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Posted: 6/7/2003 12:28:13 PM EDT
well, i headed to a friend's house this morning...early this morning...to pick up bulletfest targets and then do the gun show thing (like i need anything there?!?!?!)
da truck starts messin' up and i stop short in the gun show parking lot...deciding to pick up a dryer a bud hauled to the show and skeedaddle back home. what should walk in front of me...calling my name in a loud, primal scream? a vulgarian rpk! hmmm? what do we have here????? milled, double tang code 10 receiver, bulgy laminated furniture, full 23+" bbl./with bulgarian bipod (the sweet, heavy model!)...and...it is unfired according to the owner! i pop the top and yup, it's a safe queen! now...i gots to junk the fse fire control group and drop in a redstararms and lose the welded on ak-74 style brake and twist on a muzzle nut...oh, and junk the fse grip for a k-var copy of the bulgarian grip. then it will be presentable. the markings indicate this thing started life as one of global's slr-100h's. i'm gonna have to email jimmy and see if he built it or someone else slammed it together. whoever did it performed a complete refinish that looks as good as any safe queen's finish i've ever seen. the bore looks to be new...definitely not the romanian pipe. wonder where the hell someone found a bulgy bbl.? weird? templar...you have any info on this firearm or the pieces parts? |
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Campy, you forgot the most important part...how much did you score it for??
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mb...think "cheap"! it came with some 40 round mags with a "3" stamped on them (east german??? kind of a blued/black oxide finish).
blaze, cool! thanks for the info. the previous owner said he bought it new at a show. i still want to know where this builder is located/contact info...and where he scored the bulgy parts. i doun't remember any quantities of bulgy rpk front ends being on the market, other than a very small lot that k-var was selling at a very steep price tag! i got the gun for a little more than what k-var was asking for the parts. what kind of rpk is your current one? i still want to build a rpk-74...but k-var is still sitting on their incomplete parts kits....and i ain't getting any younger! forgot to add. the brake is a hokey usa made clone and is definitely welded on...plunger pin is functional. i'll see if i can get some pics up tomorrow...the wood looks good, but the buttstock is fitted poorly to the rear of the receiver. there is a good 1/16" gap to the stock's shoulder. |
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Bulletfest....BulletfestBulletfestBulletfestBulletfest.....its laughing at you Campy!...can you hear it?...I can...it is saying....Campy can't hit me..its taunting you Campy....the s-10 must die... |
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Cheap eh? Would that be my 'cheap' or your 'cheap'? How does it compare against the Arsenal Inc. RPK's?
I just bought Templar's RPK and I am wondering where I rate in the RPK club. |
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iirc...Gordon Tech did a small run of RPKs...are there any marks underneath the receiver?
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Your gonna love this: I just bought it a couple of months ago from a private owner. It was built with a new Romanian rpk kit, Russian wood, Russian plum pistol grip and a new Sar receiver. Don't how they got these parts but I can tell the barrel is as new. It is a beauty and shoots well. The guy who sold it to me is I believe VERY well off. Remember seeing the pictures a while back of the guy who had a complete room made into a safe and had every freaking weapon known to man mounted on the walls. Same guy had an indoor gun range in his house. He had it built for him by "drum roll please" Informer in early 2002. He sold it to me for a VERY good price. |
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Good score Campy!
I do not know of any manufacturer other than Arsenal Inc. that made RPK's, EXCEPT a couple that Gordon Technologies built around '99 or 2000. I kind of doubt they put it together, because they market their own fire control system, unless they built it for a guy who provided all the parts. K-Var had some kits, and like you stated, they were extremely expensive. The guys up in NY that Baransky was helping import for (can't remember their name right now) also brought in some Bulgy RPK kits. Does your bipod have the cleaning rod installed in one of the arms? Mbsk01, I hope you enjoy that rifle and take care of her, she's a beauty. I was just able to fire my new toy and it's great. Carry it every day at work now! |
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Templar,Campy,
those are the ones I was thinking of. Before Jerry started milling his own FCG, he was using the ones milled by BRP(Blue Ridge Precision ,aka Charles Bratton)That was before the huge blow up between the two. (Charges that BRP was turning out substandard parts). Iirc, there was less than 10 built by GT. Again iirc they weren't marked under the receiver, like INRange, and BRP but on the trunion under the lower handguard. He had gotten hold of the parts sets prior to Chief, and Progressive Arms(in BlackWater NY). Again if my old feeble brain holds true they sold for $1050. |
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Rot ! dude. That's it Blue Ridge Precision built the rpk I had like Campy's. It was put together great. Did not have the cleaning rod in the leg like the Arsenal USA ones did.
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templar,
thank's for chiming in...these aren't as easy to figure out as the yugo rpk's are! lol! I do not know of any manufacturer other than Arsenal Inc. that made RPK's, EXCEPT a couple that Gordon Technologies built around '99 or 2000. I kind of doubt they put it together, because they market their own fire control system, unless they built it for a guy who provided all the parts. this carries a 4-digit serial number in the mr3xxx range. hmmmm? "mr"...what the hech could the "mr" serial number prefix stand for? i'm drawing a blank. K-Var had some kits, and like you stated, they were extremely expensive. i bud picked up a minty kit and some extra parts to finish off the gun. sans receiver he had over 8 bones in the pieces parts. The guys up in NY that Baransky was helping import for (can't remember their name right now) also brought in some Bulgy RPK kits. tim, at progressive. they did? i was unaware of that...but it makes sense. keith had the bulgarian conection with kintex. Does your bipod have the cleaning rod installed in one of the arms? no. this is the generation that utilized the pair of turn screws to control the leg pivot tension. afaik, that was unique to the bulgies.. also, the weld pattern on the feet is unlike any i've seen...diamond tab with 4 spot welds in a diamond pattern. the wingnut friction locks for the leg extension/positioning is more typical of russian/bulgarian patterns. if this is a true bulgy bbl., i will keep it. i haven't found any unfletched arrow, so i'm hoping it is not romanian. any bulgy codes i should be seeing? blaze, so you think blue ridge built this begore going belly up? interesting...and veryy much a possibility. those guys built some great ak's and they built some real junk. the fse parts are throwing me, thought. surely, in the same time period jimmy streetman was cranking out slr-100h's (the year 2000), brp had commenced the manufacture of their own fire control parts. if i remember my cronology correctly, the ssr-99 (new bulgarian parts) preceeded the slr-99p (used polish parts) which preceeded the slr-100h. (used hungarian parts). all built on new, imported bulgarian receivers from arsenal kazanlak (code 10). ah...the mystery deepens! is it really a 100% vulgarian rpk? did blue ridge build this beauty? tomorrow, the magnifying glass and better lghting! |
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CB, BRP didn't turn out any milled FCGs until about 6mos before they dissolved. Afaik, the only people to use the BRP milled fcgs was BRP and GT. I currently own 2 BRPs 1 has the milled, 1 has the FSE(early production, with a later ser#, go figure!). After Charles and his partner split the business he still had a bunch of milled sets in his garage, I was going to get a set from him, then he stopped answering emails. The 2 I own are of very high quality, and a couple of my favorites. His guns were marked BRP on the under side of the receiver just forward of the mag well.(Just like INRange). I know he built some stamped receiver guns, and also some underfolders(welded open), but I do not recall seeing any rpks. He did do custom builds though. Blaze, you are correct sir, he built some nice stuff, and I am proud of the 2 I own. |
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OK...I went to the back of "The Batcave" and looked at my BRPs...
1 is marked BRP, 1 is not. the serial number range is MR 19XX, and MR 09XX the one with the higher serial number is older, and has the FSE internals. The lower number one has the (nice) BRP engravings and the milled internals. I got this one about a month before he closed up shop. Contact HBarski, he has 2 GTs see what his serial number range is. Dollars to doughnuts JG built it. |
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Looks like we both enjoyed our new toys today. I even had a couple of old-timers admiring it. I plan to take care of it, like I do with all my firearms. I'm glad you like yours, I sure do like mine. Thanks again. |
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Congratulations!
Now if we can just sequester the S10, charge a few bucks per mag dump........ |
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weeeellllll, seems we set up a little chat up time with Miss RSA, then when the range goes cold we sneak the S-10 downrange...... |
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so...it's come down to jerry gordon or blue ridge precision...built upon one of globaltrades already model marked (slr-100h) receivers or rifles?
the battery died in the wife's car this morning...more wrenches to turn! |
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Campy here is some info I found on the "other" board.
As we all know, Intrac, TN imported these high quality Bulgarian milled receivers during the last half of 1990s. They were all imported as bare receivers. Intrac sold these to 4 well known builders, Ohio Ordnance, Blue Ridge, MSC, and Gordon Technologies, to build these receivers into AK-47 model SLR100 (some were called "SLR100H", some simply "SLR100") with AK-47 parts. It is also known that quite a few SLR100 receivers were sold to private buyers and gunsmiths for their own builds. These SLR100 are the only known AK-47 milled receivers to come to the US in the bare (as opposed to SA93, SLR95/96). Most were built with Hungarian AK-47 parts kits, but a few are known to have MAK90 parts. Now my reason for this post, my first SLR100 was a barreled receiver complete with Hungarian parts. I recently acquired another Bulgarian/Hungarian hybrid SLR100 that was built by a gunsmith who bought the receiver and the Hungarian parts kit. The first one has serial MR07XX, while the recent one has serial number MD02XX. I was very intrigued with the serial number difference, as it was done by factory and not the importer. Also the importer markings were on the right side with MR, and left side with MD. I wonder if there are other serial variations. I'm wondering if you guys could post your SLR-100 serial numbers, and makers if known. They don't have to be your own, just the ones you've seen, or known to have existed. Please hide the last 2 digits with XX for privacy, or hide as many # as you wish. If it's a complete rifle, I'd also like to know the initial serial of parts kit and their condition. If you see BMXXXXX, I believe those are all Hungarian serials, but if you were to find different ones they could be from other countries. (FEG SA85M have SMXXXX serial, I wonder if the "S" meant it's built as semiauto.) While the SLR100 aren't imported anymore, and despite the domestic production of milled AK receivers, there's continued fascination as both the SLR100 rifles and the receivers have become highly sort-after items. This collected information may become useful when new members ask about the origin of their receivers and the parts kits. Thank you for your participation. |
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Wow! Sounds like a nice find for Campy.
We never have any cool stuff like that floating around here.. |
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I am a bit lost where does Global Trades come into the pic? Afaik, Intrac imported all of these. Drop Troy Sellars a line, he is buds with the Intrac folks, bet they could find out the mystery. |
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it is an intrac import! my bad!
what was the original config of the 100h? lo-cap or hi-cap? i thought jimmy beat out some bulgy rec'd/hung parts guns? what model were those? rot, i'll be sending you a pic or three of the rifle in a few. would you please put them up in this post? |
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The 100h's were high caps. This was long before the clampdown of form6's. They were imported by Intrac, and sold thru dealers ie Tennessee Guns, and Classic Arms, as well as others. From what I have followed...the ones east of the Mississippi were generally BRPs, or GT. Seems the the others west were more commonly MSC Pruitt builds. Send 'em on...I post em.
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And I've recently seen one for sale but didn't realize the significance of Tennessee Guns.......now if I can just remember where I saw that gun for sale. |
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From Jerry's website....
www.gordontechnologies.com/slr100h.htm Don't get me wrong Jerry built a real nice rifle when he wanted to but his customer service skills IMHO, were second only to Toad Bailey! |
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The more I think about it Campy, the more I think that Gordon Tech built your new RPK. I remember the one he had on his website had a 74 brake on it.
As an aside, we used to sell the SSR-85B's at the shop, and the first ones had the Blue Ridge FCG's in them. Most of them had problems.....the FCG's were hardened too much and they would break. |
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Wow - that is different. Not like the one I had at all. The Bulgarians did not have the cleaning rod under the barrel config. Either a Romy barrel assy or maybe Bulgy converted? Also as you noted the bi-pod is way different also. Finally the furniture is not the standard Bulg blonde stuff.
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first, thanks to rotdorn for doctoring up my crappy pictures (camera had a nearly dead battery!!).
secondly, bulgarian military rpk's and rpk-74's DO carry the cleaning rod below the bbl., although the civilian rpk-sa-m7 version does not. the quality of the sight block, cleaning rod support block, gas block and the lower handguard retainer indicate that the front end is bulgarian, not romanian. wes, i agree about the bipod. i have not seen one like it...and i have a romanian rpk bipod...a completely different critter. this one has length adjustment and the feet pads are grooved/notched to grab the cleaning rod for carry (the romanian locks in the carry position). templar, i would have thought that jerry gordon and brp would have marked there work...i still have found nothing that clues me in as to 'who' did this one up. what an oddity! |
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iirc Jerry's marks were something really simple like GT, under the front handguards. Pull off the front furniture and see if there are any marks.
BTW one of HBarski's GT front sights was off as bad as any SAR I have ever seen. |
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THANKS ROT...i'll check tonight. yesterday i was too busy to tear into it.
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According to Arsenal Bulgaria's military website the 5.45 is the only rpk they make with the bi-pod located under the barrel. That is what they have been showing for a couple of years before that who knows.
Link www.arsenal-bg.com/defense_police/7,62lmg.htm |
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Campy I agree about the cleaning rod location on the 5.45 aka rpk74. Did you get a rpk74 or 47?
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well, i detail stripped this sucker and went over it with a 5x glass.
and not a damn maker's mark to be seen anywhere!!! the bbl. carries a 4-digit serial number and 3 other, individual number stamps. one is shaped like a circle and has a letter or number (indestinguishable) inside that circle. that dang thing is definitely in unfired condition. the only finish wear that would even indicate test firing is so faint as to make that questionable. this weekend, if i have time, i'll gage it and put it on paper at 100. |
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