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• Gasp – not another weld build Romy G April 17, 2017
  I get one or two emails a year from a purist telling me that what I did was evil, that I am a clueless half-wit, etc. Folks, innovation happens by trying new things. I have built more AKs than most – using rivets mainly because they do work best. There are a ton of reasons ...
• The Gerber Golok Machete is Pretty Wicked and Surprisingly Hefty!! April 15, 2017
  Ok, so I wind up clearing brush pretty regularly.  Usually its pine, vines, scrub oak and junk like that.  Back in June 2014, I bought a Ken Onion designed Half-A-Chance machete (CRKT K920KKP) from CRKT that has served me well (click here for my review).  On my last trip to clear brush this past fall, ...
• Cordless screwdrivers can make a difference for folks with Carpal Tunnel – the Dewalt DCF682 April 14, 2017
  Folks, the first time I saw a cordless screwdriver, or power screwdriver, it was a little Black & Decker Quantum 3.6 volt model – probably 15-20 years ago.  Do you remember Quantum?  They were the green and black line of tools that B&D introduced to try and be a step up from their basic black and ...
• Heat Treating the Lower Rails of AK Flats Before Installation April 13, 2017
  I like to heat treat my entire lower rails before I install them. Some guys just heat treat the tip but I go for overkill.  When I would get flats and rails from AK-Builder for whatever I was doing, I’d do all the lower rails at once and store them oiled in a bag for ...
• Beware of Power Line Networking – Netgear Powerline AV500 Failure April 12, 2017
  Okay folks, I’ve just spent the last few days and some money replacing equipment blown by an apparent power surge through Netgear Powerline AV500 equipment.  What these units do is to transmit ethernet network signals over the AC wiring in a building and are billed as an easy shortcut to pulling wire.  Our house has a ...
• Back in the stone age we had to mill our own top AK receiver rails! April 12, 2017
  Back when AK-Builder flats didn’t have the top rails cut to size, we had to do the work.  I’m talking circa 2006 and then late that year he came out with a simple layout tool that was so awesome.  You applied Blue Dychem do your flat, clamped the layout jig to the rail, used a ...
• Setting an AK’s Internal Front Trunnion Rivets with the AK-Builder rivet jig April 11, 2017
  It’s pretty straight forward really.  You need to insure the rivet jig is sitting on good strong steel cross plates – don’t use wood.  I’ve seen guys try so don’t laugh too hard.  For the record – that one I never tried – I used 1/2″ steel plate from the get go.  Wood is not ...
• First Romy G Build – October 2006! April 10, 2017
  So I have been taking photos of guns and tools for years and years and year.  I just recently decided to start dipping in and sharing.  I was pretty floored to find this collection of photos of my first build.  It was a 1981 Romanian G pattern AKM, affectionately known to many AK builders as ...
• Here is a great digital micrometer that is also very affordable for your shop. April 8, 2017
    When you are working in the shop, it is frequently very important to have reliable measurements. I have owned a number of calipers and one good dial micrometer (which I can’t find) over the years.  I am definitely not a machinist but I run into situations regularly where I need more reliable measurements then ...
• Remington 870 and Winchester 1200 Riot Shotguns April 7, 2017
  Ran across these photos of two riot shotguns I built – a Winchester 1200 I bought new in the early 1980s and a Remington 870 Express I got a good deal on from Gander Mountain in the early 2000s.  One thing I learned is that the Blackhawk recoil reducing stocks really make a difference.   To be ...
• Great deal on dummy / action proving rounds – KP Tactical 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP April 6, 2017
     I tend to use a lot of dummy rounds due to working with Kydex or whatever and normally you pay quite a bit for them.  Recently I stumbled across a very good deal on Amazon.  There is a company called KP Tactical making very decent dummy rounds by machining them out of aluminum and ...
• Use a Wen 3410 Air Filtration System to Remove Fine Floating Dust In Your Shop April 5, 2017
  Okay folks, with all the sanding of plastic I do, my shop has tons and tons of dust in it.  In 2015 I read an article about how small fine dust particles are unhealthy – in general, the smaller the particle, the more it gets to places in your lungs where you don’t want it ...
• How to Install a Flat’s Lower Receiver Rails So They Align With The Front Trunnion April 4, 2017
  I heat treat the lower rails before I install them.  The best way I found to align the lower rails in a flat so they were both parallel with the upper rail and aligned with the trunnion was to use a drill bits of the proper size to locate the lower rail and I would ...
• Converting a Milled M70 Front End for a Sheet Metal Receiver Using Screws April 3, 2017
  Let me open this article with a comment for people new to building AKs – the best proven method is to use rivets.  The Soviets did a lot of testing and the best mechanical join of the forged trunnions to sheet metal was a mechanical rivet.  To this day, all commercial and military AKs are ...
• Restoring a Giant 24″ Hog Splitter March 31, 2017
  Everyone needs a hobby.  I guess mine is creating or fixing things in my own way.  Back in 2014, I bought an absolutely massive beat to hell 24-1/2″ hog splitter off eBay.  This thing was absolutely a diamond in the rough.  Clearly it had been used very heavily – probably for decades – yet there ...
• How to Bullet Drop Test a Barrel? March 30, 2017
  Plenty of AK barrel have seen heavy use and some are pretty much sewer pipes at this point – blown out, dirty and most of the rifling a distant memory.  A quick way to check is to take a cartridge of the correct caliber, such as 7.62×39, and put it in the muzzle.  If it ...
• Acid Etching Steel With Apple Cider Vinegar March 29, 2017
  Some folks have asked how I get the dull grey look on khukuris that I used to work on.  The answer is simple – apple cider vinegar straight from the grocery.  I’ve also experimented with various ratios of Prep-and-Etch, which contains Phosphoric Acid, and gotten a darker color but apple cider works remarkably well.  Apple ...
• Converting a milled M70 receiver stub to a stamped receiver front trunnion using plug welds March 28, 2017
  I miss building AKs – I never have the time any more.  At rate, some years back I wound up with two Yugo M70 front milled stubs, and then decided to convert the rifle to a stamped receiver because I liked working with AK-Builder flats.  So, in the spirit of trying something new, I decided ...
• How to Safely Save on CR123A Batteries for Your Tactical Lights and Lasers March 24, 2017
  The CR123A battery is very common in tactical lights and lasers these days.  I have a ton of lights that use them and think they are a great battery type and do not have to cost fortune to operate.  There are two tips I want to pass along so you can safely save money.  Now ...
• Nathan’s Cool M92 March 23, 2017
  This is Nathan’s cool M92 SBR.  I sure like the side folder and it has our M92 handguard set.  Very clean lines!!  

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