Nice, thanks.  Only reason I ask is the wrench flats are nice and vertical which I've found hard to do.

Nice, thanks.  Only reason I ask is the wrench flats are nice and vertical which I've found hard to do.

Ahh.  Gotcha.  I was wondering about that aspect of adding a muzzle device on this gun.  Hopefully I will be able to shoot it in the next week or so. 

your project, well done by the way, strikes me as an AK that is really starting to look like an AR, what with the rail, VG6 brake, picatinny all over, Aimpoint, faux buffer tube to mount M4-compatible butt stock.  I guess this is the product of technology transfer, cross-pollination, and the benefit of the Reagan-Gorbachev love fest, huh?

at the same time, we also have the technology transfer going the other way, now with piston AR's chambered in 7.62x39, some even take AK mags, others the AR-type CPD/ASC's, along with half-assed AR side-folders:  they fold, but not semi-auto shootable when folded, just going for The Look and Tacticool style points.  All thanks to cheap steel-case 7.62x39 arriving on our shores as the motivator.

just a trend observation, nothing more, nothing less.

Like I said, nice looking project.  Does it still eject brass (or steel) right-and-forward 30 feet into the next time-zone?  which, of course, is in the AK DNA.

your project, well done by the way, strikes me as an AK that is really starting to look like an AR, what with the rail, VG6 brake, picatinny all over, Aimpoint, M4-compatible butt stock.  I guess this is the product of technology transfer, cross-pollination, and the benefit of the Reagan-Gorbachev love fest, huh?

at the same time, we also have the technology transfer going the other way, now with piston AR's chambered in 7.62x39, some even take AK mags, others the AR-type CPD/ASC's, along with half-assed AR side-folders:  they fold, but not semi-auto shootable when folded, just going for The Look and Tacticool style points.  All thanks to cheap steel-case 7.62x39 arriving on our shores as the motivator.

just a trend observation, nothing more, nothing less.

Like I said, nice looking project.  Does it still eject brass (or steel) right-and-forward 30 feet into the next time-zone?  which, of course, is in the AK DNA.

Thanks! Yeah, it does have AR DNA in there. The goal wasn’t really that. Just sort of ended up that way. I guess being that I’ve shot ARs quite a bit, I guess it was natural.

The main mod that I wanted was a red dot. With my Arsenal, I tried the optic rail that attaches to the side of the receiver. The height of the optic with the sloping AK stock meant for a “chin weld”. I looked at other optic options, but then settled on the SLR rail.

If this gun came with a more standard stock, I might have stayed with it. I did want an option to change LOP and ended up with the VLTOR. I considered the Magpul and others as well.

The brake wasn’t initially on my list, but decided to “try something”. Same with the trigger. I was close to staying with the original muzzle (no device), but guess I also wanted to try the VG6.

The Krebs was after noticing others manipulating the safety in a cabine class. Or more to the point, difficulty in operating the standard AK safety.

The availability and cost of 7.62x39 ammo was a definite motivator in doing an AK project and desire to get more time shooting AKs. On a side note, I finally found Tula .223 cheap so test with my beater AR. 

I’m planning on shooting it this Sun. So will see the ejection. Once I get this gun zeroed, I’ll likely shoot the Arsenal more as well. That one is still as-is from the box.

Overall, this project got my interest in AKs going again.

your project, well done by the way, strikes me as an AK that is really starting to look like an AR, what with the rail, VG6 brake, picatinny all over, Aimpoint, faux buffer tube to mount M4-compatible butt stock.  I guess this is the product of technology transfer, cross-pollination, and the benefit of the Reagan-Gorbachev love fest, huh?

at the same time, we also have the technology transfer going the other way, now with piston AR's chambered in 7.62x39, some even take AK mags, others the AR-type CPD/ASC's, along with half-assed AR side-folders:  they fold, but not semi-auto shootable when folded, just going for The Look and Tacticool style points.  All thanks to cheap steel-case 7.62x39 arriving on our shores as the motivator.

just a trend observation, nothing more, nothing less.

Like I said, nice looking project.  Does it still eject brass (or steel) right-and-forward 30 feet into the next time-zone?  which, of course, is in the AK DNA.

I get what your saying but I like that he added functionality/adjustablility to his AK without adding too much, or maybe even lightening his AK.  Now some of those Zenitco 15lb Spetsnaz specials look awesome but I'd hate to carry for any extended period of time.

Yeah, the mods for this gun were from a functional and performance perspective. Each part or mod was purpose driven. Have some rail panels coming in and might still add a light. But will likely shoot it for a while and see how things shake out.

Shot about 80 rounds today. Verified stock irons and then zeroed red dot. Would’ve zeroed quicker except for brain farts and moving POI opposite direction. :facepalm:

Zeroed red dot at 50 and had some of the black powder guys shot steel at 100. Was easy for them to get consistent hits on a 12” diameter plate at 100, so I was happy and confirmation enough for me. The brake worked well and was able to keep the dot on the 12” plate at 100 after each shot.

The gun handled better than i thought. It wasn’t as front heavy as I thought it would be. Think that helped muzzle rise. Was flatter shooting than I thought. Not quite as flat as my main AR, but not bad.

Here’s a target at 50 to confirm zero.

Shot the AK project in some drills at a carbine class yesterday.  I definitely need to spend more time with this gun. 

One thing that jumped out in shooting the AK in the class was how hot it gets!  I shot maybe 70-80 rounds over maybe 2-3 minutes and the hand guard was so hot that it was painful to hold, even with gloves.  My support hand ends up right at the end of the gas tube.  So that area got super hot as well as I could see where the gasses leaked in that area and left exhaust marks on the hand guard.  I had carbon grip panels on the bottom of the hand guard and even those didn't really help.  I went back to my AR after that drill.  If I had to continue shooting the AK, I probably would have had to put my support hand on the magazine. 

Not sure what I will try next.  I was thinking of a hand stop or something that would help provide heat sink/break for the hand guard.  Shooting my AR in similar drills got the gun pretty hot, but with the grip panels and my gloves, the heat didn't bother me. 

Performance wise, I think the AK shot well.  It has more recoil than my AR, so shot splits would probably be slower, but I didn't try them side-by-side. 

Mag changes was a bit of a struggle.  I think the mag release needs to be broken in some.  Still being pretty green with AKs certainly didn't help. 

Not sure what happened, but after the end of the second mag, I noticed lube coming out of the receiver.  I believe I don't put grease on the bolt rails and maybe a little on the receiver rails, but I didn't think that would get into the main action of the gun.  I'll have to see what it looks like when I clean it later today, but the lube went all over the place and made is such that I could barely see through the red dot. 

Overall, I was a little disappointed, but will certainly give the gun more time.

IV's original meltdown videos is the reason why I wanted to get an AK-VEPR. He revisited the old videos. Their t-shirts are awesome.

Story i heard. Everyone who shows up to a class with an AK, shows up with an AR the next one.

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I've seen many folks go through carbine classes with AKs and continue with AKs.  Everyone has their preferences.  I've even seen folks with bring SCARs to carbine classes.  I have yet to see someone with a bullpup, but I wouldn't think anything of it. 

While I certainly prefer ARs over AKs, I definitely see the positives of AKs.  For the carbine course, I wanted to shoot it more, but when I was being hampered by the heat of the handguard and not able to see well through the red dot and distracted from the course of fire, I decided to stop there.  I'll have other chances to shoot the AK, but wanted to make most of the carbine class. 

I expected a learning curve and that's what I found that I was up against.  Definitely going to give it more time and find ways to either remedy or get around the issues that I found out this past weekend.  All part of the process. 

Now thinking about changing out the SLR rail for another SLR rail that will allow adding grip panels for better heat shielding.  This current rail has a cut out for the sling loop at the gas block.  That's in the area where my support hand goes, but the sling loop gets hot too and also prevents putting a rail panel in that area.  So thinking of cutting off the sling loop and change rail to one that doesn't have the cut out and can add a rail cover over that area.  Something that is a heat shield and also increases the diameter slightly to keep my fingers away from the railed gas block.  Would be able to use the same railed gas block, so that's one good thing. 

I've also considered adding a vertical grip.  I have shorty vertical grips on my ARs and use them primarily as a handstop.  But I was also thinking that I could use the vertical grip in a "beer can" grip when the rail gets too hot.  While not my preferred method, I think better than going with the magazine grip for the support hand. 

Damn, I'm gonna need to get more AK ammo soon.   

I've seen many folks go through carbine classes with AKs and continue with AKs.  Everyone has their preferences.  I've even seen folks with bring SCARs to carbine classes.  I have yet to see someone with a bullpup, but I wouldn't think anything of it. 

While I certainly prefer ARs over AKs, I definitely see the positives of AKs.  For the carbine course, I wanted to shoot it more, but when I was being hampered by the heat of the handguard and not able to see well through the red dot and distracted from the course of fire, I decided to stop there.  I'll have other chances to shoot the AK, but wanted to make most of the carbine class. 

I expected a learning curve and that's what I found that I was up against.  Definitely going to give it more time and find ways to either remedy or get around the issues that I found out this past weekend.  All part of the process.

Would an AR with a standard heat shield have been the same?  Majority free float, even myself so I haven't shot lots of rounds with the stock handguard.

Would an AR with a standard heat shield have been the same?  Majority free float, even myself so I haven't shot lots of rounds with the stock handguard.

Are you referring to these?



None of my ARs have those, but I've shot some with them hot enough to get uncomfortable, but not like this AK. 

My AK has a railed gas block so the block itself gets hot.  With the venting and the metal that forms the sling loop being directly in contact with the barrel, they all get hot.  In the current setup, my hand can touch the sling loop, which is close to being able to touch the FSP on an AR.

As for heat shield for AK furniture.  My Arsenal still has stock plastic furniture and after about 60 rounds in 1-2 minutes, it gets hot enough that I would need gloves.  Supposedly wood hand guards would help that, but for the AK project, the railed gas block is the main feature that I want, so I have to work with that. 

Ordered the SLR Solo MLok S (no sling loop) 13.5" rail this morning.  Will need to cut the sling loop off, but I'm hopeing this rail will allow a couple of things that the 11.5" A version doesn't.  The S version doesn't have the cut out for the sling loop, so I could put grip panels over the key area where my support hand would be.  The sling loop is currently near where my support hand falls on the rail and I think the sling loop contributes to the heat felt as well as doesn't allow a grip panel in that area.  The longer 13.5" rail will also allow a little more flexibility to play adjust the LOP and thus where my support hand ends up.  It can also allow me to grip out past the gas block, but not sure I want that yet.  I went with the 11.5" rail initially because it had a picatinny section at the end and the 11.5" put it right about where I thought I wanted the picatinny section, but it turns out that there are other things that ended up a "hotter" topic. . .

New direction started with SLR Solo MLok installed. Added short very grip and some rail covers. Will have to wait and see how this setup helps dealing with heat, but looks like it should help. I’d prefer a little more space between where my support hand ends up and the gas block. So used to support hand grip with ARs where my thumb goes over the top of the rail, so this feels a little awkward. Just have to shoot and see.

Dialing in the red dot

   Conversation reminds me of the shaky  BI Shoot.
Our mutual friend literally burned wholes thru his "work"  gloves with his AK. 

   I've often thought of getting an AK due to their reliability when abused or neglected, but in 5.56 just for ammo compatibility reasons but not sure if being ammo redundant defeats some of the AK advantages.   

   Conversation reminds me of the shaky  BI Shoot.
Our mutual friend literally burned wholes thru his "work"  gloves with his AK. 

   I've often thought of getting an AK due to their reliability when abused or neglected, but in 5.56 just for ammo compatibility reasons but not sure if being ammo redundant defeats some of the AK advantages.   

That was an awesome time!

Yeah, the guns get super hot. And that’s WITH gloves. Trying these heat protecting gloves.

And yeah, you should get an AK. If nothing more than familiarity of them. Ammo is cheap. Readily available. I hear ya about consolidating calibers tho.

That was an awesome time!

Yeah, the guns get super hot. And that’s WITH gloves. Trying these heat protecting gloves.

And yeah, you should get an AK. If nothing more than familiarity of them. Ammo is cheap. Readily available. I hear ya about consolidating calibers tho.

So AK would be a good first firearm for me to buy ?