My first AK-47! (parts kit)

[Dingoguns]

I am in concord and tutor building as well as virgin barrel population
Pm me if interested in one on one tutoring.

+1,000 for Nico. He helped me with my first AK build this last weekend, and I cannot recommend him more highly. You DO have to do the work yourself (but hell, that's part of the fun, ain't it?), but he is with you every step of the way.

This isn't going to be like building an AR, where everything is milspec and just pops together. Building an AK is a whole other animal. I can't imagine getting better instruction than I got from him; he's patient, knowledgeable and a great teacher. On top of that, he's just a plain old nice guy.

This ain't just lip service. I've got an idea rolling around in my head about a 5.45 pistol in the future, and I'll definately be seeing him again.

[wizdumb]

Well, I went into TechShop over the weekend to try and remove some rivets and had very little success. I snapped my drill bit and managed to slightly oval one of the front rivet holes in the trigger guard. Could've been worse, but I quit before I really screwed it up. I'm going to get in touch with Nico again

[wash]

The correct trigger guard rivet removal procedure is to grind the inside portion of the rivet until it is flush, then use a punch to drive them out, no drilling required.

Long rivets are the ones you drill, but you drill it the size of your pin punch, not the full size of the rivet and you stick the pin punch in the hole and drive it out.

Proper technique is required so ask first next time.

[nicoroshi]

Little hint for rivet removal from trunnions.
For the front trunnion hide the drill bits and use a punch, and hammer. They come right out without messing up the trunnion that way.
For the rear trunnion hide the punch and use a drill press. Start small with the bits (1/8" or so) and work your way up to 5/32" (#16 maximum!)
Drill half way from one side and half from the other ( not all the way through).
When the bit size gets to 5/32 that rivet will stick to the bit, and come right out spinning in the press.
That will save the rear trunnion holes from egging out and also save you from breaking a punch inside the trunnion.

Wash is correct for the trigger guard rivets.
I drill the centers of the rivets with a 1/8" bit then just punch them out.

[wizdumb]

I did grind the backs off of the rivets first until it was flush, and I was able to punch out the rear rivet that way. The others, not so much. Three of the front rivets are still in, with one of the front holes being every so slightly ovaled. I think a rivet should still hold it without being too wobbly.

I couldn't seem to hold the trigger guard in a way that would prevent it from flexing while I tried to hammer out the old rivets. I used a vise with wood blocks on both sides to prevent damage to the metal, but it just didn't seem to do the trick. Another issue was that I couldn't find a darn sledge hammer at the TechShop, so I may not have had enough mass behind the punch to move the rivets.

[nicoroshi]

Trick to the trigger guard rivets:
Leave the vice slightly larger than the width of the trigger guard across the mag catch rivet.
Put the trigger guard with selector stop facing up in the vice jaws and cock it to one side.
This supports two of the rivets and the flat top of the trigger guard while exposing the bottom of the other two so they can be knocked out from top to bottom.
Opening up the interior of the rivet with an 1/8" drill bit (not all the way through but deep enough to clear the bottom of the selector stop) allows the sides of the rivet to fold in when punching the center of the hole you drilled with a 1/16" punch.

When the first two are removed cock it the other way to get the last two by the same method.

[Ak707]

i just got done demilling my first kit...everything went perfect, so smooth so easy. Beginners luck maybe. Id say the most crucial part is center punching the rivet right in the middle as close as you can get it before drilling. I used a center drill after that, started with 7/32 then 1/8 then 5/32. Once the 5/32 gets in there just a little bit it pushes the rivet through just like nico said.

[wizdumb]

Today I was able to pop the rest of the rivets out of the trigger guard, and the two short rivets out of the rear trunnion.
It looks like two of the front rivet holes on the trigger guard are slightly elongated, but I think they should still hold with a rivet since the total hole size is smaller than a rivet head. Anyone have thoughts to share on this? Should I just order a replacement, or will it be ok?

[Ak707]

its good.....no worrys

[wizdumb]

Awesome, thanks!

[wizdumb]

Man, I need to stop touching this thing until the build party next week. Today I tried to remove the long rivet from the rear trunnion, but it wouldn't budge. I drilled half-way down and then tried the punch & hammer, all I managed to do was to get the punch stuck in the hole (I did get it back out).

Then I decided to attack the barrel pin. The 4lb hammer and punch didn't seem to touch it, so I though it would be worthwhile to use the 5/32" bit to drill down the center of it.
Well, I really though I had it very well centered, just look at this starting hole!


After I got all of the way through, I saw that it wasn't quite perfect. Doh!


Even though it's a bit messed up from my own "learning experience", I still think it should be fine given the fact that the pin STILL won't budge.

The AK design really seems quite resilient to my foolishness.
I hope others will learn from my mistakes.

[goldfinger]

Barrel pins need to pressed out.

[croc4]

Ouch!, Wizdumb, don't do anything more until further research/reading or attending a build party

Croc4

[wizdumb]

Ouch!, Wizdumb, don't do anything more until further research/reading or attending a build party

Yeah, tell me about it! I'm heading to Sac next weekend for a build party to finish up. Everything is going back into the box until then.

[nicoroshi]

Barrel pins need to pressed out.

+1 on this^^^^

Patience is tough but worth it when learning to build.
Glad to hear you're holding off on anything further until you have some instruction.