Questions after looking over my AKS-74 kit

Looks like someone was using the front sight post as a latter :lol:
That's just a rifle with character! Good canidate to be built into a 'battle field pick-up' .... :wink:

you could prolly clean those marks up with a file. looks like someone was using it as a hammer :lol:

My kit was evidently pretty jacked up. It had a lot of grease on it, but eveidently the finish under the grease was pretty bad. My builder normally was only refinishing the receivers on them as they were in good shape, but after taking the grease off the paint was coming off in chunks. Whole thing had to be refinished.

Haven't seen how it turned out yet, being deployed, but I can't wait to see it and fire it up.

As has been said, those are impact marks made by an end user.

Build it as a battlefield pickup and make up a good story . . .

Or? Just Dremmel the nicks out... coarse, then fine sanding drum & you won't even know they were there. I routinely use that trick on Roms with really ROUGH casting marks.

Those marks look like the ones on my first barrel replacement rifle. I hammered on the front sight to get it to seat, and those marks were the result. In subsequent builds I put a piece od steel over the parts I want to hammer on.

IIRC some of the ORF kits were advertised as refinished, I think the rifles were refinished prior to demil.

I believe that rifle was refinished at some point. I have four bulgy 74s and the last folder I purchased was refinished. The first three have the rivets that hold the compensator retaining pin and the magazine catch pin unpainted which looks like they were installed after the gun was painted. The last 74 has a different type of paint and these pins were painted over leading me to believe they were repainted at some point. This is my personal opinion and could very well be wrong.

Your rifle looks like it was hammered on at some point. The marks do not look like casting marks.

In that last picture it looks like the magazine lug has also been battered and the pins for the FSB look funky.

I think someone without proper tools has hammered the FSB onto your kit's barrel.

Did you get it directly from ORF or a private seller?

looks fine to me, I like the little dings here and there.

Richard W. said:

In that last picture it looks like the magazine lug has also been battered and the pins for the FSB look funky.

I think someone without proper tools has hammered the FSB onto your kit's barrel.

Did you get it directly from ORF or a private seller?

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I received the kit directly from ORF. I contacted ORF about this and I'm waiting for a reply.

I looked over the kit. It's black. Also, the push-button for the side folder is black as well.

Are the kits that have not been arsenal refinished in better shape usually?
If so, is that a good way to tell if the kit has not been arsenal refinished?

mike_r123 said:

Isn't there some way to tell whether it's been refinished? I notice on some known new kits, you see one of the bigger pins on the FSB is bare metal, or at least doesnt have black finish on it. seems like that would be black if it were refinished. I dont think we see that angle on the OP's kit.

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