Taking weight and tension off an AK barrel?

[Hammerhead6814]

So apparently you can "float" an AK barrel. Not entire free-float one, but removing the lower handguard and somehow attaching it to the rifle without the use of that lug on the barrel and then apparently you can use a gas tube that doesn't make full contact with the gas-block?

Has anyone heard anything about these ideas? Any benefit of doing it?

 

[briansmithwins]

I believe that this is going to fall into the 'turd polishing' category.

There are other platforms that will respond much better to having money thrown at them in an effort to extract accuracy.

If you want to continue, your best bet would be to buy 5-6 AK rifles, test shoot them all, and float or otherwise massage the best of the batch. BSW

 

[lipadj46]

Seems like a silly thing to do. Of course there are those "because it's there" kind of people so that's cool. I'm sure you can make an AK somewhat more accurate by truly floating the barrel but you will be better served by hand loading and a good trigger job. After you float the barrel you can pay someone to make you a oneoff match weight barrel and truly prove people wrong.

 

[Deer Hunter]

My Saiga does about 2.5 inchest at 100 yards with 62 grain silver bear pretty regularly with my 4x POSP.

I'm sure taking pressure off of the barrel would help. I know JesseL is doing an AK project like the one you mentioned.

Don't let the "polish a turd" people stop you from a project. Projects are fun!

 

[Hammerhead6814]

I am looking at a project here. I didn't have one all summer. Someone else bought the damn Sistema Colt's a local shop had before I could get back from the bank. So I've had to twiddle my thumbs all summer.

This would be a long, turd-polishing project. But like hell am I going to sit on my ass and watch TV this winter. I've got to tinker with something. At one point I considered taking apart my lawn-mower and tinkering with it.

So no one has any real information on this kind of project? I could have sworn I saw something on here about mounting the handguard to the receiver and not the barrel. Search function returns nothing though.

 

[Deer Hunter]

It has been done, or at least projects have been started on it. I remember one link to some thread way-back-when about "free floating" an AK. Not sure what came of it.

Might want to contact Correia on this forum or We The Armed. Right now he's getting a custom CNC aluminum handguard that doesn't touch the barrel for his Saiga.

 

[malix]

Didnt we just have this thread a few days ago?

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=469882&highlight=floating

 

[JHansenAK47]

I know people are talking dremels to their PSL wood handguards and getting better groups. As I understood it they were just relieving tension from the handguard which on PSLs is usually exhibited as cracks in the wood. When I had my PSL one thing I did was get one of those red star arms adjustable triggers. I know that greatly improved my accuracy. I also noticed my wood cracked but I didn't pull it off. I do however think they were probably right about excessive tension in the handguard at least on the one I had anyway.