One of the things that used to drive me nuts with AK builds was driving out barrel pins and then I got a tip from Gunplumber – a variable trigger air hammer or air riveter makes it way easier. Many cheap import air hammers have an air valve behind the trigger that is either on or off and not much in between. Some guys call the variable valve triggers “tickle triggers” – why? I have no idea. At any rate, every air riveter, which looks like an air hammer, that I have seen has a tickle trigger to allow the user more control when setting rivets.
I use the pointed conical air chisel to start the rivet and that is the hard part. Once you get it moving, then use a big hammer and the largest punch you can fit in the hole to drive the rivet the rest of the way out. Note, I only do this when demilling. I use a barrel pin jig to install barrel pins because you have so much more control.
The following photo is of an ATS brand Pro Series 3X riveter. The bigger the number, the more poweful the riveter. I also have a big 4X equivalent Ingersol Rand that I use on large rivets or work needing a powerful tool. The 3X has a nice combination of power and weight and it almost always works on barrel pins and certainly on small trigger guard AK rivets.
You can find rivet guns from many suppliers – even Harbor Freight. I’d recommend you get a 3X for most work and a 4X if you want even more options.
The following is the riveter shown above:
When the conical chisel gets beat up, I grind the tip down and when it is really fried, I just pull out another. I would recommend going with a good brand name. For example, Ingersoll Rand, Chicago Pneumatic, etc.
The big 4x equivalent air hammer I use is the IR 117K standard duty model and it hits hard:
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It’s cool having a blog because I can elaborate on questions that people have asked me. A recurring one is how to remove the upper handguard cover, also known as the “gas tube” cover on AK rifles. Every military AK I have seen uses two half circle metal retainers to hold the half moon shaped gas tube cover. Sometimes they cover comes off super easy and other times you need mechanical assistance. Here is the basic process – hold the gas tube with one hand, grab the cover with the other, turn the cover 180 degrees so it is facing the opposite way and then pull it out of the retainers.
Now, sometimes the wood or plastic has really stuck/doesn’t want to budge. Do the following:
Place the forged end of the gas tube in a vise with either soft jaws to pieces of leather to protect the forging. Absolutely do not put the circular end into the vise or you will crush it.
Close the jaws just enough to hold the assembly in place.
Either firmly by hand or with a strap wrench, rotate the cover 180 degrees so it is face the opposite direction. Note – you can turn it either way as these are just semi-circles and you may find it turns easier to the left or to the right.
If you are applying force and are getting nervous that it still will not turn, you have some issue with one surface sticking to the other. You have two approaches you can try: 1) use a heat gun and warm up the metal retainers from their ends. Sometimes the varnish, BLO, urethane or partially melted plastic is sticking and heat can soften it after which it turns much easier. 2) Just brute force it and if it snaps then replace it. I have never had to resort to this.
The new cover goes on the reverse. If you are using a wood cover, or our polymer cover, don’t forget to install the retaining clip first to limit cover movement. Some plastic gas tube covers do not use this but our gas tube covers do just to be clear.
Here are some videos that others have recorded to help further just in case:
The method I just outlined is very similar to what this fellow does:
Here are two more for additional perspectives:
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
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A lot of guys, myself included, have run into retaining wires for the trigger and hammer pins in an AK and had a heck of a time removing or installing them depending on the design. I can’t tell you how many I have had challenges with over the years for one reason or another. I decimated the stock Zastava wire in my M77 the other day but I can explain that one – I now rather despise the wires and just pull them out with pliers with no plan of reusing them. Thus, I bent the heck out of the wire just yanking it out.
There is a solution to the retaining wire problem – or at least, my problem with retaining wires. About two years ago, I stopped using wires altogether and moved to the use of “plates” which are pieces of spring steel or sheet metal that simply go nose first onto the hammer, you then rotate the plate down and it engages the trigger pin and then finally the hole portion winds up aligned with the safety/selector lever hole. What this does is the plate locks up the two pins and then the selector lever locks the plate in place. They are incredibly simple to install and remove if you are doing work with the fire control group.
In terms of plates, there are basically two styles you will find. One originated with RSA and I have used these for a few years now. I only have had one problem – during installation one part of the hammer pin portion snapped right off. I called RSA and they promptly replace the plate. Kudos to them for good customer service.
A relatively newer style is from Tapco but I haven’t used it yet myself though I do have one on order for my Vepr 12 to try out. It does the same thing but has a small tab. I have big fingers and am wondering if this will make installation and removal any easier and let me point out that the RSA is a breeze to install and remove.
I installed the RS!Regulate AK-310 base and AKR top rail in preparation for the new beautiful Vortex HS-T 4-16x44mm scope the folks at Vortex helped me select.
The RS!Regulate system is genuinely impressive. By installing the bottom rail, you then have options about the front to back location of the AKR rail as well as left to right. If you wanted to, you could install a shim if you needed even more vertical adjustment on one end or the other to compensate for a poorly placed side mount on the rifle.
The only hangup installing the AR-310 base was a poorly formed rivet with a protruding portion of the head that the base was hanging up on. I ground that portion flush and then used Brownells’ Oxpho blue to touch it up. When steel is freshly ground, I apply the Oxpho cold bluing liquid with a Q-tip and the steel instantly turns black. I let it sit for about 30 seconds and then wipe it off and apply oil.
The AK-310 base slides on like any other ComBlock side mount but it has a very nice cam lever and an adjustable bolt on the bottom to get the cam lever nice and secure. Once I got rid of the protruding rivet, it slid right on and then I adjusted to bolt until it was nice and snug when I flipped the lever.
The AKR looks like a reverse picatinny rail on the bottom and interlocks with the rail top of the AK-310. I had to move the AKR all the way to the front to compensate for the M77’s rear mounted rail. The AKR is held to the AK-310 by 4 screws in grooves. The beauty of this is that you can really dial in the centering of the scope. I was able to get the AKR exactly centered over the M77. Now, once you have it located, they give you two staking pins to drill and install to permanently locate AKR. I have held off doing that I may need to move it around some but went ahead and applied blue Loc-tite on the screws.
With the rail centered and ready to go, I turned my attention to the HS-T scope from Vortex. This is one heck of a nice scope. I opted for the MilDot reticle and a 44mm objective to ensure I cleared the rear sight leaf. In hindsight, I could have gone with a 50mm objective as there was plenty of clearance. I own a Vortex Sparc II red dot and liked it. This is my first actual Vortex rifle scope and I am very impressed.
I used 30mm medium rings to mount the Vortex. They are extremely beefy tactical rings from UTG. You may laugh but I have had very good luck with their rings. The only shortcoming this time is that they were so long (from front to back) that I ate up some precious real estate for sliding the scope forward. It all worked out in the end but for awhile I wasn’t sure if I could get the eye relief right but I did.
There was some give and take as I moved the scope rings and the AKR around. The photo above shows the AKR sitting in the last groove. I wound up actually having it overhang by one by the time it was all set.
So, the scope lines up beautifully with the 1″ cheek riser on my Ace skeleton stock. I have heard that the Vortex scopes have good optics but that is an understatement – you have to look through one to realize how good it is – very bright and clear. Couple that with arguably one of the best no questions asked warranties in the industry and now you know why I bought it. I did a ton of research before doing so as well.
Only one more thing to do now … find the time to take this hammer shooting with multiple brands and loads of good ammo to stretch its legs.
In the very near future, I will swap out the medium rings for a low offset AR mount so I can get the scope closer to the center of the bore plus move the scope just a bit more forward and that will be a post for another day.
One final comment, Ace Riflestocks emailed me the other day and their modular Zastava adapter is back in stock. If you are looking for one, I would recommend checking them out as well as Desert Fox.
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I purchased a base Zastava M77 rifle from Bud’s Guns and had the rifle sent to my good friend and FFL, Scott Igert over at http://www.migunexchange.com. To be imported, the rifle was pretty neutered with a thumbhole stock and a tacked on muzzle nut. We then went to work – the result has our M70 traditional handguard set (the same handguard style is used on the M70 series, M76 and M77 rifles), one of our Bulgy ARM-9 custom grips (my favorite grip hands down right now), Tapco G2 FCG, US Phantom brake, a Desert Fox PK1025 adapter, and an Ace skeleton stock with a 1″ pad.
The original muzzle nut was tack welded on. I removed it with a Dremel and touched up with Oxypho Blue from Brownells.
The original gas tube cover did not use a handguard retainer spring/clip. My gas tube covers really need them to stabilize so I dug around in my parts bin and used one.
The Phantom brake is one I had handy and rather than bother with the detent pin, I used a crush washer.
The fixed stock was secured via a long wood screw that went though the integral Yugo grip nut. I was impressed that they did this without harming the 6mm threads in the nut. I just used one of our full length screws and away I went.
Our next post will show the RS Regulate mount and Vortex scope we bought for the rifle.
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I’ve had a few guys ask about how Ronin’s Grips started over four years ago. Basically, I needed a grip for a Yugo M70 and I couldn’t find one. It’s as simple as that. Some guys were talking about casting them and it dawned on me that I knew how to make them but just had to figure out the materials and best process that I could do in my small shop. Needless to say it has grown on me. I am deeply indebted to the guys on www.AKfiles.com for helping me get started and I sold grips on the Marketplace subforum for the first year or so before I started the website. It has been an amazing four years and I can honestly say that overwhelming majority of American gun owners are awesome people – smart, honest, want to help and so forth.
Once I realized that I actually had a business running – it kind of hit me one day that it was no longer a hobby -I knew that in order to compete that I had to stick in a niche where the big boys couldn’t play – that of specialized AK grips and furniture to help guys with 922r compliance. I understood the market, believed in the reliability of the rifles and just found the engineering around them fascinating in general. With this said, our furniture for AK rifles serves as the core of our business.
As Ronin’s Grips grew, I realized that there were three key ingredients we needed to never lose sight of: to turn out the best products we can, always stand behind them and take care of customers. I know a lot of groups make comments like that but let me explain.
First, we make every product by hand for each order. We aren’t some big company with an injection molding machine cranking out thousands of identical parts per day. Instead, we mix the plastic, add the coloring and pour the liquid into the molds. We then drill, sand and polish all by hand. Nothing fancy – just plain good old fashioned hard American work and pride. It takes time and every product we produce is as unique as the guys that use them. In short, our products have “character”.
Second, we stand behind our products. It’s amazing to look back at the thousands of products we have made over the last four years to almost as many customers. Whenever there is a problem with a product, we strive to make it right. We really believe it is only right to stand behind what we make. We know guys are using our products with their families and their friends. We know they want to use them hard and hand them down. We try really hard to do things the right way and we are still learning about how to do things better.
Third, to us, the customer really matters – you really matter. We know that you work hard for your money and are proud of your firearms. We must earn and keep your trust and that only happens through delivering excellent customer service made up of honesty, respect and perseverance. We take to heart the old saying that one should treat others how they want to be treated. Mistakes happen but more than anything, I want you guys to know we will make things right – we will take care of you.
I would like to think the three beliefs I just listed are what make us different. We are growing largely though word of mouth plus we have a ton of repeat customers. To me, that must mean we are doing some things right but I also know we must continually try to improve and not sit on our laurels.
I hope this gives you a bit of insight about us – that there is a lot more than just products on a web page for sale — that we really believe in providing you with value.
From me and my family to all of you – thank you very much.
