So what else do you need to finish the project? Does it have to ship to an FFL? Have you ever done one of these? Thanks Tim
I have done a Romak 3 from a parts kit, which is pretty much as difficult as an AK kit can get due to the increased size. I have been giving serious thought to building an AMD-63. Basically here is what you need to do:
1. Buy a rifle parts kit
2. Buy either
a completed reciever for like 50 bucks +transfer fees etc.
Go to
http://www.acearms.com/ and buy their AK reciever blank and drill the holes and cut out the mag well etc yourself. This is a very tedious process and unless you really want to save money or have a legal AK that does not have a 4473 attached, I do not recommend it.
3. Buy U.S. compliance parts kits so that you meet the parts count requirement
Then you need to start construction
1. Set out your parts kits and THROW AWAY the parts you are replacing with US parts. Dont keep them because they are probably going to be called "machine gun conversion parts" or some nonsense.
2. From what I can tell these parts kits all have the barrel pressed inside the trunnion. You need to press the barrel back out again while damaging the trunion as little as possible. Folks on AK47.net sell special press kits that do this that you can use to do this.
3. IF you bought an AMD65 kit, either get a barrel extension, or get a extended muzzlebrake, or some other device to get your barrel out of Randy Weaver territory. After you screw it on, weld that puppy so it is permanently attached. You also need to weld the wire stock so it does not fold. The AMD 63 has a 16 inch barrel but no muzzle device so if a muzzle break, wire stock, and the extra 20 bucks are not important I would build an AMD 63 just to save myself the trouble.
4. You need to take your trunions, front and rear, and rivet them into place in the reciever. You need to either get an aircraft grade riveter, or get a riveting jig, again available from folks on AK47.net.
5. You need to press the barrel back into the trunion and make sure the barrel is lined up properly.
6. Drive the barrel pin into the front trunion and across the barrel to lock it into place, a press is useful for this but I did it with a hammer and a punch because I forgot to do it at the shop and did not want to have to go back for a piddly pin. This was a mistake and turned out to be a huge pain in the ass, always use the best tool for the job.
7. Install the internal goodies, FCG, hammer, springs, mag catch, doo dads, and whatsits.
8. Spend about a week polishing, fitting, fixing, and swearing because things will not fit right at first and you will need to file down rails, widen the mag catch, etc etc etc. Buy snap caps or put bullets back in spent rounds to test the action. I remember reading about someone on AK47.net that was testing the action with, of course, live rounds
and had himself an ND where luckily noone was injured.
9. After you are satisfied with the action on it take it to the range, shoot it and find out what else is wrong then fix that.
10. You are finished, but some gun kote to fix up all the scratches and marring it picked up while you were working on it (This is why I dont think buying like new kits is wise since you are going to muss up the finish anyway) and have fun.
Thats my reader's digest version, and I strongly encourage you to consult this page
http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/AK/docs/construction/construction.htm to find out in more detail what is required.
