Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Best AK for under a grand

School me please... Would like wood stocks.

A lot of people seem to like the WASR-10, made in Romania, imported by Century Arms.

There are a lot of options under $!000.

Damn, not a lot of AK love.

WASR-10

"Best AK" seems like an oxymoron.

I've had good luck with Romanians; SAR-1, a WASR 10 and a 10-63. If you clean up the crown, install a Red Star trigger etc you can expect about 3-4 MOA if the barrel stays cool. I have managed a few 4" five shot 200 yard groups from the WASR 10 and a 10-63 but I wouldn't call it 'on demand' accuracy;

Fondled one of these at LGS the other day that another customer had transferred in. It was not beat. It was pristine.

If you buy one, remember that you will have to change some parts to be 922R compliant. Easily done.

https://www.atlanticfirearms.com/products/ak-47-rifle-m10-762-diy


Or, you could step it up a notch and go this route for $150 more.

https://www.atlanticfirearms.com/products/ak-47-rifle-m10-pro-diy

Vespr i believe it is called

WASR 10 would be a good place to start and is well under a grand. I bought one built in 2017 and it is functions very well. Have about 500-600 rounds through it and nary a hickup. Buy good mags for it not the cheap plastic stuff.

What ammo were you using, Sarge?

One by one, I've replaced the triggers on my AKs with the ALG AKTs.

PSA's copy any good?

By the way, you can always put wood stock sets on if that's holding you back from a purchase.

WASR 10 GP
Threaded barrel
Laminate stock.
2013 or newer.
Put a fighter brake on it .
It will run like a horizontal sewing machine needle.
Put a ergo grip on it , the stick pistol grip sucks.
Look at 2 or 3 of em pick the best one.
If ya dont know alot about how to inspect one
Get a bud who does or watch some vids on how to examine one.


123 gr hp wolf polyformance is accurate excellent ammo.
2 to 3 moa off bench and bags with irons for me.
I have posted pics of groups many times with a Wasr 10/63, c39v2 and SLR 100H.
I can hit a 10 inch steel plate out to 300 setting my slider with my SLR 100H all day long 18 19 times outta 20 in the prone unsupported.
Braced against a tree or a post offhand
Tennis balls, baseballs, softballs on the berm at the range at 115m are easy.
Think it kinda ticks other shooters off...
I do it on purpose actually....


LOL!!!!


And i have shot alot of different brands thru all of them.
Dont waste your money with Tula.
Reported squib rounds and the most inconsistent lot to lot schitt you can imagine.
Most of your wolf ammo is barnual anyways.

With a grand budget.
Get yourself a sight tool for the irons,other options i already mentioned ,
Maybe an optic and mount of some sort.
Couple extra mags( circle 10,s worth it)
Ammo.

Aint nobody that knows about ak,s or akm,s and the proper components that go into one gonna snear at ya and snicker at ya cause you use a WASR 10.
If they do , they dont know schitt about Ak,s or Akm,s and how they are supposed to be properly made with the prefered components.....

Jackmountain, I like you am beginning to think about AK's (again)...I keep asking myself why or "here we go again". I have owned an SKS, a Bulgarian milled receiver rifle with a painted thumbhole stock, and the latest a saiga with plastic furniture slr something or another with some weird muzzle break on it bought in 2009 and sold in 2010. Recently at a gun range a guy let me shoot his Drako "pistol" with some red dot on it and it was mounted to a rail above the barrel. Yes it went bang and yes it hit the point of aim with some fmj ammunition.
Yet why with good AR's running over 1000 rounds before they need cleaning are we still interested in an AK? If you could buy a good one for $300 I would be all over it, now they are $7-800 for a starter model and over $1000 for an expensive gun. I think the attraction to the AK is that the original hard chromed bore, hard chromed piston, hard chromed where they needed to be hard chromed guns required no maintenance at all to continue to function under any circumstances (AND any environment).... What I am afraid of is that now we may be buying into the myth, and manufacturers are selling guns that would function as well as a Remington Jam O Matic 7400 (been there seen that a time or 12)...As an example the blue steel mini 14 will reliably rust the op rod to the piston, this is a fact verified by me personally, I don't know about nitrided stuff but do know about hard chrome... Please no one chime in and say "well I take care of my guns and I am going to wipe them down blah blah blah", were not talking about a being able to wipe down situation.

With all of that said someone chime in and tell me why a well built gun like a Jack Haley BCM Carbine would be of less worth than a WASR during a time of difficulty??

A few days ago I was in a local gun emporium and was talking to one of the guys there about this very thing. He had spent a couple of tours in Afghanistan and I asked him how he felt about the M4 vs AK. Basically he said each has its place, with the AK needing little maintenance. He said he had seen AK's pulled out of the sand where they had been for months, shaken and fired. He'd seen them even with weeds growing in them and they worked. AR's are great but, as you wrote, you do have to provide at least some maintenance and lube for them. Ak's not so much.

I don't know if that answers your question but it seemed it might provide a different view.

There's nothing wrong with having both.

AKs are more for waving around yelling "Viva revolución!" than anything.

g5M, I have no doubt that a real AK would be more durable and fire more reliably than an AR15 if both were buried in the mud or sand for a few days. I don't know if the products that are being sold today in the USA have the same features (other than no full auto) that one would find in an AK47 you would find in use in the current mid eastern conflicts.

I have an old Norinco and shoot the hell out of it. It's hit an ergo grip, Magpul hand guard and ACE stock and use the Chinese mags or some new magpul's with no issue.
Just thinking I should try something else and thinking old school wood stocks.
Arsenal SLR was top of the list but I haven't kept up, so just wondering what was out there.
Have plenty of AR's, mostly Colt's so it's not an either or thing.
Keep debating a PTR instead but I have a schit pile of 7.62x39 ammo.....

That's why the WASR 10 has been recommended. It's made in Romania by a company that's been making them for years. Chrome lined barrel. Cheesy wood for 922R compliance. And a few other parts that are US made. They used to have canted front sights sometimes-- but QC has gone up, probably at the demand of the importers.

The Arsenals and Valmets are better finished. (They are over the price point you gave). The milled receiver guns tend to be smoother in the action.

I would suggest a few hours of Youtube viewing of AK reviews to help in your decision making. When I've gotten the bug to buy something the guys on Youtube have been helpful. Most of them tell what their experience has been, and show it.

Here's a link to one review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJn6SYFbHSw