My loving wife gave me two receivers she ordered off of Brownells at the recommendation of a friend. I however, do not know the proper placement of holes, or where to start. I have tried to search the forums with no real luck. Does anyone know where I can score some blueprints or a layout for both? I am new to the AK family, so some advice on what to stay clear of on parts and accessories would be great. As well as your experiences on what saves money. Thank you for your time, and look forward to speaking with some of you soon.

Not the best way to start your AK relationship, 80%s are pretty advanced for a new guy.

Look here. Good luck.

And get them heat treated before you do anything with them.

Not the best way to start your AK relationship, 80%s are pretty advanced for a new guy.

Thats what I thought, too.


Look here. Good luck.

Thanks, do you know if someone makes a jig by chance?

And get them heat treated before you do anything with them.

Heat treat even before drilling, and installing the rails?

You can find the blueprints in PDF form all over the internet.   Are these AK47 receivers?

http://igor.chudov.com/manuals/AK47/AK-47-Receiver-Blueprint.pdf

AK Builder sells a jig. It's not perfect but, it works.

It is best to weld in the rails first, then heat tread, then drill the holes. A couple of problems you may run in to.

Option #1
1. The rails should be the same steel as the receivers in order to be heat treated together. not a problem as there are now Polish rails available to go with these receiver shells.

2. If you weld the rails in first, the receivers now have to be transferred to an 07FFL for any work done to them because now they are more than 80%. They should also have a serial # at this point so the FFL can log them in and out.

3. You get your receivers back and drill the holes.

Option #2
1. Get receiver and rails heat treated separately. FFL not required. Rails can be US made 4130.

2. Weld in the rails.

Note; I have found the it takes more heat to spot weld heat treated parts than it does when they are still annealed. This step usually requires more heat than the popular Harbor Fright 115v spot welder can provide. I have not been able to get reliable welds post HT with this welder. Possibly the 240v will work better. I am TIG welding them in until I find a better spot welder.

3. Drill holes.

The paperwork from Brownells says AKM/AKMS Receiver Blank and Tantal/AK74 Receiver Blank.

I guess I am not searching the correct terms in Google. I am a little intimidated by this project. Any advice ?

Click on the "Look here" link above. Scroll to the bottom of the page, click on "AKM-Tang Buttstock"

Couldn't he just treat the ejector and call it a day on the lower rails?  I used to heat treat the lower rails but after discussion here now I only heat treat the ejector.

You can but, why? You can buy rails that are already heat treated. The receiver needs to be heat treated also. The 1050 steel used on the Polish blanks will not harden well using the MAP gas and quench method used on US made 4130 receivers. Even if it would work, the rest of the receiver would still be very soft.

Having played with those Polish shell before and after heat treating, there is no way I would advise anyone to build a rifle without getting them done. The difference is like night and day.

So after looking at a bunch of sights. I found a few templates/blueprints. Is there a difference in rivet whole on a AKM and a Tantal? If so what are they?