Built My First AK

[raysheen]

Here she is...

Still have a bit to learn about setting rivets correctly but I'm hoping that I'll be able to use take I learned on this kit and apply it to my yugo kits.

Build info:
-Typical Romanian G kit in great condition. Never fired by the looks of the gas piston. All matching numbers blah blah blah...
-Receiver was an NDS-3 that I modified for a double hook.
-Stock was refinished in Minwax Red Mahogany and Formby's High Gloss Tung Oil

Overall I'm pretty happy with it...except for the learning curve on creating a nice rivet head on those darn long rear trunion rivets :grin:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK016.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK007.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK008.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK009.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK011.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK015.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK021.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/raysheen42/AK023.jpg

[ironhead7544]

Beauty. Great job.

[Ghugly]

Great job! I'm so jealous I could just shit. Stinking California ............. I've wanted to build one forever. And if I did they'd probably put me under the jail.

[Weo]

Looks great!

[SportsterBart]

Nice job. I have a brand new cast Bulgarian one that I've been wanting to modify.

Now I have some ideas ;)

[milmat1]

Sweet !!!!!

[hybriDatsun350]

That looks sweet! Nice job man! :banarock

I've always wanted an AK, but that just wont fly here in CA...

[raysheen]

Nice job. I have a brand new cast Bulgarian one that I've been wanting to modify.

Now I have some ideas ;)

Hey I've been looking for a Bulgarian...want to sell/trade it?

[SportsterBart]

Hey I've been looking for a Bulgarian...want to sell/trade it?

Nah, this ones's a keeper. Never fired. Gimme a couple of minutes and I'll post a pic ;)

[SportsterBart]

Ah-right, here ya go...

http://www.photopile.com/photos/warchild/bikes/285236.jpg

I want to ditch the thumbhole stock and get a little creative with it

[raysheen]

hmmm that IS nice...you sure you don't want something for it??? :D :D :D

...on a related note: I just picked up a 1954 Russian Type II milled AK-47 parts kit...will be a fair amount of work to get it looking right and it wasn't cheap, but I'm VERY excited to have found it...only problem is that I'll need to do some welding since it's a milled receiver...but it looks so very nice :D

[ironhead7544]

Have you checked out the Saiga-12 and Saiga 308?

[jaws]

hmmm all very nice with the large cap mags....Only wish Jersey would allow more than 5 round mags, it's just not the same :(

[raysheen]

hmmm all very nice with the large cap mags....Only wish Jersey would allow more than 5 round mags, it's just not the same :(
15 round mags there in NJ right? I'm confused now...
We can't have anything over 10 if it was made after 1994 just like the old federal law :frownthre ...other than that no restrictions on mag size which is helpful with AK mags since so many of them were made be eastern european countries well before 94
There's an FFL in NJ who modifies 30 round mags into 15 rounders for both AR and AK platforms so that you can get the 30 round look if that's what you are after.

[jaws]

Yes 15, little typo there. Cool, didn't know that :)

[shooter37]

If I lived somewhere that I couldn't own an AK and all the mags and ammo I want, I'd move. I made the mistake of moving to the occupied territory of NY after leaving thje Corps. Couldn't have my guns there. I moved back to radio free PA in a hurry.

[shooter37]

Oh yeah, the AK looks great. I got a polish underfolder I gotta build someday.

[raysheen]

Oh yeah, the AK looks great. I got a polish underfolder I gotta build someday.
been looking for a polish underfolder as well...where did you get the kit if you don't mind me asking? :D

[shooter37]

I got it before I went to Iraq. I think I got it from tapco, but my memory ain't what it used to be.

[shooter37]

This is a AK I had in Iraq. Former owner could no longer use it. Do you believe they wouldn't let me keep it??? Broke my heart to turn it in.

[Streak70]

Raysheen
I've been thinking on acquiring an AK lately - what's the drill on building one up? You mention parts kits, etc. Where do these come from? Things to look for or avoid?
Hey, you still flying?

[raysheen]

Raysheen
I've been thinking on acquiring an AK lately - what's the drill on building one up? You mention parts kits, etc. Where do these come from? Things to look for or avoid?
Hey, you still flying?
they come from me actually :laugh
was selling them for a while but you can find them all over the net with a search (take a look on www.gunbroker.com (http://www.gunbroker.com) ) if you are interested then I might have one left that I'm looking to get rid of with matching nubers drop me a PM...here are the things you need to know.

-Best deal right now are the romanian kits at about $120 to $135 each
-There was a barrel ban put into effect January of last year and no more foreign barrels will be able to be imported so the only full kits are the ones that were imported before Jan. of last year...they are starting to get a bit more difficult to aquire for a good price but very far from being "rare". now it the time to pick up a few kits if you want them.
-Very easy to build them with just a few simple tools
-Everything you will need will include a parts kit, rivets, a receiver, and some "US Compliance parts" You can build a nice romanian gun for about $200+/- and they will be way way better than what some people think of when they think of a romanian AK (WASR, etc)
-Right now you can get Romanian, polish underfolders, yugoslavian, hungarian, and bulgarian kits fairly easily depending on what you like.
-For the receiver you have two options. 1) bend your own $12 flat or 2)buy a prebent 100% receiver for $55 shipped
-Drop the extra couple bucks for a matching numbers kit

basically what you do is get the parts kit, receiver, and a couple of parts made in the US and you can put together a fully functioning gun in a few hours if you've never done it before. Very fun.

not flying now as I'm pretty busy with the kids but hope to get back into it in a couple of years when things calm down a bit more and my wife is done with residency.

[XL O.C.D.]

Great job raysheen.

[SLS]

Nice looking build! I hope to attempt one someday myself. The Ruskie with the milled reciever is going to be very cool!

Until then I'll just have to be happy with my Yugo M-70. :)

It's one of those built by Century Arms, so of course the front sight is canted...ARRGGG!!!!! Will have to get that straightened out soon. Otherwise, she goes like there is no tomorrow, and is a blast to do the ol 'bump fire' trick with.

http://hifiparty.home.comcast.net/~hifiparty/ak1.jpg

[wrongpaw]

Ray, Good looking build that you did. All it needs is the third position
on the safety :D

I still got 4 Polytech legends with the milled receivers, And about 3 dozen East German ribbed 30 rd. mags.

That and about 15K rounds of Chicom 7.62 should keep the Zombies
from taking up residence in my backwoods. :p:p

[raysheen]

That and about 15K rounds of Chicom 7.62 should keep the Zombies
from taking up residence in my backwoods. :p:p
:eek: 15k of Norinco steel core? *drool* want to sell a few thousand? :D

thanks for the kind words guys...forgot this thread even existed.
My collection has grown substantially since this was first posted....it's addictive!

[powellsanmiguel]

Very nice weapon. Have you ever read "Guns of the South", by Harry Turtledove? Sort of science fiction/history. Great story and lots about AKs.

[Streak70]

Well crap! I was gonna' get some stuff ordered and get started on building some AKs a year ago but put it off for various reasons. Wife starting her own business, teenager needing a vehicle, etc., etc. So I didn't get roundtoit. Now I'm getting this really creepy feeling about the way things are going in the world and this country and feel the need more than ever. My brother has asked that I consider building one for each of his family, my wife wants one for everyone in ours.....sheesh! It's lookin' to me like the price of Romy G kits has doubled - to about $230, and some of those are advertised as being "rusty". I've got a few questions for you builders.
Is that the goin' rate guys? There's a local gun show in about 4 weeks. Would y'all advise waiting and doing my shopping there vs mail order?
Also, are ya'll doing any heat treating? The adds I've been seeing are for mild steel receiver plates. I wouldn't think you can get much out of heat treating them. I found some online instructions for spot heat treating with a torch. Does that work out OK? I've done some DIY metalcasting so coming up with a furnace for the whole receiver would be no problem but I see that stamped piece warping all to hell and gone like one of the online sources warned about. I'm sort of lukewarm on the spot heat treating but it appears to be the only feasible way to go.
Oops, just re-read the ad. Those receiver plates are carbon, not mild steel, so they should take heat treating.
Another question: Single or double hook triggers. See 'em both sold but never any discussion as to why someone would want one or the other.

[raysheen]

Well crap! I was gonna' get some stuff ordered and get started on building some AKs a year ago but put it off for various reasons. Wife starting her own business, teenager needing a vehicle, etc., etc. So I didn't get roundtoit. Now I'm getting this really creepy feeling about the way things are going in the world and this country and feel the need more than ever. My brother has asked that I consider building one for each of his family, my wife wants one for everyone in ours.....sheesh! It's lookin' to me like the price of Romy G kits has doubled - to about $230, and some of those are advertised as being "rusty". I've got a few questions for you builders.
Is that the goin' rate guys? There's a local gun show in about 4 weeks. Would y'all advise waiting and doing my shopping there vs mail order?
Also, are ya'll doing any heat treating? The adds I've been seeing are for mild steel receiver plates. I wouldn't think you can get much out of heat treating them. I found some online instructions for spot heat treating with a torch. Does that work out OK? I've done some DIY metalcasting so coming up with a furnace for the whole receiver would be no problem but I see that stamped piece warping all to hell and gone like one of the online sources warned about. I'm sort of lukewarm on the spot heat treating but it appears to be the only feasible way to go.
Oops, just re-read the ad. Those receiver plates are carbon, not mild steel, so they should take heat treating.
Another question: Single or double hook triggers. See 'em both sold but never any discussion as to why someone would want one or the other.
Not sure what the going rate is...I have a bunch of kits left but I paid just under $100 for them...as for the receivers, the Nodak Spud receivers are 100% heat treated ahead of time. (they are 4140 by the way). Single hook vs double hook will depend on what the receiver is cut for...in most kits single is fine, in some of them I add an additional slot for a double hook though.

[Ninetok]

Nice Job! What finish did you use. I used brownells gunkote. It is holding up reall good on my last build and my CETME build. This is my polish tantal on Nds receiver.



http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/Mymauser/th_002.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/Mymauser/002.jpg)


This is my other gang.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/Mymauser/th_009.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/Mymauser/009.jpg)

[Streak70]

Sent you a PM - did you get?

[raysheen]

yep, just replied :D