wally
Member
While I'm not a big fan of the bullpup design, I already had the Norinco AK bullpup and a Bushmaster AR bullpup, so when I finally found a Century AKM-74 bullpup that was put together straight, with tight furniture I got it as the price was right compared to either of the others I'd gotten pre-AWB and The sights were better than either so I was ready to buy.
The Norinco bullpup is poorly designed in that the grip interferes with using 30 round mags, but other than that and the lousy sights with no practical way to change to something better, its functional but the novelty wore of pretty quickly, but I'm happy to have it as part of the collection. Same for the AR bullpup which I see are available again from CDNN.
The AKM-74 fixed this issue by curving the pistol grip so a 30 round mag rocks in and out cleanly. Testing this sealed the deal and I brought it home.
However half way through the first magazine I understood why the Norinco bullpup had that "goofy" fore grip -- gas flowing around the hand guard made it uncomfortably hot after about 20 rounds. When I shifted my grip to remove the empty mag and burned my finger on the sling stud, I knew I had to do something to make this usable.
The sights I found effective, after adjusting POA to match POI. The trigger has an awfully long resent and is quite springy, but is made tolerable by the tactilely repeatable and predictable break -- I hit with it quite a bit better than the average iron sighted AK.
So the problem is to do something so I can actually shoot the thing without burning my hand short of a one hand hold or hand on hand hold like with a pistol.
I stole the idea of the "goofy" fore grip from the Norinco bullpup, all the AR tacticool accessories made finding a rail and grip easy. At a gun show I got a $17 "UTG" 5-position grip and a $10 AR handguard rail. With a little Gorilla glue I was able to "tack" the rail's shoulder washers into position and when it set up I potted the washers in JB Weld and then mounted the rail. I should have tested the fit of the grip on the rail before I bought, I think the rail was undersized as the grip fit my SIG556 nicely, so a few shims cut from a coke can let me mount it nice and tight to the rail.
Here's two photos in the two usable positions of the grip. I like the feel and it should solve the heat issue.
Gotta love the AK design, made by Bubba's for Bubba's
I may get another rail and add it to the top of the gas tube to mount a red dot, although I can use these iron sights (rear aperature) as they are quite effectively, if I can shim the red dot to co-witness it'd be a pretty trick setup.
--wally.
The Norinco bullpup is poorly designed in that the grip interferes with using 30 round mags, but other than that and the lousy sights with no practical way to change to something better, its functional but the novelty wore of pretty quickly, but I'm happy to have it as part of the collection. Same for the AR bullpup which I see are available again from CDNN.
The AKM-74 fixed this issue by curving the pistol grip so a 30 round mag rocks in and out cleanly. Testing this sealed the deal and I brought it home.
However half way through the first magazine I understood why the Norinco bullpup had that "goofy" fore grip -- gas flowing around the hand guard made it uncomfortably hot after about 20 rounds. When I shifted my grip to remove the empty mag and burned my finger on the sling stud, I knew I had to do something to make this usable.
The sights I found effective, after adjusting POA to match POI. The trigger has an awfully long resent and is quite springy, but is made tolerable by the tactilely repeatable and predictable break -- I hit with it quite a bit better than the average iron sighted AK.
So the problem is to do something so I can actually shoot the thing without burning my hand short of a one hand hold or hand on hand hold like with a pistol.
I stole the idea of the "goofy" fore grip from the Norinco bullpup, all the AR tacticool accessories made finding a rail and grip easy. At a gun show I got a $17 "UTG" 5-position grip and a $10 AR handguard rail. With a little Gorilla glue I was able to "tack" the rail's shoulder washers into position and when it set up I potted the washers in JB Weld and then mounted the rail. I should have tested the fit of the grip on the rail before I bought, I think the rail was undersized as the grip fit my SIG556 nicely, so a few shims cut from a coke can let me mount it nice and tight to the rail.
Here's two photos in the two usable positions of the grip. I like the feel and it should solve the heat issue.
Gotta love the AK design, made by Bubba's for Bubba's
I may get another rail and add it to the top of the gas tube to mount a red dot, although I can use these iron sights (rear aperature) as they are quite effectively, if I can shim the red dot to co-witness it'd be a pretty trick setup.
--wally.
