AK Sponsor
Posted: 11/18/2004 10:57:03 AM EDT
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Where can I get a true AKM receiever? I don't want an OOW receiver for my Polish build. Also, does the entire gun have to be refinished after it is assembled? Scott |
The animal doesn't exist in new form. No one is selling a new production correct AKM receiver.  The closest your going to get is a FEG or a Romanian . . . converted single stacks don't count. This is why I got into bending my own flats. My rifles are as authentic as I want them to be. _Disconnector_ |
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Egyptian rifles are made on Russian tooling... Hungarian rifles are also considered near perfect receivers for a Russian clone... The problem is both come with parts already attached to them, as in they are complete rifles. Just finding a bare receiver for each of these is almost impossible. But if you want an authentic European style receiver, those are the 2 best choices. |
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the old hesse receivers were about the best we ever had, as far as looks went. you might search for one, but good luck! i keep hearing rumors of hungarian receivers coming in...but, i haven't seen any steel as of today. personally, i would built that sucker on an oow and see if barrels really do turn white hot. |
| You would have to get a Romanian and have the scope mount removed. The Romanian SAR series reciever is the only true AKM receiver to ever come into the US. All the other receivers from other countries were made for US export in semi-auto only that is why they do not have the Y stamp for the auto sear pin. Armory USA is coming out with a 1.0 mm receiver that is close but it will not be perfect either. The Maadi receiver's are very close but lack some small details. |
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Owen80, The pic below is a '93 Intrac import Maadi. Please explain the "small details" the Maadi's are missing. Also, I'm confused by your claims about the semi-automatic SAR1 sold in the US. Since real AKM's are full-auto by definition, what makes you think the SAR is any more correct then any of the other imports? 
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I'm not attempting to explain anything, but I just checked and my '94 Maadi RPM does not have the Y stamp for the FA sear pin. I'm surprised to learn the RPM receiver is different. |
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The main difference is that there is no hole far a happy sear, without that all you have is a second rate abortion, period. No auto sear=not in any way an authentic AKM. A semi auto only gun is not an AKM, but rather a rifle desgined to look much like a real AKM, but a wannabe all the same. I love my second rate, wannabe, inauthentic rifles all the same, why spend so much time and energy worrying about minor details that will not make your semi rifle any more of an AKM than if you were to add X and Y axis marks to a 10/22. |
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Mbakercad, I’d be surprised if anyone can explain the Maadi’s. I have three of them, the 93 Intrac import in the picture, which has the Y stamp, a 93 marked Intrac that was actually imported in 94 that doesn’t have the Y stamp and a late 97 CAI import that also lacks the stamp. Then there’s the threaded barrel issue. The Intrac’s, as far as I can tell, all have a threaded muzzle covered with a welded on thread cover. The PARS guns, which came in after the Intrac’s, came in with no threads at all. The CAI guns, which came in after the PARS, generally have the shaved muzzle, but not always. My 97 CAI gun was just like my Intrac’s, threaded muzzle covered by a welded on nut. It’s all too bad really, since the very early Steyer imports were such nice guns clearly the factory was capable of producing quality stuff if they wanted to. |
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Can I get some answers to these questions please..... What is the correct finish for a Polish AKM? Does the entire gun have to be refinished after it is assembled, if a new parts kit was used? How do I get the selector stops and engraving put into the reciever like on a select fire AK? |
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Unfortunately, finnishes vary among AKs even from just one country. Russian rifles exhibit different black finnishes from lot to lot as they left the factory. Some were refinnished at the armorer or divisional levels. Same goes for Polish or Bulgarian or Romanian rifles, etc. Remember, even US automobile paint lots vary from year to year. Polish rifles were very well built. I expect the finnish was among the more consistant you would find in combloc AKs. Personally I like the Eastwood Co(car stuff) black chasis 70% gloss paint for a variety of my AK rifles. They sell it in spray cans or in liquid quart containers for those folks who have air compressors to use for painting. The Eastwood chasis paint is pretty durable and a good medium deep shade of black. I don't have an airbrush so I use the rattle cans. Order a lot more paint than you need if you are going to use spray cans. I never use more than a little more than half a can of spray paint. After you use the first half can, the rest of the paint does'nt spray exactly the same as the first half can does. You can avoid a lack of consistantcy by buying more cans of paint. If you use an airbrush you can avoid that problem entirely. If you are replacing parts on the rifle, you will most probably want to refinnish the entire weapon as you will notice diferrences in the new part color and the original finnish. Paint the hard to get to areas FIRST ie: inside the trigger guard, the hard to reach areas around the front sight base, etc. After you get the small detail areas, you can start coating the larger surfaces. I also heat cure this paint. I set an oven at 400-450 degrees for about 45 minutes for an entire rifle. I think most folks don't use as high heat or duration of heat as I do, but I have gotten excellent results this way so I will continue to do it like that. You can use parts of clothing wire hangers to suspend your freshly painted rifle from one oven rack over head. This way, none of the newly painted areas will be ruined by contact with a tray or such. HTH |
So it would be safe to assume Polish AKs have a painted finish? Is this painted finish on the entire rifle or just the reciever? Scott |
| Some of the early Polish rifles were blued as well. The minor difference in the SAR series receiver and most of the MAADI recievers is the Y stamp for the auto sear pin and the corresponding stamping on the other side of the receiver as well. The ARM in the pic was one of very few that came in with the Y stamp on the receiver, some even accidently came in and got distributed with the auto sear hole drilled. Those were recalled by the ATF. Most of the AKM receivers on complete rifles imported had a selector lever stop on them not allowing the selector to go down past the fire position. Which is funny because where they stop now is the full auto range. Like I have mentioned before the SAR series was standard military production and it has been reported several times by several credible people some of which were military personel that some Romanian guards were only issued semi-auto SAR's as their issued rifle. Thus technically making the SAR a real AKM. Yes the A stands for Avtomat oh well. The SAR series receiver also is the newer AKM,AK74 style of receiver too since there is trigger bumps for the pin. |
I observed Polish AKMS in Bosnia in 1998 in the hands of Polish troops, VERY close up. They were parkerized in a middle-to-light grey that was wearing off. |
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The only polish rifle I have is the underfolder kit from GT's. The receiver cover, underfolder stock are blued, the rest looks painted. The bolt carrier is mill finish. Im going to keep it in the same coloring paint finish format as it appears. Dont realy know if it is historicly correct. after I assembled it for the most part I wondered why it was this color, thought maybe it had something to do with the color of the uniforms. I have thought about not even finishing the rifle because everything is still good...just a slightly used look |
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