WASR GP 10/63 project.

     I bought a WASR GP 10/63 rifle a while back (luckily before the surge in semi-auto rifles began) and figured I would make it a rainy day project since I can almost never leave anything alone. For anyone who doesn't know what this rifle is, it is an AKM variant modeled after the original AK-47 design. This rifle is made in Romania using surplus parts from actual Romanian military rifles. Originally these weapons were shipped to the United States during the Clinton era "assault weapons" ban, which was from 1994 to 2004. During this time 30 round double stack magazines were banned and so these rifles were made with narrow magazine wells to accept 10 round single stack magazines. Century arms imported them and replaced several parts with american made pieces to comply with the federal regulations. These rifles were known as the 10/63...10 being the magazine size and 63 being the year of the design. The newer versions of this rifle are known as the GP 10/63 for "general purpose" and are not to be confused with the originals which developed a reputation for being cheap weapons. It is true that the price of one of these WASR's is significantly lower than many other brands of AKM, but there are several reasons for this. First, the romanian made AK variants far outnumber any other country's design and are imported much more, obviously driving the price of the rarer models up. Second, the WASR rifles come with the bare minimum in order to keep prices low. This rifle did not come with a strap, extra magazines, or carrying case and the wood parts of the gun are unfinished. This saves the consumer quite a bit of money because it costs the manufacturer less to make it. 
I wasn't smart enough to take before pictures so this is a picture of a WASR GP 10/63 I found online. You can see that this person has a strap on thiers but mine came without one and the wood was sanded to about 80 grit.

     The first thing I would recommend to anyone who buys one of these is to seal or finish the wood to prevent it from rotting. This isn't very expensive and improves the life of your weapon tremendously. I chose not to use any stain on mine but instead replaced the handguard with an aluminum quad rail and gave the butt stock several layers of spray on Rustoleum clear coat after sanding it down to 400 grit. This spray dries quickly and offers a layer of protection from dropping damage or water. Next I bought a couple cans of ultra flat camo paint and colored the top cover, quad rail, rear sight block, and magazines. I then gave those parts the same clear coat treatment I gave the stock. I also added a muzzle break to the barrel. The rifle came with a barrel nut welded onto the muzzle so I had to break through the weld and clean it up to attatch the new part. Here are a few after pictures.

The rifle itself was 530 dollars (probably more now) and with another 10 dollars in paint and a little sandpaper it now looks like this. The black rubber grip sections you see on the forward and pistol grips are made by Manta-rail and the rail covers which I have in olive drab and black are UTG.  As usual , feel free to email or comment any questions and I will be glad to help out.

Spikes Tactical ST-T2 Buffer

I recently purchased this product for my Bushmaster xm-15. My rifle is a 16" with a carbine length gas system. While being compact and very easy to move around with, one of the flaws carbine systems have been associated with is a more violent reaction within the upper reciever due to higher gas pressures than that of a full length rifle system. This is because the expanding gases have less distance to travel before reaching the action, thus hitting it with more force. This more violent action sends the bolt carrier back at a higher rate, having more impact on the buffer and causing more stress to the buffer spring. Most companies dont consider this when making their carbines and install the same parts they install in their rifle systems. As a result, these carbines sometimes suffer premature malfunctioning of some of the internal parts. Spikes tactical has solved one of these problems by creating the ST buffer. Instead of solid weights shifting around inside this buffer, Spikes uses high density tungston powder to create a smoother shift in weight. These buffers come in three different weights to completely customise the effect it has on your carbine. The one I purchased was their middle weight, the ST-T2. This buffer is heavier than the standard carbine buffer which makes it harder to throw backwards by the bolt carrier, minimizing the harmful effects. It is also constructed of solid billet aluminum so there is no chance of it falling apart. It functions flawlessly in my carbine after hundreds of rounds and seems to also lighten the felt recoil due to a smoother reaction within the buffer tube. If you are looking for a great product at a reasonable price, try it out. Spikes also combines usefulness with a very cool look (see picture). These can be purchased in many places including Spikes Tactical's website, Ebay, or many other AR-15 parts retailers.