AK Sponsor
Posted: 10/9/2006 2:01:53 PM EDT
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For all those like me who are reading this board trying to decide if you want to tackle the same kind of project here are some tidbits from my experience: 1.)De-milling the kit was more of a pain than I thought it would be. Those factory rivets are in there tightly so take some time here. 2.)I got a kit with matching numbers. If you’re only gonna build one rifle, I’d suggest you do the same. It might cost $15-20 more but it’s probably worth it as, based on what I read, you’ll probably have less headspace issues. 3.)The barrel pin can really be a pain. I finally got mine out with a punch, a vise and a big 3 lb. hammer. You’ve probably read some horror stories about getting barrel pins out and I think it’s sort of luck of the draw. If the factory really gouged up that pin when it was originally inserted, you have my sympathy. 4.)I would suggest getting some decent tools before you begin the process. I used my drill press, bench vise, bench grinder, hammer, punches, vise-grips, pliers, and a plethora of home-made tools on this project. I don’t have a press and wasn’t going to spring for one and a selection of AK specific tools for a single build. For the trunion rivets, I used the modified bolt cutter tool. 5.)The front trunion rivets didn’t really go in as smoothly as I had hoped. I practiced on scrap pieces of metal before I took the plunge and thought I had a good feel for it. But, I ended up having to drill out a few of them and re-do. 6.)The front gas block was canted to the left and fixing it was probably one of the easiest things on the whole build. I just popped out the pins, straightened everything, re-drilled the holes to 1/8”, and inserted some little 1/8” pins. 7.)I couldn’t get the dimple correctly placed for the swell neck rivets in the front trunion so I drilled out the holes and used a larger 3/16” diameter rivet there instead. I actually turned down the head of the rivet so it wouldn’t appear too obvious that I had not used a swell neck there. 8.)Installation of the rear trunion gave me problems. I found that the factory rivets I had purchased for the job were too short and did not have enough length to form a good rivet head. After much fretting about what to do, I finally got fed up and tapped the trunion holes and inserted four button head screws. I red-loctited them and used a little JB Weld under the head for good measure. Of all the procedures I used for the build, this one bothers me the most as the thought of using any sort JB Weld on a gun doesn’t sit well but I figured the screws were doing most of the holding anyway. I also read all about successful screw builds but was really trying to stick to factory methods here. I actually turned down the heads of the screws as well so they didn’t appear to the casual observer to be screws instead of rivets. I plugged the hex head with JB Weld and smoothed over. You’d never know they weren’t rivets unless you looked really close. 9.)If you’re thinking that you’ll save some money by building a kit over getting something like a $350 WASR, think again. You MIGHT save some money, but in my case the kit itself, the extra rivets, compliance parts, and the hours/days I spent put me well over the $350 mark. This was a more challenging project than I had anticipated. Throughout the process, I kept wondering if all the work and frustration was worth it because, as any who has held an AK knows, they’re not exactly refined feeling machines. It seems like with this amount of work I should have ended up with a gun that shoots ¼” groups at 200 yards. |
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Not to put you down ........but that seems like a negative post. I'm proud to say I've built many a gun for less than $225 (with compliance parts). Thay are great shooters , sturdy and I don't have a machine shop. A grinder , vise , hand drill , and hammer is all you need , I finish a build in less than 5hrs and didn't start building until this year. All ya got to do is find deals and know what your doing. Don't be afraid to build. Especially if you are someone that can change his own oil |
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I can see how you'd think I was trying to put a negative spin on building. Really, I'm just trying to give my impression of what the experience was like for someone who was thinking about building a rifle in their basement. When I was first researching how to build one, I saw a few in-depth posts but lots of pretty high-level overviews on how to put one together. I figured I'd just post details on the challenges of building. It's not as simply as many would lead you to believe. I know the AK is simple and, after building, I have a more thorough understanding of how simple they are. But, because of that simplicity, they also don't yield much in the way of sophistication. I'm not sure what I was expecting and I think it's a neat rifle to examine but it was a little anti-climatic for me. Not trolling for trouble here, just stating my thoughts. |
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Hey dude, Sorry you had so much trouble. My first build went well, but I did spend a lot of time on it. I guess problems are all in how you look at and handle them. Like you, i'm not trolling for trouble here, Just posting my experiences, which obviously were different than yours. I can't ever see myself buying a store bought AK again unless I can't find it as a parts kit or unless it's a steal. My last romy "G" cost me less than $150 to build with compliant parts and not using a muzzle devise. Believe it or not. |
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I have to aggree the biggest pain in the ass is demilling the old kit. Removing the rear trunnion rivets is a bitch. Putting it back together and rivoting is the easy part. The kit's I put together, 1 was all matching and one was mixed. Bot shot just fine on the range. |
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SS06, I see your point but take a diffrent view of this hobby. I did not build my kits so that I could have a cheaper AK. I of course could have bought a finished rifle. I have rifles that cost more than enough to buy several quality prebuilt AKs. I wanted to take on the challange of rolling my own. I have finished three kits and am working on a fourth because the building is where the fun is. Dont get me wrong. I also love to shoot my AKs and I do shoot them all quite a lot. But, the fact that I put them together from kits and that this makes them unique, to me at least, adds a bit of spice to the fun. I even turned my son on to this pass time and he has found it to be truly enjoyable as well. Not to mention the shooting part. I shoot a lot both informal and in competition and can say that blasting away with home built AKs is right up there on my list of time well spent hobbies. Goose |
My thoughts exactly 
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I learned something this Saturday while working on my 3rd build, a M92 Krink. Use the slowest speed possible on your drill and you can cut through steel like butter. Also cobalt drill bits are the only way to go. Wish I knew about the drill speed sooner, would've saved alot of bits and frustration! |
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I agree with you completely. I love my AK now that it is finished, but it was alot more work than I had anticipated when I started the project. It's one of those things that if you have a press, a nice drill press, a grinder and a good solid vice, (along with all the jigs and special tools) then building one would be a snap. However, for the shadetree mechanic who just has a small vice, and a cheap grinder and drill press I ran into some challenges. All in all, I would happy with my sense of accomplishment when it finally went together, and I did order another kit simply because I felt it was kind of a waste to cut the bolt cutters, make jigs, etc. for just one rifle. Unfortunately, I had a B#@ch of a time getting the barrel pin out on my second kit and broke my vise trying to do the old "vice press" trick. I finally got it out by using a friends press, and am looking forward to building it as well. But when you figure the cost of the kit, tools (replacement tools for the stuff you break or ruin  ), receiver, and other parts for the US parts count, it does get rather pricy.By the way, another problem I encountered was refinishing the stock. It took alot more manual labor than I thought it would. I tried some old tricks to strip the Polyurethane and paint before I realized that they coated the stock with the same thing they armor their tanks with apparantly. I ended up having to sand it off the Romanian stock (By hand, cause I didn't want to add the cost of a sander to the ever escalating price of the rifle) Like I said, it is rewarding to know you built it yourself, but if you are looking for a cheap AK, forget it and save up the cash for a complete rifle. |
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