Finally finished it up after a ton of headaches with refinishing the wood. I still want to get a vented gas tube and swap the gas block out with a 45 degree to complete the russian type 3 look but im thinkin im just going to have someone with the proper tools do that, its not as simple as an AR.

Arsenal M7 Carbine, refinished Russian type 3 laminate furniture, polished carrier, slant muzzle brake.

Looks awesome! Nice job OP. An AK is on my "want" list for sure. It's going to be trumped by my NEED list, which is a Sig Sauer P238 after today

very nice rifle...

Fricking Sweet!!! Nice job!!

sweet.
The gas block is not so easy as the location and angle of the port are not the same.

Very nice.  I likey.

Good job!

So realistic looking toys are legal in WI?  

What finish did you use on the wood?  I am kind of curious about the issues you had with it, it turned out great.

Also curious about this......and that is a beautiful looking AK!  

 

Originally tried amber shellac, Ill have to say this stuff sucks to work with. I asked my uncle who builds fancy staircases and other woodwork for a living if he ever works with it and his exact reply was "I try not to".  I dont know if it was bad or what but it was a pain in the ass to put on and after playing with it for a couple weeks and finding the best way to get a smooth finish(first attempt had the texture of a raisin) I got the pieces all done and thought it was good to put back together and my hands left imprints in it.  This is after I let it sit for a couple days wet sanded and waxed it. I sanded the marks down, refinished it all again and let it sit for a week. Took it out to shoot and the heat bubbled the finish all up and the rest that didnt bubble had imprints of anything it touched. Got fed up, sanded it all the way down to the wood, stained with a few coats of minwax red mohogany and clear coated with 3 light coats of high temp clear(engine paint). The wood has sort of a holographic effect to it that doesnt show up in pictures, as you turn it different angles the light grain turns to dark and the dark to light. This is in the russian laminate and has nothing to do with the finish, the finish just brings it out.

Lordy that was a lot of work but next time you will listen to your Uncle.  I will give you credit for even trying shellac.  The end result with the Mahogany was a good choice because even in those pictures you can tell it probably looks even better than it does.

Yeah, that was a lot of work, just to have to strip it off.

Holy crap that looks nice!

Nice looking AK!!!  I like the look of the laminated wood.

My AK (a Maadi) came with laminated wood, but it had the crappy thumbhole "sporter" stock. To get rid of that hunk of junk wood, I did the Tapco conversion route to comply with 922r. Sand-blasted all metal parts down to bare metal, then dura-coated them. Installed Tapco trigger, hammer, disconnector, gas piston, muzzle brake, 3 pc O.D. green synthetic stock. A month or so after installing the Tapco stock set, I see another "new" Tapco stock set made of laminated wood, that's also 922r compliant. It comes in 3 colors, and one color (the black & grey, similar to what Ruger uses)  would be a perfect match for my duracoated in parker-grey AKM. It's on the far right of the 5 guns I've duracoated, below.