers + the high humidity resulted in the piston rusting into place inside the gas cylinder. So, they'd kick the gun open when they wanted to shoot, after which it ran fine.

You could probably leave an AK in a rice paddy for a few months, pick it out, rinse it off, and shoot it.

[Sarge]

they're not too bad even if accuracy does count.

I've had my SAR-1 about two months now, and it acted like it wanted to shoot well right off the bat. Once I cleaned up the trigger, re-cut the crown, fitted an improvised aperture where the notch used to be, and switched from Wolf HP to Barnaul ball- I found out it would shoot.

I had previously zeroed it to hit about 3" high at 100 yards, and was waiting for a chance to stretch it out a bit. They finally got the hay cut here, and I just got back from shooting it at 235 long paces, which should be in the neighborhood of 200-220 yards. I had a bright white 3x4 plastic laundry jug cap fastened to a big dead tree, and so I'd shoot a couple of shots and then walk the field to see where I was hitting. It was shooting a little high (which ain't hard to fix) but what impressed me was that there were a couple of 2-shot "groups" at this distance that hovered right at 4"- not bad for anybody's military rifle, and pretty darn good for a design that seems to have acquired a reputation for mundane accuracy.

This is no scientific accuracy test, and I'm not saying that it is- but it was apparent that the rifle was keeping its shots together. I'll get it zeroed for the longer distance, and try to shoot some three shot groups and report the results.

Regarding your gas piston difficulties- is your gas tube badly canted? My guess would be that a canted gas tube would inhibit free operation of the piston. I generally clean my entire rifle every 100 rounds or so, using Hoppe's and RemOil on the works. I am above 500 rounds now without the slightest hint of a malfunction.

[P95Carry]

Just a personal thought ..... I'd not ''hose'' with WD40 ... once the volatile compnents have evaporated off ....... what's left can IMO gum things up!

As a side note .. my SAR 1 get's cleaned ....... well ....... very rarely!:p

[telewinz]

Their is nothing wrong with my SAR1, the fault is the old batch (93) of rot-gut military surplus ammo I bought when it was first being sold at about $150 per 1000! The ammo burns so dirty there is a heavy build-up of residue left in the gas cylinder which mixed with the WD40 makes a pretty good epoxy. I use the WD40 to prevent rust since it is also corrosive ammo. Not much of a recomendation for the ammo but one heck of a recomendation for the weapon! Wolf ammo burns much cleaner and doesn't gum up the works.

[boing]

I don't clean my SAR1 to keep it clean. I clean it to keep me clean.

When the brass lands twenty-five feet away, you know there's extra oomph built into the action. :D

[bad_dad_brad]

Well boys, that's why I want a Century Arms ugly as heck AK. I just want something I can kick around and shoot without babying her. My AR is high maintenance. Glad to hear of others with the same opinion. Got a line on one coming in next week at my dealers. $360 bucks. Unless the sights are bent to h*ll I am going to buy it, refinish the stock, and then shoot shoot shoot.

[Redlg155]

I've got several ARs sitting in the gun case without a loaded mag inserted. With the exception of my daily carry gun only one rifle in my case stays loaded 24/7.

Yep, you guess it, my SAR1!

She stays ready for action. After getting an intial double tap problem taken care when first purchased, she hasn't failed me in the last 1000 rounds. 30 rds of 7.62 hollowpoint on hand is definitely something to be reckoned with.

Good Shooting
Red

[MAKOwner]

My SARs shoot darn nice. I've refinished the stocks on both my 1 and 2 with truck bedliner, turns out awesome. Just recently I disassembled, degreased, and painted the metal on the SAR1 with 1200 degree ceramic engine paint. Then cured the sucker in the oven to harden the paint. It looks DAMN NICE now. Really cleaned her up nice, and the finish seems nice and durable, stands up to the solvents (labels says it is supposed to be quite resistant to most solvents) I've used too, etc. I am really happy with both of mine, and especially with how nice the SAR1 looks now. I'll probably refinish my SAR2 the same way sometime too.

Both of mine shoot about 3-4" groups roughly at 100 yards shooting cheap Wolf ammo, I'm perfectly happy with that. An AR doesn't shoot much better with crap ammo either.

[telewinz]

I like what you have done, any chance of getting close-up pictures? Where did you get the bedliner spray? from an auto parts store?. Isn't the texture a bid rough on your cheek when shooting? Sounds like you have come up with a do-it-yourself rustproofing that should work!

[JeepDriver]

I had mine jam on me about a month ago.

Can't really blame the gun though, I hadn't cleaned it since I bought it in June of 2002. I've fired about 4000 total rounds before I took it apart and cleaned it.


Definately the best gun for the money.

[TheFrontRange]

I've fired about 4000 total rounds before I took it apart and cleaned it.

Whew...now I don't feel so bad about how I've not cleaned my SAR1 since running 250 or so rounds through it back in February LOL!!! :) I am a cleaning fanatic about my carry-handguns but have let the SAR1 just sit. I've told my nine-year-old daugther she can help me clean the rifle up and I think we'll get to it this weekend!

Really these are just terrific rifles, a whole lot of fun for not a lot of cash.

[MAKOwner]

I like what you have done, any chance of getting close-up pictures? Where did you get the bedliner spray? from an auto parts store?. Isn't the texture a bid rough on your cheek when shooting? Sounds like you have come up with a do-it-yourself rustproofing that should work!

I don't have any pictures of the recent metal refinishing with the bake on engine paint on the SAR1, but I do have some fairly low quality pics of the bedlinered wood on the SAR2. They are not good pictures and I'm not sure how much you can tell about the finish, cheap camera, poor lighting. Note this is not with the metal refinished, I've only done that on my SAR1 and have no pics of it afterwards.

http://www.inter-scape.com/ray/stuff/sar2-2.jpg
http://www.inter-scape.com/ray/stuff/sar2-6.jpg
http://www.inter-scape.com/ray/stuff/sar2-8.jpg

It is not rough on your cheek or anything though. You can vary the texture depending on what distance you spray on the last coat or so of the bedliner from too, I nailed it just right on the SAR2 and it damn near perfectly matches most composite stocks I have seen. It goes along with the US made pistol grip well, doesn't clash or stand out at all. All I did was follow the directions on the can for the finish on the SAR2's wood. First couple coats with the can 6 inches from wood, with a few real light final coats from 12-14ish inches until it looked really nice. On my SAR1's wood I got it a little rougher, not quite as nice but still no problem as far as scraping your cheek or anything. I did most of the coats from farther away, it's nice but I like the way it turned out on the SAR2 better...

The bedliner stuff you can get at your local Walmart in the automotive paint section, it's Dupli-Color brand, "Truck Bed Coating" in a blue spray can. It's like $6 or $7 I think. I used up basically all of one can (little to spare, not sure how much is left) for each stock set, and I wasted alot probably.

The Engine Paint coating for the metal I used is Dupli-Color "High Heat with Ceramic", listed as 1200 degree with a picture of a engine on the front of the can. Also from WallyWorld. I believe they also sell some 500 degree, not sure what the end difference between the two would be. It was somewhere around $5, I can't remember. Barely used any of it, I'm sure I could do two or three more AKs with it, as I only put on 2 fairly light coats. According to others on ak-47.net's forums putting it on too thick was advised against. Two coats seems to have turned out great for the metal. Oh yeah, cured it per directions at 300 degrees for 2-3 hours. We just have a standard oven, which I was able to get the barrelled action in just barely by putting it in diagonally front to back and top to bottom, hung with pieces of a clothes hanger. (for the painting I hung the stuff outside from a closeline)

Degreasing well is supposed to be key for the metal refinishing. I sprayed the gun down real well with some shop degreaser I got at Walmart, wiped it all down with a rag and then baked it in the oven for at like 200 degrees for an hour or so (supposed to pull grease out of the rivets and such), then sprayed it all down with degreaser again and wiped it down, and let it dry overnight.

I don't have any pics of the metal refinish on the SAR1 yet though. I returned the cheap digital camera I took the few pictures of the SAR2 with, broke within 24hrs, oh well... The engine paint turned out great for a metal finish, like a whole new gun.

I can't take credit for the ideas though, I got both from others on ak-47.net's forums. You may want to read up some there too. The guys at Falfiles supposedly do alot of the Engine Paint refinishing too. Some have mentioned doing the whole gun, metal and all with bedliner. I just wouldn't think that would feel right/look good. Seems like it would be too thick too...

[telewinz]

Thank You

[TooTaxed]

While in Vietnam as a civilian I had a Chinese AK-47...roughly made, lots of machine marks, but it did have the chrome-lined chamber and barrel. The first batch of ammo I scrounged for it came off a battlefield. The lacquer-coated steel case ammo had a large bead of corrosion where the case was crimped to the bullet. As soon as I got some clean ammo I decided to try to shoot up the corroded stuff. Couldn't get the bolt to close...knocked it shut with a block of wood...and it fired! Loaded a full mag, hammered the bolt closed on the first round...and the whole magazine fired normally, semi automatic and full auto! Same with subsequent mags. An amazing performance that our M-16 couldn't match.:D

My wife kept the Chinese AK for her home gun, and I carried a lovely Czech folding stock AK with a commercial-like finish in my truck. Served me well on several occasions.;)

[SodaPop]

Just a personal thought ..... I'd not ''hose'' with WD40 ... once the volatile compnents have evaporated off ....... what's left can IMO gum things up!

There have been threads at TFL about SKS rifles going F/A after using WD40 on them.

[benEzra]

I finally put a SAR-1 on layaway on Monday!! Now scraping cash together to pay it off so I can take it to the range . . .

The one I got has beautiful wood . . .

[boing]

Laminated stocks?

[benEzra]

Laminated stocks?
Might be. I thought it was just a very prominent woodgrain, but I'll take a close look when I go pick it up. The finish on the metal looked better than some SARs I've seen, too.

Right now I'm trying to sell my Polish M44 to raise cash so the AK can follow me home . . .

[PAshooter]

Just stumbled across this thread while doing research on a potential (likely!) upcoming SAR purchase. Reminded me of an incident in a book I just read - Steel My Soldiers' Hearts by Col David Hackworth. He was apparently no big fan of the M-16/AR rifles issued to our boys in VN. He tells of finding a dead VC buried in the mud of a rice paddy - the condition of the body suggested he had been there for at least a year. With him was his still-loaded AK. Col Hackworth picked up the rifle, shook off the mud, and proceeded to empty the magazine in one long burst. He then said something along the lines of "Now that's a real battle rifle!"

Gotta get me one of those :)