designerguy90
Plinker
Hello all,
So I've wanted an AK variant for a long time but due to crazy pricing I didn't want to spend $500 plus on a CAI AK variant (of any variety, or other sub par importers rifles) simply because of the horror stories I've read and because I wanted a new built gun. I got to shoot an Arsenal sidefolder last summer at one of the Winamac shoots and really loved how it felt, so I went on a quest trying to find one, but lack of funds etc put that on hold. However, I was able to recently find Saigas for what I thought was a decent price, and pulled the trigger on one to convert.
Here is what I've accomplished and where I am at as of right now.
So taking the screws out of the stock was an adventure, the just didnt seem to budge, so being the sometimes impatient person that I am I took a hacksaw and cut the monte carlo stock right in the grip as to see what was going on inside of the hollow stock. I saw the screws and oiled them a bit, but still they wouldn't budge. So I grabbed the screwdriver with some pliers to give myself a bit more leverage and torque, and applied copious pressure to the screwdriver and bingo, the screws worked right out. I then moved to drilling the rivets that attach the sporter trigger group, which proved to be stubborn to remove. I ended up scratching the finish off with a dremel attachment by accident when it popped out of the rivet head, which irritated me more than I can say here :P Eventually, as reminded by my brother, the gun is Russian, speak to it in a language it understands; so I took out the hammer and the punch again and with great force, popped the rivets out and proceeded to pull out the guts of the rifle.
Since I'm using a milled trigger guard from Carolina Shooters Supply, I ground the heads of the rivets holding the sporter trigger in place and cut the trigger guard to get to the rivet under it. The plate covering the actual workings of the ak came off with a swift hit from the hammer and I was left with 3 stubs of rivets which i then ground off and again using the punch and hammer, popped out the rivets. I then degreased the gun with some windex and simple green, and prepped it for paint. I was torn with either doing it in black again or doing a different color. In my opinion, AK rifles do not look particularly good in camo, so I wanted to find a decent looking color. I found an image of a Rifle Dynamics AK which I really liked, painted a light/medium grey color with black furniture and decided to go that route. So I then scuffed the rifle finish up to be more willing to accept paint, and then began painting. I'm using Duplicolor ceramic engine enamel, which after searching the web, found it to be more than suitable for both use and solvent resistance on the rifle. I applied light base coats(with a preheated can of paint) on preheated metal using a heat gun, and used the heat gun in between coats to cure the paint faster for the next coat.
As of now, the rifle is currently hanging, I'm planning on letting the paint sit for a couple days to cure more before I begin reassembly.
My parts list currently is:
Saiga IZ132
Tapco G2 FCG (plus all the other goodies included in the conversion kit)
Magpul MOE AK Grip
Tapco Galil Style Handguard
Archangel AK stock (hopefully arriving any minute now)
So I've wanted an AK variant for a long time but due to crazy pricing I didn't want to spend $500 plus on a CAI AK variant (of any variety, or other sub par importers rifles) simply because of the horror stories I've read and because I wanted a new built gun. I got to shoot an Arsenal sidefolder last summer at one of the Winamac shoots and really loved how it felt, so I went on a quest trying to find one, but lack of funds etc put that on hold. However, I was able to recently find Saigas for what I thought was a decent price, and pulled the trigger on one to convert.
Here is what I've accomplished and where I am at as of right now.
So taking the screws out of the stock was an adventure, the just didnt seem to budge, so being the sometimes impatient person that I am I took a hacksaw and cut the monte carlo stock right in the grip as to see what was going on inside of the hollow stock. I saw the screws and oiled them a bit, but still they wouldn't budge. So I grabbed the screwdriver with some pliers to give myself a bit more leverage and torque, and applied copious pressure to the screwdriver and bingo, the screws worked right out. I then moved to drilling the rivets that attach the sporter trigger group, which proved to be stubborn to remove. I ended up scratching the finish off with a dremel attachment by accident when it popped out of the rivet head, which irritated me more than I can say here :P Eventually, as reminded by my brother, the gun is Russian, speak to it in a language it understands; so I took out the hammer and the punch again and with great force, popped the rivets out and proceeded to pull out the guts of the rifle.
Since I'm using a milled trigger guard from Carolina Shooters Supply, I ground the heads of the rivets holding the sporter trigger in place and cut the trigger guard to get to the rivet under it. The plate covering the actual workings of the ak came off with a swift hit from the hammer and I was left with 3 stubs of rivets which i then ground off and again using the punch and hammer, popped out the rivets. I then degreased the gun with some windex and simple green, and prepped it for paint. I was torn with either doing it in black again or doing a different color. In my opinion, AK rifles do not look particularly good in camo, so I wanted to find a decent looking color. I found an image of a Rifle Dynamics AK which I really liked, painted a light/medium grey color with black furniture and decided to go that route. So I then scuffed the rifle finish up to be more willing to accept paint, and then began painting. I'm using Duplicolor ceramic engine enamel, which after searching the web, found it to be more than suitable for both use and solvent resistance on the rifle. I applied light base coats(with a preheated can of paint) on preheated metal using a heat gun, and used the heat gun in between coats to cure the paint faster for the next coat.
As of now, the rifle is currently hanging, I'm planning on letting the paint sit for a couple days to cure more before I begin reassembly.
My parts list currently is:
Saiga IZ132
Tapco G2 FCG (plus all the other goodies included in the conversion kit)
Magpul MOE AK Grip
Tapco Galil Style Handguard
Archangel AK stock (hopefully arriving any minute now)
oops) After I fixed that stuff, I everything went together smoothly, the rifle cycles, feeds and ejects well. I've decided to leave Galil style handguard off and just stick with the stock Saiga handguard until I can order the Krebs keymod rail system. I hope y'all like the rifle, it was fun to do the conversion and I plan on doing one in 5.45 as soon as I can get the funds together and find a Saiga in 5.45(a challenge itself).
