Armory Sponsor
Posted: 11/23/2016 6:25:50 PM EDT
|
I bought a parts kit last year. I then bought a charger guide top cover and DSA selector, bought a Coonan receiver from a member here and had him install the barrel, headspace it and install the locking shoulder, and cut the barrel down to 17.2" and rethread and recrown it, as well as make the cuts for the top cover tabs. The barreled receiver, top cover, and bolt group ended up being stolen. USPS said they dropped it off at the mailbox of the FFL; the mailbox is at the curb and the FFL said they didn't have it. So either the postman stole it (or facilitated the same), was an idiot and dropped off a package on the sidewalk, or the FFL is lying or incompetent. USPS denied the insurance claim because in their eyes it was delivered (and couldn't give two shits about it being a firearm). So I wrote that off. A few hundred dollars down the drain there.
This is what it would have looked like, but with a shorter barrel and DSA selector (and a new receiver, of course). I also got some non bipod cut handguards to go with it and would have installed QD swivels and a short rail for a light. 
Anyhow, I got a replacement for the top cover (in better shape, too, and I didn't have to get it shipped from Belgium this time). I got an IMBEL receiver from the FAL Files group buy. I also got a Belgian barrel and gas system. I decided to use my FNC combo device instead of the IMBEL FAL one since it matched the barrel, which is parkerized. Still needs to have the barrel properly installed and headspaced, but I'll need to get a bolt and carrier first (I've had a heck of a time finding a bolt, especially). I'll be getting the lower and some small parts parkerized, as well as the handguard metal. If I can find a bolt and carrier in time, I may well have this done by the end of the month. I'll have about $900 into this one, not including FFL fees and such. This is what I have so far. I intend to replace the swivels with QD ones. I just need to figure out where the best places to install them on the handguard and buttstock are. I'll probably use a Noveske flush mount cup for the handguard and a Grovtec cup for the stock, and the Blue Force Gear 1.25" QD swivels. 
|
| Bolt and carrier are on the way. I'll have this thing done by the end of the week on the inside, two weeks on the outside. Depends on the schedule of the gunsmith and whether or not he'll have the correct locking shoulder in stock. Then it's off to the range for zeroing and figuring out the swivel thing. |
| Sweet! I picked up my receiver from the same buy and it looks amazing. I tried screwing some stuff together so I can at least see what it'll look like and I just can't figure out the gas tube assembly. I also need a bolt catch assembly. That's just from the stuff that I can see as a novice. Who are you having do the build? |
|
Quoted:
Sweet! I picked up my receiver from the same buy and it looks amazing. I tried screwing some stuff together so I can at least see what it'll look like and I just can't figure out the gas tube assembly. I also need a bolt catch assembly. That's just from the stuff that I can see as a novice. Who are you having do the build? I was going to do it myself, but the barrel undertimes severely and is bottoming out on the breech face, so it'll have to go to a 'smith. I intend to use AR15 Barrels. $100 for barrel installation, including any lathe work, and including headspace determination and locking shoulder installation if I have one to install (or if he has one available for purchase in the correct size). He can also ream out the combo device so that it times correctly and refinish some of the parts. I'm going to ask if he can do the tab cuts and open up the rear sight aperture; if not, there's another place that can do it, but I'd prefer one stop. Everything else I can and did assemble myself, it's not hard. The FAL is pretty simple when it comes down to it. As for the gas tube, you just screw it into the gas block. Slip on the retaining nut all the way before threading the barrel onto the receiver (and remember to have the handguard retainer on the barrel and oriented correctly). Screw the barrel on as far as you can, and then back it off until the first point that it times correctly, and screw the gas tube retaining nut into the receiver and slip the handguard retainer back into place. When you actually do the build, you'll need to also install the gas tube retaining pin. |
| Someone on Calguns looking to do a Saiga conversion said he was booked for the next year. I'll be e-mailing him today and hope that's not the case, because that means I'll have to find someone else, and I'm loathe to ship this thing anywhere given what happened to me earlier this year. |
|
Quoted:
Very nice. I want one of those FNC combo devices. They pop up periodically on the FAL Files. I would have been happy with the Para SAW combo device, too. Same as the FNC, but with a groove added between the wrench flats and the flash vents, and counts as a US-made part. Takes off over one and a half ounces of weight abd I find them much more aesthetically pleasing. Originally, it was slated for another project, but with DSA's titanium combo devices out, I'll be using one of those for that project, and hopefully can find a machinist who can work with titanium and relocate the flats and give it a wasp waist like the FNC device. |
|
Got the last of my parts in besides the locking shoulder and gas tube retaining pin. I have an appointment on the 9th of January with a gunsmith to do the build. He'll machine the combo device so that it times correctly (if I were to do it myself, I'd use red Loctite; apparently that's how some armourers did it and it worked), remove material from the barrel so it will time correctly and then torque it on, determine headspace (and if he has a locking shoulder of the right size in-stock and I buy it, he'll install it as well), make the tab cuts on the receiver, and parkerize some of the parts so that the finishes will match reasonably well. It's too bad that the barrel times by hand so badly, otherwise I'd save the money and just try to borrow the tools and do it all myself except for the tab cuts, which I'd have a machinist do.
I have a year to decide whether or not to register this thing as an AW or figure out how to fix the magazine such that it can be removed without too much difficulty for maintenance and unloading and without permanently modifying any major part such that the magazine is compliant with our new laws. I also still need to figure out how to do QD swivels on it. 
|
|
The barrel got worked on and torqued on, headspace done, refinishing work done, tab cuts done, and the rear sight opened up to ghost ring dimensions.
Well, now that everything's been assembled back home, I've realized that the guy almost certainly ruined my barrel. He removed too much material from the breech to get it to time correctly. The case head still appears to have decent support from what I've been told on the FAL Files, but the chamfer has been eliminated and it can't be fed from a magazine. Friggin' awesome. 
After assembly, I also learned that my top cover needs repair (the bolt carrier seized last night), as it is collapsed a bit (I knew that it wasn't perfect, but I didn't realize it was that bad) and I probably needs to thoroughly clean the lower so that the frame lock assembly will install properly (it's functional for now, at least); I think beads from the blasting may be gumming up areas causing issues with fit, as the parts work on other lowers. So a lot of work to go and lot more money and headache (and trying to figure out if I can get my money back from the gunsmith (F4U, stay far away from the guy we were talking about if you think your rifle will need anything more than just torqueing the barrel on and headspacing). Really sucks. What it looks like assembled, currently. 
|
Armory Sponsor