GA Firing Line

What do you do

  • Hover

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • Wipe and sit

    Votes: 10 41.7%
  • Birdnest

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • eww, i'm to uppidy to use a public tiolet

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Total voters
    24

Fast306stang

Black Bear under anesthesia
Site Supporter
Kalash Klub
Jul 1, 2015
18,091
98,514
113
Zip code
31028

Wudee

Frontiersman
Kalash Klub
Jul 10, 2018
374
2,345
93
Georgia
I’ve got a buddy who built his AK about 8 years ago from an 80% receiver and a “virgin Yugo parts kit”. He couldn’t get it to headspace consistently, and made a mess of the whole thing. I’ve only seen it once about 7 years ago, he fired it once then threw it in the back of the safe. Apparently he messed up a couple of the rivets in the kit, had to finish it with screws, and the barrel was chambered for something other than x39, plus the company he bought the kit from was out of business by the time he realized, so he had to buy another barrel from elsewhere.
Now his opinion of all AKs is that they never will headspace. He tried his gauge in a few AKs at a shop and had similar results.

Any idea why he’s have these issues? I thought maybe he had a kit that needed a 1.5 mm receiver and he put a 1mm receiver on it, maybe that would be a problem? I asked, and he didn’t know there was a difference.

There's a lot going on there, lol. I think @Jeddak pointed out already the bulged yugo trunnion will not fit in a standard akm receiver. Regardless of thickness the trunnion bulges would never slide into a standard receiver. Just speculating but if he pressed in a barrel other than x39 and tried to headspace with x39 gauges not realizing the barrel wasn't x39 it wouldn't headspace. If the new barrel wouldn't headspace then possibly he had an oversize trunnion or barrel and the interference fit wasn't in tolerance enough for a proper fit(barrel easily moving or too tight to make small adjustments). As far as bad rivets that's easily remedied by drilling them out and squashing some new ones in. I'm curious as to how he was using the gauges to check other rifles, they either spec or they don't. Gauges are pretty straight forward. When I build a rifle i use a micrometer to check all the journals before pressing in barrels or populating to be sure of proper interference fit.
 

Axeman

If you can’t laugh at yourself you’re FUKT!!!
Kalash Klub
Lifetime Supporter
Dec 5, 2016
7,679
36,680
113
Goat Rodeo Clown
Zip code
30188
There's a lot going on there, lol. I think @Jeddak pointed out already the bulged yugo trunnion will not fit in a standard akm receiver. Regardless of thickness the trunnion bulges would never slide into a standard receiver. Just speculating but if he pressed in a barrel other than x39 and tried to headspace with x39 gauges not realizing the barrel wasn't x39 it wouldn't headspace. If the new barrel wouldn't headspace then possibly he had an oversize trunnion or barrel and the interference fit wasn't in tolerance enough for a proper fit(barrel easily moving or too tight to make small adjustments). As far as bad rivets that's easily remedied by drilling them out and squashing some new ones in. I'm curious as to how he was using the gauges to check other rifles, they either spec or they don't. Gauges are pretty straight forward. When I build a rifle i use a micrometer to check all the journals before pressing in barrels or populating to be sure of proper interference fit.

Yeah, I'm not sure about any of that, but your guess is far better than mine!
I've only really 'built' AR type rifles and a couple 10/22s, so to me all of this is WAY beyond the tools I've got. At BEST I'm an armorer, but I wouldn't insult real gunsmiths by saying I was one.
I'd love to see how building one of these goes, though! Seems like an interesting process akin to swordsmithing!
 

Wudee

Frontiersman
Kalash Klub
Jul 10, 2018
374
2,345
93
Georgia
Yeah, I'm not sure about any of that, but your guess is far better than mine!
I've only really 'built' AR type rifles and a couple 10/22s, so to me all of this is WAY beyond the tools I've got. At BEST I'm an armorer, but I wouldn't insult real gunsmiths by saying I was one.
I'd love to see how building one of these goes, though! Seems like an interesting process akin to swordsmithing!

Building ak's/rpk's is pretty cool. I've had one on the bench for about a month now but havent been able to build due to my back problems. After my surgery Monday and a couple weeks recovery your more than welcome to come by and check out the build process.
 

cbh13

Millennial Supreme
Lifetime Supporter
Aug 26, 2016
1,545
6,522
113
Auburn
Zip code
30011
Ugh well it's a productive day at least. Stayed home to work on the house. Built a corner shelf to match one I built earlier and finished laying down new floor in the soon to be new office.

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