New SAR1, quality not improved that much.

[mini14jac]

I got a new SAR1 last week.

I had one about a year ago.
Ordered sight-unseen from J&G Sales. Never again.
Should have returned it.
My first one had a canted front sight, and bad trigger slap.
It had a badly mangled gas tube lever, which broke off, had to replace it.
Had to work on on 6 mags to make them fit easily.
Ugly red finish on the wood.
I was able to straighten the front sight, and used a Dremel to fix the trigger.
Painted the wood flat black.
It was very accurate and a great shooter.
Shouldn't have traded it. I had just gotten tired of working on it.

Now, for the new one.
Out of two at my dealer, I picked the one with the straightest front sight.
Slight cant to the left, barely noticeable.
Fired two quick mags. Offhand accuracy seems good, no trigger slap noticed yet.
When I stripped it down to refinish the wood, I noticed that the gas block, (the place where the gas tube attaches at the front?), was canted to the right.
Well, I didn't buy it for it's looks, and I don't want to spend a fortune on it, but how hard could it be to put them together right the first time!

I guess I'm mainly mad at myself. I knew what to look for, and should have passed on this one.
Well, it seems to be a good shooter, so I'll probably leave it.
After I get finished with the wood, I'll see how it performs.

(By the way, it seems that the Romainians have learned how to apply the Tennifer process to wood. )

 

[Tropical Z]

I don't think theres a SAR on this planet that was put together 100% right!
I thought i had finally got rid of my SAR-2 months ago,but the deal fell through and now its on consignment.The gunshop said if it doesn't sell soon its back with me.Nobody wants em,especially the 5.45x39.

 

[boing]

That's odd...a few months ago, when the CIA supply "dried up! there won't be anymore, EVER!" it seemed like everyone in AK land was kicking themselves for not picking up an SAR2 when they had the chance.

It should be noted that Century has a knack for miraculously "finding" new batches of guns to sell...after an appropriate campaign of "all gone, no gun for you!".

But maybe I'm just way off base, here...

 

[Cee-Zed]

No, you are not imagining this. Century has developed the old "bait and switch" routine into a hard science.

My friend and I have straight SAR-1s, but we went to the biggest gun store in the tri-state area EVERY WEEKEND for months to get them (both 2001 models). I was impatient and grabbed one with bad wood. He waited another month or so and got a straight one with matching wood...

 

[AK103K]

For the money, and as long as you can get one with the sights on fairly straight, the SAR's are a pretty good buy. Trigger slap varies from gun to gun, but if your handy with a file, can be fixed pretty easy. At worst you spend another $80 and get a Red Star trigger. The trigger wouldnt be a problem if it weren't for the crappy US parts. The wood on mine cleaned up real nice just with a little elbow grease and some steel wool. The metal finish was a little beat up, but a $10 can of Brownells Aluma Hyde II took care of that. Now it looks a lot like my Saiga's finish. I dont file on the mags to fix that problem, just break the edges on the mag release with a file and the problem goes away. If you do this, the mags work in all your guns, if you have more than one, and you will, nobody can own just one AK. I got my SAR as a project gun, something to tinker with. Its turned out to be the one that gets shot the most and goes in the truck every day.

 

[Jamie Young]

I've seen drastic variations in SAR quality.

I kinda wish I had one of each.

 

[MAKOwner]

It does seem like SAR2s don't sell well EXCEPT to true AK fans. On AK boards the '74s are all the rage. And for good reason, I totally love my SAR2. What a sweet little shooter. They seem to be catching on a bit better finally, alot more at gunshows around here.

BTW, there are at least 2 100% straight SARs out there, my 1 and 2, lol. I lucked out on my SAR1 in a trade, with good wood to boot. I handpicked my SAR2 at a gunshow and got the only straight one there (out of 4 on the show floor), it had ****ty wood finish wise though (ugly glopped on orange finish). Stripped the wood and refinished with spray on truck bedliner ($7ish at Walmart) and it is so damn sweet I can't believe it...

Love em both, you're taking your chances if you buy an SAR sight unseen though...

 

[telewinz]

I've got a prebre Noringo and valmet and my SAR1 compares pretty well against them. I got mine at a gunshow about a year ago from a pile of about 15. One pretty much looked the same as another, I just wanted one with as dark a wood as possible that matched shades. I've had no problem with mine at all and I would not hesitate to buy another SAR1 or maybe a SAR3 next time.