How
to Build an AK-47
Part Two of our series on US AK47 builders
- Matt's home shop AK47 building method
About the project
From: http://rtccom.net/~mattb/ak_build_about.html
Next
Page >>
If you've been hanging around my website much lately,
you've probably noticed I've become quite interested
in guns. In my quest for knowledge on the subject,
I've run across some pretty interesting fields of
pursuit in this hobby. One of which is.....homebuilt
AK rifles. :)
This
hobby is remarkably popular (well, within the community
of military gun collectors anyway). The AK-47 is one
of the most popular and plentiful military rifles
in the world. Numerous militaries still use the AK-47
(or later incarnations and clones of it), and it has
become popular in the US for both collecting and general
shooting. There's a catch though.........AK's are
considered "non-sporting" and thus are banned
from importation into the US. All individual parts
can be imported except the functional receiver. All
this means (for now) is that when AK's come to the
US, they get their receivers torched into two pieces.
Actually the BATFE has decided, based on the wording
of the relevant regulations, that barrels for "non-sporting"
firearms cannot be imported either.....they're still
letting folks import barrels for now, to allow importers
to meet existing contracts etc, but currently this
is slated to end at the end of 2005.
Anyway,
for now one can pretty easily acquire a "parts
kit", which is a (generally) more or less complete
AK, sans receiver. Several US companies make new semi-auto
receivers, and there are a lot of US companies making
parts so you can legally assemble your AK (this has
to do with more import regulations.......it's illegal
to assemble from imported parts a gun that would otherwise
be unimportable, but if the gun has few enough of
certain specified imported components, the gun is
no longer considered an import and is not subject
to importation restrictions when assembling). Also,
there are companies making receiver "flats"...this
is basically a sheet of machined metal that you bend
into the shape of the AK receiver, drill/trim etc,
heat-treat, and finish. This all makes it possible
for the average gun geek to build their very own custom
AK rifle. Sounds like a recipe for fun to me!
Having
very little machining experience and not a lot of
equipment, my plan was to get a completed receiver,
some US parts, and a Romanian parts kit. The Romanian
kits are currently some of the cheapest (THE cheapest?)
parts kits on the market. Mine was $124.99, including
a nice US-made trigger group. You can get basic kits
for around $100.
I've
got most of the stuff I need ordered, just need a
few more miscellaneous tools/supplies now. I'll be
getting a ready-made, heat-treated, parkerized receiver,
all I'll have to do is drill it for the trunions.
Yeah it would have been cool to build from a flat,
but I just don't feel like digging into such a project
yet.
This
gun uses a stamped receiver.........the receiver is
basically a sheet of metal, bent into a U-shape, with
two solid metal blocks (trunions) in either end. The
receiver is held to the trunions by rivets (from the
factory, anyway).
There
are two ways to put these stamped-receiver guns together.
You can install rivets, as was originally done, or
you can tap the rivet holes in the trunions and assemble
the gun with machine screws. I'm going for the latter
option, as it does not require you to remove the barrel
from the front trunion, and it's less permanent (in
case you need to make adjustments or something).
This is basically
what the build will consist of (not necessarily in
order):
1. Remove the rivets,
and what's left of the original receiver
2. Drill the new receiver to match the kit's trunions
3. Tap the rivet holes in the trunions to accept machine
screws
4. Re-assemble the rifle around the new receiver
5. Install certain US-made parts in place of the original
imported parts (for legal reasons, mainly)
6. Re-finish the original wood components (they look
pretty rough)
7. Clean/oil the metal thoroughly, and maybe touch
up the bluing a bit
8. Go shoot my new AK and have insane amounts of fun
:)
Here's an overview
of my kit, with the main parts arranged more or less
correctly:
This is gonna be cool. :)
Note: No shoes were harmed in the creation
of the above photograph.
Next
Page >>
|
