Post Ban Mak90 unbanned

[gold cup abuser]

Well I got another AK for the vault. But this one was a Norinco Mak 90. At the price it was a great deal. That is the good. Now for the bad. It was a ban era with the dreaded slant cut receiver

So tonight after a short day at work I got out the mallet, blow torch and dremel tool to un-banzor it. Ok so I didn't use them, but it felt good to have them around..lol

I refused to put an Ironwood stock on it, as the price for the wood was almost a third of what I paid for the rifle. So on to Amazon and the parts box I went.

Some will boo this move, but I had no other affordable options for step one. Getting a muzzle break on this. The barrel was intentionally cut down so a standard muzzle break would not be able to be installed. The front sight also had the bayonet lug ground off. Then the hole in the lower handguard was also sealed closed.

So I got an NC Star AK74 type muzzle brake from Amazon. Cost was low and that beat buying a new front sight post and having a gunsmith install it, cut down the barrel, install the locking pin for the flash hider, and then have a gunsmith thread the barrel. The pin in question had other plans.

After a good deal of hammering, the pin finally came out. Brass hammer to tap the brake in place. Then a pencil to check the alignment, so the first round would not blow the new part into smithereens. Then time to bash in the new pin. Twenty bucks with shipping

Now on to the handguards. I have a black plastic forearm and gas tube cover I got from AK Builder. That was about ten bucks 5 years ago. I got two sets of furniture for an AK build I was doing. I sold one kit so I had a spare set. Whooo.

Handguards of wood be gone. The set I have mimics the shape of the original wood.

Now how to deal with that slant cut receiver...mmmm

I went to Carolina Shooter Supply. They make a stock adapter for the VEPR and the NPAP(?) slant cut AK. This adapter goes behind the stock tani, with some fitting required. This part was forty five bucks. So I began to do a mock up with the stock adapter. The adapter is cut on a 45 degree angle. The Mak 90 is straight down from the tang for about a half an inch, THEN it is cut at a 45 degree angle....argggggg

So into the parts bin for a NATO length stock from TAPCO. I used some files to fit the stock so it would go into the rear of the receiver. The stock was I think about thirty bucks when I got it. On the stock went, but I have a gap from that slant cut. Some black JB weld as a filler will take care of that. Just have to head to Harbor Freight tomorrow and get it plugged.

Now for the final challenge. The pistol grip.

On the ban era Mak they used a thumbhole stock to be 'in complicance' with the AWB. The stock is held in place with two wood screws in the top tang, and the pistol grip block to hold the stock in position. The grip screw is cut short about half an inch, so that part cannot be recycled. The TAPCO pistol grip came with a mounting screw but its threads are not compatable with the pistol grip block.

It also will not work with the Romy G kit part either. Back to the spare parts and grabbed the issue screw. It fit both the Romy G block and the Chinese make one. So I re-used the Chinese made block and mounted the pistol grip. Can't recall the price on that part....duh.

Whole process took about hour and a half with the trips to the spare part stash in the basement.

Overall it looks more like a traditional AK even accounting for the TAPCO parts used for compliance. Have US made parts for the magazines and I'm over parts compliance.

I will post a before and after snapshot later.

For the cost of the rifle and the parts, I have a quality AK with the chrome lined barrel for way less than a Sagia or other Russian built AK.

So far a good start to a New Year

[sewvacman]

For the cost of the rifle and the parts, I have a quality AK with the chrome lined barrel for way less than a Sagia or other Russian built AK.

So far a good start to a New Year

This is the only part of your post I didn't cringe at. I NEED to see pics of this.
How cheap was this gun if you don't mind me asking?

[gold cup abuser]

I have to find my camera for the after pictures. It's buried here somewhere lol.

Mak90 came in at $500 bucks. So not a bad deal.

[Bang]

"Came in at"? meaning $500 total....rifle and parts.....or $500 plus the above-described parts?

[gold cup abuser]

sorry, should have been a bit clearer lol.

500 for the rifle plus the parts mentioned. Had the parts laying around for a build that I never finished. So I finally got to use them