Tag Archives: Hungarian

AK & Related Rifles

Hungarian Blue Stocks Do Not Have A Standard Color

Have you ever heard someone refer to a stock color on an AMD-63 other Hungarian AK variant and they called it “Hungarian blue”? Well, I’ve had a lot of guys ask me to make AMD grips in that color but I could never get my hands on the original and the demand was never really solid.

Fast forward to 2023 and Sean from Wolff Gunsprings convinced me there was enough demand and loaned me a grey-blue Hungarian butt stock for color matching.  Over the years, guys always told me these things were light blue or Robin’s egg blue.  Holding a real buttstock in my hand I would describe it as light to medium grey with a hint of blue.  Big difference. 

Wolff Gunsprings loaned me a grey-blue Hungarian butt stock for color matching.  Over the years, guys always told me these things were light blue or Robin’s egg blue.  Holding a real buttstock in my hand I would describe it as light to medium grey with a hint of blue.  Big difference. 

After a ton of trial and error, I worked up the color formula. Part of the trick is that how a piece of plastic is finished – gloss, satin, or matte – will affect the reflected light too so it wasn’t until I was hovering around the color of the stock that I actually polished a pair of grips to the point that they shined like the originals that I “hit” the color I was looking for.

Here’s a photo I snapped when I was done. This is the approximate color I produce but it will vary and the color you likely see on your monitor may be different as well.

Now, here’s the big question I get asked – is the Hungarian Blue color a standard and the answer is a resounding “no” and I have evidence to back that up.

As I worked on Sean’s grips and pre-orders for the new color were coming in, I knew I better get a few stocks of my own for reference. Why? Very, very little in the Communist-era AK world is consistent, especially plastic colors, and I was betting these were no different.

Now this is where my memory gets fuzzy. I ordered three of GunBroker and then Arms of America got another batch in and I bought three more. Arms of America is great to work with my the way – I’ve bought from them quite a few times over the years. The stocks I got from them still had their factory wrapping paper on them and metal hardware – all unused.

Regardless, here are photos I tool today of the six and you can see the color variations:

My color is more like the top two.

My color is more like the 4th and 5th stocks from the left.

My color is more like the 4th and 5th stocks from the left.

Summary

So, the Hungarian blue can look more grey, more blue and all points in between. My color formula will produce something close to what I did for Sean but because I count droplets of dye and a ton of factors can influence the size & shape of each droplet and thus the actual volume, my grips will vary as well. Sorry but I can’t custom match as a result.

I hope this helps you out. Here is the link to our AMD grips if you are interested.

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Hungary

Forgotten Weapons Reviews the Hungarian AMP-69 Grenade Launching AK

Until I watched this video, I’d only seen the very unique Hungarian AMP-69 in books. Ian McCollum did one of his impeccable reviews of this very interesting AK. He calls it the ugliest AK he’s ever seen but I think it’s pretty cool.

One of my first AKs was an AMD-65 it ran like a top. Like the Yugoslavs, the Hungarians had no issues with producing some very uniquely designed rifles based off the Kalashnikov design.

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.

Hungary

Kalashnikov Concern Reviews the Hungarian AK-55 and AKM-63/AMD-63

I wish I had better news but Youtube cancelled the channel for the Kalashnikov Concern so the video is no longer available. I am leaving the post up so at least you can see the screen shots.

I am really enjoying these videos that Kalashnikov Concern in Russia is producing. In this video, Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov and experienced AK armorer, discusses the Hungarian AK evolution with Pavel Pticin, founder of the AK-info.ru web portal, who has extensive AK knowledge.

I’ve always liked Hungarian AKs and found them to be high quality.  Over the years I’ve built several AMD-65s and an AMMS.  The kits all had original barrels and I was impressed by the fit and finish of the parts plus the rifles just ran and ran with no problems.  They are definitely unique AK variants and I was actually really interested to watch this video and learned quite a bit.

Vladimir actually showed photos of a modified AK-63D that he encountered in Somalia.  He mentioned how very impressed he was that it was still running with very little maintenance for close to 20 years.

This is one of Vladimir’s photos of the Somalian AK.  Pavel noted it was likely an AK-63D with a cut down barrel, modified gas block and an AMD-65 muzzle break.  One can’t help but wonder who did the work and why.

The video is just over 12 minutes and they discuss the early AK-55 rifle that is very similar to the Type 2 AK-47 with a milled receiver.  They then move to a discussion of the AKM-63 (I’ve always heard it referred to as the AMD-63 in the US) with its distinctive handguard and grips plus other design differences.

As you may know, I own Ronin’s Grips and we make replica AMD grips.  In one of the funniest gun video lines ever, Vladimir noted that the designer who decided to put an identical pistol grip at the front but simply reverse it deserved a medal!  The Hungarians wanted to add it to improve accuracy and control under full auto fire. 

Both Vladimir and Pavel noted that the front grip made reloading problematic and Vladimir pointed out that he had encountered rifles with the front grip cut down to reduce interference with loading magazines.

I finally got the best explanation ever as to why they used that bluish colored plastic.  When the Hungarians decided to experiment with and move to polymer stocks, they lacked the ability to manufacture the base plastic.  Because they were a Socialist country aligned with the USSR, the only plastic they could find that they could buy and import was a bluish plastic intended for dish making!  You know what, that makes sense to me and what I will explain going forward.

The blue color is because the only plastic they could buy abroad was intended for dish making!

Lastly, they brought up some great examples of unique features you will see in the AKM/AMD rifles:

  • Distinctive pistol grip design
  • Metal lower handguard with no gas tube cover
  • The selector notches are labeled with an infinity diagram for full auto and a “1” for semi-auto.
  • The rear sight leaf has an “A” on it
The Hungarians used unique selector markings – the infinity loop is for full auto and the “1” is for semi-auto.
The rear sight leaf has an “A” on it.

This is where the video would have been. Too bad Youtube had to cancel the channel.

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.