I've seen the barrel threading "kits" available from several websites. They have the 14x1 LH die, the thread alignment tool and the 1.5" die handle usually for around 60-ish.

Is this difficult to do ? I was told on another forum it was nearly impossible to get a thread started by hand that would be true to the bore.


What do you guys think ?


Any suggestions and/or advice ?

On the saiga-12 forums, people do it all the time.

Check this video out too, looks easy enough, I'd do it should a rifle need threading.

Threading Video

Thank you Fin. That is exactly what I was looking for !

Easy! Go slow, take your time, make sure the rifle is clamped [don't rely on your buddy to hold it], use oil in the barrel for the TAT as well as for cutting and flushing particles of metal.

I just did my SAR-1 earlier this spring. Go slow, make sure the rifle is clamped securely to something, and use plenty of oil/lube. Not rocket science. Go for it.

Unless you are experienced with taps and dies, you stand a good chance of getting the threads crooked, too big or too small. It could happen even if you are experienced. Fortunately most AK muzzle attachments are so short that it really doesn't matter, but the longer ones (over 1") might be obviously crooked and require work to make them safe to shoot. There is also the matter of removing/replacing the front sight base to do it right.

I was loaned a TAT and DIE from arfcom member Preemptive strike (awesome individual!) to thread my SAR 1. After he explained to me how the tool works it was EASY to do the job. The key is to go slow, use a generous amount of cutting fluid and back the die off frequently to shed the chips of metal out. The TAT pretty much makes the job fool proof if you take your time.

Very easy. One of the easiest thing I've done with regard tor rifles. Used a TAT of course. As the poster above said, back off the die a lot and use lots of cutting fluid. It is surprisingly easy and I had zero experience with cutting threads using a die and very minimal experience using a tap.

The only real trick is to make sure the cutting die is adjusted correctly.
You want to start out with shallower depth threads until you get it threaded, then cut to full depth.
The trick is you don't want the starting threads to be too shallow or too deep.

You want to have the TAT screwed into the die only a couple of turns to give yourself plenty of range when threading.
If the TAT is in too far, you'll only be able to get a couple of threads cut, and it's too easy to get things cross threaded if you have to back the die off to get more room on the TA

Other tricks are:
Hold the rifle with a vise.  You can't really control things if you're trying to hold the rifle by hand.

With the barrel in a padded vise, muzzle up, use aluminum foil to form a funnel around the barrel to catch the chips as the die cuts them.  Note that the chips are SHARP and will embed in shoes, bare feet and into floors.  In your shoes they're ruin a floor when you walk over it.

Put a patch or some paper towel down the barrel a couple of inches to prevent chips from dropping down the bore and into the action.
Push the plug out from the rear so the chips are ejected from the barrel.

Use PLENTY of cutting fluid, NOT common oils.
Lube the TAT device well.

Most important, just PAY ATTENTION.  This isn't a hard job, but if you don't attend to the small details you can botch it up.

Finn:

Thanks for posting the video. It was very helpful.

One question: Did you guys see the end of the cut threads in the video (the shoulder against which the brake or the washer is going to butt against). It was a mess, very choppy. Is this just the way a tap and die will leave the cut threads? Any way to clean-up the face of this shoulder?

PS: I don't mean to criticize the maker of the video. He did a better job than I could and he prepared a nice video.

Here's some good instructions from a tap and die maker:

http://preciseinnovationsllc.com/threadinginstructions.htm

If you look before he cuts the threads that area was a mess before. He states that he already cut off the barrel shroud with a cut off disk.

I threaded my SAR and it didn't make that mess near the FSB.

One thing I wouldn't do that he did is lock in the TAT with a nut, theres no need to and you don't gain anything by doing so IMO. Also I put the TAT deep into the die and as soon as you have 4-5 threads cut I'd remove the TAT altogether (don't even remove the die just thread the TAT out the back side and continue cutting) to avoid bottoming the die out and ruining the threads if the TAT hits the muzzle (learned that the hard way which you can see in the pic).

Don't you need to remove the front sight, to thread it far enough?

The pic above is with the FSB still attached while I threaded the barrel. As you can see the die gets very close so there's no need to remove the FSB. The spring loaded detent pin wasn't in yet though I installed that after I threaded the barrel. If you have the pin already installed you could remove it then reinstall it for the threading or find a way to keep it pushed in for the threading.

Also, to get the threads close to the front sight base, you finish the threading by reversing the die so it can cut closer to the base.

Look at the cutting die and you can see that the starting side has a bevel into the threads.  The other side has very little.