AK question

[Sandman]

I have the chance to trade for a SAR-1 AK. How do you tell it's a SAR vs. WASR, etc...is a SAR a good ak? What's the approximate value?

I know NOTHING about AK's so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[turkeydad]

I am an AK guy. . Ive owned 2 Maadi's one Norinco Mak 90 and my current AK is a preban Polytech sidefolder. . but Im not a Romanian efficianado for sure. . but my understanding that the Wasr 10 and Sar-1 are pretty much the same except that a Wasr 10 was originally manufactured to accept low capacity 10 round mags and later the magwell was opened up to accept hi-caps often having excessive wobble etc..to me they are both just garden variety low end AK's..all will work but fit and finish may be poor and I would certainly check for canted sight block and poorly fitted trunion on both. . Neither is going to have a heavy barrel. . heavy internals. . spring loaded firing pin. . thicker (1.6mm) receiver or the fit, finish and accuracy of a Polytech. .but in my opinion a well fitted sar-1 (or even Wasr10 once again if well fitted) wouldnt perform much different than a garden variety saiga. .maadi (not misr 10 or misr 90. .these are the worst) or any other 1mm thick stamped AK of average quality. . as far as telling them apart. .the Sar 1 would have a "depression" in the front of the magwell that aids in mag insertion that the Wasr would not have. Im sure there are production or import stampings that differ between the two but I dont know the specifics. .

Edited October 6, 2011 by turkeydad
content

[Sandman]

Wow thanks. What value would you place on one?

[TMF]

I have a SAR I bought a long time ago. It goes bang everytime I pull the trigger. I've handled/shot hundreds of AKs over the years from just about every country that manufactures them and can tell you that some are made better than others. With that said, they all functioned equally well unless there was something wrong with the weapon itself (not related to manufacturer). The SARs aren't overly pretty, but they're cheap, great to shoot and you can lubricate them with sand and they'll still work.

[turkeydad]

Wow thanks. What value would you place on one?

Well you know how "value" is so subjective. . but considering wasr 10's can be had new for $425.00. . and the general consensus that in most circles that I run in SAR-1's are maybe $75.00 to $100.00 more. . .maybe less maybe more. Then take off maybe 20% for gently used (assuming thats the case) Id say a nice fair number would be in the $400.00 range. Some people might pay more but considering I have seen Mak 90's sell on this forum not too long ago for $500 to $600 I wouldnt want to have anymore in it myself. . .

[blahX3]

Can you shoot it and see if you like it?

Good info here:

The AK Forum L.L.C. - Index pageThe AK Files Forums - powered by vBulletin

Edited October 9, 2011 by blahX3
add links