AK drum fitting/compatibility ~ esp. WASR varieties
 

Hey guys........FYI ~ some of the new (and possibly old) WASR rifles have trouble accepting Drums.

The drums have a reinforced bar/shoulder right in front of the magazine catch tab. This tab has to clear the mag slot/void for the catch to work.

Anyhow, it's a relatively 'easy' fix with some patience and a dremel tool. Just square out the port/void/mag hole near the catch assembly. Be careful not to carve away at the catch mount where the 2 rivets are. Basically you're just turning an arc into a square hole so the reinforcement tabs on the DRUM will clear allowing the catch to fully lock.

The crap part of the deal is that some rifles without this mod CANNOT lock a drum into place. So if the ad says accepts ALL hi-cap mags be leary.......some mods are req'd on Romanian AK's.........at least mine did and I just bought it this past November.

MORAL : Always check mag to rifle compatibility...DO NOT take ads at face value and assume everything fits !!!

Lesson learned......please share any similar experiences.

-AD

Re: AK drum fitting/compatibility ~ esp. WASR varieties
 

So am I the only one with rifle that has an incorrect mag well...........or what ?

It's not the Drums FWIW - they all fit my RPK just fine. :wink:

Re: AK drum fitting/compatibility ~ esp. WASR varieties
 

I suppose I should chime in here ... When I got my WASR-10 about 3 years ago I bought all the mags I needed, some 30-round surplus West European steel banannas, some knock-off plastic waffle types marketed as "waffle mags" (I don't think they are Belgian) and the two drums.

AS I RECALL, the rifle's mag port was cut, albeit crudely to accept perfectly the 30-round steel mags it came with.

However I widened the port with my dremmel, careful to stay on line, to accept the knock-off plastic waffles. (I feel that was a mistake, as I developed a bit of wobble with the steel mags afterward.

Then AS I RECALL the drums were a bit too long, so i lengthened the port to accomodate the drum mags just right. As I've reported elsewhere, the rifle is now very funtional with any and all AK-47 mags I've ever tried... but it wobbles a little, mostly with the 30-round steel bananas, and that is only an annoyance to me. It functions 100% EVERY SHOT.

I feel that these AK's are just stamped steel guns and are all pretty much good items for careful tinkering and slight modifications. BUT ONCE YOU TAKE IT OFF, (steel) YOU CAN'T PUT IT BACK ON. Measure twice, cut once.:ok:

One more note on my WASR-10 ... I bought a detachable side mount from Belarus and mounted a small 4x scope on it. But the side mount rail was poorly aligned with the barrel, the scope did not quite have the adjustment range to the desired windage correction. So I cut a shim from a soda can, inserted it into the front scope ring, and it now zeroes and works perfectly.

I like my little WASR-10 rifle and it will shoot with most any AK's I figure... and I sort of "made mine" so it has my touch inside it... I even lightly buffed the sharp edges in various machine parts, and it's all quite SMOOTH and silky now. I spray painted the rifle with GunKote black teflon paint. My friend who has the farm where I shoot has a Chinese model AK and he seems to like mine a little better than his, which is totally stock, no modifications.

No one here mentions the American made G2 trigger group, or the stainless gas piston, the recoil buffers, American size trigger hand grip, all after-market improvements very worthwhile, IMO. I just chime in when I can here! THANKS! :ok:

Re: AK drum fitting/compatibility ~ esp. WASR varieties
 

This sounds exactly what I had to do.......now all my mags fit although I don't have any of those waffle types.

Hey, you might start an AK mod thread.......I'd luv to hear different options and what others have done to their rifles. :ok:

Re: AK drum fitting/compatibility ~ esp. WASR varieties
 

I forgot to mention that I used a flat HAND FILE at the end of my metal removal to make it flat and very beveled as level, and while using the Dremmel diamond grit bit I kept it moving lightly almost like an eraser. Crude work with a Dremmel is sad, and it's best to practice on a piece of similar but trash scrap metal beforehand to gain skills. I agree the aftermarket knock-off mags should've been returned and the width left as it was ... the brand was Pro-Mag as I recall, the rifle is not with me now to examine.

I will plan on starting a thread after a little forethought, maybe in 24hrs or so, unless you want to go ahead ... I don't often start threads because I feel I'm not 'in-tune' somehow, or that I come off like a teacher or know-it-all... almost like a grandfather since I have no kids of my own ...

I am primarily a researcher, and deep thinker perhaps, having a lot of hunting and outdoors experience... I feel that's what I contribute here. In that way I observe and follow along the threads, but I am an 'older generation' to some now here, and I don't see guns exactly like many here, I'm son of a WW2 combat vet as my grim reality ... guns were my Dad's grim reality for a while, kill or be killed ... he infected me that guns are all in fun, but VERY serious and coldly brutal ... I am but a contradiction in myself. I still have to get out of the 'one-shot mindset' with my AK-47, I'm stuck that way, I forget I've got another shot.
:thumb.aspx: No need to comment ... I'm just explaining myself to myself ... I ramble, smile, my friends! :coolbeer: