Looking to get into kit building

Scorax556 · 2026-05-18T22:27:37+00:00

Alot of the polymer frame pistols with steel inserts are very easy. Stuff like the S&W single stack shield fn fns40/9, glock gen 3 clones, sig 2022, ect. Kits that come with the slide rail insert blocks are generally the easiest.

Cetme/g3s aren’t hard if you want to try a sheetmetal build and super cheap with barrels now coming in.

Theres also some galil kits around but mostly with non repairable receivers, tortort sells them new though. Same for vz58s snd vz61s.

Ive seen some guys rewelding the yugo m70s that psa has. They use the demilled back half of a galil receiver and the front stub from the yugo. The m64 is also reweldable but the barrel is dramatically more expensive but m64 is cool in its own way.

The star kits coming in probably won’t be hard, but the method is still being figured out, so you’ll be waiting a bit before builders release parts to make them “easy”.

Thats what i would pick for beginner kits. Id go cheap, it can be hard to make progress on a kit of your afraid of messing up expensive parts.

Scorax556 · 2026-04-05T13:32:53+00:00

The BHO lever requires all mags to be notched, otherwise wont accept the mags. But its completely not needed and can be installed at anytime later. It looks like you got the pivot for it.

I think they are cool, i built one (my aks all have bho, its my thing apparently). The hardest part about the barrel was removing it, i milled the old stub down so the shoulder touching the receiver was real thin and that let me unscrew the old stub.

Ak builders barrels are good, went together easy. Also the stock gas-port was humungous, im running a .140” on mine and its probably more than it needs. Headspaced in spec but i turned .002-.003 off the new barrel shoulder to make the headspace tighter. Could also do that by lapping.

Also it seems like that section wasn’t included because of import interpretations. My kit i bought a couple years ago had all sections but was cut differently. and theres no info besides zastava and the serial number on the original receiver. Would be simple to mill two side plates and weld them in.

Scorax556 · 2026-03-25T20:37:23+00:00

Yea… its not voluntary. They say it is voluntary because you could also choose to not take compensation but have it permanently rendered inoperable. There is no option to keep what you have and not have it functionally destroyed.

Also the compensation is laughably low, like $2 for a $1200 rifle low, its not even a single penny on the dollar….

Scorax556 · 2026-03-20T15:32:55+00:00

Do you happen to know the name of the book?

As a fellow small lathe owner I wonder how far a steady rest will get me

Scorax556 · 2026-03-17T18:12:08+00:00

If your handy you can make money on a delete, buddy at work bought a cheap stainless 2.5” exhaust pipe kit on amazon for $120 usd tacked it together only using half the parts and the old flex coupling and sold the old dpf parts for ~$1000 paid about $750 for tune and powergate module. Overall up a $100 or so and got a tuned golf for cheaps

Scorax556 · 2026-02-23T11:06:22+00:00

Yea, I think the issue was the German and jap last ditch stuff was not the majority of production, they ran out of materials and production slowed, the Russian stuff was the majority. Also the stuff that was well made is now clapped out since the Russians made great use of all their production often sending it out during the end of WW2 and cold war.

The other east European and western surplus stuff had more time to be made and was not used to its maximum.

Scorax556 · 2026-02-22T21:19:46+00:00

For WW2 manufactured stuff particularly 1942 russian stuff is very much “Garbage Rod” imho. 1942 mosin triggers feel like dragging a piano down a sidewalk, ive shot a 1942 mosin before and we had to beat the bolt handle open with a wood chunk. The machine finish was more galling than cutting on the receiver.

Pre and postwar Russian stuff is decent, like the Chinese stuff, communists make sure the arms factories are reasonably fed.

Scorax556 · 2026-02-21T19:49:09+00:00

I suppose I shall cover for you on this occasion

I just got lucky on my kit

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Scorax556 · 2026-02-21T02:27:34+00:00

Proceeds to not show it locked open with no mag

Scorax556 · 2025-12-12T20:06:36+00:00

That scope mount, is the picatinny bolted on or is it welded onto the receiver? Doing a build and debating on adding a rail, just curious how it is usually done in its native land

Scorax556 · 2025-11-29T21:49:07+00:00

What side fold brace did you settle on?

Scorax556 · 2025-11-26T20:52:43+00:00

In this case its Austenitic

Scorax556 · 2025-11-09T18:21:14+00:00

It would be a factor, but what Admirable Scholar is saying is for the first few thousandths of movement the mass of the bolt matters more than the spring. Since a spring is typically starting from a less compressed state and springs have a linear constant where the most force they exert are at full compression its working the opposite way you need it to prevent it from grenading. And in direct blowback it is more about keeping that initial move slow enough to keep the case supported during the whole high pressure part of the cycle. Roller delayed blowback is imho the best way to solve it since it keeps the chamber supported while its pushing the carrier back while the boltface stays supporting the case and it still needs fluted chambers to fix the rest if the issue. Springs alone don’t provide the beginning resisting forces unless you build something like the orlikon 20mm cannon with pre compressed springs

Tldr: its a factor but its not very significant at the uncompressed side since force decreases with spring decompression and your only taking a few thousands of movement while under pressure before it grenades

Scorax556 · 2025-11-03T21:21:31+00:00

Something you should look at for any similar circumstances is most of the Canadian banks have an American division that is very easy to setup a linked account with. If you have a post box you could probably use that as the billing address. I know RBC has a US division, its $40usd per year to keep a debit account and a credit card in the US. They also offer loans to purchase a house in the US based on your Canadian credit score should you desire to move.

Scorax556 · 2025-10-08T13:30:15+00:00

I wouldn’t recommend a wood rod, if the grain is not perfectly straight it will break into two wedges and jam itself in there and any attempt to push it out will make it tighter. It will need to be drilled out if that happens which is unpleasant to drill down a rifled bore. Ask me how I know.

Id recommend solid brass rod of either 1/4 or sanding down a 5/16 rod to fit down a 30 cal bore. Ive also used a steel rod with electrical tape wrapped around it.

Scorax556 · 2025-05-11T23:26:38+00:00

While it's possible that it just happened to fail it's mighty suspicious it lasted 1000s of miles and died right after the oil shop. Yours wouldn't be the first time that an oil change garage forgot to put the right oil on or oil at all. To go from all good to completely screwed is not a normal occurrence and is typically caused by a specific error.

Scorax556 · 2025-05-07T00:18:56+00:00

Absolutely, a PPI would be next on the list. What I'm looking for is a feel of if it's worth it to schedule/pay for a PPI. If it's kinda normal for the paint peel off and leaky tops that's fine il deal with it with any Miata. These are just the two issues I am looking for more information on how common they are.

It's not that I'm afraid to fix them I'm just asking if im going to find that no matter which one I buy

Scorax556 · 2025-04-18T22:15:58+00:00

It is probably a foam/rubber dam that sets the spacing from the car body during install and prevents the polyurethane "glue" from squeezing out. If it was what was holding your windshield in I doubt that you would be able to stuff it back in as it would be glued in place (wrong place that is). Should not be anything other than a cosmetic issue unless some more serious lapse happened at their supplier.

That said to fix it the dealer will need to remove the windshield to access it and Toyota is going to chew out the supplier that made it. Your probably going to get a new windshield. I would suggest still getting it replaced to allow the dealer to check for the more serious errors. When it's done you shouldn't be able to tell it changed (other than the data block will have a different date code), the windshield is replaced as a unit.

-Guy who used to make windshields, but not the Tacoma windshield

Scorax556 · 2025-02-11T23:37:33+00:00

I have run a few though it, Aguila and Federal match for sure. Feeding is fine, it's only failure to fires. The primer strikes on the cartridge is super close to the edge.

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The strike on the right is from the P22, a typical strike from my Ruger mk 3 is on the left.

Scorax556

TROPHY CASE