I have an Arsenal that I decided to replace the hand guard with a Magpul AK/AKM. After a lot of fitting on the lower hand guard I got it in and it fits great. I had to take off the upper tabs that go in the recover, but it fit nice and tight.  The upper hadguard went in with no issues, but I can’t get the retainer level to go down. I have tried squeezing it down and nothing. I have tried to push it forward and nothing. Any ideas?

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the spring is keeping it from dropping in. Try some rearward pressure while pushing down. It can and will drop in.

I assume rearward is towards the stock. I tried that and every time I turn the level it pushes the hand guard toward the muzzle. Damn I suck at AK’s.....

On the bottom of the tube you will see a notch, in the base you will see a place that notch needs to go. It is not going all the way down. Work on that and it will close fine. You can use a mallet or something to convince it but it will go by hand.

This but I would not use a mallet - there may be something about the upper or the lower handguard which is preventing the tube notch from mating up.  I assume that you were able to get lower handguard retainer to seat properly.  Try installing the gas tube alone without the upper handguard to see if you can determine what is holding it back.  Also, sometimes I have found that the upper handguard retainer lever on certain guns can be very tight and there is not a lot of leverage to get it to close, so I have gently used a pair of pliers to get it to go but increasing the leverage. However, if you see the gas tube deflecting in a strange way while trying to close the lever, stop because you could mess something up.  I think if you can figure out what is stopping the gas tube from engaging the notch the rest will take care of itself.  Let us know what the problem tuned out to be.

I ended up getting it on, but not 100% sure what the problem was. I just twist d it back and forth while trying to close the lever and it closed. I couldn’t see a notch on the bottom. Who knows....

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Magpul is pretty tight, heres what I did.

While placing downward pressure on the gas tube lever with one hand, give the top handguard/gas tube a couple palm strikes with the other. Very light taps with a rubber mallet works too but it isnt really needed.

Glad to see I'm not the only one having issues with this.

On my WASR 10/63, it was a little tight, but went on. However with my Draco, I had to give up and go back to wooden upper handguard. Actually like that look.

I'll keep the Magpul lower to mount lights to.

Regardless, I do like how tight and snug the Magpul handguards are. Big difference to the loose Hogue handguards I had. Hogue was more slimline and comfortable with the grip, but had to use Gorilla tape to build up the endcap where the handguard retainer goes.

Probably due to the loose tolerances of AK’s which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The gas tube just isn't all the way down. OP probably figured this out like 10 minutes after he posted.

Just loosen the latch, smack down the gas tube all the way and then retighten it.

While normally I am all for using a rubber mallet, please stop doing this guys, you can break that lever.

Problem with the Magpul handguard is on some AK's it is too tall dimensionally, it's the bottom of the guard itself hitting the shelf on the lower handguard.

Don't force it, take the guard off the tube, simply lay a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface, and gently sand the bottom of the upper handguard piece a few strokes at a time, checking and re-checking fit because you still want it to be a nice tight fit.

Have installed at least two dozen sets of these handguards, and had to do this procedure on almost all of them.

I meant using the mallet/palm striking on the gas tube/upper handguard to push it down while using your hand to move the lever down

Downward pressure on the upper handguard/gas tube gives just enough to move the gas tube lever.

I would go with this before using a mallet or excessive pressure. I believe the height of the handguard is the problem too. I'm sure Magpul wants a nice, clean seam, and maybe the took the dimensions from a specific AK. But we're talking AKs...not all the parts fit the same on each one. Did it come with a note saying, "Some fitting may be required"?

No but I personally think all AK accessories should come with that note. Truly i'd rather them be oversize than drop-in, you can make a nice custom fit that way, I hate having to add material on undersize parts.

Says it on their website, cant remember if its on the packaging

Ahh well, it's probably in the manual as well, but ya know, fuck RTFM'ing, my balls are too big for that shit.