AMD-65 Build Diary

[Ryan in SD]

If he doesn't want them, I'll take them... I've got an AMD-65 kit coming. Both your flat and rivets are from AK-Builder?

Yep, first come first serve. pm sent.

[cal_warrior]

AMD-65 Build Diary cont.

Yes, I bought an AK-Builder flat with the edges pre-bent, and I have a Tapco flat to practice on. So thanks for the AMD flat offer, but hopefuly I can make it in two.

I did remove the pins from the sight and gas block before trying to slide them off. (My bud asked the same question this morning.) I'm going to jig them up in our press here at work.

Yep, have a new 16" barrel and a Tapco muzzle brake/flash suppressor to make the legal length.

I'm mulling over the excellent offers from both Wyseguy and Csacannoneer. I don't mind screwing around quite a bit to get the de-mil done at home and with local resources, but at some point expert teachers will be needed. Oak Park (Wyseguy) is farther than I thought; I confused it with Oak View which is only 35 miles from my house. My bud here at work, who now has the full-on AK build bug might want to come along as a learning experience; he doesn't have a kit yet but probably will soon.

Thanks guys.

[Z ME FLY]

Here is a tip, if you have the ar15 multi tool, it makes a perfect jig to press stuff on and off your barrel

[Robidouxs]

Here is a tip, if you have the ar15 multi tool, it makes a perfect jig to press stuff on and off your barrel

Enlighten me as I have an AR15 multi-tool

[Z ME FLY]

On the multi tool, it has two square notches, your barrel fits almost perfectly in there. You use your plates to make sure the tool is even.

Thank you 69mach1 for the pictures.

Pressing on the barrel items:

Start with alignment. I use the rear sight base pin sticking out perpendicular from the base to match up to a bit I placed into the groove in the barrel for the RSB pin. Once it's very close, I'll start to install the rear sight block onto the barrel.


Using my press and an AR 15 multi-tool (you read right) I will secure the rear sight block and press the barrel onto the RSB. I'm protecting the chamber end of course. Hopefully everything lines up and the pin will just go in.


Using the AR 15 multi-tool again, I'll press the barrel onto the gas block.


Finally, while securing the barrel, I'll use a socket with an inside diameter that's larger than the barrel muzzle, I'll press the front sight base onto the barrel.


If you get lucky, at least one of the two pins in both the gas block and the front sight base fits. That way both are secured onto the barrel so that they don't move while you ream the other hole to fit the second pin.

[CSACANNONEER]

Yes, I bought an AK-Builder flat with the edges pre-bent, and I have a Tapco flat to practice on. So thanks for the AMD flat offer, but hopefuly I can make it in two.

I did remove the pins from the sight and gas block before trying to slide them off. (My bud asked the same question this morning.) I'm going to jig them up in our press here at work.

Yep, have a new 16" barrel and a Tapco muzzle brake/flash suppressor to make the legal length.

I'm mulling over the excellent offers from both Wyseguy and Csacannoneer. I don't mind screwing around quite a bit to get the de-mil done at home and with local resources, but at some point expert teachers will be needed. Oak Park (Wyseguy) is farther than I thought; I confused it with Oak View which is only 35 miles from my house. My bud here at work, who now has the full-on AK build bug might want to come along as a learning experience; he doesn't have a kit yet but probably will soon.

Thanks guys.

I've got a buddy who lives in Oak View but, he's into field artillery more than little bullet hoses.

If you have a 16" barrel, you don't need that Tapco muzzle break to be legal. 16" is already a legal length for rifle barrel. However, I'm wondering if you'll be able to mount your gas block down far enough on the barrel so that your short AMD gas tube and piston will work. I'm at SHOT right now so, I can't look at my stuff and compare it.

[cal_warrior]

Machinsts rule

It's actually a 14.5 inch barrel: my mistake. I laid it down next to the various parts - gas tube, etc. - and it looks to be the correct length barrel. Thanks for pointing that out, Csacannoneer. Hey, I think I've passed by your buddies house in Oak View. Does he have at least one Civil War era cannon sitting in his driveway?

The AR15 multi-tool looks like a winner....gotta check out if I can afford one.

My machinist at work observed me dicking around with the frnt barrel stub trying to get the frnt sight and gas block off. He says, "I don't know how you're going to do that." "Well if you don't know, and you're a machinist, who does?," with a challenge. He says, "well, I know what I would do." He grabs the stub, cuts the barrel in half between the frnt sight and gas block, and I knew he'd take care of it. He had the frnt sight off in 15 minutes but had to bore out most of the barrel to get it out. Nice. He'll do the gas block today and I'm going to "show" him the rear trunnion/barrel pin and see if he just does it for me. He loves to help people out. He didn't flinch when I told him what gun it was for, which a lot of people have a problem with, as if the AK has some inherent evil associated with it.

[Robidouxs]

It's actually a 14.5 inch barrel: my mistake. I laid it down next to the various parts - gas tube, etc. - and it looks to be the correct length barrel. Thanks for pointing that out, Csacannoneer. Hey, I think I've passed by your buddies house in Oak View. Does he have at least one Civil War era cannon sitting in his driveway?

The AR15 multi-tool looks like a winner....gotta check out if I can afford one.

My machinist at work observed me dicking around with the frnt barrel stub trying to get the frnt sight and gas block off. He says, "I don't know how you're going to do that." "Well if you don't know, and you're a machinist, who does?," with a challenge. He says, "well, I know what I would do." He grabs the stub, cuts the barrel in half between the frnt sight and gas block, and I knew he'd take care of it. He had the frnt sight off in 15 minutes but had to bore out most of the barrel to get it out. Nice. He'll do the gas block today and I'm going to "show" him the rear trunnion/barrel pin and see if he just does it for me. He loves to help people out. He didn't flinch when I told him what gun it was for, which a lot of people have a problem with, as if the AK has some inherent evil associated with it.

Press out your barrel pin, you might have to exert a considerable amount of force to get it out.

For the rear trunnion, expect it to take a while to drill through. Be careful since the bit and rear trunnion become extremely hot. I would maybe use oil to help cut through the metal since you are at a shop.

Here is an your wrench, $25.

http://www.jsesurplus.com/barrelwrenchmultitooldpms.aspx

[Z ME FLY]

Haha seems weird a machinist wouldn't know how to do it but like Rob said, the barrel pin does take some force, you can always try to put it in some wd40 or something else if you are worried. The rear trunnion, I normally use a slightly undersized bit after I center punched it. I drill half walf, then try to pound the old rivet out, if that doesn't work, i flip the trunnion over and drill the other half.

Oil and decent drill bits are great to have

[cal_warrior]

Step by Step Guide

Has anyone put together a step-by-step build guide for the AK? There is a lot of knowledge out there. I've seen some good videos, photos and have picked up lots of tidbits even as a new fan. The Build Party guide is excellent but skips over many of the subtle steps. I'm typically disorganized when it comes to managing many small pieces of critical information, so I make process flow diagrams and step-wise instructions. I never seem to have enough time to do it for home projects, but the AK is perfect for this because it is involved and not too high tech, i.e. it doesn't require specialized and expensive tools. Hmmm.

Got the "poorman's" (hammer it into the gap between angle steel pieces) receiver bending tool from my AK buddy today and will probably try it out on the completely flat Tapco flat this weekend. Any recommendations on how to bend the edges prior to folding the flat?

[cal_warrior]

Front trunnion de-miled; head-spacing also

Hammered out the barrel pin and pushed out the barrel with a gear puller and some pennies. Gun is almost completely de-miled. Need to get the rear sight and gas block off the barrel stubs and I'm ready (mentally) to start building.

Head spacing: I measured the gap between the end of the original barrel and the feature on the front trunnion that's up close to it; it's a .030 gap. I also dropped a round in both the new and old barrel and they go in the same amount (case end sticks out about .120 measured to the high flats on the barrel breach). So, if I install the new barrel to meet the same gap as the old barrel, it should be head-spaced correctly (is what I'm thinking).

How much tolerance is there on the head-spacing?

[Z ME FLY]

The difference between a go and no go gauge I believe is .005

a field gauge is .011

basically a RCH can be the difference between good and bad. As long as it doesn't close on a field gauge and closes on a go, you will be fine.

You can also pull out all the powder from a round and use that as a go gauge and you can use tape in layers for a no go and field gauge. It isn't the most accurate since the tape compresses under the pressure. It's probably better than nothing.

[slamfire51]

CAL_WARRIOR, Back in the day when kits were dirt cheap ($79), AMDs were very addictive for me. I couldn't stop with one. Kinda like the potato chip commercial. LOL

It's a shame kits have sky rocketed in price the past few years.
Good luck on your build. It WON'T be your last.

A few in progress.



Finished



Battlefield pick-up look. (left)

[CSACANNONEER]

It's actually a 14.5 inch barrel: my mistake. I laid it down next to the various parts - gas tube, etc. - and it looks to be the correct length barrel. Thanks for pointing that out, Csacannoneer. Hey, I think I've passed by your buddies house in Oak View. Does he have at least one Civil War era cannon sitting in his driveway?

The AR15 multi-tool looks like a winner....gotta check out if I can afford one.

My machinist at work observed me dicking around with the frnt barrel stub trying to get the frnt sight and gas block off. He says, "I don't know how you're going to do that." "Well if you don't know, and you're a machinist, who does?," with a challenge. He says, "well, I know what I would do." He grabs the stub, cuts the barrel in half between the frnt sight and gas block, and I knew he'd take care of it. He had the frnt sight off in 15 minutes but had to bore out most of the barrel to get it out. Nice. He'll do the gas block today and I'm going to "show" him the rear trunnion/barrel pin and see if he just does it for me. He loves to help people out. He didn't flinch when I told him what gun it was for, which a lot of people have a problem with, as if the AK has some inherent evil associated with it.

Sorry I haven't been around to help. I'm finally home from SHOT though. A couple of things about the above post:

First, I thought a AMD65 barrel was always 12.5"? Your's is 14.5" so, you might be able to get away with using a normal AMD65 break instead of an extended one.

Next, yes, my friend owns several guns. He stores them on his ;awn. in his driveway, at a mutual friends house just a street over, etc. One of his Ordinace rifles is an ORIGINAL!

Finally, you should have been able to just press your FSB and GB off without cutting any metal at all. But, in this case, it didn't really make a difference.


BTW, do not attempt to set headspacing by measuring anything except the distance from the boltface to the chamber's shoulder. Each chamber will be cut to a slightly different depth (your oem barrel stub and barrel where made on two different continents, by two different manufactures using two different chamber reamers). Do you really want to blindly trust the measurements you took on your oem stub to work with your new barrel? I would rather trust a spent case and scotch tape to make a few headspacing gauges.

[Z ME FLY]

Sorry I haven't been around to help. I'm finally home from SHOT though. A couple of things about the above post:

First, I thought a AMD65 barrel was always 12.5"? Your's is 14.5" so, you might be able to get away with using a normal AMD65 break instead of an extended one.

Next, yes, my friend owns several guns. He stores them on his ;awn. in his driveway, at a mutual friends house just a street over, etc. One of his Ordinace rifles is an ORIGINAL!

Finally, you should have been able to just press your FSB and GB off without cutting any metal at all. But, in this case, it didn't really make a difference.


BTW, do not attempt to set headspacing by measuring anything except the distance from the boltface to the chamber's shoulder. Each chamber will be cut to a slightly different depth (your oem barrel stub and barrel where made on two different continents, by two different manufactures using two different chamber reamers). Do you really want to blindly trust the measurements you took on your oem stub to work with your new barrel? I would rather trust a spent case and scotch tape to make a few headspacing gauges.

Hey CSA,
The new US made barrels for the AMD are 14.5 inches so people have the option of using the original muzzle brake and still comply with laws. Of course if you are going to use the original you still have to play the 922r game. I think I would personally go with an us made gas piston. I don't do the magazines because you can always pick up the wrong mag and not be 922r ok. But then again, I don't think anyone has been busted for the 922r thing but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I believe there is a company making US made muzzle brakes that look very similar to the original AMDs.

And yes normally AMDs with the original barrel, will be 12.5 inches.