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mancat

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Everything posted by mancat

  1. The newer Russian production process is to press the components onto the barrel and chock them into some sort of laser alignment rig. They are then press dimpled into place on predrilled locator holes on the barrel - though some are still drilled and pinned, seemingly at random. Unfortunately the problem you've run into is that the barrel can still be installed into the front trunnion in an off axis position, and this puts all of the barrel components out of alignment with the receiver and trunnion. This is most noticeable with the lower handguard retainer being crooked. If the enti
  2. I have done the machine screw job with good results ONCE. The next time I tried it (shortened same barrel further) , it was impossible to get right, and ended up borrowing a crown tool with pilot. I'll never do it without the tool again. If yours is concentric and has an even depth it will probably be fine.
  3. Interesting to see the Tu-160s doing bombing runs in Syria with fighter escort - something that is completely unnecessary there, unless they think that we're dumb enough to engage their bombers.. Russia seems to be doing everything they can to use Syria is a training tool for precision airstrikes, modern logistics, etc... It is weird watching the Russians do stuff and exercise technologies that were typically "reserved" for the US and NATO partners for the past 20 years. A lot of people apparently thought the Tu-160 was not even in service any longer, until Putin in 2014 had them modernize
  4. I doubt you could come to a conclusive number on anything before the 1968 GCA, when receivers became serialized, and the government began to have some idea of how many firearms were being "born" each year. Before that, nobody knows. Since firearms are a durable item, there are many millions manufactured before 1968 still in service today. At a bare minimum it may be one firearm per person. Likely double that, if not more.
  5. yep, the EO made Saiga unattractive to all but collectors, who are just stashing them away rather than converting. it's a dead product now unless the EO gets reversed.
  6. yeah I would be interested in knowing how the nitride 5.45 barrels hold up against corrosive primers. haven't seen anything about that.
  7. 10K rounds is about the point at which US .mil armorers will do a thorough inspection of a rifle including headspace check and bore inspection for possible replacement of barrel Arsenal Bulgaria lists expected round count of most of their firearms in the 15k range I think both of these estimates are extremely conservative, and accuracy "drop off" of 12K rounds from a nitride treated US-made AK barrel seems within the range of what is expected out of a military grade chrome-lined barrel.
  8. The rumor going around is that many of the Syrian fighters are able to smuggle their kit into Turkey - which has a lot of ISIS sympathizers of their own - and from there on out they have relatively little issue passing through EU open borders with no worry of vehicle inspection. ...and it's not like Europe has a massive arms black market or anything, where when you buy a firearm you don't get Joe Bob's stolen SKS, you get a full-auto Romanian AK or some such and a box full of mags - for a couple hundred bucks. Overall though I believe if Turkey was not a EU partner, the continent would
  9. ^^^ that exact procedure has been recommended by some builders - populate, drill, depopulate and send off for treatment. also here is the guy who was doing the hardness testing of some US nitride barrels vs. Euro CHF
  10. yes, the surface is harder than that of a cold hammer forged barrel, and will eat HSS bits alive. this is another positive of nitride.. as I understand it the effect of the treatment goes deeper into the surface of the metal than the typical overall thickness of a chrome lining. even as the barrel wears it will maintain this hardness well until it's wildly out of spec, and so in theory it should take a REALLY long time to get there.
  11. The #1 benefit over CL is bore size consistency. I don't know that anyone has so far proven long-term barrel life vs. chrome lining. Since it is a Polish build... All of the newer Beryl 5.56/7.62x39 rifles use nitride treated barrels. As far as I know Poland is the only major 1st world military applying the process to an issued rifle. I picked a nitride barrel for the 5.56 build I've been working on with your tools. It is harder to drill until you break through the outer "shell" of the nitride treatment. I suggest going at it with carbide bits. FWIW the barrel blanks used by Arms o
  12. Anything Nissan or Toyota has insane resale value in Seattle/Wa area where Sim and I are.. Just saying. They are nice trucks but a 96 Tacoma 4x4 with 250K miles and a 22re will still sell for $6k or more easily here. All of the pre-89 trucks are snapped up by collectors immediately. On the plus side they don't rust here like they do in other states.
  13. If this is a WASR then it already has a stainless US piston installed.. They can still get serious carbon buildup on them that looks like corrosion
  14. Considering prices of certain used trucks in the PNW, your best values would probably be a 2000s Ranger or S-10, and put a ladder rack on top of either one. If you look at a Ranger I would suggest looking at a 2000 4.0 V6, they were the last year with the OHV 4.0 V6, it's a bulletproof engine. The same goes for the GM 4.3, with exception of the factory intake gaskets being junk. Just skip over the 4cyl trucks, you will ultimately get better mileage with the V6. Both should do 15 city/25 hwy or similar. The smaller 4cyl trucks struggle and waste gas on all of the hills we have around here.
  15. I first read the Bernie Sanders rape comments today. Surprised I had not read them earlier. Regardless his moving words inspired me to create this uplifting image. Enjoy. Truly words to live by.. Share with your friends and family
  16. The carrier is not a determining factor in headspace and can generally be swapped freely, with one exception - you cannot use a long-lug carrier (e.g. from an AK-74 or Saiga) with a short-lug bolt. The bolt camming surfaces on the two carriers are different, as well as is the carrier stop location against the front trunnion. Depending on what you have in your safe, it would probably be enough to have both a spare AK/AKM carrier and AK-74 carrier. Both are still fairly cheap. That's up to you. The exact type of spare bolt you would need depends on the caliber and generation of AK. Most
  17. The war on drugs is a failure, but I don't really have any reason to believe that complete legalization of everything wouldn't be just as much as a failure. I used to think there might be something to it, but then I visited the Netherlands and found there were junkies everywhere, just the same as there are in the US. I do think pot should be legalized, but let's be honest here - if you hear someone trying to make a "non-violent pot smoker" the poster child for what type of inmate is being released, that's a joke. No "non-violent pot smoker" went to prison for a sack of weed in his pocket.
  18. I was talking to someone about this and the general word is that some Euro factories have been casting trunnions for some time, but nobody can really prove it. Atlantic Firearms claims that they have been told by Radom Poland that their recent production AKM trunnions are cast - I believe these are the trunnions used in some of the more recent Polish civilian exports, and not the same as current Polish issued AKs e.g. Beryl/Archer. The two Bulgarian AK-74 trunnions I have, which are both 1989 manufacture, generally appear to me to be cast, then finish milled in several locations (locki
  19. they are cool little clones, and everyone that owns them seems to say they're reliable.. but they appear to be a bitch to clean due to the airsoft-inspired construction.
  20. Seems to me to depend mostly on how tight everything is, especially the carrier/bolt within the upper. Sort of like the AK, a little slop in the BCG and between the lower/upper receiver seems to result in a more reliable rifle. In being on arfcom a couple of years, it seems like the guys who have the most picky ARs are the high dollar builds where every part fits together extremely tight.
  21. the Primary Arms micro dots have taken a shit load of abuse from AKOU, including one that they dragged behind a quad for over a mile on gravel. glass was cracked, case was scratched all to hell, but it still worked, held zero, and failed to leak when they threw it into a creek and let it sit. I hope PAs 1-4x scopes do just as well, as I'm planning on buying one at their Black Friday sale As for your AR.. I put mine together thinking the same thing - just wanted an AR to have one, thinking it would just be a range toy or varmint rifle. Instead I found it to be just as reliable
  22. Sorry, no. The Saiga 7.62x39 is a unique beast that uses an AK-74 spec barrel chambered in 7.62x39. The AK-74 barrel has several major dimensional differences from an AKM barrel, including trunnion journal size, barrel setback into the trunnion (due to Saiga being long-lug pattern), both of which would require some lathe work and potential repositioning of the gas port. My best advice is to buy another complete AK
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