Budget AK Rifle Modifications You Can Do at Home for Under $20

Gun Digest has published a set of simple workshop projects for the AK rifle, taken from a RECOIL book on homebuilt guns. The author says all of them together cost under $20 and none permanently alter hard-to-replace parts.

Key points

• Rear sight: Opening the small rear notch with a triangle file to between 0.135 and 0.145 inch is meant to speed up sight alignment at close range.
• Heat shield: A piece cut from a cheap beer can and tucked into the lower handguard helps with barrel heat. The author prefers cheap cans because some nicer brands have plastic liners.
• Light and sling mounts: A short Picatinny rail held by two machine screws and four washers adds a light mount, and a loop of 1/16-inch coated steel cable with two ferrule stops makes a better front sling point.
• Safety changes: Suggestions include reshaping a full-auto selector tab to semi-auto shape, cutting a notch that holds the bolt to the rear, and adding a tab for the trigger finger.
• Grip: An AR-style grip without a high backstrap can be shaped with a Dremel and fitted with a new hole and a shorter M6 screw.

Quick take

The author, working on a plain rifle built from a Romanian kit, presents these as weekend jobs for anyone handy with common tools, noting each has a commercial alternative. The piece opens by reminding readers to confirm the rifle is unloaded first.

Read the full story at Gun Digest.