SAR-1 synopsis (a tad long)
I ordered my SAR-1 in mid-May from Sarco, and I believe it was on sale at about $274 & shipping. Mine is 2003 production. Finish and wood were right decent for a contemporary European military arm. For someone used to Sigs & Remingtons, the sights, trigger and stock were horrendous; front sight looked like a stack of old tires with an off-center glob on top. Rear sight had burr edges that interfered with sighting in bright light. Shouldering the rifle in normal fashion resulted in the toe of the butt digging into the top of the shoulder. The first range session was NOT an exercise in benchrest accuracy, but a couple of cold barrel, 3-shot groups got down around 3" @ 100 yards with Wolf hardball. This gun HATED Wolf HP, and disliked Norinco softpoint. As the gun heated the groups would open to around 6". I used a couple more mags plinking old clay birds and dirt clods, and then shot 20 into a bullseye just to see where the general group was. It was, uh, on the paper. This debacle occurred at a public range where my handgun groups (.44 Redhawk) are usually well under 6", from the 100 yard bench. I was hoping that nobody who knew me was watching this....
Just as I was becoming frustrated beyond belief and asking myself what in the hell I wanted with this thing in the first place, 'Bubba' walked up and sez "Watur you shootin' that thing at a hunnerd yards for? Them'r made for hittin' man-sized targets at mebbe 50 yards." I said "Thanks for that tidbit of fireams information, but if it's got a stock and costs $300, it either shoots 3 minutes or it's a boat anchor. You got a boat? Wanna buy it?"
"You been here a lot longer than 3 minutes, and that thang ain‘t jammed.. Are you hittin' enything?" I handed him my binos and he seemed amazed that there was a (sort of) 8" total group in the vicinity of the bull. I had just busted my second $10 'sight adjusting tool' and was packing up. But Bubba was right- 100 rounds had been expended, and it never jammed.
A few days later, I went back for another stab at getting this thing to shoot. The first day had been overcast, but the second attempt was on a clear, sunny day. Glare danced all over the sights and the groups were, well, pretty sorry. My eyes are nearly 47 years old but I can still shoot way better than what I was getting. About 50 more rounds went downrange, and amazingly I was hitting objects with it far better than bullseyes...- and still no jams.
I have since straightened the canted gas block, which oddly enough seems to have cured the rifles tendency to scatter shots as the barrel heats up. I guess all that weird plumbing hanging off the barrel needs to be fairly straight, or it torques on the skinny little barrel when the thing gets hot. I also spent a good deal of time building a proper sight adjusting tool, after which I unscrewed the miserable front post and turned it in a drill until it looked like a post. While the drill was warm I grabbed an old swivel mount, and turned it down to a makeshift aperture. I then carefully ground a groove in the rear sight to match my new invention, and JB-welded the works together. A quick polish and cold blue later, and you’d almost think it was factory. The aperture is a tad oversize, but hey- AK rear sights are dirt cheap, and this was an experiment.
The trigger was worked over per the excellent tutorial available at
http://linx310.nothingbutguns.com/marking.htm and the results were well worth the effort. Take-up feels like a normal military trigger now, and the second stage still has some creep (I ain’t done with it yet, either) but it is MUCH more shootable. Last and perhaps most importantly, I cut a fine Dremel stone to the proportions that matched what I thought the crown should resemble, and went to work on the barrel. Once I had the crown square I attached 400 and 600 crocus cloth and finished the crown to a mirror finish. More cold blue was applied, and a good supply of Barnaul ‘Silver Bear’ was appropriated at a decent price.... back to the range for another go.
Once adjusted, the sights were a big improvement. targets of all descriptions were much easier to acquire, and the hits were quicker and easier, thanks to the slimmer dimensions of the remodeled front post. Groups hovered at 3†with the barrel hot or cold, and the POI stayed remarkably consistent. Old cans and clay birds were DEAD. Three, five shot groups (from dead cold to hot) all stayed within 5â€. I let the gun cool, and shot a pair of careful, 3-shot groups. Two shots about an inch apart on both, and each group had a flyer. The best was about 2â€, the worst 3.5â€. The gun was probably shooting better than I was, and I determined that at least it had enough potential to mount a scope and see what it’ll really do. A stock designed for humans and a better trigger are sure to help even more. I may even ditch the homemade aperture in favor of one of Kreb’s apertures. I’ll let you know how it goes when the right combination of scope and mount are decided upon.
My teenage sons had been waiting patiently, so I set up a menagerie of plinking targets (old cans, clay birds and water bottles etc.) at 25 and 50 yards, and gave them a magazine apiece. These boys are good shots and they took down everything they tried in 1-2 shots; ran old Dad ragged keeping targets set up for them.
Overall, I am very happy with my little SAR-1. The round count is up around 500 now, and it hasn’t even hinted at a malfunction. Ammo is cheap and it shoots up to my standards for a fightin’ rifle. By all accounts the Wolf 154 grain softpoint shoots way better than typical 7.62x39 ammo, and it just may get this particular gun under 2â€, but this remains to be seen. Even with Barnaul ball, you wouldn’t want to put your cell phone up at 100 yards, and give a decent shot a chance at it. It has officially been designated as my SHTF rifle.
If you don’t mind working the bugs out yourself, they’re a lot of rifle for the money.
