Franken-AK Build - Opinions Needed

[Monty]

Nice work Monty! Although using the foregrip may be tricky with using a drum mag?

 

Cheers, yeah it does look tricky to change mags, though the mag might hit the grip bit there should be enough space for the magazine to be racked into the gun / taken out of the gun. Though you could always put the grip on the wrong way round?

[two_zero]

 

buffer tube on an AK makes TZ a sad panda

[Ian_Gere]

The only Galil top cover I can find sold as an individual part is this...

...ICS Upper Railed Housing Cover for ICS Galil Series (MG-35) from Evike for $35

It's not as pig ugly as the ACM tri-rail type...

...but it's not far off.

I found this one, which i've seen available on a couple of sites (just not with a big picture url available lol), but i'm not sure...

(you can see it larger here)

...I sorta like the idea of a bolt through the rear sight pivot holes as a hinge, but that would mean that the cover itself would have to be short enough not to lock under the barrel base assembly as normal, or putting that bolt in would lock the cover in place, so it would have to fit millimetre perfect in both the distances from that pivot bolt to the rear of the barrel base assembly and from the pivot bolt to where the cover fits over the end of the receiver.

 

Plus wtf are those bolt holes on either side of the square latch hole for? I've seen holes like that somewhere else, possibly somewhere other than some incarnations of the hideous tri-rail top cover, but never known what they are for. I've never seen a battery tray with holes to accept bolts there. Maybe the cover is made loose enough to fit any AK and those bolts are to tension the cover against the latch when it is in place, to stop it rattling? If so that's no good to me because I've stopped using those battery trays in my AK's to get more space for a LiPo battery. I cut a slot into the gearbox top retaining strap to jam the flange for the bolt handle spring to push against.

 

I dunno - I'm tempted to just get a ridged top cover and see how i go with the 3" rail leaf sight replacement i have...

Does anyone know how these attach at the rear?

...it looks like the top cover is supposed to hold it in place, to me.

But all of my AK's have a bit of receiver in the way, a sort of flange that the top cover sits in front of...

Any ideas, anyone?

[Ian_Gere]

Still haven't made a decision about the top cover and sight, but everything other than the stock has arrived. Problem is the outer barrel I ordered doesn't fit the barrel base assembly. It didn't even occur to me that it might not TBH.

 

I believe I'll be able to dremmel out enough room for it, but I suspect I may have to invest in a hot glue gun to make it wobble-free. That's a bit of an arse, not just because of the expense which i'm finding difficult atm, having spanked far too much on webbing and mags for my PP-19, but also because it'll be a single unit thereafter and I'm getting to the stage with my AK's and bits for them that they are a multi-cross-compatible parts bin from which I can put together "the Ak for the job" at any time...

 

Still, from those in stock available from everywhere i tried (which was a pretty exhaustive search), it was the only one, other than that made by SRC and a funky shape, of the correct length for this gun, so the only other option would have been to cut one down, which would probably have resulted in wobble without some work anyway.

[straffham]

Thats a bugger about the barrel not fitting, must admit I hadn't realised there were different fitting types on AKs. IIRC I made my outer barrel from brass tube stock bought from a model shop which is a really good fit in the TM clone receiver and the TM gas block/foresight, and its hidden in the foregrip anyway,but can still be removed in the same way a TM barrel can.

I liked that railed ICS Galil upper housing, only concern would be the wobble that afflicts AK type topcovers, though if it could pivot from the rear sight block that would at least keep it stable. The Dboys 74u uses the same idea,wish I'd taken more notice of how it pivots up and clear of the sight block (I also wish I'd bought the dam thing now lol).

How did you get on with fitting the skeleton grip in the end?

[Ian_Gere]

Actually mate, I didn't check when the grip arrived and since then I've had a major tidy... yeah, you've guessed it: can't find the poxy thing!

 

Edit to add: btw what dimensions of pipe did you use?

Edited September 24, 2014 by Ian_Gere
question

[straffham]

Actually mate, I didn't check when the grip arrived and since then I've had a major tidy... yeah, you've guessed it: can't find the poxy thing!

 

Edit to add: btw what dimensions of pipe did you use?

will check tomorrow mate as working tonight, its a while since I did it, seem to remember using 2 or 3 consecutive sizes telescoped into each other as one end is smaller diameter, think I superglued them together, or maybe soldered, I forget lol.

[straffham]

Ok, so the outer barrel mentioned above consists of 2 brass tubes, inner diameter if the INNER one is 15.25mm, outer dia of the OUTER one is 16.5mm measured using my digital caliper. the inner tube sticks out of the outer tube where it fits inside the Spets type gas block, but I still had to cut a slot using a hacksaw across the diameter to make it a tight fit in the gas block, which is attached using the original screw under the gas block..

At the receiver end the tubes are flush, and a hole was drilled through to allow the original single point fixing to be used (light grey bit in pic below):

The outer barrel has a tiny bit of movement where it fits in the Cyma 028 front end, mainly due to the OEM fixing method, ptfe tape would probably sort this (next size bigger tube is too big) but its not an issue in my gun as rigidity is provided by the hexagonal original bar (seen in the pics) which I have drilled and is pinned into the gas block.

Hope this helps!

[Ian_Gere]

I'm such a cock! I spose because I had made the decision to go with the CM stock I had thought I had gone ahead and ordered it. I was sat here thinking, "Hmmm, that's been a while in the post, I'd better chase that up," as you do. So I've just spent yonks going through my receipts and no, didn't order one! That'll have to wait until next week at the earliest too

 

Still, the whole build is on hold until my new hot glue gun arrives anyway.

[Sitting Duck]

Does anyone know how these attach at the rear?

...it looks like the top cover is supposed to hold it in place, to me.

 

 

I think they are for fitting to CYMA 039's only - like ugly 039c etc....

 

but may be able to fit with a little modification like a small plastic block glued/screwed on to them screw in the rear fixing point

I got a 28A and one these mounts plus another style mount - underneath/side mounting to give a short rail on top,

maybe too short for a nice scope but could fix a longer rail on there I suppose....

or maybe look into drill/dremel a rail on top myself with screws & glue - not sure what scope mount system I might use on my AK

but google cyma 039 for more pics on this "damn how the heck does it fit on other AK's" mount, goes on 039 easy but alas not on 28

[Ian_Gere]

Yeah, the CM.039C brand new looks like something cobbled together from someone's bits box, but i think the U version looks passable - trouble is my build will have a tube stock adapter so that rail would look shit. Having an extra bolt through the barrel base assembly must also restrict the space available for battery & connectors...

 

Edited October 8, 2014 by Ian_Gere
thanks :)