Polymerhead
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Posts posted by Polymerhead
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#1 Using a plate to hold the pins in with no rivets on one end, or maybe even worse using aluminum paper binding posts ? There has to be a better way
#2 Getting the hole for the pistol grip in the right location to have a factory fit.
Anything else you don't have when TSHTF confidence in with your home conversion ? Am I wrong about this or is a home conversion more of a novelty gun?
#1 - The factory AK hs hammer and trigger pins held in place only by a twisted piece of wire. You can use that same part to hold in the Saiga's pins, but I recommend the retainer plate. It's widely popular and trusted to hold up.
#2 - Like others have said, the holes are usualy pre-drilled. You're not really converting much, the only real mechanical addition to the gun is the bullet guide. Other than that, you're just removing extra non-military parts added to a military-style gun and replacing those parts with original-design military parts.
The Saiga is a higher-quality AK-47 than 90% of the guns out there, especially when converted by someone with at least minimal mechanical competency. Mine runs like a top.
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Just but my tapco stock that is for sale. It is hot. It also comes with a sling.
Huzawhaa?
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I have the kvar nato length stock its better than the tapco but the but pad if you can call it one sucks,its more like a meat tenderizer,and its $45-50 for a few more bucks you can get an ace folder just something to think about
Yup, I've thought about dropping the big $$ to get the flush-folding setup with tang removal. I'll have to do some thinking. I like the idea of a DIY sling mount near the receiver. I could make it super-sturdy and I like that sling position.
I'm Warsaw length all the way though. I shoot square to the target. I run my AR on the shortest stock position and have a youth stock on my shotgun.
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The K-var stocks are much better.
Are you referring to the bracket specifically, or are there other benefits to the Kvar stock over TAPCO?
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I just checked the sling swivel on my K-Var buttstock, and it's a solid ring. I ordered mine from Dinzag, since K-Var's website says they're always sold out of the US-made Nato-length black stock. I got my stuff from Dinzag in less than a week, which was a pleasant surprise.
Thanks man - I like Dinzag, I bought my bullet guide from him. Might have to make an order today.
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I was really happy when I found the TAPCO black fixed stock for my Saiga conversion. It was the right color, right shape and cheap. The metal buttplate is utilitarian, true to the design of the AK.
So, I was working on transitions to the shoulder (slinging it up) to go to the pistol after watching Suarez' DVD and the sling popped loose. I barely held onto the sling so I didn't ditch the AK, but I was like "WTF"?
Turns out the D-ring attachment on the TAPCO sling isn't a solid welded ring. It's just a piece of wire bent into shape to fit under the bracket that screws into the gun. The weight of the AK had stretched that ring and it popped out of place.
For a company that's trying to improve its reputation as a cheapo line of crap (think ProMag), this is not the way to go. I compared the part to the bracket on my SAR-3's stock, and the SAR has a much thicker, WELDED ring for attachment. It's not going anywhere. It annoys me that TAPCO obviously didn't test their stock design on an actual AK in any sort of training scenario, because they would have seen this flaw immediately. Everything else on the stock seems so well done, good fit and finish, basically indestructible, except for an obvious, fatal flaw.
Anyway, FYI if you're thinking of this stock for a conversion. I guess I'll be making a call to K-Var for one of their fixed stocks. Anyone else had this issue???
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Hmm, nothing there floats my boat. Looks like it's time to pick up a few 10-packs of US followers from K-Var.
Thanks for the links!
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So, I have a CAA grip that I like, but it's not US-made. Does anyone make a nice ergonomic grip for the AK in the US? I don't want to go through the hassle of changing out another part to use the CAA grip.
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The spare parts that I like to have with any semi-auto rifle are extractors and firing pins.
See, that's funny because the spare parts I like to keep around an AK is another cheap ass dead-reliable AK...
Sorry man, couldn't resist.
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I get a lot of questions about my 7" AR15, but I don't get much comment on the Saiga. I had my SAR3 out one time, complete with m4 stock, black furniture, red dot and VFG and the guy next to me was like "you don't need that to go squirrel hunting". All I said was "Nope" and popped a 30-rounder in and went to work.
The coolest comment I ever got was from a buddy's wife about the shorty AR. "It looks like something out of a video game!"
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I'll let someone else test this one out but it looks like a good candidate for some LocTite retaining compound. Lots of slip-fit surface area so some Loctite 620 would seem to be in order.
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Yep, I've shot mine. Since it's probably not going anywhere due to my caveman installation method, I unscrewed the screws, added a bunch of green LocTite and torqued the screws down as firmly as I could (degreased it first). Took it to the range the next day and it didn't budge through the 100 rounds at all. I was shooting pairs and triples the whole time, fast enough to heat up the handguard but not bumpfiring or anything. The Phantom doesn't really reduce muzzle rise at all, but it's not really supposed to as far as I know. I would expect it's a fairly effective flash hider, though I've not shot it at dusk or at night. I'm not utilizing the screw collar, but the LocTite seemed to hold everything together.
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There's probably an obvious answer, but how is a MAK-90 different than a Saiga like this? I know people talk about needing to add american parts to the MAK-90 in order to legally convert it to pistol grip configuration, but no one is calling foul for using 30-round foreign AK mags in a MAK-90 in factory configuration, or are they? To me they're both double-stack thumbhole non-threaded foreign-built AKs. Are people who use foreign 30-rounders on a MAK-90 breaking the law?
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If anything maybe DPH needs to say that specifically in the instructions included with this part, along with fitting instructions. There are lots of parts for guns, cars, and all sorts of things that aren't expected to just fit perfectly with no adjustments.
There were no instructions at all. Just an invoice. That's part of the reason I think it needed to be thought through more before release. Dinzag tried it and couldn't make it work. Hopefully these guys get it to work better than it does today. Like I said - live and learn. It's the price I paid to be a guinea pig. I consider it a $50 lesson in the fact that you just need to do it right the first time, which would be threading the barrel.
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p.s. they look black in the photo on his web page....... are the both grey?
The one I got was black and matched the Saiga's factory finish qute well.
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Sorry for your troubles, but man you should have just measured the front sight block and if it would have been too much to sand/file off then just called Scott Gulledge at dpharms. This guy and the people who work for him really do a good job and would have helped you to the best of their abilities. They are measuring up some muzzle attachments for me and will send me a new one as soon as they have something that they are satisfied with it. Other than having to wait its no skin off my back. I'm not trying to be an a$$ but if you have to get the BFH you should take a step back and give a little more thought before jumping in.
The product was simply not thought through. There's obviously enough variance that a large portion of those who buy it are going to have to return it or file down the barrel shroud. They should maybe think about adding some instructions to the package, or offering different options for ordering diameters in the first place. I'm sure they would have taken it back if I hadn't started installing it, but I bought a slip-on flash hider. For some stupid reason I thought it should perhaps slip on. It's an inferior product as it stands today, unless your barrel shroud happens to be within a thousandth or two of the 'optimuim' diameter. I'm sure they're a great company, they certainly shipped it in a hurry, but I think they needed some more R&D before they launched this product.
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Got mine, too small. Sanded the barrel shroud with 600 grit until all the finish was off, then used a hammer lightly to get it on. It went half way, got stuck, so I got a BFH to finish the job. Got it within 1/8" of the front sight but it blossomed the tips of the phantom hider a bit so the cover won't slip on to cover the screws. Giant waste of $46 in my opinion, live and learn I guess. Would not at all recomend this option. I'm left with either leaving it as-is or cutting it off and threading the barrel like I should have at the beginning.
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Hope he's not sending them all back for 5 thousandths. I ordered one yesterday and it's supposed to ship tomorrow. Some metal sand paper on a dowel rod should make for a custom fit if it happens to be too tight.
Yes, but if not properly milled, will it align? Would hate to graze it with every round.
The dowel technique keeps it pretty even, and I bought the phantom version so it shouldn't be as critical of a measure as the 74 type. In that case, you're probably correct.
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Hope he's not sending them all back for 5 thousandths. I ordered one yesterday and it's supposed to ship tomorrow. Some metal sand paper on a dowel rod should make for a custom fit if it happens to be too tight.
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Dude, just buy some 7.62 and head to the range. If it works with surplus AK mags for a couple hundred rounds, you should be good to go! if not, AIM should make it right. Trial by fire, man!!
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I'd be very interested in seeing the phantom version.
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If it wears in when shooting, accelerating the wear on teh non-critical portion of the hammer isn't going to hurt anything.
It will if you take too much off. You can't tell exactly where it will wear, and by how much.
I just don't see the point, personally. It's like trying to fix something that's not broken. Like Louielouie said: "It is so easy to make things worse by trying to make them better.".
But if you're saying it will shoot in, something is wearing somewhere. I don't think the parts are surface-hardened anyway. The face of my SAR3 hammer was ground to work with 223 (not by me, by the builder) , and that was about 5000 rounds ago. No gouging or other serious wear on the hammer that I can see. Obviously that's not a Tapco hammer - does someone have some evidence that Tapco surface-hardens their hammers as opposed to using hardened stock steel to begin with?
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I had the same issue as the original poster. I took a stone to the tip of the hammer and reduced the angle cut in the corner of the hammer that contacts the bottom of the bolt carrier. I made sure to not cut down into the face of the hammer where it hits the firing pin at all. I just removed extra metal to make the G2 hammer have a closer contour to the factory hammer. The result is much smoother bolt closure. If it wears in when shooting, accelerating the wear on teh non-critical portion of the hammer isn't going to hurt anything. If you try it, make sure you cycle your action enough to see exactly what part of the hammer engages the firing pin. You obviously don't want to stone or file anything that has any purpose whatsoever, but the extra metal at the top of the hammer isn't doing anything but snagging on your bolt carrier.
Edited to add - the portion of the hammer you painted pink is not what you want to grind or file! The bolt is usually catching at the top of the hammer because the initial angle of the top corner of the G2 hammer is cut 45 degrees to the angle of the face of the hammer. If you compare to the factory hamer, you see that angle is much shallower. You want to reduce that angle so that the bolt carrier slides up and over the hammer more smoothly. If you try to file the face of the hammer at all and don't maintain the exact same angle, your hammer isn't going to hit the firing pin squarely and you're going to get bad wear and probably light primer strikes.
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Hello,
Second post here (first was to add a pic to the photo thread). I converted a Saiga working a few minutes a night over the course of about 2 weeks. Wanted to say thanks to all for the info here, I was able to take care of the conversion by reading and reading some more, plus the wicked conversion vodeos on YouTube.
Anyway, took the Saiga out to the range a couple weeks ago and with slowfire supported (by a rangebag) shots, I was able to manage a 10-shot group with iron sights at 50 yards of right at 4". I see people posting 2"-3" groups at 100 yards with irons, is this feasible? I'm an average rifle shot, and I was just using Wolf Military Classic 124 gr, but at 50 yards the front sight blade was as wide as the entire 3" target I placed on the head of my silhouette target. I would think that even with good ammo, the simple fact that the front sight blade covers 5 or 6" at 100 yds would make it hard to shoot, say a 3" 5-shot group. Thoughts? Tips for improving iron sight accuracy?
Here's a pic of the head of my silhouette target. It's a 3" Caldwell Orange Peel target.
DPHArms reinvents the no thread muzzle brake!
in Saiga 7.62 X 39
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Yep, I'm still waiting for a cold weekend (indoor weather) to tackle the project of cutting off my fubar'd slip-on brake along with the barrel shroud and threading the barrel like I sould have the first time. Or I might take the gun into work and press off the front sight and replace it with a threaded model.