[mattyj513]

Hello members! I come bearing gifts of newly constructed gun porn! I just finished my Tantal build the other day, and thought I would share. Here's the details on the kit and what I did.

Parts kit from gunbroker, all matching numbers, original CHF chrome lined barrel in great shape, dare I say like new condition.

Nodak Spud NDS-2T receiver, correct for installing the left side selector. (selector non functional, for aesthetic purposes only)

AK builder rivet set

Bulgarian AK74 lower handguard

I have done a whole bunch of duracoating, and love it, but I have been looking forward to this build for a while now and wanted to put a lot of love into it. I rust blued the receiver, barrel assembly, stock, bipod, etc. I used the Brownells solution, and while it was not hard to do, it took a while, as you have to let the parts rust. Thankfully for this humidity we have been having, it went alot quicker than I thought it would.

As accents to the rust blue I mirror polished the bolt carrier/operating rod, cleaning rod, folding stock mechanism (welded shut, god damn NY), left side selector, axis pins, and trigger.

The lower handguard I stained red, the upper handguard (started as a medium brown) I Rit dyed a dark red.

Added a Beryl style hinged dust cover rail and Rakurs-PM red dot sight.

The first build I did I chose to go with screws. I have no complaints, have had no problems, but the rivets on this build were easier, are the preferred method, and you really do not need a ton of expensive tooling to install.

I love it. Let me know what you think.

 

[malakaguy]

Great job, pretty awesome/sick

 

[gunsngolf]

Beautiful work. That came out great. So you blued everything? I was thinking of redoing my 74 with duracoat, but that blueing has me thinking

 

[mattyj513]

Blued everything except the polished parts. My attic gets real sweltering, perfect for the rust cycles...instead of a carding brush or steel wool, denim works great for the carding. If you go the rust blueing route let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Gun Smoke]

Nice job looks good. If you don't mind me asking what tools did you use. I was under the impression the tool to do a rivet build we're expensive that's the only thing that's been holding me back from building my own. I refuse to do a screw build for fear of the gun falling apart. Thanks hope you don't mind me asking.

 

[Dfisch]

Great job!!!

 

[David Li]

Blued everything except the polished parts. My attic gets real sweltering, perfect for the rust cycles...instead of a carding brush or steel wool, denim works great for the carding. If you go the rust blueing route let me know if you have any questions.

So the receiver, & barrel are blued? Came out awesome! Can you expand on the blueing process.

 

[mattyj513]

Nice job looks good. If you don't mind me asking what tools did you use. I was under the impression the tool to do a rivet build we're expensive that's the only thing that's been holding me back from building my own. I refuse to do a screw build for fear of the gun falling apart. Thanks hope you don't mind me asking.

No problem at all. For the riveting I used a 12 ton bottle jack rigged to make a sort of mini shop press with threaded rod and steel plate. I made a few different templates out of blocks of steel for pressing the rivets, some were drilled to compress the rivets, while opposite backing blocks were used to allow the rivets on the opposite side to not get compressed and ruined against flat steel. For the lower front trunnion rivets I used a bolt that I dimpled on one side to allow the interior rivet head to form, and place it inside with a nut to tighten down to the proper length (nut also protected the opposite rivet while forming), then used the above method to compress the rivet. The hardest ones to do were the trigger guard rivets, I made two steel blocks with the rivet head holes in them, placed on top of the open jaws of a vice, and hammered them in with a bolt (one for each side) that was shaped to allow it to clear the center support and rails. It wasn't even hard, just had to put a little muscle into it. Heres a pic of everything I used (minus the vice & refinishing stuff).

edit: all the steel blocks were drilled with a regular hand drill and were just spare pieces of steel I had left over from various projects, nothing special.

 

[mattyj513]

So the receiver, & barrel are blued? Came out awesome! Can you expand on the blueing process.

Its pretty straight forward...You have to sand or blast any parts that will be blued, I used a 320 grit sandpaper. The biggest thing is degreasing the hell out of it. I soaked in engine cleaner, followed by boiling in hot water with a little dawn, then a good scrubbing with mineral spirits. You apply the bluing solution with little cotton swabs; you pour a little into a separate container, I used the cap to a gallon of Arnold Palmer iced tea, get some on the swab, and apply a thin coating over all parts. You don't wanna apply a lot of pressure, go over the same parts, apply too much solution, or get any runs. Put it in the most humid area you can find for an hour, and recoat. Place it back in the most humid area in your house and let it rust. The recoating after an hour is only done for the first cycle, after that just one coat and let rust. It is gonna make you sick to purposely rust your gun/gun parts, but it is part of it. You don't want it to rust to the point where it pits, my cycles averaged about 24 hours of rusting. Once you have a good even coating, boil in distilled water for 30 min to 1 hour (depending on the type of rust blue solution you use). All the red rust will turn black. Pull em, make sure they are dry, and "card" the excess black off. Carding is just rubbing or brushing it off, and you can use extra fine steel wool, a carding brush or wheel (by hand) from brownells, but I found pieces of denim from an old pair of jeans to work the best. Don't take too much off, just the excess. Degrease with mineral spirits, then repeat. Depending on the type of steel, the type of bluing solution, the amount of solution you apply, and the amount that you card off it will anywhere between 6 and 10 cycles. I did 7 for mine, more would have made it darker. There are a few different ways to seal it once the cycles are completed. I mixed artist grade linseed oil, also called stand oil, with lamp black oil paint from the tube, in a 4 to 1 ratio. You dont need much at all. I coated everything, let air dry for 30 min, then wiped off the majority of it (until there was just a very thin coating) and baked for 1 hour at 300. Pulled it, let it cool, coated generously with Lauers Tru Lube, baked for another hour. Repeated the Tru Lube a second time, wiped it down. Thats about it. Wear gloves, degrease, like most refinishing the prep is the biggest thing.

 

[Gun Smoke]

Thanks very much. So In other words you built your own rivet jig? And press nice job. If you don't mind I may pick your brain down the line if I decide to start building. Thanks again.

One more thing. Did the kit you used have an already headspaced barrel?

 

[mattyj513]

By all means, please do. The press functioned as the jig with different blocks for the different rivets.

 

[David Li]

Thank you. Facinating! I've always blued and just waited the 30 - 60 seconds before washing with water as suggested on the bottle. I've alway got decent results but yours looks really dark, almost painted. I'll have to try your process.

 

[mattyj513]

The process you are talking about is cold blue, or touch up blue. This is an entirely different process using a different solution. Brownells has a solution http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=22820/Product/CLASSIC-RUST-BLUE, and there are a few others, Pilkingtons, Laurel Mountain Forge. The cold blue provides practically no surface protection againt rust and wear, while the slow rust blue provides arguably one of the best, longest lasting classic finishes.

 

[m1lk]

thats one hell of a blue job. rust-blue?  i played around with blueing before, never got anywhere that good

 

[sigequinox220]

Matt, again another great job.

I still remember you coming over the house looking at my guns and finally making your first purchase on the Jericho 941. Now look at you haha, 4 years later your damned near a gunsmith and making your own tools. awesome. just awesome.

 

[mattyj513]

 

[sigequinox220]

that rust blue job is so sexy