[Kokanee]

Good Day,

For the past six months I've been working on a project; a custom build Iraqi Tabuk DMR airsoft gas rifle. I'm trying to do it as authentic as possible, with as much correct detail and accuracy as I can pull off. AKForum has been an extremely valuable resource in my research and I was wondering what users here think about me posting a build log of my project?

I'm up here north of the "Maple Curtain" in Canada, airsoft rifles are the closest we can get to owning AK's as they are prohibited firearms. Otherwise, being an avid firearms enthusiast and AK fan I'd own a couple real ones by now. I just wanted to check that me posting up would be welcomed before I put the time in to make a thread here.

Here's a shot of where I am currently in the build;

Cheers

 

[steelcore1964]

Looks great, just need a rail and a scope.

 

[Norinco QBZ-95]

Are you using a pre-existing gas system like the GHK or making your own?

 

[AKbar]

Nice! I just got a chance to try out my new SLR-107 (cheapie CYMA CM031C with Bulgarian waffle midcaps) airsoft gun this morning. It is nothing compared to that sweet Tabuk build you got going there, but it is fun. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[soup]

Wow that looks good.

 

[Andyman]

Wow that looks good.

+1, that's really well done! Where did you get that stock?
:allright:

 

[qbertquartz2]

Looks good. How far can an airsoft gas rifle shoot?

 

[Kokanee]

Well seems that there is indeed some enthusiasm for me to post this build, so I'll start regularly updating this thread. To answer the asked questions first;

@ Norinco QBZ-95: I am using a DaytonaGun drop in kit for my gas system.

@ Andyman: The stock is an IronWood, the set of furniture is their Yugo stock set.

@ qbertquartz2: This should be able to hit a man sized target reliably @ 150 feet.

Now, onto the build log;

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What started as my big winter build for this year was an Iraqi Tabuk DMR. I've been at it for about six months so far off and on, with the length of time due largely to the delays I've encountered sourcing parts.

It’s a rifle that has always caught my eye, and this build struck me as challenging enough that it would be quite the feat of time, patience and attention to detail that will result in a great custom build. I've been producing custom airsoft rifles for a few years now, and the "regular" stuff just doesn't turn my crank.

As far as my research goes, this will be the third airsoft Tabuk ever made, but the first gas rifle with the first two being electric. One fellow in Russia did an amazing one, and one fellow in the states slapped a few parts together and said "good enough". My goal is to create the most accurate build possible, right down to each rivet. The build is based on an LCT RPK receiver and a DaytonaGun escort gas internals kit.

Above is a shot of the receiver after demilling the trunnions. Both front and rear trunnion removed – some extra drilling was required to remove the front trunnion, as LCT spot welded some plates into the receiver swells so that they could use the same trunnion as their flat sided AK products. It should be noted that there is one glaring difference here; the size of the swell in the receiver for the reinforced trunnion. This is unfortunately present in all airsoft receivers of this type, there is no getting around it as obviously I cannot use a real receiver for this build.

A comparison of the two front trunnions; one the LCT airsoft AK74 style, and the other a Yugoslavian M70 trunnion I sourced for this project.

In this case, I filed and smoothed the M70 trunnion where it was engraved so I can have the right serial number added. Originally the trunnion came as part of a demilled stump as seen here;

The front trunnion needs some material ground off the backside as the airsoft receiver isn’t matching up 100%, but it’s close. The rear trunnion is a perfect fit and just needs holes drilled for the rivets. The front trunnion is also going to require alot of steel taken away on the interior to allow the bolt to travel forward.

Here's a shot of the Yugo M70 gas block custom welded and machined by pupwag for me. I’m extremely impressed with the quality of the end product and I sent him my front sight to convert as well. The gas block will be pinned to the barrel instead of the standard airsoft “drill a hole in it and screw it down” approach – so the bastard is never coming off.

 

[Kokanee]

The RPK-74 receiver (LCT brand) has the wrong angle at the rear of the receiver, almost 90 degrees where as the Tabuk has a rear that is slanted. I grabbed some tin snips from Home Depot and trimmed the receiver to fit;

Filed to remove burrs and now the stock mates flush w/ the receiver. Also started w/ the wood furniture, applying a few coats of tung oil; the furniture is starting to take on a nice colour.

Yugo M70 rear sight base all done up w/ correct trades. This is the “Lion of Babylon” trademark, with “Tabuk 7.62×39mm” on the opposite side. This photo is before stripping w/ naval jelly and a rebluing. Went through “Engraving by Angela” for this work – stellar customer service and quick shipping to boot.

Here's a shot of the FSB I received back from pupwag beside a stock Yugo FSB;

Tabuk FSB on the left, Yugo M70 on the right. The decision to weld up the larger oval hole in the FSB and drill out a circular one was up in the air. Once I settled on the date I was going to engrave on the rear trunnion I went with the circular vs oval hole.

 

[Kokanee]

The SVD cheek pad I needed arrived from rusmilitary.com, in record time. I was a bit hesitant to go through them, as their website hasn’t been updated in a dog’s age but it was trouble free.

Of course, I had forgotten that to mount this cheek pad some work on the stock would be required, namely removing some wood and sanding to produce a nicely contoured depression for the pad’s wire retainer to snap around. However this only took about 15 minutes with a dremel and some 150 grit, not difficult at all.

So being left with a nice tung oil finish on the stock that now had a nice new patch of bare wood I had to strip the finish. I had actually been debating doing just that over the past week, as I wasn’t quite satisfied with the finish, and was edging towards having another go at it anyway.

The picture above is after sanding, wetting, a good steel wool scrub (#0000) and two coats of tung oil. Going to leave it for today and put another few coats on tomorrow and that will do it.

Having switched to DG internals, I figured it was a good time to chop the TM donor mag I had originally bought for it’s shell into a shorty….

Then sanded both ends to fit and attached them with some plasticard and solvent. The inside “bb grooves” actually lined up no problem, which was nice.

The end result is a “20 rounder” that holds 33 bb’s. I wasn’t shooting for that capacity, but just fell ass backwards into it when I cut the internals and the spring…. dumb luck I suppose. So now I’ll take measurements and make a few more mags down the road.

 

[Norinco QBZ-95]

Was that originally a STAR mag? I've got three of those sitting around that I don't use.

 

[Kokanee]

Actually it is a TM Ak47 lowcap, however I imagine the STAR ones are constructed similarly.

 

[TRX]

Very nice work!

Maybe you can do a South African CR-21 next. Then you could sell about eleventy zillion copies of the bodywork to finance your next project...

 

[Kokanee]

I think the Vektor CR-21 is a little beyond my skill level

 

[Kokanee]

Barrel and flash hider arrived, the flash hider is a nodakspud product, and the barrel was custom machined for me. Although manufactured in three separate sections it was press fit together and you’d never guess it was not one complete section. The first step to outfitting the barrel was to install the rear sight base. The RSB fit perfectly, and only required a circular cut into the barrel to allow a steel pin to be pressed into place, locking the RSB to the barrel. The cut was made by mounting the RSB to the barrel, then using the holes in the RSB as a guide, drilling the cut into the barrel with a drill press. The cut was then finished/cleaned up with a file set and the steel pin was punched into place;

As well other barrel components were pinned into place;

 

[steelcore1964]

That is some nice work!

 

[Kokanee]

This forum has been such a wealth of information, which is great as I'm a newbie to AK's and I don't exactly have two of everything in case I fudge it the first time

 

[Kokanee]

I was able to get some of the rivet holes that are misplaced for this build welded up a few weeks ago, and figured it was time to get the 2nd rear trunnion rivet hole drilled.

Here is the receiver+trunnion after welding while drilling the upper trunnion rivet hole;, still rough have a lot of refinishing to do before it's gtg for engraving and bluing;

There were "ghost" marks left from the welding where the holes in the trunnion are, so it was actually really easy to properly locate where to drill through.

Drilled right through to the other side, then countersunk both ends as I'm using the correct Yugoslavian swell-head rivets. Dropped a long rivet in to make sure everything was a good fit (pictured) so no worries.

Next is the modification of the dust cover;

Where the real steel Yugo M70 cover was too short (due to the airsoft receiver being too long), the airsoft top cover is too long because the Yugo M70 trunnion pictured is longer than a standard spec'd AK rear trunnion.

So time for some trimming; about 14mm has to come off the total length, and then the contours around the trunnion need to be recut as well.

Here the cover has been trimmed to length, nice to get it right the first time.

And a close up of the trunnion with the top cover recut to follow the contours. Still need to clean it up with a fine round file; but other than that it's pretty much done. Of course there are two cuts that need to be made at the rear of the cover on both sides for the vestigial cover lock relief cuts.

 

[Andyman]

Awesome! Can't wait to see the finished product! How will you be getting the front trunnion engraved (date, by whom)?

great job so far!
andy

 

[soup]

Keep us updated. Your doing amazing work.
Thank you for sharing