what you are doing and have the knowledge required to build aproject safely.

You don’t want to just slap together some parts when youdon’t really understand what they do, then expect things to work,especially when you are discharging a cartridge developing40,000+ psi just inches from your face.

The first job is to decide what model variation of the AKseries you want to build. The AK-47 series of guns is well knownto anyone even vaguely familiar with military firearms. Ifyou’ve ever watched the network news, you’ve seen one!

Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and adopted by the Sovietmilitary in 1947, it was the official battle rifle of the communistworld for more than a half-century. Early AK-47s featured amachined steel receiver that was time-consuming and expensive

can read and follow instructions and have a basic understandingof how firearms operate, it is “doable” for the average gun hob-byist.

I have been occasionally building guns from kits for morethan 20 years and have a fair amount of skill, so I decided it wasabout time for me to build an AK rifle (or pistol!). I have builtseveral AR-15s, an FN-FAL, single-shot .50 BMG rifle, semi-auto Browning 1919A4, NFA M16, NFA MAC-10, NFABrowning 1919A4, NFA suppressed Ruger MK1, and too manyothers to mention.

Based on my past experiences, if an AR-15 build would rate a1 on a 1-10 scale and a Browning 1919A4 a 10, I would rate anAK-47 build about a 5. I will say that gunbuilding is one of thosethings that is not all that hard, but you have to pay attention to

I f you look through the pages of SGN, you have probablynoticed that there are an abundance of ads for AK-47 partskits, accessories and receivers. You may be surprised to know

that these ads are not entirely directed towards manufacturersthat build AK series semi-auto rifles.

In fact the main target of these ads is the hobby gunsmith ordo-it-yourself gunbuilder. There are large numbers of peoplewho enjoy building their own firearms. If done according toBATFE regulations, which allow individuals to make guns fortheir own use, it is completely legal.

There are dozens of model variations of the AK series, anddepending on the model chosen, the cost savings can be sub-stantial. You don’t have to be a real mechanical wizard to makeone of these guns. If you are reasonably competent with tools,

With a little patience and common hand tools, you can savehundreds by assembling your own AK-47. Here’s how.

Build your own AK-47? Sounds hard, butMatthews demonstrates how it can be donewith patience, careful measuring, persistenceand common hand tools you already have.

Build your own AK-47? Sounds hard, butMatthews demonstrates how it can be donewith patience, careful measuring, persistenceand common hand tools you already have.

By Steven Matthews

to manufacture. The AKM series was designed in the 1950s touse a sheet metal receiver reduced raw materials requirementsand machine time.

This sheet-metal receiver is what really makes this build proj-ect so desirable. Because they’re easy to make, they are inexpen-sive, usually in the $50-$80 range. Combine one with a surplusparts kit for $100-300, and you have a very cost-effective proj-ect.

Things got a little more complicated as of July 13, whenBATFE issued a letter to importers stating it would no longerissue import permits for frames, receivers and barrels. In the caseof AKs, this means barrels, since full-auto receivers were unim-portable anyway. There are still lots of imported barrels on hand,and this ruling will spur U.S. production of AK barrels, butprices may go up for a while.

Before we go any further, I should address the legal issuesinvolved in building an AK-47 style semi-auto rifle or pistol.While it is completely legal for an individual to build a semi-autoAK type rifle (or pistol), it does have to be done according to therules.

You are allowed to build these guns for your own personal use,not to manufacture for resale. First off it does have to be semi-auto only! Full-auto guns are highly regulated and require priorBATFE approval and are beyond the scope of this article.

The second biggest issue in buildingthese guns is the fact that you will beusing a lot of imported parts to make anAK and the BATFE has a limit on justhow many imported parts can be used inthe construction of a semi-auto rifle.

This 10-part rule is commonlyreferred to as the Section 922r ruling.According to the rules, you may use nomore than 10 specified parts out of a listof 20 (see box). You can use any combi-nation as long as it is not more than 10imported parts; the rest have to be U.S.made. The U.S.-made parts may be iden-tical to the imported parts. It’s kindadumb to replace good foreign parts withthe same U.S.-made parts, but those arethe rules. You have to do it that way to belegal!

Only the parts on the list are regulat-ed, if it’s not on the list, you can use it.Small parts such as pins, springs andhardware are not on the list, so they can

be used without restriction. I recommend you use a U.S. made semi-auto fire control

group (hammer, trigger, disconnector). This counts as three U.S.-made parts and is what most peopleuse for an AK rifle build.

Just to make things more interest-ing, there’s an important exception.The 10 parts rule only applies tosemi-auto rifles, not pistols! A pistolversion of the AK can have as manyimported parts as you care to use, aslong as they are in semi-auto config-uration.

Thanks to this regulatory quirk, itis very inexpensive to make an AKpistol, since it only requires a kit anda U.S.-made receiver. As far asreceivers go, it is not mandatory touse a U.S.-made receiver, but it is recommended since they arethe type readily available and they do count as a U.S. part in the10 parts rule.

Since I am going to be making a rifle and a pistol for this arti-cle, it’s important to address just what the technical difference isbetween a rifle and pistol. The BATFE requirements for a riflestate that it must have a minimum barrel length of 16 inches anda minimum overall length of 26 inches.

A pistol may have a barrel of any length but must not have abuttstock or forward pistol grip or the means to attach either. In

addition to the length requirements, the pistol has to have areceiver that is classified as a pistol receiver and the rifle has tohave one classified as a rifle receiver.

If you are using a “virgin” receiver, this classification can bespecified at the time of purchase. When you buy it, have it listedon the BATFE form 4473 as one or the other and also have areceipt that specifies which it is. At this point its identity as arifle or pistol is set. You cannot legally change it once it ispapered.

For more info on the legal issues of home gun building, checkout the BATFE website at www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/index.htm

The internet is a wealth of information on building AK riflesor pistols. One of the best internet sources for AK building is the“Gunsmithing and Build It Yourself ” section of the akfiles.com.It is a discussion forum that is frequented by multitude of expe-rienced AK builders with first-hand knowledge that can be espe-cially useful to the novice builder.

If you aren’t into computers, there are many advertisers inSGN that offer books, DVDs, and tapes that take you through thebuilding process step by step. A complete step-by-step tutorialwould be too large for this article, so I will just cover some of themore important aspects of building. If you are knowledgeable onhow guns work, you can fill in the gaps. If you aren’t, you canresearch on the internet or buy one of the instructional videos orbooks.

Once you have the info on how to build you need the parts andthe best source of parts, SGN, is in your hands right now. Afterresearching this project, I decide I wanted to build two AKs. Idecided to build an AK-74 rifle, which is the 5.45x39mm versionof the older 7.62x39mm AK-47. It is almost identical to the older7.62 gun other than caliber.

Building the AK receiver requires precise riveting, whichis best accomplished with a sturdy steel bench plate,steel backing blocks, ball-peen hammers and punches.

Knowing rules and regulations is vital when building yourown. For example, a pistol can’t have a front pistol gripor place to mount one, so the handguard was modified.

A Hungarian AMD-65 parts kit from Clearview Investmentsgot Matthews started on his AK pistol project. The 12.5-inch barrel is just the thing for pistol building.

A Hungarian AMD-65 parts kit from Clearview Investmentsgot Matthews started on his AK pistol project. The 12.5-inch barrel is just the thing for pistol building.

I also decided to build an AK pistol in the original7.62x39mm. The pistol version is just a short-barreled AK-47without a buttstock or forward pistol grip. For the rifle, I ordereda Bulgarian AK-74 kit from Akron Armory. This kit was adver-tised as in excellent condition and was priced at $199.

When received, it was in the stated condition. In a businesswhere conditions are generally over-hyped, it was nice to get onethat was as advertised! For the pistol build I ordered a HungarianAMD-65 kit from Clearview Investments that was advertised asin unissued condition and was priced at $129. It also was asadvertised.

What makes the AMD-65 kit so desirable for a pistol build isthat it comes with a 12.5-inch barrel, which is just right for thistype of pistol. It also has a wire stock that is easy to delete for thepistol legal requirement. Both of these kits were also advertisedas “all matching numbers,” which indicates that the bolts arealready properly headspaced to the trunnions.

This makes the building a lot easier and less costly. One thingI might mention about the condition of these kits is that theywere in excellent condition for Com-Block military guns. Don’texpect them to have the fit and finish of an American made com-mercial gun. They were made for functionality, not good looks!

I chose Ohio Ordnance Works AK-74 and AK-47 receivers;there are slight differences between the two. I obtained one froma gun show vendor for about $85, which I thought was a bit high,so I looked for a better price on line. I found that Ohio Rapidfirein Troy, Ohio, sold them for $65, and since they were only aboutan hour or so away from where I live I drove down to buy one.

I was surprised when I got to Ohio Rapidfire to find they carrymany parts and accessories for the AK builder. Most shops don’tcarry anything for home builders and it was nice to find a placethat catered to my hobby interest. The OOW receivers are U.S.made and are generally considered to be one of the betterreceivers on the market.

An interesting side noteon these receivers is thatthey are known as OhioOrdnance Works receivers,but are marked as beingmade by “ITM.” I contact-ed OOW about this and wastold that ITM is their man-ufacturing source. Sincethe rifle required severalU.S.-made parts for legali-ty, I bought a U.S.-madegas piston and fire contolgroup (hammer, trigger,disconnector) from TAPCOfor $50.

I also bought a U.S.-made pistol grip($10) andU.S. muzzle brake($25) at local gun shows. These parts broughtthe U.S.-made parts count up to the legal requirement. I alsobought several $8 military surplus(new) magazines for bothguns.

Now that I had the parts, receivers and info on how to build,what about tools? I built both kits with basic hand tools that youwould find in any well-equipped home workshop. These includ-ed include a small die grinder or Dremel Moto-Tool, hammers,punches, files, dial calipers, marking fluid or black marker, alarge strong vise, screwdrivers, clamps, blocks of steel for back-ing up rivets, etc.

To keep costs down, I chose to use basic tools even thoughthere are specialty tools available for AK building. Riveting toolsand an arbor press are somewhat expensive, and since I was onlybuilding two guns, I traded off ease of building for cost savings.

Installing parts in a U.S.-made receiver boils down to rivetingin the front and rear trunnions and a trigger guard/mag releaseassembly.

The trigger guard/mag release assembly location is alreadydrilled and located on the OOW receivers. The trunnions have tobe located and drilled by the builder. This is to accommodate themultitude of AK kits that may come from several manufacturersand countries. Locating and installing these trunnions (and alsothe barrel) is the most difficult part of AK building.

You need to choose at this point whether to use rivets orscrews.

The truninons and trigger guard assemblies are riveted inplace on factory-built AK-47s and AK 74s. This was and is thefast and easy way to assemble them in a factory setting. For thehome builder with nothing but basic hand tools, this rivetingmethod is doable but rather slow and somewhat difficult, but Itraded ease of build for reduced cost. If you want your AK tolook original, the rivet method is the way to go.

One downside of rivetbuilds is that it alsorequires the barrel to beremoved from the trun-nion to install the newrivets. Screw builds don’trequire barrel removal,

but do require drilling and tapping several holes and usingscrews and some nuts instead of rivets. The shallow depth ofsome of the holes can make tapping difficult. Screw builds are aproven method of home building AKs, but in my opinion, screwsmake the gun look cheap and amateurish.

I started one of these guns as a screw build but soon aban-doned it when it became apparent to me that a screw build wasnot that much easier than a rivet build. For more about riveting,see the sidebar.

The first part to be installed on the new receiver is the triggerguard/ mag release assembly. This is not a random choice, as thislocation is set by the receiver manufacturer and this location alsodetermines where the front trunnion will locate.

To install the trigger guard on a rivet build, you obviously needrivets. You can buy the correct metric rivets at a rather highcost($10-15 for a dozen or so rivets) or do as I did and replacethem with standard size rivets that are available at hardwarestores for a few cents each.

The trigger guard holes are sized just about right for common5/32"x 1/2" round head steel rivets. They will need to be short-ened so that only about 1/8" extends through the triggerguard/mag release assembly, selector stop plate and receiver.This will be enough to form a head on the inside or the receiver.

Assemble the parts (be sure you get the selector stop on thecorrect side!) and insert the rivets with the round heads on theoutside and the unformed shanks extending into the receiver. Usea couple blocks of steel under the round heads to back up the riv-ets. Also support the receiver so that it doesn’t fall over when youare working on it.

A pistol can’t have a buttstock or mounting point for one, either, so the Hungarian rear trunnion had to be welded to prevent future installation of a buttstock.

Steel backing blocks support the rivet heads as the trigger guard assembly is riveted in place. Holes are pre-drilled here, so it’s a good place to start assembly.

Slide the front trunnion into thereceiver and use a magazine to

set the proper location. Use a dialcaliper to measure hole positions

and transfer to the receiver.

Slide the front trunnion into thereceiver and use a magazine to

set the proper location. Use a dialcaliper to measure hole positions

and transfer to the receiver.

Trigger parts are best replaced with U.S.-made equiv-alents, both to build the U.S. parts count and toensure you aren’t using any full-auto fire control parts.

Trigger parts are best replaced with U.S.-made equiv-alents, both to build the U.S. parts count and toensure you aren’t using any full-auto fire control parts.

Use a large hammer and punch to flatten the ends of the riv-ets. You don’t need to form round heads, since this is on theinside where it is not visible. Make sure you have the rivetsbacked up solidly; you want your hammering force to be trans-ferred to the rivets, not the parts.

If you don’t have the rivets supported well, you will bend yourparts! Also, make sure that the parts are staying tightly togetherwhile riveting. You may want to do one rivet at a time to make iteasier, but don’t fully tighten the rivets till all are in place. Oncethe rivets are tight, it is hard to reposition any parts that may havemoved while you were hammer-forming the previous rivet.

The two forward rivets are hard to reach, but if you angle inyour punch, you can form a head that is adequate for the insidewhere it won’t show.

Now comes what most builders consider to be the most diffi-cult part of AK building, locating and installing the front trun-nion. Before you can install the front trunnion, you must removethe barrel from the trunnion since the old rivets are under the bar-rel and the new ones will go in their place.

Place your trunnion assembly securely in a vise and use a largehammer and appropriate-sized punch to drive out the barrel-retaining crosspin. These pins are sometimes very hard toremove, so make sure you have everything clamped securely. Youmay really have to bang on it, so be careful you are not bendinganything when trying to remove it.

Once the pin is out, you can remove the barrel from the trun-nion; this may also require a lot of force. The method I used wasto wrap the barrel in a rag and lightly clamp it in the vise and buttthe trunnion up against the side of the vise jaws. The idea here isto allow the barrel to slide through the vise jaws but have thetrunnion stopped by the jaws.

Place a couple of soft copper coins or soft washers against therear of the barrel and use a punch slightly smaller than the bar-rel shank to drive out the barrel. An alternative method I saw onthe Internet was to use an automotive-style gear puller to pressout the barrel.

I didn’t try it but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you havea hydraulic arbor press, it works a lot easier for barrel removalthan the hammer method. On the pistol build that I did first Ipressed the barrel out with a hydraulic arbor press at my work-place.

Total time to set it up and press it out was only about 15 min-utes, so if you have to take yours to a machine shop you shouldonly have to pay about $15-20 (shop rates in my area are about$50-60/hour) For the rifle build, I used the “big hammer” methodwhich worked well and didn’t cost anything other than effort.

It’s up to you to decide if you can handle it yourself or youwant to hire it done. If you take it to a machine shop, be sure it’s“gun friendly” and even then don’t even mention the words AK-

47. We know this build is completely legal, but the general pub-lic only believes what the media tells them about those “evil AK-47s!”

Some barrels may be so hard to remove that you may have nochoice but to take it somewhere and have it pressed out for a fewbucks. Mine came out fine with the hammer method. Once thebarrel is out, use some emery cloth to polish up the barrel shank,crosspin, crosspin hole and the trunnion hole to remove anyburrs that will make reinstallation difficult.

Now the bare trunnion needs to be fitted to the new receiver.Slide it into the receiver with the upper receiver edges slidinginto the groove in the trunnion. Some hand fitting may berequired to get the parts to fit properly.

You locate the trunnion in the receiver with a magazine, sincethe front magazine catch is machined into the rear of the trun-nion. You slide the trunnion in until you get a good fit of themagazine. The magazines need to be held securely but not sotight as to make removal difficult. Try several magazines to makesure they fit correctly.

Once a good location is found, use a c-clamp to clamp thetrunnion in place and then trim the edges of the receiver flushwith the trunnion. Some receivers will not require trimming.Having this trimmed up evenly will aid you in locating the holesyou’ll need to drill for the front trunnion rivets.

Remove your trunnion and, using dial calipers, measure howfar back from the front and how far down from the top your newholes need to be drilled. Measure to the edge of the holes and add1/2 a rivet diameter to get the center point for your hole location.Measure both sides, as there may be some difference between thetwo.

Transfer these dimensions to the receiver and center punchthem before drilling. Drill the holes several sizes undersize andslide the receiver and trunnion together to verify they are wherethey are supposed to be. If you have made a mistake, you mayhave to move the holes by filing on one side or the other to cor-rect it. If they are exactly where they are supposed to be, goahead and drill them full size.

After I drilled the correct metric-sized holes and verified thatthey were right, I clamped the two pieces together and re-drilledthem to accept the next size larger standard rivets, 3/16". Theseare only a few thousandths larger and a lot easier to find.

Once you’ve located and drilled your holes, it’s time to installthe rivets. I installed the four front rivets with the round heads onthe inside of the trunnion and also trimmed them to conform toits inside radius.

They extended about 3/16" past the outside of the receiver toleave enough material to form a round head. I did one rivet at atime. Clamp a piece of steel just a little smaller than the hole inthe trunnion in your vise to back up the rivet heads and slide thetrunnion receiver assembly on to it. You will probably have totrim the round rivet head to allow you to slide the assembly ontothe back up piece.

Once you have the rivet head supported, begin hammering theshank that extends through the receiver. I hammered them flatabout halfway, then began to hammer around the edges of therivet to form a round head. By tapping the edges with a smallhammer, you can get a pretty decent looking rivet head withoutthe need to buy rivet-forming punches.

Continue forming the head till you are sure it is tight, then pro-ceed to the next rivet and repeat the process. Remember youwant all your hammering force going into forming the rivet, notdeforming your trunnion or receiver, so be sure your backing baris supporting the rivet head.

The two lower rivets will need to be installed next, using thesame technique. After your rivets are set, be sure to check that

A steel backing bar takes the place of the barrel in the trunnion, supporting it and the receiver as the rivets are flattened. This is the toughest part of the job.

The rear trunnion is installed in much the same way. Measure the rivet locations, transfer them to the receiver, center punch and then drill, carefully.

The rear trunnion is installed in much the same way. Measure the rivet locations, transfer them to the receiver, center punch and then drill, carefully.

With the trunnion riveted in position, the barrel and its crosspin can be installed. It’s a tight fit, so you may have to cool the barrel and heat the trunnion.

With the trunnion riveted in position, the barrel and its crosspin can be installed. It’s a tight fit, so you may have to cool the barrel and heat the trunnion.

the heads on the inside of the trunnion hole are below its edge. Ifthey are too high, file or grind the heads below the edge of thetrunnion hole so that they won’t interfere with re-installing thebarrel.

To locate your rear trunnion, you use the top cover to find alocation that allows it to fit properly. Use the same methods thatyou used to locate the front trunnion to locate the rear. Locateholes, drill and rivet in place.

While on the subject of the rear trunnion, I should mentionone of the legal issues on building an AK pistol. A pistol mustnot have a buttstock or a means to attach one, so before installingyour rear trunnion, modify the one you got in your rifle parts kitso that it cannot accept a buttstock. This may require cutting offthe stock tang on some models or filling in any stock recesses inthe trunnion on other models. I welded in the recesses for thefolding stock hardware on my AMD-65 kit and ground it downflat.

Now that both the trunnions are installed, its time to get thebarrel back in place. Although a hydraulic press is the easiest

way of reinstalling the barrel, I did it the old-fashioned way withthe trusty big hammer method You ain’t a gunsmith if you donthave a big hammer!

There are two hammer methods and either will work; I triedboth and got equal results. The first is to clamp the barrel in avise and slide the trunnion/receiver assembly on to the barrelstub and use a soft piece of material as a punch and tap the trun-nion/receiver onto the barrel till the crosspin hole lines up exact-ly. Hammer on the trunnion only as the receiver is too thin tohammer on.

The other method is kind of a reverse of the first. Clamp trun-nion/receiver assembly in a vise (be careful to clamp down onlywhere the receiver is supported by the trunnion so you don’tcrush it). I also recommend that you use some wood blocksbetween the vise jaws and the receiver to prevent marring thereceiver.

Then insert the barrel into the trunnion and tap into place.Place a piece of soft material over the muzzle so that you don’tmar the end of the barrel, I used an old muzzle brake that was

basically scrap material to protect the muzzle. I recommendsmall taps when you get close to lining up the crosspin so youdon’t go too far.

The crosspin hole needs to be lined up almost perfectly. Thebarrel requires an interference fit, so I recommend the followingprocedure to make it easier to install. First lightly oil both thetrunnion hole and barrel shank. Then place your barrel in yourkitchen freezer; the cold will shrink the diameter slightly.

With a propane torch, gently heat the trunnion to expand thetrunnion hole; only heat it to 200-300°. An alternative to guess-ing on the temperature would be to place your trunnion andreceiver in your kitchen oven set to the proper temperature forabout 30 minutes. Expanding the hole and shrinking the shankwill make the two slide together a lot easier.

Once you start sliding the hot trunnion and cold barrel togeth-er, don’t piddle around, as the two will immediately begin toequalize their temperatures and again be very hard to slidetogether. Have a large wrench at hand so that if the barrel needsto be rotated to align the crosspin hole, it is there where you canget to it quickly.

Once the crosspin hole is lined up perfectly, clamp the trun-nion in your vise and reinstall the barrel crosspin. Lubing boththe pin and the hole will make installation easier. I might add atthis point that even though you are hammering things together,you just don’t beat things together with large hammer blows, youwant to apply the force precisely where it needs to be applied andnot to the surrounding parts.

If you aren’t confident reinstalling your barrel yourself I rec-ommend taking it to the machine shop that removed it for youand having them reinstall it. Just make sure they understand howprecisely the parts have to be assembled and make sure theydon’t damage anything during reassembly.

Now that your trigger guard/mag release assembly, front trun-nion, rear trunnion and barrel are installed, the hardest part isdone. All that remains is to install the rest of your parts.

One of the biggest concerns of the novice AK builder is theissue of riveting the gun together. Some think that this isdifficult and requires some great skill; nothing could be fur-

ther than the truth. Some even question how a firearm can besafely built using those crude-looking old-fashioned rivets.

Rivets are one of the oldest and well-proven methods of fas-tening items together. The industrial age was based on rivets!

Screws, nuts and bolts were only cheaply and readily availablesince the mid 1800s when high volume screw-making machin-ery became available.

Before that, screws were basically hand-made and too expen-sive for most applications. Even into the mid 20th century, riv-ets were the most common fastener in applications like as ship-building, skyscraper construction and locomotives.

When the AK-47 was redesigned in the1950s to use the sheet metal receiver themanufacturers wanted a strong, permanentfastener and choose rivets! Although rivetsare made from soft steel because they need tobe malleable, they are more than adequate forthe job.

In a factory setting, the receiver and otherparts are held in alignment by precision fix-tures and fastened using pneumatic rivetsqueezers. It’s fast and can be done by semi-skilled assemblers, a vital consideration inwartime when labor is scarce.

The rivets in an AK are not under a greatdeal of stress. They only serve to hold thereceiver and components together and inalignment. The barrel, front trunnion and boltare the parts under stress at the time of firing.All forces of firing are contained within theseparts.

The receiver and riveted in components arethere to allow the internal parts to reciprocatein the receiver for functioning and to providea place to hang the magazine. The only stress-es that are involved are the forces from recoil

and the spring-driven bolt carrier assembly returning to battery.

Rivets also hold together some of the worlds most durablemachine guns, most notably the Browning 1919 MG and themore recent FN-MAG (M240). These guns have a design liferated in the hundreds of thousands of rounds.

Let’s look at some extremely basic hand riveting methods. Idid my rivet setting by hand with nothing more than a hammer,punches, and backup blocks. You can choose from a multitude ofriveting tools and methods that range from basic rivet formingpunches to hand held forming tools to hydraulically operatedsetting tools.

Since hand riveting is so easy and there are only 15 rivets inan AK type firearm I could not justify the cost for the specialtytools.

Rivets have to be soft enough so that the head will form with-out breaking or cracking, and long enough to extend through theparts to be assembled. Heads can be round, flat, short, tall, coun-tersunk, etc., and each type will require a different amount ofextra material to form the heads.

Rivets have stood the test of time as fasteners. This PortHuron steam tractor, made early in the last century, stillstands up to high pressure with riveted construction.

Select rivets long enough to provide enough shank mate-rial to form an effective head. Too long means a lot ofgrinding, too short means a joint that might not hold.

➤➤➤

Riveting:Riveting: a skill you can mastera skill you can master

Install the fire control group. Matthews suggests ditching the “shepherd’s crook” spring and retainingparts with easily available and installable steel clips.

Install the fire control group. Matthews suggests ditching the “shepherd’s crook” spring and retainingparts with easily available and installable steel clips.

Cont. to page 76

Cont. to page 76

Manufacturing tolerances mean some minorhand-fitting of the remaining parts may berequired.

The fire control group needs to be installed in the receiver, butnot just any fire control group, it needs to be a semi-auto firecontrol group. While the hammer and triggers are basically thesame on the full auto and semi-auto, the semi-auto has a differ-ent disconnector.

Either use a manufactured semi disconnector or modify thefull auto disconnector by grinding off the tail so that it cannot becontacted by the safety/selector.

The safety lever is installed by orienting it straight up, slidingthrough the hole in the receiver and then rotating it down intoplace. You will have to push the disconnector forward to allow itto be put into position.

The fire control group in a semi AK consist of a hammer, trig-ger, disconnector, safety lever, hammer spring, disconnectorspring, two pins and a pin retainer spring. If your kit comes withany of the full-auto fire control parts, I recommend that youthrow them away just to stay legal. You don’t need them and pos-session of them can be construed by law enforcement as “intent”to make an unregistered full-auto gun.

into the back of the bolt carrier and the lug on the rear of thespring assembly engages into the groove in the rear trunnion.

Slide the front of the top cover into the groove in the rear sightbase and the rear in the groove that is machined into the reartrunnion and is held by the square spring loaded lug on the rearof the recoil spring.

If you are doing a rifle build, this is the point at which youinstall the buttstock. That part is usually held in place by fittinginto the rear of the receiver and by two additional screws. If youhave a flash suppressor or muzzle brake, screw it onto the barrel.It will lock in place by the spring-loaded pin in the front sightbase.

Since one of the more popular U.S.-made parts to be replacedis the gas piston, I need to mention that not all gas pistons are thesame. Model variations with different length barrels sometimeshave different length gas pistons. For example, the 12.5-inch bar-reled AMD-65 doesn’t have the same piston as the 16-inch stan-dard models.

Also the AK-74 and the AK-47 have slightly different pistonlengths, but you can modify the bolt carrier in the AK-74 byshortening it to use a standard AK-47 piston. If you use thewrong piston, your gun may not function properly, so be sure touse one that is compatible with your parts kit.

For this AK project I didn’t want a large head protruding fromthe sides of my receiver and about 3/16” extra was all that wasneeded for forming my heads. As shown in the picture, you startwith a rivet protruding from your work. With a hammer (or ham-mer and punch if you prefer) hammer the solidly supported headdown about 1/2 its length.

right the first time. If you choose to use “generic” rivets ratherthan ones already sized for your project like I did you will haveto experiment to get the right length for proper head forming. Ifyou are uncertain on using the generic rivets, by all means spendthe extra money for the ready-made ones for your own peace ofmind.

You can find a variety of sources for rivets on the Internet, andthe sites make for interesting reading.

Don’t be intimidated by riveting. Remember medieval black-smiths were riveting hundreds of years ago, it’s not high tech!Whether you use basic hand tools or the expensive rivet settingtools, you are just squashing a soft piece of metal

The rifle is complete, but is a motley collection of colors. Matthews suggests this is the time to do yourtest-firing, in case any modifications need to be made.

One thing that has caused a lot of frustration to AK builders isinstalling the “shepherds hook” spring that holds in the hammerand trigger pins, it’s just flat out difficult to install. The simplestsolution to this is to just throw it away and use E-clips or pinretaining clips that are available at hardware stores.

After your fire control group is installed, attach your pistolgrip with the long screw and the angled nut that fits into theinside of the receiver. The lower handguard fits into the recessunder the front trunnion at the rear.

A lever on it rotates a cam that allows it to slide forward toallow handguard installation. The gas tube/upper handguard isinstalled between the gas port block and the sight base. It alsohas a lever and cam for removing and locking in place.

Install the bolt into the bolt carrier and install it into the receiv-er followed by the recoil spring assembly. The spring end goes

Simply flattening the head about halfway is the first step in hand-forming a rivet. To get a rounded profile, you just start tapping the edges against the workpiece.

Grind a recess into the end of a large punch and you’vemade a rivet head punch. It will give a nicely roundedhead (r.) without a lot of grinding and finishing needed.

To form the traditional round shape on the rivet head, justbegin tapping around the edges of the rivet to round it over, workyour way around the head till you have a nicely rounded headthat is tight on your work. This forming is done with many lighttaps, not heavy hammer blows.

After you have properly formed the head, smooth it up with asmall file or grinder. Make sure that your rivet is always wellsupported so that all your hammering force is going into the rivetand not deforming your parts. If it’s not properly supported, allyou will do is push your rivet out of your parts!

For backing blocks I used flat blocks of steel (except for thebacking block in the barrel hole). Flat blocks will cause theopposite heads to flatten somewhat when forming the head butsince I didn’t want protruding heads, this was fine with me. Ifyou want to retain the round heads on the opposite ends you willhave to have a backing block with a head shape machined intothe block.

Although the hammer method will work fine, you can alsouse a rivet head forming punch, which will allow you to form thehead in one operation. This is simply a punch with a recessformed in the end that will allow the rivet shank to form a headas it is struck.

It will still take many hits to form the head but it does make anice looking head that requires no finish work. This punch canbe bought or made. To make one, just grind a depression in theend of a large punch in the shape of a rivet head with a smallstone in a Dremel Moto-tool. Just remember to make it largeenough to form a head that is large enough not to pull thoughyour work pieces.

As with any project, there are some tips that may make the jobeasier or give better results. Here are a few. Always keep yourparts firmly clamped together when riveting; you don’t want toget your head all formed only to find out that the parts are loose-ly fitted. A lot of small hits work better when hand setting rivetsthat a few large hits, the hammer is easier to control and you willmake fewer mistakes.

When forming the heads, the rivet shanks in your work willexpand and be very difficult to remove if you screw up and wantto redo them (don’t ask how I know this!), it’s best to get them

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Once all your parts are installed, I recommend you do a finalcheck of all your parts and how they function and then test fire before you proceed to final finishing. You may find someminor fitting problems that need correction before you apply the finish.

There are a multitude of finish options ranging from simplespray paint to traditional or high tech finishes. For the AMD-65pistol build I went with a traditional hot tank bluing job that I didmyself.

For the AK-74 rifle build I went with KG GunKote in charcoalgray that I also applied in my workshop. KG GunKote is asprayed-on phenolic resin finish that is baked on to form a hardand durable finish and is an excellent finish for militaryfirearms.

These two finishing methods have been covered in previousarticles that I have written for SGN if you are interested in theprocess of applying them. Another popular finish is LauerCustom Weaponry’s DuraCoat, which has also been covered in aprevious article.

I suppose the final test of how well you built your guns is howwell they work. I guess I got lucky because both of mine workedextremely well. Both functioned fine and the AK-74 was espe-cially surprising in how accurately it shot.

Most AKs in 7.62x39mm will generally only shoot 6-inchgroups at 100 yards. This rifle shoots 3-4" groups, even with thecrude AK sights. I can’t help but wonder how well it would dowith a scope. I compared this AK-74 to a Polytech AK -47 7.62sidefolder I have had for about 15 years and the AK-74 shot con-siderably better.

The AK-47 pistol was something of a surprise also but not for

100-yard accuracy. I was skeptical about how a pistol this largewould handle. Although it was very heavy by pistol standards, Ifound that from a sandbag rest (with small magazines) I couldshoot it as well as any long barrel pistol.

It was a bit like a big semi-auto T-C Contender. Recoil wasnowhere near as heavy as a 44 Mag. handgun yet the ballistictables would indicate similar muzzle energies. At 100 yards Icould shoot the AK pistol somewhat better than my S&W 629 44Mag. with 83⁄8-inch barrel.

One of the big incentives of building yourself is the cost sav-ings. For the AMD-65 pistol build I had $130 in the parts, $85in the receiver and about $20 in finishing cost for a total of $235,which is about $200 under the wholesale price of a factory-builtAK pistol. This was a huge cost savings and well worth the workinvolved.

The need for U.S.-made parts and the higher kit price meantthe AK-74 rifle cost more. The kit cost $200, the receiver cost me$65, the U.S. made parts were about $85 and the KG GunKotewas about $25 for a total of $375. This is also about $200 underwholesale price for factory-built AK-74 rifles. Add on dealermark up and the cost savings are even greater.

The large cost savings plus the satisfaction of knowing thatyou built it yourself make this a very attractive project. If you arewilling to put in some work and study the project this may be onefor you. I enjoyed the project and saved money so it doesn’t getmuch better for me!

Matthews chose KG GunKote finish for the rifle, hot tankbluing for the pistol. These guns aren’t going to have a shiny commercial look, but can stand on their own.

K-VAR, 5015 W. Sahara Ave., #125 PMB-136, Dept.SGN, Las Vegas, Nev. 89146-3407 www.K-VAR.com

Clearview Investments Inc., 102 Fieldview Dr., Suite300, Dept. SGN, Versailles, Ky. 40383 www.clearviewinvest.com

Akron Armory, 2419 Front St., Dept. SGN, CuyahogaFalls, Ohio, 44221 www.akronarmory.comemail:AkronArmory@aol.com

Ohio Rapidfire, 537 N. Elm St., Dept. SGN, Troy, Ohio,45373 www.ohiorapidfire.com

Information on building

http://www.akfiles.com

American Gunsmithing Institute, 1325 Imola Ave. W.,Suite 504, Dept. SGN, Napa, Calif., 94559, www.americangunsmith.com

Parts, acessories and receivers

Tapco, P.O. Box 2408, Dept. SGN, Kennesaw, Ga.,30144 www.Tapco.com

Inter Ordnance, 3305 Westwood Industrial Drive, Dept.SGN, Monroe, N.C. 28110 www.intreordnance.com

Ohio Ordnance Works, P.O. Box 687, Dept. SGN,Chardon, Ohio, 44024 www.ohioordnance.com

These are the 20 parts that are regulated by theBATFE for the construction of semi-auto rifles.

No more than 10 of these parts can be imported andused to construct a semi-auto rifle.

Note: Not all rifles have all the parts on the list.

1 Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings orstampings

2 Barrels 3 Barrel extensions4 Mounting blocks(trunnions), receivers and trun-

nions may be counted as one part if in one piece5 Muzzle attachments6 Bolts7 Bolt carriers8 Operating rods9 Gas pistons

10 Trigger housings11 Triggers12 Hammers13 Sears14 Disconnectors15 Buttstocks16 Pistol grips17 Forearms, Handguards18 Magazine bodies19 Magazine followers20 Magazine floorplates

Any combination of these parts can be used as long asno more than 10 imported parts are used, however cer-tain parts are more commonly used by builders. The mostpopular U.S. parts to use are hammers, triggers, discon-nectors, receivers, gas pistons, pistol grips, stocks, muz-zle attachments (flash suppressors, muzzle brakes), mag-azine bodies, followers and floorplates.

Semi-auto AK-47(74) Resource ListSemi-auto AK-47(74) Resource List

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