Quite surprised by CAI WASR accuracy ...

[Phlipper]

I've been away from long guns for quite some time, and only recently rekindled an interest in hunting and plinking with them. I was very close to buying an AR, likely a Stag or DPMS, for home defense, hunting, and plinking. But I wound up looking at AKs due to the larger round, cheap ammo, lower cost etc. and found a deal on a CAI WASR 10/63 (one of the demilled ones). I've owned an AK previously (semi-auto version of the Type 56) and fired many military AK variants while in the miltary. I was surprised to find the demilled 10/63s seemed very sturdy for a Rommy, a little better fit and finish than they used to display, and just felt good in the hands. It seemed to be a different animal than the old Rommys I fired.

So I bought one of those and 500 rds of Brown Bear "JHP", took it apart and cleaned it up and lubed it, and took it out to see what I could do with the iron sights. On a makeshift 'bench' (a chair with towels draped over the back) and sitting on a milk crate, I was eventually able to put 20 of 20 rounds in the center area (the flat portion, about 5 inches) of a styrofoam plate at 65 yards, which was as much room as I had. I installed a side mount and ncStar scope and got groups of around 3 inches at 65 yards from my improvised bench (I am severly out of practice ). Though I didn't expect much, the Tapco trigger group was actually pretty good and I am totally pleased with the rifle thus far.

Next Saturday I am taking it out to a 400 yard range to try and zero it at 200 yards, and to see what kind of groups I can get at 100 with the surplus ammo. From what I've seen so far, with good Remington 7.62 ammo, a real bench rest, and a lot more practice, I'd imagine 2 - 3 MOA accuracy might be accomplished with the scope, and perhaps 4 - 6 with the iron sights. And that's perfectly acceptable numbers for a rugged and reliable home defense weapon and part-time white tail brush gun. I'm still saving for a 7mm Rem Mag bolt for long range precision stuff, but this will do till then for our small whities, and for plinking.

So if you get a chance to check out the newer 10/63s look for a stamped triangle on the receiver. They've really kicked the quality up a notch on these, it seems.

 

[ccsniper]

I have a wasr 10/63 aslo. I haven't benched it yet but have shot 2 liters with it at 60 or so yards and never missed one. if I can hit a milk jug at 200 yards with it I'll be happy. If I can hit a man size target at 300 I will be happier.

 

[jws527]

I can't attest to the accuracy of my 10/63, because I haven't done any serious paper shooting with it (shooting casually off a bench, it's at least minute-of-milk-jug at 100 meters, and that's good enough for me), but I can attest to the fit-and-finish that the OP is claiming.

Mine is assembled from demilled parts with the Cugir arsenal proof stamp on the front trunnion.

 

[tju1973]

My WASR shoots pie plates off the bench at 100 yards (the max our range goes)-- groups aren't tight, but Mr Kalishnikov never designed his rifle to shoot pie plates--

I was and am more than satisfied with mine-- Mine is a CIA, but appears to not be a monday morning/friday afternoon model, so I count myself lucky!

 

[Phlipper]

I haven't gotten to do any long range stuff with it yet, but I have gotten pretty comfortable with the iron sights and the small NCStar 3-9x35 scope.

With the barrel cool ... and with iron sights, sitting in a chair and using a Walmart bipod, at 100 yards I can easily pull off 5 inch groups. With the tactical scope at 6x (6x is used for ranging, so I just stay at 6x) I get 3 inch groups with the same chair and bipod setup. I imagine I could get another inch off both groups if I used better ammo and a bench. For an AK, that's really not too bad. My old Norinco wasn't quite that tight, iirc. Besides, I've seen plenty of high-dollar ARs do no better than 2 inches from a fancy bench setup with Black Hills ammo. So I'll be happy with 5 inch and 3 inch groups all day. That said, however, if you let the barrel get nice and hot the group size will increase by 50% or more. In rapid fire it becomes a bullet hose.

And that's my next test with any new defense weapon ... turn-and-burn drills. Walking from the target to 20 yards, I chamber a round while turning and put two rounds into a 12 inch zeroing target. Rifle on safe ... walk another ten yards, off safe, turn and burn two more into the target. Another ten yards ... turn and put two down range. So I am stopping at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 yards and knocking off two rounds into the 12" square. I can usually put 18 of 18 rounds into the target every time when turning and firing off-hand, and so I work on speed next round. I do it again after letting the rifle cool off but this time I drop to one knee on the turn. Then I do it again dropping to prone. Even with a hot barrel I can keep all 18 in the square, and so I then just try to get my speed up.

So all in all ... I still think this is the best $600 I've spent on a firearm in a while. Totally reliable, relatively accurate, and still relatively cheap fun. I'm waiting on another to come in now so I can keep two of them around the house. When the SHTF I'll be the guy on Neighborhood Watch with an all black WASR 10/63 ... iron sighted jobbie on patrol, and a scoped jobbie for guard duty. LOL!