Fûz has built himself an AK.

Head sets us straight on parts counts to stay legal when building an AK.

Head looks at using alumahyde on AKMs. May have to get some of that stuff.

Head tells you how to remove rivets on AK receivers without doing damage to the weapon.

Here’s a couple snapshots of the AK project mocked up and getting close to being done. First is the side view:

Here’s a close up of the receiver:

Up next, slapping in the fire control group and some pins, which you can learn how to do here.

Head now has a diagram of Kalashnikov Midsection Parts Terminology. Another must read from Head if you’re contemplating an AK build.

Head is building the shortest AK pistol of all time.

He also created a handy little diagram of AK front end parts.

Update on the AK build (you can see the series here): I had mentioned before that one of the laser cut flats wasn’t cut all the way which meant it couldn’t be bent properly. We got this laser cut flat from AR15plus.com. We sent them a picture of the flat and they sent us a replacement. Pretty good customer service, I thought, and worthy of a plug here. So, if you’re pondering rolling your own AK, AR, 10/22 or 1911, check out AR15plus.com.

If you’re new to the AK Series, here’s part one, on general how to. And here’s part 2 on legal and compliance info. When we last left off, I was in the process of sanding and sawing off the forward pistol grip. I stripped the varnish, cut off the forward grip and sanded it down. I am sad to report the wood underneath all that varnish is hideously ugly. See:

So, what to do? Paint it of course. I went to Lowe’s and mulled my paint choices. I decided on flat black, since I love those evil black rifles that give Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein fits. Then, I saw it. From Rustoleum, the new American Accents Stone Collection. Cool, I can not only paint it flat black but I can texture the furniture. I gave it my best Mr. Burns Excellent and snatched some up. Here’s the first coat (more coats required):
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See part 1 here. All you folks are apparently too lazy to Google. Questions have arisen about compliance [18 USC 922(r)] parts for the AK. Here’s a list, taken from AR15.com:

The 16 countable parts of an AK rifle. No more than 10 of these parts may be imported.

(1) Receiver*
(2) Barrel
(3) Trunnion
(4) Muzzle attachments(flash hiders, brakes, barrel extensions, barrel nuts)*
(5) Bolt
(6) Bolt carrier
(7) Gas piston
(8) Trigger*
(9) Hammer*
(10) Disconnecter*
(11) Buttstock
(12) Pistol grip*
(13) Forearm handguards
(14) Magazine body
(15) Follower
(16) Floorplate

The [bold] parts are the most commonly available U.S. manufactured parts.

On a typical stamped receiver rifle you need to replace 5 parts with no muzzle attachment and 6 parts with a muzzle attachment.

On a typical milled recevier rifle you need to replace 4 parts with no muzzle attachment and 5 parts with a muzzle attachment, because there isn’t a barrel trunion, it is part of the receiver.

When building an AK pistol, these regulations do not apply. You can not have a stock or forward pistol grip on a pistol.

* represent non-imported parts I plan on using.

Reader Shoot-N-Scoot and I set out a while back to build some Kalashnikov rifles. We ordered a some of these kits from Tapco. They look like this:

Note how it’s cut in two at the receiver.

The other piece involved is a receiver flat, which is a piece of stamped metal with holes drilled in it. Once you bend it, it then becomes the receiver. Essentially, you take the rifle kits and remove all the parts from the old receiver, which has been decommissioned by being cut in two. Bend the new receiver and put the rifle kit together on the new receiver. To comply with federal law, the kits come with a semi-auto fire control group (meaning it’s missing the parts that would make it a machine gun). You can also only use ten imported parts to comply with federal law so we will add some American made parts as well. The fire control group is not imported so this helps with your part count. This post will detail bending the flats and removing the old receiver.

We initially used flats bought from Tapco as well but the first attempt at bending one didn’t work. We obtained some laser cut flats, which are easier to bend but require welding to strengthen.

Here’s a pic of the flat:

More pics and commentary below:
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