Romanian WASR Questions

[volfandan]

I've been looking to buy another AK. I have two Maadi's, and love them. I guess I just want another one! Anyway, what's the deal with the Romanians?

Do they have US made or Romanian receivers?

What parts are US?

A guy at the local shop said that they are all made in Romania as single-stacks....so they can be exported to US free trade zones. He said that once in free trade zones, "gunsmiths" put enough US parts in them and open up the mag wells to accept double-stack AK mags. True or False?

 

[nalioth]

You've asked a rather broad question.

The answer is "yes".

Some 'Romanians' are made entirely in Romanian and imported here as single stacks, to be converted and made compliant with standard military mags.

Some "Romanians" arrived here as cut up parts and are now residing on US receivers with the proper amount of 922r satisfying parts.

The particular US made parts depends on where the rifle came from (see above).

 

[volfandan]

I'm talking about the Romanians that all of the distributors sell. I know that many garage gunsmiths have made rifles out of the US receivers and a parts kit. So does that mean that Century has used US receivers on some, and done the manufacturing here in the US.....while just converting over Romanian single stacks for the other ones??? Do they (Century) sell both converted Romanian made AND parts guns built here on US receivers?

 

[lvcat2004]

I have one of those Century Romanian WASR, and it's not so obvious (to me) which parts arre US, but my guess is that the whole gun was made in Romania, and then some parts were swapped to satisfy the requirement. The only obvious thing is the trigger that's made by Tapco and says "made in USA", and probably a bunch of small stuff that's easy to swap out. Receiver is Romanian, and "probably" so are most of BIG parts.

 

[nalioth]

I'm talking about the Romanians that all of the distributors sell.

Yes, so am I.

Century has imported thousands of parts kits and sold them to others and kept loads for itself. These include Romanian "G" kits.

Century (and others like Lancaster, Vector, Red Jacket, etc) are building these and selling them through distributors and directly.

 

[guntotinguy]

I've seen both actually,a WASR single stack and a double stack just 2 weeks ago at ''Discount firearms' here in Vegas.Didnt buy them,even though the price wasnt all that bad,they looked dinged and beat up enough for me to say 'not yet',the double stack was'cut out' in the reciever bottom for the mag to 'fit properly' and it was a poor job,whomever did it.(I think it was Century)

Under close examination there were 'some American parts' in both WASR's (again Tapco triggers in both).I may go buy them tomorrow just for the sake of 'having them'.

 

[femoralis]

Your dealer was correct about the WASR series. They do start life as stingle stacks. The reciever is romanian. Not sure about the USA made parts- probably the trigger group, maybe the PG and gas piston. You will need to check if swapping parts for foreign ones. Some WASRs had USA made parts in the mag so they could use romanian slant brakes. If so, you will need to swap parts to use normal imported mags.

 

[yosarian]

The story on wasr's is they are built in romania as a single stack,they are then imported to the U.S. by century.At this point century opens the magwell and inserts U.S. made parts(pistol grip,muzzle break,piston,fcg).They can be a fine weapon and accuracy good enough for government work.Be careful and look for canted sites or gas block and overall fit and finish(not great but good).It is completely normal for the bolt carrier to hold back if you ride the bolt slowly backwards.This is a result of the semi auto fcg catching on the bolt,it will clear up after a good break in.The kits being imported are not the same as wasr's,they are G kits used by the romanian reserve gaurd.The kits have better overall quality than a wasr mainly due to the fact that companies like vector,lancaster etc, are producing these kits with better overall fit and finish as well as recievers with dimples.

 

[yosarian]

This link provides info on most romanian models http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/model.htm#wasr10p3