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I've started cutting metal, at last. As others have noted, it takes some time to work up the courage to cut big holes in a perfectly good receiver.

 

I also wanted itmine to be convertible, so I could fit it with an underfolder stock, but also be convertible back to being able to use a wooden fixed stock. That turned out to be a bit more work, leaving the requisite hole in the receiver for the woodens stock and drillling matching holes in the underfolder trunnion.

 

First, drill out ther fixed-stock rivets and the other rivets necessary for conversion. Commie rivets're hard. P1000643.jpg

 

 

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Here are the most puckering of those holes:

P1000651.jpg

 

I used a hand drill to get close, and then file-fit every part. Mine's tight. It's stiff, even, but with time will loosen to be perfect.

 

I also wanted it to be convertible so that I could switch the pushbutton folding mechanism to accomodate lefties and righties. That took further hillbilly-ized engineering. But now it does that. Possibly, I have the only convertible fixed/underfolder, lefty/righty Saiga conversion in the whole whirled right now.

 

P1000650.jpg

 

Here, it's extended:

 

P1000646.jpg

 

Here, it's folded:

 

P1000648.jpg

 

I still have to weld a few more holes, index the muzzle break, and then paint or blue it, but I like it so far.

Edited by undertoad
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All the welding and cutting is done. I'm rust-bluing the whole thing right now. I'm going for the weathered, starting to take on some brown, rubbed back look of a gun that's spent a lot of time being carried outside but then gets cleaned up once in a while, like my best friend's Dad's 30-40 Krags always looked. If it looks sucky when I get it there, I'll just keep bluing for a new look. If that fails, I'll paint it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've made a bit more progress. First, I bead-blasted off all the russkie paint. The metal underneath was Commie-cobby—full of dimples and rough machine marks. In anticipation of wanting a worn, carried-for-20-years look, I draw-filed out the works of the pitting and rough machining marks, especially in those areas an underfolder would take handling wear when carried slung across the chest for years.

P1000654.jpg

 

There it is, polished up pretty well and ready for "juicing" with bluing compound.

 

P1000659.jpg

 

Before long, everything was good and rusty.

 

P1000657.jpg

 

Time to boil the parts in distilled water. I used an old pot to boil the smaller parts. I made a trough to boil the longer parts from 30 inches of aluminum gutter with end-caps JB Welded on. I didn't get a picture of it, but it worked perfectly. The boiling water kept the JB Weld from melting during the boil. The boiling water converts the red rust (Fe2O3) to black-ish magnetite (Fe3O4), and the parts come out of the water considerably darkened and coated in what looks like soot from an oil lamp.

P1000658.jpg

 

Next comes the "carding," in which you scrub all the loose oxide off with cloths, brushes, and 0000 steel wool. It's picky work. I blued every piece of the gun and underfolder except the trigger mechanism and the recoil spring. Fortunately, it can be done in small batches, as you have time.

 

P1000660.jpg

 

Then, juicing, boiling, and carding as many times as it takes to get the finish you want. I plan on rubbing it back at some point, so I left off bluing while there was still a bit of translucence left in the finish.

 

P1000662.jpg

 

I think it'll look properly worn with most of the casting and machining marks smoothed off.

 

P1000664.jpg

 

It's really quite a beautiful finish for a gun and quite tough. It'll be some work rubbing it back, but I think it'll be all worth it when I'm done. I plan on having only one AK, and this is the one I've always wanted—a Russian-built underfolder.

Edited by undertoad
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I've got a Yugo underfolder that I am very fond of and would like to do this on a .223. Would I be wrong to think I could do this by cutting off the tang and then (very carefully) drilling the required holes without stripping it down like this?

 

Second, is there a Saiga 12 vendor that sells the kit? Nice job undertoad.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I've got a Yugo underfolder that I am very fond of and would like to do this on a .223. Would I be wrong to think I could do this by cutting off the tang and then (very carefully) drilling the required holes without stripping it down like this?

 

Second, is there a Saiga 12 vendor that sells the kit? Nice job undertoad.

 

Sorry. I've been AWOL. I am no expert. This is the one and only Saiga or AK I've ever owned or worked on. My imperfect understanding is that you need to entirely replace the rear trunnion with an underfolder trunnion. From the little I know, there are two fundamentally different types of rear trunnions:

 

1) Romanian, which use two rivets that are in entirely different places than the rivets on my Saiga and which slant the underfolder stock downward at an angle

 

2) Polish/Yugo, which use three rivets, two of which will need new holes but one of which will not. These carry the stock more or less striaght back.

Either way, you will need to drill two rivet holes and weld up the rest. The Yugo/Polish type of stock locks up with two lugs on each side, whereas the Romy locks up with two lugs on only one side.

 

Here's a decent deal on the stock and locking mechanism:

 

https://www.apexgunparts.com/product_info.php/cPath/21_86/products_id/946

 

Apex also has the trunnion, but the price has recently gone up markedly. so I'm not sure it's a good deal.

 

Unfortunately, I know nothing about Saiga 12s. Sorry.

 

undertoad, I would like to do a underfolder conversion too, Your info has been very helpfull. I was wondering what type of stock and trunnion you needed to get for this (and where you got them). thanks, Joe

 

I got a trunnion and stock from Apex. The stock is still a good deal there. I'm not sure the trunnion is, now. Link in previous post.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Undertoad - thanks for the thoughtful reply. I've chickened out on that project for a while. If I was a rich guy I might get another Saiga and start the under-folder right out of the gate. When you're done you are going to have a beauty there. Each time I use my Yugo I am more impressed, but that's just me. It looks and feels heavy duty. Classic has a few polymer jobs now with some accessories thrown in for ~ 620 bucks. I got mine from a local shop here for right around that price but I did get to inspect it and he also threw in some extras. (If I remember right he had four of them and they were gone in a week) Mine has the wood furniture, reinforced "mumps", no canted sights, etc. From what I've gathered so far, everything on the Yugo was built heavier due to the extra stress of the built in grenade launcher.

 

It IS heavy...especially with a 40 rounder hanging out of the bottom. I'll be taking it over to the range next week to test out a few of the new keepshooting teflon mags. The thing looks plain bad to the bone...and gets lots of attention at the range. (Yours will definately be an eye-catcher) Plus, it does a job on a pie plate at 100, and that's all I ask it to do.

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  • 1 month later...

Been a busy summer. I finally got hte last screws blued and installed, and the underfolder Saiga is ready to rock, at last.

 

CIMG2125.jpg

 

The bluing turned out great, IMO.

 

CIMG2124.jpg

 

It's shiny and lustrous and prob'ly over the top for an AK, but so what?

 

CIMG2122.jpg

 

Who cares if it's guilding the lilly? I'm in lust with it. I

 

CIMG2120.jpg

 

It sure is a nice, handy package to store when the stock is folded. The folding stock is tight and locks up like a bank vault.

 

CIMG2119.jpg

 

Next, a custom peep sight to make it shoot even better . . .

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