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Demand for Us billet trunnion and bolts?

21K views 183 replies 31 participants last post by  ocpistol 
#1 ·
Is there any interest in US made from billet 4140 akm and ak-74 trunnions and bolts?
Machines are slow right now in our industry so we could make some of them if they are needed.
 
#3 ·
Most of the demand is covered by surplus trunnions and as was said above - people will have a hard time trusting an unknown source for this. Even when dimensionally correct (which isn't a guarantee and you won't find out until you order it), one has to trust the heat treatment.

Where you might have better luck is with Chinese front trunnions (and maybe rear trunnions, FSBs for spikers, and gas blocks for regular bayonets). There's still a fair number of kits out there without trunnions and definitely a lot of Chinese AKs with neutered FSBs and gas blocks. Tortort started off with Chinese front trunnions and the demand has been sufficient to launch him in the part/receiver business. He hasn't made them for some time now though. Either they aren't as profitable as the complete milled receivers (and there's only so much capacity), or the demand has fallen off. However, I see Chinese kits without trunnions for sale as often as before. In fact I got one myself, will likely build it on a milled receiver, since there are no trunnions to be found.

ETA: as for the AK-74 bolts and other such, they're imported from time to time. I just bought a polish 5.56 bolt from AoA that I've been looking for for years. And as was pointed out before, I had a hard time convincing myself to buy it from Cepherim, since I don't know how good/bad his bolts are and they aren't cheap. So I jumped on a Polish bolt (which was a bit cheaper too). It would be ironic if it ends up being poorly made, but Poles have a reputation for making good AK parts. On the other hand, Chinese parts are unique and are very unlikely to be imported anytime soon.
 
#4 ·
if the price is right few people might get enticed into buying especially if you go for something that is in hot commodity vs regular old 7.62x39
with that being said there is already a source of US bolts. there is a guy on AKfiles - Cerephim who sells it. prices are not most competitive and judging that he had them for a few years i don't think these flying off the shelves.

i think you are better off with some other parts that are not pressure baring. people will have hard time trusting no-name manufacturer.
but if it was something novel, something like they can't get anywhere else - that would be a different story. i.e. front trunnion where you can replace a barrel with just a set of wrenches instead of press and pin, AK with multi-caliber capability for sure would be of interest to a bunch of folks.

aside from that there is definitely a good untapped market for good quality various styles of bullet guides. particularly galil 223 bullet guides. these things are unobtainium. if you can make those for $20-30 out the door you will have some sales. lot's of galil kits came in in the past few years and most of them are misssing bullet guides. for you it would be a much cheaper easier thing to machine compare to trunnions and even easier thing to offload. hell, i'll sign up for a few myself.

Awesome thanks for the feedback, is there any drawings and or specs I can get on the feed ramps?
Maybe like a screw in barrel like the Chinese aks had?
I have a good heat treating company and new Mazak lathe and mill and a swiss machine. So we should be able to make some quality parts, I have also am applying for my class 7 ffl I keep having companies approaching me to make receivers.
 
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#5 ·
many basic parts are becoming harder to find, a new American manufacturer for components is always welcome. 5.45 parts are basically unobtanium at the moment
 
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#15 ·
There is definitely a market & interest in exactly what you posted. They are becoming harder to find. Prices are going up and up. You'd have a market for a quality product. If you're looking for one off oddball Chinese trunnions, you'll only find a handful of cats looking for that stuff. If you're wanting to crank out some goodies that will move, I'd stick to standard 1mm based AKM & AK74 trunnions and the bolts that would go with them.
 
#17 ·
The items I see the most in the wanted ads on several forums, that are not in stock anywhere are:
Yugo Rear Trunnions
Galil and other Bullet Guides
74 parts

When I see any of them listed for sale, they go quick and some at ridiculous prices.
 
#28 ·
I can't help thinking that this would be the easiest way to do it. They're made of the right kind of steel, made by a reputable manufacturer and it seems like they only need the bolt lugs milled out. The Circle 11 stamp is a nice bonus as well.
 
#34 ·
Hey everyone Just wanted to give an update, I have the 47 and 74 trunnions nearly machined complete just having a hard time getting the internal cutting tools to not blow up.
Heres a pic of the 74. I know it looks rough with the tooling marks but its smooth as a babys bottom. Tool blew up on cutting the bolt grove in, still need to machine the bottom and back operations(mag grove, finish the lugs). Also didnt finish the chamfers on the top since I didnt get to that tool in the program.
312284
 
#38 · (Edited)
Helical lugs meaning that the lugs are more or less a section of a screw thread. 3mm pitch in this case.
312288


312289


The prints I posted earlier in the thread are the original 1968 Izzy prints, they're amazingly useful. Some of it is hard to read because of transcribing the Izzy factory dude's handwriting, figuring out which letters he meant, and then translating that to English, but I got it done and made a pretty model.

I've attached my model for anyone that wants to play with it. I must stress, verify everything. I'm pretty sure it's a good model, I've been doing this for a while, but we're talking about little pieces of metal that contain explosions next to people's faces. I'm probably missing a few small fillets and edge breaks here or there too, it's easy to get lost in the prints when looking for those.

Link here
 
#39 ·
I cant access it without a password, I will go over, I didnt know there was a pitch on that I knew it was offset but I should be able to mill that in. Its hard to have everything modeled because when you cam it out at least for me in fusion I need chamfers to not be there in order to actually make my tooling cut it correctly.

Thanks for the help!!

Helical lugs meaning that the lugs are more or less a section of a screw thread. 3mm pitch in this case.
View attachment 312288

View attachment 312289

The prints I posted earlier in the thread are the original 1968 Izzy prints, they're amazingly useful. Some of it is hard to read because of transcribing the Izzy factory dude's handwriting, figuring out which letters he meant, and then translating that to English, but I got it done and made a pretty model.

I've attached my model for anyone that wants to play with it. I must stress, verify everything. I'm pretty sure it's a good model, I've been doing this for a while, but we're talking about little pieces of metal that contain explosions next to people's faces. I'm probably missing a few small fillets and edge breaks here or there too, it's easy to get lost in the prints when looking for those.

Link here
 
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