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my newly acquired suchka


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One photo and no other info???

 

Also it appears the front trunnion is missing one of the rivets. There should be two on the top and one on the bottom.

Maybe he has a krinker plinker aka 22lr. Matches the rivet pattern. some more info would be nice tho......

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nah, you can spot those retarded things a mile away.

 

I don't know why the rear top rivet is missing, but it is. Curious if it's missing on both sides? It seems like a dumb shortcut for a builder to take.

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nah, you can spot those retarded things a mile away.

 

I don't know why the rear top rivet is missing, but it is. Curious if it's missing on both sides? It seems like a dumb shortcut for a builder to take.

lol, no I mean, maybe the guy made his own real one. I am planing to do the same with my old set. Barrel is bent so I can cut it back and make a krink or throw it away and have a bunch of extra parts.

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I'll try to take better pics. That was just with my cell.

From what I can research it is a virgin build no numbers on any of the normal places. Some on barrel but can't make out.

From what seller told me it was built by wellco arms.

Receiver looks to be armory usa . partially blocked by scope rail.

 

Edit to add pics

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Edited by garnaz
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I'll try to take better pics. That was just with my cell.

From what I can research it is a virgin build no numbers on any of the normal places. Some on barrel but can't make out.

From what seller told me it was built by wellco arms.

Receiver looks to be armory usa . partially blocked by scope rail.

Edit to add pics

Not a 22lr it is 5.45x39

It has a stamp on front trunion presumably by builder aks74su. Not sure what s means.

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.

From what seller told me it was built by wellco arms.

 

 

 

looks like the kind of hack job greg wells is known for, taking short cuts. if there is no numbers stamped on any of the parts, then this is the parts kit that came from Bulgaria over a decade ago. and I do mean parts kit; as it was a collection of pieces, nothing was assembled.

 

it's up to you if you want to do it, but if it was me, I would have it checked for head space, using CIP not SAAMI gauges. knowing the kind of hack wells is, I wouldn't trust it to be head spaced correctly

Edited by Matthew Hopkins
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now that I've looked again, the rear trunnion is also only held in place with two rivets, one of them being way smaller than it should be. it should have three on each side.

 

sorry man, we're not trying to pick your buy apart, but shortcuts like these can be dangerous to the owner.

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  • 1 month later...

I take no offense to the critiques. I appreciate the teachings.

 

I have since taken it to a local builder who pretty much repeated what's been written.

It was a hack job.

Rivets missing wrong size,welded rear trigger guard instead of rivet. Headspace is correct from what he told me.

 

If I would have known that wellco had reputation for hacksmithing I would have talked price down more.

 

With what I paid and what I have into rebuilding it I think I still got a fair deal. Barrel looks to be Bulgarian and rest of kit in good shape.

 

Will post new pics when I get it back for more experienced opinions.

now that I've looked again, the rear trunnion is also only held in place with two rivets, one of them being way smaller than it should be. it should have three on each side.

 

sorry man, we're not trying to pick your buy apart, but shortcuts like these can be dangerous to the owner.

now that I've looked again, the rear trunnion is also only held in place with two rivets, one of them being way smaller than it should be. it should have three on each side.

 

sorry man, we're not trying to pick your buy apart, but shortcuts like these can be dangerous to the owner.

No worries I see these as expensive learning experiences.

Should have done my research a little better.:)

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I'm amazed a professional builder would sell a gun with missing rivets like that. The liability has to be crazy and all the rivets on the gun can't cost more than $3 to a builder. Now fast and sloppy work, I can see, but not something so blatant like that.

 

At least it shouldn't cost a lot to put in the missing rivets and get it up to snuff.

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I'm amazed a professional builder would sell a gun with missing rivets like that. The liability has to be crazy and all the rivets on the gun can't cost more than $3 to a builder. Now fast and sloppy work, I can see, but not something so blatant like that.

 

At least it shouldn't cost a lot to put in the missing rivets and get it up to snuff.

I was originally quoted $200 to demill and drill needed rivet holes.

 

But I lucked into a nodak receiver and having it redone with it and refinishing the entire gun.

With extra costs I could have bought a couple others I had seen.

But I got extras with it when I bought it and will try to sell old receiver to balance difference.

 

Think I forgot to thank azg and man cat for pointing out shortcuts/ poor workmanship. Thanks guys may have saved me or a friend from harm or catastrophic failure.

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It is far more time consuming to drill out rivets than to press them in in the first place. The materials are so cheap it is a joke. 

 

$200 is probably reflecting a couple hours shop time (@ $60/hour), $4/ worth of rivets and the fact that he has the jigs and you don't. Add a bit for the risk of having a problem customer who makes life a constant hassle, and you get $200.

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It is far more time consuming to drill out rivets than to press them in in the first place. The materials are so cheap it is a joke. 

 

$200 is probably reflecting a couple hours shop time (@ $60/hour), $4/ worth of rivets and the fact that he has the jigs and you don't. Add a bit for the risk of having a problem customer who makes life a constant hassle, and you get $200.

Not complaining about smith prices just that my inexperience is costing me more.:)

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I wasn't implying that you were complaining.

 

I was showing how it was likely broken down. I don't feel like wasting months and paying ~$60 an hour for something I can do myself in an afternoon. I also have the ability to bargain shop, that a gun smith is probably not going to bother to do for me since there is no return for him on that. There are tasks I will delegate, and ones I will do myself. 

 

It costs $180 for a shop to change my brake pads, or $30 for me. The task averages about an hour if I factor in picking up the parts. I choose to do my own brakes. Transmission work on the other hand I will leave to the pros.

 

I can appreciate the custom built race guns that we see on this forum too. While I understand the value of the labor, expertise and tooling it takes to get that last few percent of improvement, I personally don't want to spend $3500 on one gun. Especially since I have built something pretty close for under $900, and have it tailored precisely to my tastes and have the satisfaction of being able to call it my own. If I needed to tweak timing or headspace, I'd probably have Mr. Travers  or someone like that do the job. I can install my own handguard (and make it).

 

Now some things are right on the fence. I have the skills to do a bolt profile, but for $100 Cobra will do a job with a much higher degree of finish than I would, with a fairly quick turn around. I used to say that for Pauly too, and hopefully he will get back up to speed so that I can say so again. That is a much closer call for me as to whether I would farm out the work or do it myself.  

 

You might be more or less skillful than me so your calculations of value will work out differently than mine. That's just how I work out a bargain. Since your smith has jigs that cost probably around $700 for all the common AK jigs, a press, headspace gauges, vices, drill presses, anvils, welders and other tools which can come in handy, he probably has a special oven for baking on paint, and a paintgun, and experience with coatings. maybe a parkerizing setup too.. It is pretty reasonable to have him do the work. Most do a couple AK stampings before they get everything straight, so that stacks the deck in favor of having someone else do it. 

 

On the other hand, you could get just enough tools to do the job, say a n AK builder jig setup for about $350 + a flat for $65?? + a harborfreight hydraulic press for $100+ $6 for a tapco rivet set or a bit more for an authentic one from AK builder+ some tools for pressing the rivets... and have a gun for the cost of a kit + ~500 and the ability to make a few more. 

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