Will 5.56x45 trunnions fit in a 5.45x39.5 receiver?  If not, is there a 5.56x45 receiver made by someone?

Are you talking about K-Var's parts kit in .223 for a stamped receiver? I have no clue myself, but my best guess is that you have to sacrifice a Saiga .223 carbine. That's what Marc Krebs does for both his .223 and 5.45x39 AK-74/101 variants. It would probably be best to give him a call and have him make you one.

Another alternative is to buy the AK-101 AK-USA sells. It's basically a Saiga .223 carbine mated with geniune Russian/Bulgarian parts like the Krebs conversion. Tec_Nine just bought one, and he likes it. Look for it on this section.

The trunion will fit (or can be made to fit) any stamped receiver. More work involved if it's a Chinese receiver.

Mike

Thanks for the replys.  I am talking about a parts kit in .223 for a stamped receiver.  I saw that OOW offers both a 7.62 and a 5.45 receiver but have not located any info on 5.56 receivers.  I'am wanting to build on my own mainly because I enjoy working in the shop and this project appears to be a hard one.  I was putting off calling OOW until I could get info from members.  I wanted as much info as possible before I spoke to somebody that may just be attempting to sale product and in fact really dos'nt know much.  Valmet M76, what ajustments are commom in making a trunnion fit?

Will the 5.45 or 7.62 OOW receiver handle the higher pressure of .223 rounds Mike? I thought the Saiga receiver was beefed up somewhat.

I wonder who does this conversion. It would certainly be more appealing to have the dimples than sacrificing a Saiga.

The bolt and trunion assembly do nearly all of the work. The receiver just holds things like the buttstock on, provides a place to mount the bolt rails, provides a place for the bolt carrier to do its work and provides a place to pin the actuating mechanism. (trigger group)
The receiver also holds the trunion, but not a great deal of stress is transferred to the receiver. If there was a lot of stress those little rivits would shear off. I mean sure there is some stress but an AK receiver is not doing the same job a receiver on say like a Remington M700 does.

The 223 trunion fits the rest of the 223 parts, mainly the BOLT. All the fitting that is needed is to get the trunion in the receiver. Minor filing and fitting.

However, the tricky part is getting everything square and parallel with the receiver. But that is something fat peasant women with presses and moustaches have been doing for 50 years.

Mike

Who builds a .223 rifle then on a stamped OOW (5.45 or 7.62) or FEG receiver? It would be a hell of a lot more expensive than an AK-74 Bulgarian kit, but yet again, it's .223.

I think Arsenal's upcoming SAM-5S is still the better option for those who are not too big of a fan of the Saiga.

Edited to add: And another question. What rifles were these "stamped" kits from anyway, if the Bulgarians chose a milled receiver for their .223 rifles then? Are these from rifles that were made but later destroy or were these the parts for some Bulgarian .223 rifle for NATO? That's what confuses me about this whole thing. I have no idea about the history of .223 rifles. I sure wish Arsenal would clarify some of this, especially the .223 Bulgarian waffle mags everyone snatched up.

Milled receiver Bulgarian single stack mag 223s are all I've ever even heard of being imported into the USA. Global Trades made some 223 bulgarian parts 223s a while back using milled receivers.

Recent postings on this board reveals that in Germany there are stamped receiver Bulgarian 223 rifles.

And then, just so we don't all forget, the SAR 3 is a 223 HiCap AK built on a Romanian AK74 receiver. The SAR 3 isn't exactly right but it shows the receiver itself isn't critical.

The KVar 223 kits are expensive which keeps me from having one built. But I would NOT put a $500 kit on a $50 receiver. I'd use a SAR 2 or SAR 3 as a donor. I'm not sure what parts you need to make a SAR 3 more correct....or even if you can get those individual parts you'd need.

When you go that (kit) way you will end up having close to $1000 in a 223 AK.

Uh, you can buy a preban 223 ak for that or less. I've seen plenty of Valmet M76s in the $1000 range.

Mike

The kits that K-var sells where originaly meant to be built on milled receivers.  The bolt is made in the old 47 style and size and has a spring loaded firing pin.  The barrel diameter (of my kit) is 23mm in the mounting area which means by adding an AKM trunion, you could build it on a stamped receiver (I believe but there may be an issue about the feed ramp.  K-var still hasn't answered my question on that).

Some of the more informed people I have spoken to question the fact that Bulgaria has ever made a stamped receiver.  They believe all the stamped receivers shells were made in Russia and sent to Bulgaria for finishing into rifles (including the RPK's).  I tend to believe this because my own logic asks why machine a milled receiever when stamped shells are faster and less labor intensive.  Even now on Arsenal's web site, they have added a milled RPK-74 to list of products they sell.  It just doesn't make sense unless thats all they can make.  Plus Jimmy from Global is having his stamping dies made there, and when I asked why not just buy their dies he said "what dies?"

Brick

Alright. Something tells me either go with the Saiga conversion OR wait for the SAM-5S to come out.

Thanks for the input guys. I really wish I had more time to dive into this stuff and learn how to build some of this s#$%. Yet again, don't we all wish we had $1 billion in the bank to do wtf we wanted?

Thanks for all the info,  as I read through the replies it seems that I would only have minor problems in fitting the 5.56 parts in the OOW receiver.  Which receiver would save me more time in fitting parts(5.45 or 7.62).  Looks of the rifle are of secondary concern to me, I'am more concerned about the gun being safe, rugged and reliable.  

Quoted: Thanks for all the info,  as I read through the replies it seems that I would only have minor problems in fitting the 5.56 parts in the OOW receiver.  Which receiver would save me more time in fitting parts(5.45 or 7.62).  Looks of the rifle are of secondary concern to me, I'am more concerned about the gun being safe, rugged and reliable.

I would strongly recommend calling someone like Marc Krebs for a project like this. He uses Saiga receivers for his .223 builds with Bulgarian parts. Chris Butler at AK-USA does the same, although I think he uses Russian components (barrel and gas block) vs. Bulgarian. I'm not sure though. Nevertheless, call both.