So, let’s review how to remove a riveted AK trigger guard assembly. For those of you building from virgin kits or complete demilled (“demilitarized”) kits, you don’t need to do this but for many folks they do. In my case, I needed to remove the trigger guard from a beat to heck donor rifle that someone had butchered.
You have three options to remove the trigger guard rivets:
Drill them out by center punching each rivet or using a rivet drill jig and remove them.
Mill the heads off, drill a hole and punch out the remainer of the bodies.
Grind the heads off, drill a hole and punch out the remainder
All of the above methods work. It really comes down to what you are most comfortable with. As for myself, I use option three. The reason I just don’t drill them out is that rivet head shapes can vary considerably. The AK-Builder drilling jig is fantastic but it can’t guarantee you are centered on every rivet.
With this in mind, I simply take a 4″ grinder and take off the rivet heads flush to the surface of the trigger guard itself. This lets me see the outline of the rivet bodies so I can then drill and 1/8″ hole and I’ll explain why after a couple of photos.
The next steps you will do are to center punch each rivet, drill an 1/8″ hole through the rivet and then use a roll pin punch to knock the rivet out. This was a bit of an epiphany for me one day – I was trying to keep the punch on the rivet and I thought to myself – “Man, what if I drill a hole and use the right sized roll pin punch? The little ball on the end of the roll pin punch ought to keep it centered.” I tried it and it worked great. No more punches slipping around.
One perk of only using an 1/8″ drill bit is that you have some margin for not being exactly centered on the rivet. 1/8″ is 3.127mm and a 5/32″ drill bit comes in at 3.969mm so real close to the actual 4mm holes drilled in the parts and if you are off a tad then you wind up with an “egged” or misshapen holes. Of course you can use other size drill bits – just figure out what you like.
Even though rivets are relatively soft steel, I still recommend you use cutting fluid. I keep some Tap Magic in a little squeeze bottle with a needle tip and it makes it super easy to add it when working.
Summary
Removing the trigger guard is all about getting rid of the five rivets that hold it in place. Whether you drill, sand, mill, grind or otherwise cut off the tops, then drill out the remainder – using a roll pin punch really makes it easy to punch them out the rest of the way.
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I have wanted to build an IMI Galil from a kit for years and just never got around to it. One thing that kept me from jumping in was that I had never really dug into the design deeply by taking one apart and looking at everything.
In 2006, like a lot of guys, I read the late Steve Matthews great article in Firearm News about building your own AK rifle or pistol. For whatever reason, the AK building bug bit me hard and I wound up with a number of barreled Romy-G kits along with flats, rivets and tools from AK-Builder.
I read everything I could and guys kept telling me you “just gotta dig in, do it and learn”. Well sir, I did. I trashed my first flat or two – I think I messed up the bend on one and the other I ruined the top rails as I didn’t cut them right. Yes, back in those days we had to put Dykem Blue on the top rails and scribe a line to cut to using a layout jig AK-Builder eventually came out with. I messed up a lot and I learned a lot.
A fair amount of the mistakes were caused because I had never really studied AKs prior to trying to build my first one. Over the years I have learned a ton more but one lesson sure has stuck with me – it’s way easier to build something if you have first had experience with the design including disassembly.
Fast Forward To December 2020
Everyone was in a panic buying everything firearm oriented in sight and I was trying to figure out whether to make the slightly sideways leap from AK designs that I knew to a Galil that was based on the Finnish RK.62 and had a screw in barrel (not pressed and had to be headspaced, the extractor cut and barrel populated later), some wierd looking thumb selector (no idea what that linkage was going to look like) plus I was sure I would run into other little unque surprises.
So I took a rather odd gamble. Other than custom shops, like the amazing Jeff Miller at Hillbilly Arms, there are two shops cranking out IMI Galil clones using original Galil ARM and AR kits married to new US barrels and receivers. ATI and their Galeio and James River Armory (JRA) and their Gallant, which uses Galil ARM kits. Note, they are using new receivers and appear to have corrected issues they had with their earlier 2019-ish models.
The JRA seemed to get good reviews and was affordable around $1,000. Now, a receiver will run you $400-500 once you include S&H plus your FFL’s transfer fee. A barrel will run you $99-199 depending on what you get and then you will spend another $300-400 for a kit. All of a sudden, looking at that JRA rifle as a parts kit became really attractive plus they use an 18″ 1:9 twist that can stabilize up to 62 grain M855 “green tip” bullets – actually it can go up to 72 in theory but I wanted to be able to shoot M855. The original Galil’s had 1:12 twists that could stabilize the older M193 55 grain rounds but not M855 – when you see targets where guys fired M855 rounds through a 1:12 Galil barrel, the bullets often “keyhole” or hit sideways. So, the 1:9 twist rate really appealed to me.
I wish I could say it went smooth but FedEx’s Ground Service (the old RPS group they bought years ago) threw a big monkey wrench in things. Classic shipped promptly but FedEx Ground’s South Bend office has been having huge problems due to lack of staff. It took maybe 2-3 weeks from when they got it until they actually delivered it to my FFL.
Scott Igert, the owner of Michigan Gun Exchange is a good friend of mine and I use him for all of my FFL needs plus he has the best gun store in Southwest Michigan in my honest opinion. At any rate, Scott sent me a photo of an AK and told me my Galil was in. Leave it to Scott to pull a prank and I knew full well he knew what a Galil looked like so he didn’t get me as good this time … unlike other times 🙂 That’s what friends are for.
At any rate, I went and snagged the Gallant, took it home and promptly took it apart. I didn’t really care about the warranty because short of some huge problem with the receiver or a bent barrel, it wasn’t going back.
So let me itemize my observations
They tell you right up front it is supposed to look battle worn. The skeptic in me thinks it was a way to cut costs but another side of me likes the look – the receiver and barrel are black, parts with the original finish have the grey/green parkerized finish on them and the wood has a look that only a ton of grease oil and God knows what can achieve. I actually found myself liking it.
For 922r compliance, they have a US 1:9 barrel, a US receiver, a US Galil-Ultra looking grip made my Phoenix Technologies here in the US and a US Tapco magazine. Now that last one gets a bit of a groan – the Tapco magazines are plastic, they work, but there are a ton of nice steel surplus 35 round mags out there that would make the rifle no longer 922r compliant if inserted. As best as I can tell, they used an original Galil fire control group with it’s forged trigger hooks and two part spring setup – one spring for the trigger and one for the hammer – if it is aftermarket, it is not marked.
Note, I emailed JRA and asked them about the compliance parts. So far, they have not responded. Classic says on their web page that surplus mags fit (and they do by the way) but there is no mention of compliance.
Now, there are a two primary mindsets out there when it comes to 922r compliance: Some worry about it because they want to be legal. Some don’t care for whatever reason and that is their decsion. As for myself, I ensure that anything I build or modify is 922r compliant. So, I wanted to use steel surplus Israeli mags so I decided to swap out the original IMI hammer, trigger and disconnect with a new ALG enhanced fire control group (FCG). Yes, an AK FCG will work in an IMI Galil. If Classic tells me they actually sourced a US made IMI-style FCG, I will update this. I’m writing this post after already making the change to the ALG.
The buttstock made me groan. It had a giant splash of yellow paint on the very butt of the stock for some reason. The color was hideous, the horizontal tube had a few small nicks, and the finish was a bit more beat up than I preferred so decided I would swap it out for one in better shape from a SAR kit I had.
The rifle did come with an ARM bipod but it had a bunch of rust in the mechanism. It worked but definitely need cleaning and refinishing.
The handguard was way, way to loose. This was pointed out in the ad so I expected some – but not what I felt. I don’t like it when they shake and rattle so that needed to be tightened up. The wood was in good shape though and I really liked the coloring.
The barrel looked good – it was not bent and the components were installed right — other than the notch for the handguard not being close enough as mentioned previously. The bore was also nice and shiney with nice sharp rifling.
The top cover is still driving me nuts when it comes to installation. It is a delicate balancing act to get the recoil spring assembly to stay in the receiver groove and go into the dust cover vs. going out of the groove and falling into the receiver. I have some Galil receiver stubs and I want to see if the receiver that JRA used is too short or if the IMI suffered from the same headache. I haven’t decided yet if I just want to live with it or cut the tab down about 1/8th-3/16th of an inch shorter, cut new grooves in it and the refinish the whole rod assembly.
Happily the rifle was properly headspaced and it fed rounds nicely. For a kit built rifle, it cycled and the FCG operated smoothly – surprisingly smoothly. Okay, it looked like I had a solid foundation to build on. So far, so good.
At this point, I knew I was going to keep it so it was time to start making changes. I put the rifle back together and started thinking about what I was going to do. I’ll detail what I did in subsequent posts.
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Hi folks, I’ve been doing plunge cuts on Mec-Gar magazine tubes to remove an indent they have to limit rounds. Mec-Gar magzines are high quality and the tubes are hardened high carbon steel. I dulled two uncoated carbide bits that I had bought from either MSC or McMaster before I decided I better try something else.
A quick safety note: For readers unfamiliar with machining, this is an end mill meant to be used in a millling machine in this case. Carbide is interesting in that it is very wear resistant but it is also very brittle. Because of this, the workpiece you are cutting must be very rigidly held in place or the vibrations will tear up the mill and potentially send pieces of carbide flying at you. So, #1 – wear safety glasses. #2 – only do this type of work with a mill. #3 – to be explicit, I would not recommend doing this in a drill press. End of safety brief .
I suspected part of my problem was the heat being generated and adding cutting fluid made for a messy clean up that took longer than I wanted. This made me start researching coated carbide end mills and they get pricey fast.
I decided to check out Amazon because it was a Friday night and I really needed to get some center cutting end mills in ASAP to keep producing magazines.
I ran across a listing a listing for “Speed Tiger ISE Carbide Square End Mills” and started reading. It has an Aluminum Titanium Boron Nitride (AlTiBn) coating that they claimed improved wear resistance and provided better heat resistance as well. Given the number of good reviews they had,I ordered in three to give them a try.
Well, guess what? I am still using my first end mill after 60+ plunge cuts into approximately 18 gauge hardened hgh carbon sheet metal with no lubricant. Make all the jokes you want about dry cutting but it is saving me a bunch of clean up time.
I plan to keep using the first bit and still have two in reserve. Given the very deceent price to performance ratio,I thought I would pass along the report. The following has links to a number of Speed Tiger’s products:
I hope this helps you out.
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
H folks – I’ve had a few questions come in about my Springfield Armory TRP Operator 10mm 6″ pistol. I answered the emails but figured a blog post might help others out so I am going to list the question and my answer to each.
Was it reliable out of the box?
The short answer is “no” and for the price you’d expect better reliability out of the box. This is my third 6″ 10mm 1911 style pistol – I had a Rock Island Big Rock (their Tac Ultra (arguably a 2011-style given the double stack magazine) and a Dan Wesson Bruin. Only the Bruin was flawless in terms of operation out of the box. I wish I hadn’t sold it actually.
I am to the point in life where I trust nothing out of the box and have found that ammo, lubrication, magazines, and design factors all can impact reliability. The TRP Operator had issues until I sent it back to Springfield Armory for repair – the slide was randomly locking open so they replaced that and I also noticed the magazine release button was far stiffer. I’d heard that they go over the pistols carefully when they go back for repair and I guess they do. I lubricated it carefully, took it to the range and only then did it run without any surprises. It does run very well now.
At any rate, I learned from my friend Scott Igert what I needed to do to improve chambering for the Big Rock and wrote a blog post about it. I did the same to the TRP and it did solve the chambering problem. I did a blog post on that too.
It does beg the question why did I need to do this in the first place – the TRP wasn’t reliable with any model of mag I had or any type of ammo including FMJ. What it tells me is that they really didn’t put a lot of care into assembly. It also reinforces that you should never trust a pistol out of the box for something critical – hunting or defense – ever.
Note, I am to the point where I also immediately replace the mags of 1911s which leads us to the next point.
What magazines do you run?
I’ve had so many feed problems caused by 1911 magazines over the years that I always replace the mags that come with the pistol with Wilsons or Tripp Research Cobras. I did not have magazine related problems with the 8 round magazines.
Guys ask this quite a bit. My go-to ammo maker for 10mm is Underwood. They have a number of offerings and a great reputation. So, I have a number of HP and hard cast rounds from them and they all work just fine. For range ammo, I use 180gr S&B FMJ and it all works fine,
I simply can’t afford to buy a ton of brands and types of ammo to test – the above is just my experience.
Does it use a barrel bushing like a traditional 1911?
In short, no it does not. A match bull barrel is fitted to the slide.
Does it use a captured recoil spring?
No, it uses a unique setup of a rod, spring and end cap (see the above photo) that fit together but are not held together in any way. I’ve not seen this setup before and while it makes re-assembly a different experience, it does work and I am used to it now. I would gladly have replaced it with a captured model but I was unable to find anyone who makes one for the 6″ TRP.
Is the 6″ model worth it vs the 5″ model?
I’m to the point that a 6″ pistol really is for hunting and I’d prefer shorter for easier carrying. The weight and balance of a 6″ 1911-style pistol, including the TRP, really soaks up the recoil of the 10mm and makes it easy to shoot – even heavy loads. I really like the 10mm cartridge and think I will get either a 4.25″ or 5″ 1911 model in the future. I may just get a Rock Island and plan on tuning it up out of the box – they are good base pistols in my honest opinion.
I do have a custom shoulder holster from Tucker Custom Gunleather that is a work of art but your’s truly who stands 5′ 8″ is maybe 2-3″ too short to pull it off comfortably. I’d go with a 5″ or even a commander next time if I wanted it for EDC. I have a Blackhawk Spec Ops chest holster that works great for the TRP for field use.
Why did you replace the grips?
The short answer is that I have carpal tunnel and rubber grips are way easier on my hands.
Do you like your TRP Operator and would you recommend it?
This is a weird question for me to answer. The reliability sucked out of the box and really disappointed me – especially given the cost. It runs great now though and I think I am to the point that I trust it. I only have maybe 100 rounds through it since it came back from Springfield Armory to fix the random slide locking open issue and want to get 100-200 more through it before I decide for sure.
I will say that Springfield Armory’s customer service was good but the repair turnaround was slow due to all of the pandemic buying – I sent it in for repair in late June or early July and got it back in about six weeks. No telling how long it would be now if someone needed to send in their pistol. I always have a “can I trust this now” thing going on in my head when a pistol comes back from repair.
So I am thinking as I write this. I guess I would say the TRP Operator is a decent pistol but it does not wow me – especially for the cost and what I needed to do. If you buy one, I would absolutely recommend you test the hell out of it before relying on it. That’s a recommendation I would make regardless of weapon to be fair. In conclusion, I do think it is reliable now and may very well keep it – we’ll see how it performs over time.
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Okay, so the last range trip went a lot better. The new Lancer L5AWM mags with Tromix followers worked great. The reliability on the pistol was coming along but not where I wanted it and the rifle was disappointing still but I knew what was going on.
7.5″ Beowulf Buffer Spring
My 7.5″ Beowulf pistol is running pretty well but I wanted to increase the forward force of the bolt carrier to strip the next round and chamber it. I was already running an H2 buffer but an other wise normal carbine spring. I upped my game to a Sprinco Red Extra Power Carbine buffer spring that they say is made with the “thumper” cartridges such as the .458 SOCOM, .450 Bushmaster, .50 Beowulf. I bought mine from Primary Arms.
I cleaned the pistol, lubed everything and installed the extra power spring and the H2 buffer that was in there. It definitely slammed home harder when I released the bolt.
When we go to the range next, I’ll be taking a standard carbine spring, an enhanced Sprinco spring and the carbine already has the extra power spring already installed. I’m also taking standard, H2 and H3 buffers with me.
Changed the Spring and the Buffer on my Full Size Beowulf Rifle
When we were shooting this, it had a hard time stripping the next round and chambering it. It dawned on me that they hydraulic buffer that I originally used wasn’t driving the bolt carrier forward hard enough. You see, a Hydraulic buffer has a piston inside that has a controlled leak down rate and, for whatever reason, it was dampening the stripping of the next round properly.
When I cleaned the rifle prior to installing the new spring and buffer, the one surprising thing I found was that it was fairly dry. Why? I have no idea and this would have impacted functionality at the range also as I assumed I’d lubed it already before putting it away. Yet another example of my memory not being what it used to be.
Given that surprise, I went through and applied Super Lube oil and grease before installing the new Geiselle spring and Expo buffer. Afterwards, the action slammed home very easily.
I will take the hydraulic buffer with me back to the range for testing but am somewhat skeptical of it right now. The rifle is set for the next range visit at this point. Another Mil-Spec spring and buffer will be in the bag as well.
Conclusion
We have a ton of snow right now and I’ll have to wait to test my hypotheses. I expect that with the above changes, the two Beowulfs will run very well now.
I hope this helps you out!
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Folks, we believe we have the right to build our own firearms and have supported the Polymer80 Glock-style frames for a while now. You can build a very reliable and accurate pistol off of their frames
If you need the 3 or 4mm drill bits that the Polymer80 pistol frames use or the end mill for cleaning up the rails and/or removing the barrel block, we have them.
Given that I like using their frames, I also understood what was needed in terms of the drill bits, end mill and other finishing supplies. We have a number of offerings, but let me highlight our top three.
Our Top Three Selling Tools For Polymer80 Pistols Builders
Note, we also sell a very popular sanding kit that works great for cleaning up the barrel channel so it is nice and smooth with nothing for the recoil spring to catch on. Click here for it.
I hope this helps you out.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
A fellow emailed me wanting to upgrade his Polymer80 from the generic OEM Glock sights that I don’t think really excite anyone to something that would be more visible in general and also work in the dark. My answer was immediate – go with the TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium and Fiber Optic Xtreme sights.
The featured photo above shows how bright they are on my P940CL that has a G17 slide on it. I bought these sights by the way – so you are getting my honest opinion.
Folks, these are my hands down favorite sights for a number of reasons:
They are CNC machined from steel and have a durable black nitride finish — they are not soft plastic.
They do not need batteries – the lit dots are via fiber optics when there is light and sealed tritium when it is dark so you are covered regardless of the light available. The tritium ought to fluoresce (emit light) for about 10-20 years and I’ll worry about replacing them then.
I really like the three green dot configuration – two on the rear sight and one on the front. The front also has an orange ring that you can see when there is light but is green when operating off the tritium only.
The rear sight goes into the slide’s groove very easily and is then secured with a set screw. Some sights can be a bear to install but not these.
The rear sight is big enough that it can help you rack the slide one handed in a one-handed emergency.
They have a 12 year warranty.
They are assembled in the USA – the tritium capsules are made in Switzerland.
What Glock models are supported?
Because these are so popular TRUGLO is making a variety of models to support the different Glock and Polymer80 configurations that are out there. I assembled the following table and you can also check their webpage if you want:
They also make a Tritium Pro series that builds on the Tritium base model and adds an orange ring to the front sight plus the back sight is bigger and that makes it easier if you need to rack the slide with one hand.
I hope this helps you out. I really do like these sights and have no reservation recommending them.
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.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Folks, I am always trying to learn more about how to troubleshoot Polymer80s and improve reliability. There is fellow who goes by “Tactical Toolbox” on Youtube and he produced this excellent video on troubleshooting these pistols. It’s definitely worth watching!
I’ve written quite a few posts on Polymer80 pistols and if you’d like to see a listing of them in a new browser tab, click here.
Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Our Polymer80 Barrel Block Sanding Kit
We have a sanding kit available for Polymer80 pistol builders that is designed to help you quickly and accurately sand the barrel block area so you can have a smooth functioning pistol. Click here to learn more.