The AK guy who bought an AR

Hello

Previous to this I had considered myself an AK enthusiast. I had owned a '74, but sold it because I wanted something in 7.62x39. Yesterday I went to a gun show with the intention to buy a Saiga 7.62x39, with the backup plan of piecing together an AR if I didn't find one.

Guess what happened?



-Bushmaster post-ban HBAR dissy upper (OMG compared to my old AK this is heavy!)
-RGuns tan blem lower
-No-name mil-spec 4-pos stock.

I still need to buy a LPK, but after that I'll have built 'Lillith' (No symbolism, I just like the name) for less than $600. Of course there's still mags and a cleaning kit. But damn...ARs are sexy.

LONG LIVE THE FIXED CARRY HANDLE!!!

(this will be the second gun ever I've owned)

[EDIT:]
-Turns out I was had at the show. Upper is most likely an Oly Arms with a 416 SS barrel.
-Again, they saw me coming a mile away. Buttstock is a commercial tube.

Awesome! Welcome back! It won't be your last! LOL

And a dissipator to boot! Nice call bro!

Nice! That's a great start! The more Dissipators I see the more I like them...... You know, if you want to lighten that beast up a little, you can send the barrel to Adco and have him turn it down and repark it for you. Either way, finish her up and get to blasting!!

I love Dissy's, I would send it to ADCO and have it turned down and threaded

But shame on you for selling your Russian 74 you will end up missing it

It was a Century bulgy. I don't miss it. I've been messing around with 'Lillith' for a few days now, and even incomplete...she feels alive in a way that the AK didn't. Especially now that I have one...An AR-15 just feels right. It even sounds right. AR-15...AR-15...AR-15... Holding it and examining it's parts, it feels classic and modern at the same time, sophisticated and simple. It is beauty and the quintessential American sport utility rifle.

And I've got plans to have the barrel worked on, it's just that I'm an unemployed student and can't afford it right now. Hoping to change that first part soon, Lillith will be an expensive mouth to feed.

Oh! Nevermind then , I miss read your OP and thought you were going to sell a saiga 5.45 (SGL31) to buy a saiga 7.62 (SGL21) both of which are $800+ AK's

If it was a Century you are better off without it! I am a long time AR15 fanboy, but I would never get rid of my two SGL's, they are exellent firarms

You made a great choice

I just ordered a LPK from Palmetto and a couple black aluminum USGIs. Can't wait.

It's going to shock you how easy it is to assemble the lower.

And the vise-grip & CLP method on the pins works, btw.

I just looked that up. Similar to an idea I had, but better.

So, about the castle nut, I'm not going to be buying the special wrench(at least not now), I think some rubber on the jaws of a pair of channel locks should get me enough torque w/o damage, but should I stake the nut or use locktite? I don't foresee using a fixed stock or a Vltor A5 on this so I doubt the receiver extension will ever come off.

Also, there are burn marks on the inside of the heatshield on the upper handguard half, right in-line with the gas tube retainer pin. Is this normal?

Got the parts kit and mags in the mail. The LPK was missing one of the takedown pin detent springs, so I've got that on the way from Palmetto. Going to try and replace it from the hardware store though. If not I'll go ahead and assemble the rear detent and wait for the front one.

Either way, I'll have finished pics tonight. I'll post them in the Dissy , general pic, and A2 pic threads.

But man, compared to the AK...I love the AR mag release and safety! Now for ammo and range time!

Glad you got your parts. Shame you were shorted a spring. I've probably bought 20 packaged lpk's over the years and fortunately most always had extra springs and detents and never the first shortage. Knock on wood. Good luck with your build and be careful installing the pins if you don't have an installation tool. I hear they like to fly away. I bought the tool and have never had a problem personally. After seeing the tool it sure would be easy to make out of a piece of dowel or rod and a drill bit. An AK definately shoots for less and makes a bigger hole but after my first AR build years ago my 7.62x39 stuff rarely gets shot. I'm looking at two with dust and many K's of ammo while I type. I always wanted a 74 and maybe one day but I'm in no hurry. Never had a Dissy but they look pretty cool. Nice sight picture I bet.

Well, my first time looking through AR sights. First time, I thought "How the hell can you aim accurately", and that was with the small peep, it just looked huge. But then I did some more playing around and I could actually see how. Watching a demo vid on YT helped too. Hopefully she won't stay a dissipator for too long. Whether I send the barrel to ADCO for re-profiling and threading, or buy a 20" A1 and the right FSB, it would cost about the same, but I'm leaning towards the barrel. There's always the possibility of a used one on the EE too. Plus, I've read that Bushies are horribly over-gassed, and I'll be feeding this rifle a steady stream of steel-case after I learn how to shoot irons.

I didn't have the installation tool, they went in without much drama with the oil+vicegrip method. Only problem was I didn't use enough tape on the jaws and now there are a couple tool marks in the anodizing.

What surprised me was the trigger though. It's nice and crisp, but compared to the G2 in my old AK-74, it's freaking heavy!

Also, people complain about the A2's rear sight being loose and wobbly, is mine just not very used? Because even at full height it barely moves when pushed but always 'springs back' if you will, and seems solid.

I had a couple of marks too... a black sharpie covers them up quite nicely.

My rear sight is not loose or wobbly at all. It's nice and tight.

Nice build! I'm sure you're gonna enjoy shooting the handles off of it!

I always mod my FCG's. The springs are made for FA battle rifles. Never had a loose or wobbly rear sight on any AR including A-2. They do look a little off sometimes but never had a loose one or one that wouldn't zero with ease.

I thought it best not to modify the FCG on the first lower I build. It's not horribly, just takes some getting used too. I'd still rather have it's ultra-crisp 10lb trigger over a creepy, spongy 3lb trigger. And the sight is not loose or wobbly, it just deflects slightly when pushed firmly.

And Staticx, black sharpie would look goofy on tan anodizing.

Aw crap, I forgot you had a colored lower...

Tan sharpie?

That's normal on A2 sights. You can get pinned A2 sights that are physically pinned in place but those are for service match rifles that need to be able to shoot itty bitty groups with iron sights all the way out to 600 yards. For standard rifles like yours and mine, that little bit of deflection in the rear sight doesn't really matter.

ETA: I took a couple pictures to put your mind at ease about the rear sight thing. This is the rear sight on my Armalite M15A2:



You can clearly see that it is deflected to the left.

And this is the target that it shot, in true Appleseed fashion: Without a benchrest; just me, the rifle, and a sling.



So, don't worry about your rear sight.

That looks like the rear sight on my A2. And it shoots just fine too! Though I should look into attending an Appleseed. I do ok with a rifle, but there's always room for improvement.

Yeah, I was thinking about attending an Appleseed after getting competent with Lillith next time they're near SEMI. Perhaps by the I'll have lightened/replaced the barrel...>_>

LOL

I guess every noob has to get hosed once, right?

The receiver extension is 1.170" and there is now rust in the grooves of the barrel. The Buffer tube I'm not concerned about. The barrel on the other hand...

Hmmm, don't send it off to ADCO to get it turned down just yet

Yeah, tomorrow or Friday I'm headed to the range, depending on availability of transport. We'll see then.

Hopefully she'll still shoot, even with rust in the bore. There's some stuff out there called RB-17 that works pretty good for me when it comes to getting rust out of a barrel. Put it on the bore brush, scrub the bore, let sit for 20 minutes, and scrub some more. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries. Hopefully it's just a bit of surface rust and your barrel isn't really pitted up or anything.

It was surface. I cleaned the barrel with 40 55grn copper-swaged lead slugs at about 3000fps. When I was done the bore was mirror-smooth, the rifling crisp and defined. Could have been fouling though, when I took her apart for inspection I noticed some reddish brown in the muzzle and the lands of the rifling were fouled a little with copper. Whether or not it's the sights, barrel, or ammo, I'm grouping half as wide as my Century AK-74, so I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the barrel. But I still haven't fired more than about 190 rounds through any rifle, so we'll see if I can't get 2"x2.5" @ 25yd down to 1"x1" @ 25 yards. I'm going back this weekend to burn the rest of a value-pack of AE XM193. I need to get more mags tho, having to stop after ten rounds to reload is annoying. (Michigan DNR range rules). I think I'll knock-out mags, cleaning kit, and sling in one shot and buy a Colt Accessory Pack from gunbroker, and in the meantime put in an order for a DPMS A1-profile chrome lined 20". OR should I go with a Bushmaster M4 barrel assembly...hmmm.

Don't think DPMS offers a A-1 profile barrel. It's .750 under the hand guards. Bushmaster barrel is hard chrome lined unless stainless or competition. Keep it clean. Hardly ever see rust in an AR barrel especially a BM. If you want a new lighter 20" right now Ohio Ordnance Works has like new FN govt profile (A-2 surplus) barrels for $175. Best shooting 20" for the coins right now unless you want the Colt for $200. Either one will be hard to beat unless possibly a White Oak for just a little more but the White Oak will be heavier. The BM should be a great shooter but if you bought the FN you could sell the BM on the EE and have a like new barrel for a little of nothing. I personally don't really care for M-4 profile and I would think you could do better than the BM for less money although the two BM M-4's I've shot were pretty impressive but they were complete new post ban carbine's for $599 on sale. My J&T lw 16" carbine's were just a little better and one of them tries to get bought every time it get's shot. Probably as accurate a 16" non free float 1-9 twist as any without going to a bull barrel but you're on the A-2 forum for a reason. Buy the FN or Colt if you want to change.

I second the Colt or FN barrel. They are pretty inexpensive and excellent barrels. I have 2 of the FN barrels. One on my A2 and one on my A4. Both are excellent shooters. A friend of mine has a Colt barrel on his A2 and it's also an excellent shooter. BM barrels are good, but why not get the real deal for your rifle? Especially if it's right around the same price?

Well first off I reported the thread to the mods to be moved, as it's not really A2-forum material anymore.
http://www.dpmsinc.com/store/products/?prod=5601&cat=1919
Though it would take a few months, I love the idea of a light-profile barrel that's chrome lined, but in a twist fast enough for 77grn bullets. Or I was thinking a Green Mountain 1-12, as that would make the best use of cheep 55grn and be the most accurate with 22LR conversions. I could get one of those FN barrels, and they are attractive. 1/7 twist, chrome lined, the FSB is already mounted, 4150 steel, and I could always send the barrel to ADCO later to be turned down into an A1 profile. [ducks bullets slung by hardcore A2 fans).

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