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BattleRifleG3

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Posts posted by BattleRifleG3

  1. It may look higher than it is with that photo angle. The height for the cheek rise should be the same as the top of the rear trunion tang. The right side is flat in order to allow a wider (and generally more comfortable) radius for the cheek rest.

     

    I was able to find this photo after a quick search. This shows the handguard and buttstock along with a few others.

    post-6-1203911426_thumb.jpg

  2. The only advantage to making it an AOW instead of an SBS is the $5 transfer tax. HOWEVER - If you are MAKING it as an individual, it is still $200, even as an AOW. So if you're making it, you might as well go the SBS route. You can still take the stock off. You can also take the stock off a regular Saiga and have no NFA worries as long as you keep the barrel 18"+ and the overall length 26"+

     

    I'd rather get a Tromix shorty with the gas system done right and a decent folding stock so I'd have the option of with or without buttstock. The advantages of building a Saiga-12 on a virgin receiver are very very few.

  3. What we now call a "sporting stock" was yesterday's military stock. And there's a reason they needed they didn't use pistol grips "yesterday". Rifles needed full length beefy stocks with minimal protrusions because the bayonet was considered a major battle implement. Before the M1 Garand and its curved grip, the grip was straight. Before that, in the days of the arquebuse, there wasn't even a notch in the top for the thumb. Basically, the farther back you go, the closer a firearm with a bayonet looks to a polearm, because as the actual firing capabilities increased, the amount of use as a polearm decreased.

     

    Nowadays we think that large capacity magazines, high rates of fire, and long range accuracy have eliminated the need for a bayonet. But recently in the Iraq War, a group of highlanders with bullpups of all things decided that charging a holed up group of insurgents with bayonets was safer than letting themselves be picked off at a distance, and they did so successfully.

     

    To me, one of the beauties of the AK design is its versatility in configurations like this. All you need is an extended trigger or linkage to switch from a p-grip config to the Saiga config we know and love. You can't do that with the AR-15 because it needs its buttstock for the recoil spring. FALs, G3s, and the cutting edge 223 rifles (G36, Masada, XCR, etc) all ignore this feature too, while claiming to be versatile and modular.

     

    If I ever do end up developing some of the rifles I've been designing for years, they will probably look a little bit like an AK for this very reason.

  4. $100 is a steal. Some buttstocks and handguards alone cost more than that. Future prices aren't going to be lower than what he paid. And a 2 month wait is nothing compared to recent wait times.

     

    I think I have a better picture than this somewhere, but here's a picture of the set as it was closing in on completion.

    It will fit 7.62x39mm and 223 Saigas with the standard p-grip conversion. Remember that my furniture is currently the only way to have a wooden matching set AND the p-grip conversion without modding the front end for military AK furniture.

    post-6-1201447119_thumb.jpg

  5. Yes, my screenname at hotmail is the fastest way to get a hold of me.

     

    Dodge, if you want to send me the split handguard I'll see what I can do. You'd be surprised at how seamless it can be when the right kind of glue and clamping is used, especially if you were still planning to paint it. E-mail me for my current address, it's changed since we did business.

     

    DocV, yes the full length stock pictured is yours.

  6. Most folks here know that I'm not taking new orders until everyone who already has an order in with me is taken care of. Well I'm on the home stretch after holding off new orders starting last summer, but there are still a good few left to be done.

     

    Some folks check in regularly, while others don't. Occasionally, people lose track of time and end up wanting or needing more time to get the balance due paid.

     

    SO...

     

    In order to serve diverse needs as well as possible, if anyone would like to be moved later in the queue, I'd be happy to schedule accordingly. That way the people who want their furniture sooner can get it sooner, and those who want more time can have more time. Obviously, most people want something sooner, and I wish I had a crystal ball to tell me how to optimize things for best happiness. Also wish I had a crystal ball to tell me how long the orders would take to get done.

     

    I've had to be a stickler on payment because a few people early on had issues being fickle, but at this point, with me months behind shedule, I can certainly be flexible with timing. I just need you to talk to me so that I can best serve you and other customers.

     

    ALSO:

    Occasionally someone ends up deciding they don't need the furniture after ordering, sometimes because they've sold their gun. If this is you and you have an order in with me, this is a good time to list your furniture for sale, as it will still be months before I can start delivering on new orders. So if you want to do that, talk to me. I can provide pictures, you can set your price, and the set will only have to ship once. If that happens I need MY buyer to send me the address to which to ship the stocks, so I know that everything is settled between all parties.

     

    And most of all, THANKS to everyone, especially the people who have supported me and the forum staff who help maintain the forum.

  7. Another thing for folks to consider - Sometimes things get done faster overall when you group them according to category, not order sequence. That may not feel good to you if a number ahead of yours is coming along faster, but the way to understand it correctly is that it would be even later if the many stock sets that came before you weren't done as fast as they could be in total.

     

    And turning down new customers is one of the most principled things a person can do when rate of demand exceeds rate of production. It means that when you do end up doing business with him, he'll make sure you're taken care of in good time instead of backlogging farther than he can effectively predict the timeframe for. A more common business practice would be to commit as many people as you can and let people be let down, because you already have the sale. Tony is choosing maximum ethics over maximum profit and deserves respect for it, whether you choose to do business with him or end up going another route.

  8. A straight blowback can't handle the 12ga round. A recoiling barrel that unlocks under recoil after the round exits is another story. And I still think an Aquila shell would be worth considering. The MAG-7 magazines through the grip may be the way to go. And it could be built from scratch as an AOW. Could be the shotgun counterpart to a DE.

  9. Development expense would be a big part of it, but still the manufacturing cost per item would be up there. I don't think it could stabilize under $10k, or maybe 7-8k at the very least. In other words, Barrett prices. Would probably have a comparably sized customer base.

  10. To me this is the realm of pure science. I feel the need for some length of barrel for the cartridge to speed up through, so at some point I would be looking into a shorter cartridge. In such a conversion, you may actually get better ballistics out of an Aguila short shell than a regular 2.75" shell, because the shot would have a longer effective barrel. If you did have a gas port using a blown out chad, it may need a self cleaning gas system of some sort, ie some way that the plastic would be reliably ejected.

     

    It's always bugged me that barrels are measured and compared including the chamber. A 30-06 has about 1/2" less effective barrel than the same length barrel chambered in 308. That matters when you get down to 16-20". So in my book, an IZ-109 has effectively a 16.25" barrel, and this conversion would have a 0.25" barrel, using 2.75" shells. Ok, maybe a 0.5" barrel, considering that the shot starts from behind a crimp.

  11. $100k is really not all that bad when you think about it. The second one would take about 1/3 what the first did, and retrospective redesign for manufacturing would take a little more off by the 5th one or so.

     

    For systematized small scale production (approx 30 units per year) I would pull the $10k each number out of my ear. Which is about what pre-'86 registered AKs and ARs go for. I would imagine military full auto and civilian semi-auto would cost about the same.

  12. If I had to sum up what makes my work most distinctive, I'd say it's using a variety of solid hardwoods with a family of patterns that can be applied in a wide variety of configurations to fit different guns in the same family.

     

    You could get A handguard with B buttstock and C grip, with D and E options all made in matching F hardwood for G gun. A few variations that allow for lots of customization. And then there are customers who have new ideas too. Some of the orders I get I just think "Ok, if that's what he really wants..." and by the time it's done I can understand why someone wants it that way.

     

    My biggest limitation is the number of hours in a day and number of days in a year.

     

    If you're looking for a Saiga related category I'm not really aiming for, it's p-grip and t-hole stocks for unconverted Saigas. I can do them, I just prefer not to.

  13. It depends on which parts count list you go by. One ATF letter showed the S-12 having a parts count of 13, making it compliant with the 3 US parts of an AGP mag. I don't count parts the same way. My count leads up to 15 or 16 depending on muzzle attachment, including thread protector. But that's me. Some even consider the disc in front of the piston to be an op rod, bringing the possible count to 17.

     

    The dealer is getting 922R, which is law, confused with HR1022, which is pretty much stalled in congress. HR1022 bans Saigas by name, along with the M1 Garand and Ruger 10-22.

  14. 338 Lapua and 338 Federal are completely different rounds. There is also the 338 Winchester Magnum, the 300 Remington Ultra Magnum, and the upcoming 338 Hornady Compact Magnum. Also in 338 caliber is the 340 Weatherby, the 338-378 Weatherby (if that's what they call it), the 330 Dakota, and several other less known and wildcat cartridges.

     

    The attraction of the 338 Federal is that it is a necked up 308 Winchester and can be chambered in many popular guns chambered in 308, like some of our favorite military rifles.

  15. 220gr loadings should be fine in the Saiga 30-06, but DO NOT use Hornady light magnum loads. They specifically state not to use them on any semi-auto and I'll take their word for it.

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