Uncategorized

Check out Brandon’s rifles with our ARM and Polish Tantal grips!!

Brandon shared these photos of his rifles and some close up shots for his ARM-9 grips.  Very cool!!

The following is our Dark US Plum color:

The below ARM grips are in Dark Grey to the left and black to the right:

Here are links for our ARM Grips – click here for the ARM grip without the selector notch or click here for the grip with the notch like the above photos.

Last but not least, click here our Polish AKM/Tantal grip.

 

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles, Military

Video: Zastava Arms 160 Years Marketing Video, 2015

I like Zastava firearms – notably their rifles – M70, M72, M67, M77, and M92.  I’ve owned variants of all of those at one time or another and think highly of the designs and the quality of manufacturing.  I ran across this short 160 year commemorative video released in 2015 and thought I would share it:

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

What to do if your Marauder Rifle Magazine is too tight in the BNM breech

My magazine was a bear to pull out from my CP1002 BNM breech.  I talked to Sergei at BNM about the tight fit and told me that they keep they keep their tolerances tight on purpose.  He would rather things be tight vs. loose and that makes sense to me.  So if your Marauder magazine is a bear to push in and out of the breach, a tiny bit of fitting is needed.  The bottom of the Marauder magazine can be lightly sanded to allow magazine to be inserted easier.  It probably is not the front to back dimension that you need to worry about so try the following first.

All you need to do is get some 320 grit sand paper, rub the bottom lightly, evenly and test.  You just need to do the part that slides into the receiver.  320 was all I needed it took off enough to do the job gut also left a fine enough finish.  Another benefit for those of you that may be nervous is that it can only take off a small amount of material.  It will fill fast so with each pass, use another exposed surface of sandpaper.  That is why you see two ends used on the second photo.

For mine to fit way better, it was just a tiny amount I had to take off.  So don’t go crazy and take off a too much too fast.  Literally, do 4-6 rubs, blow it off and test.  Do this until it fits.  I think I did all three of my mags with just a couple of rounds of sanding and testing each.

I could have sanded it with 400 grit and even gone up to a polish but just doing 320 seemed to work great so I stopped there.

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles

Video: Dragunov Variations: Military SVD, Izhmash Tiger, Chinese NDM-86 by Forgotten Weapons – this is AWESOME!! May 6th RIA Auction

Guys, I am serious fanboying over this video.  I really like Dragunovs and this video has three Drag variants that are in the May 2017 auction at Rock Island Auction Company.  The presenter does an amazing job taking each of the rifles and giving history and explaining the differences.  He takes the bolts and trigger groups and sets them side by side and explains the differences.  This is AMAZING.  If you like Drags, you have to check this out.  Seriously.  I drooled on my keyboard just so you know.

Here are the auction links by the way:

Military SVD: https://www.rockislandauction.com/det…
Tiger: https://www.rockislandauction.com/det…
Chinese NDM-86: https://www.rockislandauction.com/det…

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles, Military

Video: Inside the Kalashnikov Factory: Home of the World’s Most Reliable Weapon AK-47 – In Russian With Subtitles

There are some great scenes of machinery and firearms in the Kalashnikov factory by Russian Insider.  This was released in March 2017 and is pretty cool.  You’ll also see a lot of firearms we never get to see over here.  I’m fascinated about the evolution of the Russian arms industry.  Growing up we heard about how backwards they were in terms of processes and equipment but in these videos you see a fairly modern plant with well laid out work centers, clean, a lot of CNC equipment and so forth.

The Video

If you are interested in Kalashnikov firearms and manufacturing, then you’ll want to watch this video.

Please note that all images were extracted from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Tools

USE A DIGITAL PROTRACTOR TO SIMPLY FINDING AND SETTING ANGLES – THE FOWLER MINI-MAG ROCKS!

If you need to quickly and accurate find and set the angles of sin tables, jigs and so forth, a digital protractor is worth its weight in gold and then some.  I’ve had this Fowler Mini-Mag Eelectronic Protractor (PN# 54-422-450-1)  since about 2008 and use it every day for setting the angle of drilling jigs for grips.  It’s small, a breeze to use and the plain 9 volt battery lasts a very long time.  I may change it once every year or two — it’s sure not often.  Fowler says you should get about 250 hours of use from one battery and given how short of a time it runs when I do a set up, it’s no wonder it lasts a long time.

Basically, you zero the protractor, set it one your work piece or jig and record the angle.  The grey circles on the sides of the protractor are magnets that I rarely use.  The photo of it stuck to the side of my drill press’ column is just to show that the magnets can hold it in place.  By the way, I true my table to my drill press’ column so zero for me is the table.

Now this is a precision gauge so I protect it and have never dropped it (knock on wood).  As far as standing up to daily use, it has done great and my shop goes from hot and humid in the summer to below freezing in the winter.  I literally just took the above photos for this blog post and am pretty sure the unit is nine years old or real close to it.  It sits in its box on my shelf except when I need to use it.

I selected this originally because of the Fowler brand name and its specs.  It can measure 90% on each side so 360 degree total with +/- 0.2 degree accuracy.  Yes, that is two tenths of a degree and repeatability is .05 degrees.

Another consideration for me was size.  In the photos, the Mini-Mag is sitting one one if my drilling jigs.  I needed the unit to be relatively small and it certainly is.  It’s 2-3/8″ tall x 2-3/8″ wide x 1-3/8″ thick and its all of my jigs just fine.

Once I got this, I was able to set up faster and the number of times I made a mistake due to the wrong angle plummeted.  Like I said earlier, for me, it’s been worth its weight in gold and then some.

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles

Video: Dmirty Rogozin “KALASHNIKOV” – You absolutely need to watch this English Language Kalashnikov Documentary

 

This is a very interesting 45 minute film made in 2013 that talks about the Kalashnikov from a Russian film maker.  It has a lot of footage of military commentary including interviews of generals, soldiers and show training with Spetsnaz units and others doing room clearing, assaults and so forth.  There is also historical footage of use around the world and interviews with Mikhail Kalashnikov.  It’s a fascinating film and has perspectives, footage and interviews you would not normally see in a Western made documentary.

I found the history of Izhvesk and arms making fascinating.  Kalshnikov Corporation sponsored this film so I think it is part history and part marketing but very enlightening regardless.  The walkthrough of parts of the factory ranging from manual up to CNC.  The last photo above is of a robot feeding blanks and removing rifled barrels.  They mention reducing the number of steps required with people from around 120 to 2-3.

Even if you have seen other videos about the rifle and General Kalashnikov, you need to watch this one.  You see parts of the factory and steps performed that you will not see anywhere else.

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Tools

Use an edge finder with a center point to improve drilling accuracy

Growing up on a farm, the only way I knew to locate a hole was to try and get the pointed part of the drill bit over the divot left by the center punch.  In junior high shop class, they showed how to start with a small bit to locate the hole and then go to the correct bit.  At some point in the last 20 years, someone introduced me to center finders.  For guys who eyeball the location of where to drill, these things can make a huge difference and they are usually very affordable.

There are all kinds of edge finders out there – it is a generic label so you need to make sure you get one that will fit your drill press.  My press has a 5/8″ chuck so it can hold just about any diameter edge finder.  The type I use the most has a conical end point that helps you locate where you want to drill via the sharp point or by allowing you to center the press over an existing hole.

This is the edge finder that I use the most – notice the sharp center:

If I am using a center punch, I just make sure all the sides smoothly meet on the edge finder, and adjust the X-Y table until I get the sharp center point exactly over the divot.  I then remove the edge finder and install whatever drill bit I need.  Don’t ram the edge finder into your work or you risk damaging it. By the way, click here if you want to read more about X-Y or Cross Slide tables.

The second use of this type of edge finder is to insert it into a hole to see how you need to adjust the X-Y table, or workpiece directly, to get on center.

Here is an example of the use.  I chuck it in the press and straighten all the sides so the surfaces smoothly meet.  I then gently lower it into this M72 handguard to decide how I need to move my X-Y table.

Edge Finder

I couldn’t take photos and show the unit in the handguard at the same time, but you can see the chuck is off center because the edge finder’s sections no longer smoothly meet.  What I normally do is keep the spindle down, gently insert the tool into the hole in the work piece and adjust the table until all sides of the finder smoothly meet.  Note, this does require that you have your work piece nice and secure and/or a jig that enables you to accurately position the next thing you want to drill in the same spot.  If your work piece can move, then that makes this whole exercise useless.

Edge Finder

See how all of the sides align in the next photo?  The drill is centered on the workpiece now.

Once the surfaces of the finder smoothly meet, you remove the edge finder, install your drill bit and away you go.  This is really handy if you need to duplicate holes on other similar items, make existing holes bigger or deeper, etc.

I have probably 3-4 of these at least.  I have one by my mill, a couple by my drill and a couple in my tool box with all my gauges.  Why?  Because I used to misplace them until I got better toolchests and I replaced a couple of cheap import models with my precise, easier to move quality units from Mitutoyo, Fowler and PEC – depending on what was on sale when I needed them.  I like my Fowler set as it came with a little case.

I literally use my edge finders several times every week and highly recommend them for folks trying to get more accurate positioning for drilling.

 

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**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

When Strength and Quality Matter Most