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VZ-58 build notes of interest.

4679 Views 49 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  jnapro
Thought that I would share my experiences. Piston retention crescents need to be fitted to your receiver as there are too many types encountered for any receiver manufacture to compensate for. ORF has taken a smart position and milled the slot somewhere in the smaller end of the spectrum. You can approach this problem in two ways. One Recomended by ORF. Clamp the small disc with pliers and grind the outside of the oval down till it just sits flush with the barrel hole. 2) what I did before I spoke with ORF. Use a Dremel tool grinding disc and deepened the slot till the crescent disc sits flush. The other note I have to add is the upper receiver rails that the bolt slides in. On one receiver it closed into battery. The other one required the right rail to be relieved slightly. ORF shared with me that this is intentional as I found out different bolt sizes.Another place that you might need to custom fit. It seems that there are a lot more variations out there between kits than you might emagine. I took my barrels to have them measured and got two different hole sizes on the receivers. Having built quite a few guns in my day I would like to say that ORF really did their research on this VZ-58 receiver. This is however not a drop in and shoot project and requires skill and a little experience in gunsmithing. Having said that you might get lucky and not find these problems, but if you do hopefully these notes help. I am delighted with my purchase of the ORF receivers and recommend this product to all that are up for a really great firearm. Or you can wait a few weeks and Todd and staff will complete one for you! :mrgreen:
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All for all, the mods are so easy still makes the complete build like 4x faster than any AK short of a press/pinned milled rifle.

Also notes: the slovak receivers can require a small amount of fitting as well. Not sure why everyone complains when company X's receiver doesn't hope out of the box and build itself.

Complaints about lugs mushrooming, and/or headspace are valid. Minor fitting is not.

I have to fit NDS receivers, so why do we expect anything else from a 10x more complex milled receiver?

Thanks for the notes and tips on your build!
I have had to take a file to my pistol grip nut to get it to fit in the hole on the receiver. It would not drop right in, but with a few passes of a file, it did drop in.

I also had to file the sides of my mag release lever to get it to fit and function smoothly in the receiver.

That's the only minor fitting I've had to do on any of my parts, everything else has been just fine. YMMV.
I would reccommend polishing gas piston hole on receiver befoe barrelling. It seemed a bit rough on all of mine. Easy to do if the barrel is not in yet. I just cut off an old piston put some valve grinding compound on it put it in a drill and about 1 minute per receiver.
This may be a good thread to put notes of interest. Have not started mine yet. But I will call Monday to order barrel fixture and brakes. Close to starting, but not yet.

ANy info and notes are good info so we don't all have to re-invent the wheel.
more notes:

Here goes. When pinning the barrel after headspacing. Use lots of cutting oil with the drill bit and go slow. The steel will harden if you get it too hot and you will find yourself using a few drill bits to make the hole. I wallowed out the hole due to all the heat I created and had to cannabelize the next size up drill bit shank as my new pin. Riveting the rear handguard and spring to the receiver make sure the spring for the sear clears the safety. It helps to use needle nose plyers to put the safety lock in place on the safety while sliding the sear pin into the lock. The sear pin is really tight and you might need to drill out the hole provided for it. I hammersed the pin in as far as I could and then straightened it out again and grinded it down to the right length. Use grease everywhere and pre fit all the parts as the tolerences are all tight. So far so good. Tommorrow we test fire. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Re: more notes:

1woodsman said:
Riveting the rear handguard and spring to the receiver make sure the spring for the sear clears the safety. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
the multi function leaf spring should not be riveted to receiver the rivet head should be turned down enough to fit inside hole on spring the spring should be easily replaceable and just sit around rivet.
compliance parts in!!!!!

Well got the gas pistons in today. 24 k finish. I think I will use it for plink not bling. Nice brass finish!!!! Good to go. Test fired and we have lift off!!!!! A few notes on the trigger group assembly. The sear pin is a very tight fit into the sear. I wallowed out the hole to get a start on the pin. I needed to grind down to about 3/16 length to get the disconnector to function properly. Trigger needs to be ground down a little bit in length as it jams against the trigger guard. Profileing the end solves the problem. :mrgreen:
Re: compliance parts in!!!!!

1woodsman said:
Well got the gas pistons in today. 24 k finish. I think I will use it for plink not bling. Nice brass finish!!!! Good to go. Test fired and we have lift off!!!!! A few notes on the trigger group assembly. The sear pin is a very tight fit into the sear. I wallowed out the hole to get a start on the pin. I needed to grind down to about 3/16 length to get the disconnector to function properly. Trigger needs to be ground down a little bit in length as it jams against the trigger guard. Profileing the end solves the problem. :mrgreen:
Which trigger are you using?
ORF Trigger group.

ORF Compliance kit.
Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle brake

Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle brake count as 1 part after being tack welded to the barrel?

Also is loose barrel a problem...too loose for press fit?
Re: Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle br

jhoffman said:
Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle brake count as 1 part after being tack welded to the barrel?

Also is loose barrel a problem...too loose for press fit?
doesn't matter if its u.s. marked it is not an imported part and therefore does not count against you.

loose barrel is a problem if it is not a press fit it is not safe to fire.
So how are you guys making sure the sights will line up? I have heard the bubble level way, but not much else.
Eyeball. I pull front sight post and drum get barrel slightly started in and line up the rsb on receiver with fsb. When it looks just as crooked one way with one eye and the other way with the other eye I hand it off get a second opinion then if we agree I press it the rest of the way.
Jacques said:
So how are you guys making sure the sights will line up? I have heard the bubble level way, but not much else.

I made centerline marks as best I could on the barrel and receiver. I then pressed the barrel in maybe 1/2"--just enough to get it to sit in place and not fall out or wiggle around, then put the receiver on a flat table. I used a straight edge and levels to ensure the front sight post was perfectly straight before pressing the barrel the rest of the way in.

This way, if it is off, you can knock it around a bit with a hammer until it is perfect. It took me a few tries, but once I got it right, it pressed in the rest of the way with no issues, and the barrel appears to be perfectly aligned.


I also put a small bevel on the rear-most upper edge of the sear. The striker was hanging up on the edge, so when the trigger was pulled, it would break once, allowing the striker to move to it's locked position, then the trigger would break again, thus firing the rifle. Putting a small bevel allowed the striker to slide over the sear up to the edge where it is supposed to be stopped. Now it cycles much more smoothly.
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Re: Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle br

jhoffman said:
Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle brake count as 1 part after being tack welded to the barrel?

Also is loose barrel a problem...too loose for press fit?
once you weld the brake to the barrel it becomes part of the barrel and not a compliance part. it's just there to bring the barrel out to legal lentgh.
Re: Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle br

fullautotogo said:
once you weld the brake to the barrel it becomes part of the barrel and not a compliance part. it's just there to bring the barrel out to legal lentgh.
That is not the case an imported muzzle extension counts against you whether it is welded or not.
Re: Are ORF complience parts US marked? Will their muzzle br

obiwanbonjovi said:
fullautotogo said:
once you weld the brake to the barrel it becomes part of the barrel and not a compliance part. it's just there to bring the barrel out to legal lentgh.
That is not the case an imported muzzle extension counts against you whether it is welded or not.
Obi is correct - See table

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can you tell me where i can find this information in the code.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wbardw ... tter40.txt

you will notice it refers to flash suppressor's and grenade launchers. not muzzle brakes. :wink:

eta=i realize this concerns aw's but it looks like there position is that once welded on it becomes part of the barrel.
well i can't seem to find anything in the code that would say that if it's welded on it becomes part of the barrel, but i can't find anything thats otherwise either. gray area. i could of sworn i saw it before but better be safe than sorry. so i will have to go with obi and 7.62 on this one. :hail:
seems like a pretty fucked up double standard you can weld it on to bring barrel to lentgh but still have to count it as a comp. part.
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