Yugo M70 improvements

[fyurstarter]

So I have this Yugo M70 that I purchased as a kit, then bought a receiver from Nodak. I had this kit assembled by a local gunsmith and now I'm having a few issues. First....the receiver is still in the white and needs finishing and for some reason I have a problem with the hammer following the bolt forward and not locking back into firing position once every few shots...I've been considering a good coating of Duracoat across the whole rifle to fix the finish problem and trying to do a little trigger tuning to fix the other issue, but I'd also like to make a few minor adjustments before I do this to make the rifle a little better for what I want to use it for.
I'd like to remove the front sight assembly and the gas block/ grenade launcher sight and replace it with one of the gas block/sight assemblies from Royal Tiger Imports to move the position of the front sight back a bit so I don't have to worry about it snagging on anything. I'd also like to permanently attach a flash suppressor (I've been considering an M60 style flash suppressor, but don't know if I could make it work as far as the diameter of both the flash suppressor and the M70's barrel). The last thing I'd like to do is try to find ANY way I can to lighten up the front of the rifle if at all possible.
Anybody have any good advice or suggestions?

 

[sv51macross]

Lightening-up the front end of an AK is like trying to make an old muscle car handle like an RX-8. It's remotely possible but o,nly with alot of money, carbon fiber, and a welder. lol...Your idea of removing and replacing the gas block with a sight is about the best you can do in this case. Not sure if the gas tube geometry is different than normal.

The trigger issue sounds like over-polished trigger job, defective parts, misaligned holes, it could be alot of things. I'm a park lover, but I imagine that if you properly pep the steel and let it cure the full 4 week or whatever, Duracoat should do okay.

 

[fyurstarter]

I'll take a look at the trigger group and see if the gunsmith polished it, but I was starting to think is that he may have drilled the hole in the barrel for the gas block too small and that it wasn't always pushing the whole bolt carrier and piston back far enough every shot. The holes for the trigger group were pre-drilled in the receiver, so I kinda ruled that out as a possiblity, but I'll check that out too.