An
interview with Chris Horn of Horns Custom Rifles
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I met Chris Horn at a Gun Show in Mesa,
AZ in June 2005. I knew Chris' work through
JoeKen ads in Shotgun News. And I had also
seen and inspected some of his AK47 pistols
and rifles on display by JoeKen at a Phoenix
Gun Show in 2004. His work was unique, felt
solid and I assumed they would be great fun
to shoot.
Knowing his work, it was a pleasure
to meet and talk AK building with 'the man'
himself. This was one of the first gunshows
that Chris had attended himself and he brought
some of his his FN/FALs, AMD-65s, AK pistols,
US built trigger groups, receivers and more.
The FN/FALs were already sold by the time
we walked by his tables. It was late on Sunday
and the traffic from buyers was slow so I
was able to get answers from Chris on some
basic questions I had about AK building.
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Chris offered to let us visit his machine
shop and see how he crafts his AK-47s from flat
sheet metal and parts into fine quality and
good shooting rifles. I jumped at the offer
and a week or so later a group of us found ourselves
headed down Horn Road to his home and workshop.
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Chris Horn of Horn's Custom Rifles in
Flagstaff, AZ builds custom AK-47 projects for many
outlets across the country and direct sales to FFLs.
He has built many thousands of AK rifles and pistols
in the past years and his shop is laid out with professional
scale machine tools and jigs designed by Chris to
make his receivers and assembled rifles one at a time,
or by the dozen for larger orders. He lives on an
impressive 40 acres 20 minutes outside Flagstaff.
His home and workshop are 'off the grid' using solar
power and a generator to power the machines in the
shop. In addition to a fully equipped shop there are
plenty of areas set up for shooting and it was difficult
to limit our 'test firing' to the 500 rounds we brought.
The workshop outside
Flagstaff, AZ
We started the day with a hot cup of coffee,
then walked out to the shop. As we helped moved a
dozen or so AK-47 rifles ready for delivery off a
table Chris explained how he had started as a precision
bolt action manufacturer and customizations before
turning his attention to the assembly of FN/FAL rifles
and AK-47 style rifles from the many reasonably priced
parts kits available. We looked at a rifle Chris had
finished for varmint & predator shooting (a necessity
in cattle country). He starts with high quality parts
and reinforces and changes portions to fit the custom
bullets requested by clients. Although Chris still
devotes time to these custom builds their space on
the workbench is dwarfed by the tools and stations
set up for production of AK47 receivers and parts
kit breakdown and assembly.
We brought some cheap Romanian kits
with us to assemble with Chris' help. After
clearing the final assembly table, we each
opened our kits and check out the parts. Chris
explained the tips & tricks of disassembling
the torch cut parts kits like we had. Using
his tools this was a simple process, but one
that anyone with a grinder and a vice could
do.
Chris then explained how to fold, rivet
and assemble the receiver from a flat blank.
We talked about the brands he uses and his
own manufactured receivers. While we worked
Chris talked about the laws covering rifle
assembly and the amount of US parts we'd need
to have installed to meet legal requirements.
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Before
the build |
Soon we were installing the US trigger groups
and Chris explained to us the advantages and disadvantages
of the various trigger groups made in the US. Before
we knew it Kim (Chris' wife) had arrived with pizza
and we took a break while the tanks of blueing salts
heated to 200+ degrees for our final step in assembly.
After dinner we headed to the sandblasting
booth and stripped out newly assembled rifles down
to white metal. Now I'll take a moment to address
the fact that these are not going to be historically
accurate rifles or collectors items. These are our
first attempts to build AK-47s from just parts and
the opportunity to add a permanent uniform professional
finish to our rifles outweighed any idea of keeping
their original finish for us. These rifles will be
shooters, for shooting apples and cans. We applied
the chemical process to darken the metal and wrapped
our rifles in plastic bags and headed south towards
home.
Rifle
assembled at Horn's Custom Rifles in Flagstaff, AZ
The next day we cleaned and assembled our new
rifles and they look pretty darn good. We learned
so much from Chris and we are eager to build our next
rifles, we're looking at parts kits and counting pennies.
AK47 Rifles assembled
at Horn's Custom Rifles in Flagstaff, AZ
Spending a day with Chris at his workshop was
educational and entertaining. His knowledge of the
AK-47 is impressive and his stories of the ups and
downs of small business ownership made me realize
no types of business are immune to the problems of
"he said - she said". Chris has had
to deal with some hits in his reputation but he stands
true to his offer to guarantee his rifles, pistols
and receivers for life. In fact, he had a few guns
on a side table that were being worked on at no charge
for customers.
Chris stands behind his rifles for
life. No fine print, he's proud of the quality
of his work and is willing to stand behind it with
a lifetime warranty. If there is a problem with your
gun send it to him, or bring it by your self and it
will be fixed to your satisfaction.
We have shot our rifles a few times more and
after hundreds of rounds they are still tight and
shoot straight. Many thanks to Chris and Kim Horn
for their hospitality and education on a subject we
both enjoy. I can highly recommend Chris to assemble
your parts kit into a quality rifle and his pre built
rifles, they are top quality and look great.
Written
by Pete,
Head Editor
AK-47.us
6-2005
Update
8-2005
Since our first vist to Chris' workshop we've
visited a few more times, bult new AK47s with his
help and fixed some of our broken rifles. Chris has
continued to impress us with his friendly professional
attitude and his willingness to share his vast knowledge
of the AK-47 rifle. Chris has parts and tools to make
just about any legal modification to an AK style rifle
he has been busy with rifles coming in for repairs
and modifications all the while finding time to build
dozens of AK47s. Along with his staff of builders
Chris continues to impress us with the quality and
quantity of AKs he builds.
He is a sponsor of our website, don't forget
that, but he would get the same review even if he
wasn't. We continue to endorse his work and services
and we're proud to be sponsored by such a decent and
fair busisness man
Chris answering questions
for builders / AK47 owners on our websites
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