ak47 again and again and again

[shattered00]

One day, I might actually figure out all there is to know about this gun, so that I may move on to another gun ahha.

First, on the bolt carrier there is a chrome part and then the section which is painted black. I got 3 brushes (phosphor bronze, stainless steel, and nylon) to clean the gun with. It says to use the bronze brush on blued metals. What is a "blued metal?" I know that typically it is the action, receiver, and barrel, however, what is a blued metal? Which brush should I use to clean the bolt carrier?

When I used the bronze brush on the painted black part of the bolt carrier, some of the paint came off exposing the chrome underneath. Is this really bad?

Second, do SAR-1s come with chrome lined barrels? I assume not, since they aren't expensive, but I can't see down my barrel to tell. I have no flashlight to illuminate it, and the ceiling light doesn't work too well ahha.

Third, when trying to determine if the front sight or gas tube is canted, what do I use as an estimate? In other words, what part of the gun would be completely straight and in line with the barrel (i.e. the rear field sight perhaps)? It seems that either the gas tube or the front sight is off just a tad - I heard this doesn't affect accuracy. True or not?

Since there are so many questions, I will recap. Blued metals, paint on the bolt carrier, chrome lined barrel or not, canted sight/gas tube.......

 

[dfariswheel]

The AK bolt carrier is NOT chrome plated.
It's just paint over polished metal.
Only the gas piston is hard chromed.

When you used a brass brush, you removed the paint exposing bare metal.
Be sure it doesn't rust.

DO NOT use brass brushes to clean your AK.
The only part that should be cleaned with a brass brush is the bore and chamber.

To clean the AK, buy a couple of toothbrushes.
Try to find some cheap solvent-proof brushes, or buy some of the double ended M-16 nylon cleaning brushes.

Use a good bore solvent on the toothbrushes to brush off all fouling, dry with cloth, then apply a good lube/rust proofer like CLP Breakfree.

"Blued metal" is metal with a hot-salts chemical finish that colors the steel a blue-black color.
As such, it is not like a painted surface.
Most hand guns are blued, but the AK is usually baked-on paint over bare metal.

I have no idea if your rifle has a chrome bore and chamber.

To judge whether the front sight support is canted, use the rear sight or the top flat of the receiver with the top cover off as a reference.

On good method is to remove the top cover, bolt and carrier, then lay a long straight edge or aluminum level on the top flats.
Using that as a reference, you can usually spot a canted sight support.

 

[DMK]

Second, do SAR-1s come with chrome lined barrels? I assume not, since they aren't expensive, but I can't see down my barrel to tell.

Yes, they do have chrome lined barrels.

They are cheap because they are built from Romanian surplus AK-47 parts kits.

 

[shattered00]

Thanks for the replies.

I have completely disassembled the rifle to look for cant. After using a yardstick, it seems that the front sight is canted to the right and the gas tube is canted to the left. This isn't all, however.

Is it possible that the rear sight can be tilted as well???? It seems that mine is slanted to the right. Adding to this is the fact that there is more space between the metal part of the rear sight and the receiver on the left than on the right (the right side is completely flush with the receiver whereas the left has about 1mm of space). I have seen guides for how to correct cant with gas tubes and front sights, but not for the rear sight. Is this a correctable problem? Once I get my mother's digital camera during x-mas break, I will send yall a picture looking down the barrel in hopes that you can confirm or allay my suspicions - there is no point in using my crappy webcam.

edit: what they heck, I added a pic of the rear sight with the gap circled

 

[shattered00]

Alright, I have had 10 other people look at the rear field sight and all seem to think it is tilted to the right as well. While they aren't "gun experts," the agreement that it is tilted was unanimous. I introduced as little bias as possible when asking them to look (i.e. I just asked them to see if it looked "odd"). I also asked them each at different times so as to not have peer influence.

Is this one of those rare happenings that only the very unfortunate come across?

As mentioned in the previous post, I have seen guides on how to fix cant for both the gas tube and front sight support but not the rear sight.

This crookedness must affect accuracy to some degree, hence I really want to fix it if it's at all possible. Any suggestion, no matter how seemingly ludicrous, is welcome.

If you need more pics at different angles or with more light, I can attempt to take them.

 

[benEzra]

Is the sight blade the only part that's off, or is the whole sight ramp tilted to one side (e.g., is the sight pivot pin at the front of the sight tilted, thereby tilting the whole thing)? If you lift the rear sight until it is standing straight up, does it tilt to one side?

Regardless, you could possibly file the top of the sight blade level with a large, flat file (working side to side) and then use touch-up bluing to make the part you filed black again, or have a gunsmith do it. (Just do it very carefully so as not to hack up your sight.) Or replace the rear sight if the blade is just made crooked. If the sight pivot pin holes are drilled crooked, you could also replace the rear with a Mojo peep sight, which is round, thereby making any tilt much less noticeable.

www.mojosights.com

http://www.mojosights.com/ak47_sks.html

As far as its effect on accuracy, it actually won't make a huge difference as long as your sight picture is consistent from shot to shot. But it would be a bit annoying.

 

[MAUSER88]

Canted sights were pretty common. Here is a good site to

help.http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/faq.htm

 

[middy]

It says to use the bronze brush on blued metals.

That almost made me cry, picturing this guy scrubbing down a nice old blue S&W with his bronze brushes...

 

[Cosmoline]

Hey, don't knock it. One of my best shooting irons is an old 91/30 with sights canted a few degrees to one side. I hold the rifle at an angle to shoot, but it works fine. I wouldn't worry about it unless you're getting wildly off center groups. It's an AK, after all. To clean my old Sar-1, I'd just take it apart and scrub the parts off in warm soapy water, rinse and then quickly dry and hand-coat with CLP. Do that twice a year and you'll be fine. If a part starts giving you trouble yell at it in Romanian and beat it with a brass hammer until it complies.

 

[grimjaw]

The website for SAR1's is very handy. I have a front sight block that's canted to the left, and it's proving and *EXTREME* pain to remove and correct. I swear one of the pins is welded in there.

jmm

 

[shattered00]

PICTURES ATTACHED

You know how everyone has certain things which vex them? I guess this is one of mine. For some reason, I want my AK to look as symmetrical as possible. I could not afford a VEPR or any expensive AK, so I went with the SAR-1 knowing it would probably need some work. Even if it doesn't affect accuracy that much, I still want to attempt to straighten the rear sight.

http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/faq.htm While this is a great website, it only has fixes for a canted gas tube or front sight; nothing is said about the rear sight. If I can't even fix the rear sight, then I am not going to attempt to fix the front sight or gas tube, as it probably won't make much difference since the rear sight would still be off.

What I think is the sight blade ( the pic of the object with an X through it right?) is on correctly. It is the entire thing that the blade sits on and which the gas tube release lever is connected to that is off (so I guess the entire sight ramp is what benEzra called it).

If I knew how to get the rear sight loose, so I could adjust it similar to the front sight, then I could straighten it. The problem is I don't know how to loosen it at all.

My grandpa is quite adept at using machinery, and he probably has every tool known to man, so don't refrain from replying just because you think I am a 22 year old with no tools to do what needs to be done .

Also, if this is a hopeless battle, go ahead and tell me so that way I don't waste anyone else's time. I feel like a nagging 10 year old, instead of a slightly immature 22 year old hehe.

 

[Cosmoline]

Unless it's causing a problem in how it shoots, just leave it alone. SAR-1's aren't the rifle for folks wanting something sharp and shiny. They're stamped out on cold war machinery by angry, chain-smoking Romanians. They're ultra-reliable, but if you're into clean lines go with an AR.

 

[clange]

They are cheap because they are built from Romanian surplus AK-47 parts kits.

No they arent. SAR-1s were built by the romanians almost exactly as they would build a FA service rifle. The receiver is the same except for the one rail (which doesnt have a cutout for the auto sear). The receiver is otherwise identical. It has the Y stamping for the auto sear pin hole, they just never drill it. The barrel is the same its just never threaded, and the bayo lugs were ground off of the gas block.

WASRs and SARs are cheap because they are romanian, true, but they arent built from parts kits.

 

[clange]

Even if it doesn't affect accuracy that much, I still want to attempt to straighten the rear sight.

Its your gun, but IMO you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

You've already shot the gun, right? Its sighted in? Then your parts are NOT canted enough to cause a problem, period. It wont affect accuracy AT ALL if you fix it.

Canted parts are a problem that affect pretty much all AK variants. It may happen less on the expensive rifles, or military rifles, but it does still happen. My bulgarian AKS-74 kit has a front sight block thats off by about 3mm at the top. I have 4 romanian parts kits, and all have canted parts to some degree. I have 3 SARs and they are straighter than any of the military examples I have. I dont think any of mine have a rear sight block with perfect spaces on the sides like in your picture. One gap is always slightly, or greatly, larger than the other.

I've heard of canted parts on other high end AKs as well, like arsenal. Granted, arsenal fixed the 'problem' but the gun was still functional.

So, my advice, FWIW, is to shoot your gun and not worry about cant.

 

[MartinS]

If you can attain a zero with the sights as is you are good to go. If it hits, it hits and once it does you're concerns will dissolve.
Clean with a rag dipped in oil, as per Russian manual.

 

[Huntzman]

Hopeless Battle ?

Also, if this is a hopeless battle, go ahead and tell me so that way I don't waste anyone else's time. I feel like a nagging 10 year old, instead of a slightly immature 22 year old hehe.

I don't think that it's a hopeless battle. After all, if they can "pimp out" a Yugo (The car, not the gun...... then again maybe both ) you can fix your rear sight with the right amount of toil. Question is, do you want to spend the time fixing or shooting?

No matter how much you dress it up, the AK was built for one thing and to do it under just about any circumstances and that is shoot (I didn't want to say K*** and risk offending anyone ). Eastern European factories were never known for their clean lines and beauty.

My suggestion, shoot the heck out of it and don't piddle with the damn thing. If you want to be seen with a beauty, save up and buy an AR. But for fun & function go out and play with the ugly girl

IMHO,
Andrew