I was looking at these kits but the one thing that's throwing me is the fact they are dimpled along the barrel like the newer Saiga's. I was just curious as to how to replace a barrel with this kit for the obvious reason.



Thanks

I was wondering the same...

I just use a cobalt drill and drill out the dimple on each side and be ever so careful to go through the front sight base (or gas block) only, the tip of the drill should just touch the barrel no deeper than the width of the drill.

Then using a fixture (holder or whatever you have) and press off the front sight base. The area that the drill touches should be left along (just deburr) and press/align the new front sight base onto the barrel. Once you have your alignment set, then drill and pin with hardened pins.

If you are going to reuse the old parts, I would weld up the sideholes or if necessary replace the part with one that has pin bosses on the sides.

I think some guys have pressed their out.  Later they grind the inside and then install and pin them.

Doesn't  say too much on how well they will stay in place over time however, if they will come off that easy that is a much better way to go.

I am only concerned that parts are being staked onto rifle barrels, specifically if the stake (dimple) is deep enough to hold the parts securely to the barrel, what does that do to the inside of the barrel and the rifling ("for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction").

This low cost production process is pretty standard when making appliances and toys but I just cringe when I see it a applied to a firearm, even a "Sporting Rifle". Makes sense for an Air soft Rifle however, even those toy parts are getting very close if not usable (not recommending) on a real firearm (metal parts, wood parts, etc).

The barrel has dimples to receive the the metal pushed inward from the FSB and GB.

I takes a press to get them off.  I have a gun that I haven't gotten around to putting the pins in.  The FSB and GB are going nowhere.

I really don't think they are dimpling into the barrel too much to do anything on the inside.