Nice SAR-3!

One of my favorite of the Euro varieties, the SAR-3 was designed to use the mags from the German STG-940 system. The importer, Century partially modified AK-74 mags by opening up the feed lips but they didn't change the follower which is different with the 5.45x39. Way back when the SARs were legal to import, most people found that without the correct follower, if you loaded only 22-24 rounds you would not have issues, but if loaded to it's full 30 round capacity there were fail to feeds.

The SAR-3 was designed to use what were known as a Wieger mag, from WIEsa GERmany where they came from. There are Romanian copies which seem to work ok, and both are distinguished by having two buttons in the floor plate for removal.

 

Great Score, I love it

 

nice

 

My brother has one and did the whole aimms74 whatever conversion also but with the wire folding stock.
He bought boatloads of Weiger magazines with pouches when they were cheap from Inter-Ordinance. I believe they were like $19.99 for 4 magazines and they had a $32.99 special 8 magazines or a complete LBE setup with East German belt for $39.99.

His functions great with no issues.

Fun rifles to find, acquire and upgrade.

 

Gave the old beast a new look again today, at least until I get the other furniture refinished. Not going to lie, I kinda dig the look of the old Romy palmswell handguard on this rifle...

I also went ahead and dropped in the Red Star Arms/Power Custom hammer as I noticed a bit of marking on the rear of the bolt after putting a few rounds through it yesterday. Probably nothing, but, I'll err on the side of caution with this one.

If the storms hold off today I'm hoping to get out and run some full mags to see which ones work the best. Hopefully at least a couple of them function properly as it seems the Weiger mags have dried up and are quite pricey now.

 

Super cool rifle ,but IMHO the Dong was awesome!

 

Nice looking rifle!

 

Had one of those, wish I had hung on to it. Shot like a dream with Wieger mag. Saw some Wiegers posted on somebodys website just yesterday for $30.00 a pop. I got mine from I.O., for $35.00 for four in a pouch. Obviously, a while back. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Haha that first sentence is why I took the advice of an old gun guy to heart when he told me to never sell or trade a gun because you'll regret it later. I only ever sold a gun once and he was right I regret it. Never again. I'll just buy more safes and make space for them.

 

Well, I've had three successes and two failures. I have an AC Unity, commercial Bulgarian, Circle 10, and the two converted EG Bakelites. 30 rounds in all but one Bakelite. I loaded only 20 into that one since I've heard about them not liking the full 30 rounds.

Amazingly, aside from being a tight fit, the AC Unity, commercial Bulgarian, and Circle 10 all fed and cycled flawlessly...The Bakelites failed miserably. Even the one I loaded with only 20 rounds wouldn't feed properly. I'm giving up on those since I have three that are functioning just fine.

I might see if they'll still work, or if I have to convert them, back to running 5.45. My AIMS 74 would appreciate some Bakes, I think.

 

Great one! My brother sure bonded with his, and we both enjoyed practice at the range with it.

 

1) To make bakelite mags function correctly you need to swap the 74 followers with Pod Arms 5.56 conversion followers.

2) Bakelite front top feed lips need to be modify into 5.56 spec by removing material in areas to aid in 5.56 cartridge.

3) If you look at the pics below on very Left unaltered 74 mag in the middle a modified bake mag on the right an actual circle 10 5.56 AK mag. You have to do this to get reliability fyi hope this helps I get 30rnds no problems on 45rnd ones 42 to 44rnds.

 

Greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It looks like the material has been carved out already, so, it looks like all that's needed now is the proper follower.

I might order one and see if that helps to reliably run a full mag of 5.56, and see if the other magazine will still reliably feed 5.45 despite being cut.

 

@Akman28 The dong is back on. I decided against refinishing it as it's cracked, but, also isn't peeling nearly as badly as the buttstock. So, it's back on the old beast for now and looks properly Romy'd again.

I also picked up a steel Romy 10 round magazine to test out along with another AC Unity, and remembered that I still had a Primary Arms 5.56/.308 Microprism, so, I added that. Now to just test it all out.

I've always thought of 5.56 AKs as blasphemous, but, I've got to admit that this SAR 3 is changing my mind. I'm really enjoying this rifle. I love it.

 

Reldn,
That thing looks awesome brother! Looks like it has an AK103 type front gas block and still has the bayonet lug, interesting. Is the barrel threaded or is there some type of thread protector on it? the 5.56 AKM is a great choice for someone who wants to continue regular shooting. I'm curious about how the gas is on this?
I love the wood furniture and that you put the Dong back on!!! 🤣 I have 4 Romanian rifles with Dongs, best forward grip ever made IMHO.
Keep us posted on what all you do and provide pics!
Such a cool rifle bro!

 

Yep, the SAR 3 has the 90 degree gas block and I believe it has the 22mm front sight block like the AIMS 74. Gas feels like your usual AK: It launches the cases off to God himself. Probably way overgassed, like normal, but, I'm left-side dominant and not getting hit in the face with the cases is fine with me.

Sadly, like the rest of the SAR series, it's neutered. The barrel isn't threaded and the bayonet lug has been rendered useless...Though, on this one, there's a bit of the wings left over. I'm going to see if there's enough left for a bayonet to hook onto, but, the barrel is far too thin for it to remain stable if so.

 

Like the SAR-2, the 3 used a front sight block with 22mm threads on the front, so the barrel was never threaded. Unfortunately Century was so scared of ATF that when ATF said the 22mm thread was ok since there were no flash hiders of that size, Century cut the threads off anyway.

If you think the SAR-3 is a nice shooter now, you should try it with the correct AK-74 style brake.

And yes, mine also tosses the cases into the next state!

 

Is there any functional difference besides barrel between the SAR-2 and SAR-3? Seems like you'd maybe want a different bolt or bullet guide as well.

My AIMS-74 kit came yesterday. While I had it in my cart, I noticed Atlantic had both Green Mountain 5.45 and a AK-Builder 5.56 barrels in stock for it. Figured I'd get both ask questions later. Seems weird that there would even be a 5.56 AIMS barrel if it was a difficult/dubious conversion.

 

Correct, the primary difference between the 2 and 3 are the barrel and bolt. The SAR-3 uses an AK-74 gas block where the SAR-2 uses a standard AKM gas block which is really strange in my not so humble opinion.

 

If I remember correctly. I think the AIMS 74 and maybe the SAR 2 have the 45 degree AKM gas blocks, but, the gas port is drilled 90 degrees like an AK74.

 

I am pretty tempted to go for that 5.56 barrel, but it'd be a shame to lose the matched bolt. Though I guess I could use it as a keepsake and show off how pristine the kit is 🤷‍♂️

Mags seem to be another issue as well lol.

Edit:
Also looks like the 5.56 bolts are unobtanium lol

 

Success! Dropped in the Pod arms 5.56 follower into one of the converted bakelites and I was able to feed and fire all thirty rounds with no issues!

The other bakelite I loaded up with 5.45 and they all fed and fired through my AIMS 74 with no issues. So, now I've got an East German bakelite for my SAR 3 and my AIMS 74.

 

Is this the proper hammer for a SAR-3? The Red Star Arms hammer has been out of stock forever, but I've read that this has the same profile to correct the bolt tail wear.

Power Custom AK-47, AK-74 Trigger

This trigger is adjustable from 4 to 8 lbs and has adjustments for overtravel, pretravel and disconnector engagement. The trigger is heat treated and...

www.midwayusa.com

 

Yep, that's the right one. I'm not entirely certain, but, I think the Red Star Arms and Power Customs hammer are the same. The instructions that come with the kit has both Red Star Arms and Power Custom listed on it.