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Adapted Galil mags in a Norinco, 5.56 84s

5K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  themousethatroared 
#1 ·
Im new here, but an enthusiastic builder of “things”, and its incredible to find myself a foum full of do it yerself kind guys.

Im also sorta cheap, and love not spending money.....or at least saving such or stretching a buck as far as possible.....LOL!

I made the first vid a year back , the second this spring.



Im having trouble with the second vid, lemme see.......
 
#4 · (Edited)
Yes, I did modify it as I built it. Nowdays, my eyes are 51 years old, and despite my infactuation with all things Mosin, I have found my self useing peep sights to great effect, a noticeable difference in my reading page to eye distance now has me a slight pairof reading glasses. The peeps keep me on the bulls eye and in my profession, thats what counts.......so its a refit with HK G-3 sights, and a handy carbine for a boat or snow go.

84s, not 86s, got it.

I appreciate corrections, questions and explanations.
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the group!

Your headline needs a minor fix. The 86S is a 7.62x39 bullpup. The 84S is the .223/5.56x45 rifle.

Nice knowing the Galil mags are able to be modified to fit the 84S. Interesting price comparison as while I haven't checked Galil mag prices lately, don't remember them being as inexpensive as you have found. You did make me go to Gunbroker and look up 84S mags and was blown away seeing them at $175!!!!!!!!!! They are not made of gold and I would never pay that for one unless I won a billion dollar lottery and didn't care.

Again, very interesting video.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Im glad ya like the show, its just us being ourselfs, then edited.....LOL!

I got the 84s as a box of saw cut parts with no trigger group. The end of the barrel was chunked out, and about 19 inches long, so maybe Canadian?
I suspect it was a Bwest build, but I dont know...why else cut one up, ? Ive never heard of the Chinese selling parts kits.

I built the receiver, etc, with a press and spot welder, and furnace I have in my village, but when I made the first reciver, my heat treating just wasnt so great, my rockwell scale pinged all over, the second try was much better and consistent.
I put it together and took it to camp, gave it a try, tuned it, and just couldnt get the groups my kids did, although I outshot them with an Enfeild 1917, with its excellent peeps............hmmmmm.
In my camp junk box, for some reason, there were left over G3 parts, so some measuring, belt sanding, drilling, (I have a small generator here for such, and this internet dish, at camp) and final hand fitting.
I took, off the sights, shortend the barrel to 16-1/4” the front sight is cut at the second ring down, where the G3 bayonet mount would be, and put two small screws, one from each side. It more like a clamp on the gas tube, a good friction fit, the screws fix it there.

The rear sight is also screwed down, to the top cover.
The top cover is held witha steeper taper on the return spring guides top cover lock, as well, Ive also tapped two screws into the rear of the cover to take up an slack and realign the cover with each reassembly, making the top cover rather tight.

Its still happy at about 1,500 round count, as with Wuhan virus ammo availability
weirdness we're not recreational shooting, so I left it at home, in Noorvik.

My Youtube of the Galil mags narrowing of the front end, welding and tab fit has an error, so I might have to do another.
 
#8 ·
OK...

I ordered a pair of Galil magazines in, looked them over, measured things, verified things looked good, and ordered another pair.
Most of the discussion of the thread topic (modifying the magazines) was in the video. The video is gone. It says it has been made "private" by the account holder.
I remember it described just filing a little off the rear side plates, and then some needed changes to the retainers on the front and rear so that it would stay in the rifle.

I have examined the magazines I bought, the rifle, and the original magazines, and it appears that the width of the rear side plates is not really the issue. The retainers look remarkably close. The issue is the front or nose section of the magazine is too wide to fit into the rifle. The Galil on the left is more rectangular. The Norinco on the right has a bottle shape.

307250


307251


I measure the nose section of the Norinco magazine (right side in photos) as .756 inches wide, and the nose section of the Galil magazine as .863 inches wide. That would mean narrowing the Galil magazine by .054 inches on each side. HOWEVER, the steel sheet metal of the Galil magazine is .036 inches thick.
If I file the sides of the nose, I will have to file through the metal and there will be none remaining.
I worry about hammering on it to bend it in. That will probably push the front edge out and distort the shape of the magazine.
I am not sure of my ability to weld steel that is so thin. A good solution would be to machine a forward Norinco style retainer and front and side walls of a nose section, cut the front corner out of the Galil magazine, and weld the new piece onto the Galil magazine.

The Galil magazine follower is another problem. It fits tight into the nose section of the magazine, and would not clear the section to be narrowed. The follower would have to be trimmed.
This might cause the follower to be loose.
The Galil follower is a flat plate. The Norinco has side ears extending down to keep it lined up in the wider rear section of the magazine. Adding side ears to the Galil follower might help. The bodies of the two magazines is about identical, though the Norinco is a 30 round, and the Galil is a 35 round. Adding long side ears to match the Nornico would reduce the capacity of the Galil mag to 30.

The rear side plates of the Galil magazine would probably have to be trimmed to lose the pointy part on the front edge. This would allow access to weld the revised upper nose section into the front of the magazine.

Am I looking at this correctly? Is there something I am missing or another approach that might be easier?
 
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