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Posted: 1/13/2010 4:16:17 PM EDT
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I had a Bulgarian ak 74 built by Chris Horn ( Horn’s custom rifles). I wanted to give a report on his over all build.
I bought the 74 kit from arms of america and had it sent right to his shop. I originally wanted it converted into a pistol, but decided I wanted a full size 74. He built the gun for me and said he would give me a deal. I sent the gun to him early September. I tried to put a down payment on the gun, but he would’t take it. The kit was in his shop for about 2.5 months and upon completion he called me to let me know it was done. The game of phone tag began. I would call him and leave a voicemail and he would call me and do the same. Because of our game of phone tag it appeared that the “deal” he had promised was no longer. He also said that this was the longest a rifle sat in his shop without being paid for with out being sold to someone else. Long story short I finally received the rifle in December. Upon receiving the rifle I inspected it and immediately noticed that the rivets were mashed and beat up pretty badly for someone who calls himself a “great ak builder.” IMO if I were great at something my work would show it. I shot around 100 rounds through it and decided I should probably have another gunsmith look at it before I really put some rounds through it. I sent it to Mike at firingline. He inspected it, commented on the rivet work, and then said that the head-spacing was off. He said that if it wasn’t fixed there could be possible case failure, broken shells and separation, and/or possible blow up of the rifle. So here I am spending more time and money having it fixed. I wanted to post this so that people out there would think twice about who they have work on their firearms. I thought I had found a quality builder. I’ll admit I was looking for a deal and in the end it costs more time and money for something I am not even sure I want to have in my collection. Let me know your thoughts. I’ll be posting this in several locations on the ak forum. |
Thanks for the heads up, and sorry this has happened to you.
Oh the power of the Net.
| Well if my memory serves me correctly, you're lucky you even got a kit from Arms of America, because they are just a new name for Joeken. Read all about them, just ton's of grief. While I haven't heard much good about Horn's, it's just funny that all these companies [AOA, Joeken, & Horn's] are from the same little slice of AZ. There are many great builders who post regularly on the various forums. ARS is one that comes to mind. While he is not afraid to say what is on his mind, & this upsets some people, his work is EXCELLENT. Firing Line is also good. I deal with Don's in Ft. Myers Fl. Good luck with your gun. GARY N4KVE |
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Quoted:
I build my own and have not used any builders. If I was going to send one to a builder, would check out the various AK sites for information about builders before making a decision. Horn has a snazzy AK Web. site. with lots of people posting happy results dealing with him. |
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