Removing the front grip from a Romanian AK - also a mag question

[JosephStalin]

Does anyone know if it's possible to remove the front pistol grip from a Romanian AK? I think it looks really ugly and prefer the standard rear pistol grip only. From what I've seen it looks like the front grip is attached to the stock, but I talked to someone who said theirs was Romanian and there was no front pistol grip on it.

Another question - I've found 10 round magazines for the AK47, but I was curious if anyone has seen a "capped" style 10-round mag around - one that looks like a 30 round, but only holds 10?

[blacklisted]

I have heard that you can just cut the front pistol grip off. Cut if off but not flush with the handgrip. Leave a little bit of material, then sand it flush and refinish.

[EBWhite]

Romanians made one with no front pistol grip.

Either saw it off or find a used handguard off any ak...

[icormba]

or spend $16 and buy a U.S. made lower handguard from www.ironwooddesigns.com 's wood pile :

http://ironwooddesigns.com/2aprod/1Wpileprod.html

[glen avon]

here is a formerly PG'd lower handguard, stub sawn off, and refinished. stub alongside for reference.

[Charliegone]

Glen, What did you do to change the color to a reddish hue? I just refinished some Romanian wood from a nice kit I got at Northridge International. I will now need more compliance parts to keep the nice laminate wood.

If you guys want to use the wood from your original ak kit just get this..

get a tapco trigger kit (comes with disconnecter, trigger, and hammer)
get a tapco gas piston if you want
you will probably use a us made receiver
and get a us made muzzlebreak which is made by several companies.
I got a great deal on a us made gas piston and us made slant break combo (cost like 23 bucks) from I believe it was midwest something. Now I am just waiting for the parts to come, hopefully they are worthy.
thats it. 6 parts is all you need.

[glen avon]

Glen, What did you do to change the color to a reddish hue? I just refinished some Romanian wood from a nice kit I got at Northridge International. I will now need more compliance parts to keep the nice laminate wood.

strip the stock thoroughly

add bullseye low gloss amber shellac and denatured alcohol 50:50

add chestnut ridge military stock stain (it's alcohol based), adding until the bubbles when you shake it start to show a reddish color.

what's nice about shellac is that it's authentic, cheap and easy to remove and replace/repair.

instead of CR stain, fiebing's dark brown leather dye might work too, but I haven't tried it.

I have some leftover mix if you are near riverside/san bernardino and want to pick it up. it's flammable so forget shipping.

btw it's not quite that red, the pics were taken under 60w incandescent lighting.

[dwtt]

I'm going to cut off the front pistol grip from my kit, but what did you use for a stripper? Would anything sold at Lowe's work? I work with metals, so I don't know anything about woodworking.

[glen avon]

I'm going to cut off the front pistol grip from my kit, but what did you use for a stripper? Would anything sold at Lowe's work? I work with metals, so I don't know anything about woodworking.

well, actually I used denatured alcohol, which removed about 90% of it. then I washed it in hot water and detergent and scraped the rest off. If I was to do it over, I would use Bix stripper and carb cleraner and NOT get it wet, as the receiver stub swelled. Lowe's has Bix, Jasco, any good heavy-duty paint stripper will work fine.

[Tyler]

Hey man, the one I let you shoot at the range started as a Romanian with the front grip. I just cut it off and refinished the furniture. It is pretty easy, but will take several hours of hand sanding to finish.

[JosephStalin]

Ah okay. I thought I remembered you saying you cut it, but I wasn't quite sure because of the noise (my ear protection was somewhat on the fritz and blanking out quiet noises - damn subsonic thing), and when I saw the gun, it was so cleanly sanded and finished that it looked like the grip was either detachable or never there in the first place - you did an amazing job!

As for my other question, has anyone seen full-sized mags that only hold 10 rounds? I've seen such things for the AR-15, but not for the AK. I think the AK still looks nice with a fixed 10-round, but if it had a fixed 10-round that looked like a 30 round, it would show its full beauty.

[icormba]

I went the lazy way...
bought the $16 U.S. made handguard and sold the Romanian handguard for $20. ended up with an extra $4.00.

[icormba]

As for my other question, has anyone seen full-sized mags that only hold 10 rounds? I've seen such things for the AR-15, but not for the AK. I think the AK still looks nice with a fixed 10-round, but if it had a fixed 10-round that looked like a 30 round, it would show its full beauty.

Yes, there are single stack 10 round mags that look like 20 round mags... but those are meant for the Romanian 10 round only ak. But I'm sure anyone who could do nice work on a handguard like the one posted above could modify one of those mags to work with a standard receiver?

Let me be clear... I am not saying modify with the intent to gain capacity... these 10 rounders only hold TEN rounds. They are single stack and thinner than a standard 30, 20 or 10 round normal AK mag.