another crazy build idea...long range AK?

[WestKentucky]

In my thinking on building a extreme range gun I was almost set on 6.5grendel in an AR...until I realized that everybody has an AR and that's just too mainstream. The thought then occurred that it would be great to plop down a AKM or WASR and shoot to extremes...So 6.5x39 seems logical. Has anybody got experience with 6.5x39, and/or extremely accuracy builds with the Russian wonder rifle?

 

[LocoGringo]

Well, isn't the 6.5x39 just about the 6.5 Grendel? I'm not a Grendel expert, but it's my understanding that the Grendel is based off of the 7.62 x 39.

As far as the platform, I think you've been watching too many early episodes of "Sons of Guns". Ya tryin' ta make a "game changa"?

I suppose you can do it, but I'd imagine it's going to take a lot of work simply for the purpose of being different than everyone else.

 

[WestKentucky]

I just can't stand cookie cutter crap. I want my guns to stand out.

 

[henschman]

What is your idea of extreme range?

 

[TIMC]

I just can't stand cookie cutter crap. I want my guns to stand out.

At the cost of well known long range accuracy for something that probably will never be near as good just to have a different look? Kind of off balanced thinking in my book but hey, if it works for you.

 

[WestKentucky]

Not necessarily. The biggest issue with an AK is sighting due to the dust cover and piston over the barrel. If that can be overcome then I could use the same barrel blanks and with some trigger work and other accurizing work get it very close. With an AR I would be In the 1500 range total build before optics so I could buy an AK, and for a thousand dollars build it up...including custom machined parts as needed...So it would look cookie cutter but be far from it...which is even weirder and "more betterer". I would consider other platforms obviously, but this random thought seems quite pleassnt.

 

[highpower]

My understanding of the stamped receiver AK's is that the whole gun, not just the barrel flexes like crazy. That is why they recommend special rivets that have a degree of elasticity to put them together. Perhaps if you use a milled receiver to build it on, you can reduce the effect.

 

[barnbwt]

A wise man once said;
"If you say 1000 yard AK again...I keel you!" (guild brothers will get the joke )

The entire AK architecture is based around anything but accuracy. It's a bit of a silk purse/sow's ear proposition to make one a tack-driver. That said, I'm still assembling an M76 tomorrow if all goes according to plan

At least it'll look like a sniper rifle

TCB

 

[barnbwt]

"My understanding of the stamped receiver AK's is that the whole gun, not just the barrel flexes like crazy."
Yup; the receiver, especially stamped ones as opposed to the milled ones with integrated rails, is basically two parallel flat plates across the magwell, with surprisingly narrow cross section. There's simply not much resistance to the receiver tube buckling and twisting a bit under load, and a pencil-profile barrel does nothing to help those harmonics. The more the barrel bucks and whips, the more it dumps off-axis loads into the receiver, and unlike a simple shape such as a cylindrical bull barrel, the receiver will not necessarily deflect exactly the same way every time (too many variables).

Now all that said...the AK is functionally very similar to a Garand, and those can be scary accurate, despite their Byzantine op-rod design that transfers force to the bolt through the most tortured path imaginable. A suitably-made AK layout with an in-line piston/carrier should be capable of achieving even more consistency (since the op-rod won't be trying to buckle all the time)

TCB

 

[Jackal]

They already build it, its called a VEPR .308....

 

[Rob G]

It's actually been done before. A few years back Krebs Customs made three one off AKs in 6.5 Grendel, .308, and .223 using a custom designed gas system. These guns were shooting sub MOA using factory AK barrels. I have no idea what range there were tested out to overall but it seems like an accurate long range AK is a very possible build. Good luck with your and let us know how it goes.

Video of the Krebs' AKs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAcUNjBrNE

 

[Tirod]

Not hard to do, that cookie cutter would follow the traditional wildcat idea of choosing a cartridge to neck up or down, keep the base the same to use the same old bolt face, buy a custom barrel in that caliber to make it work.

With the AR you can buy a barrel with then extension headspaced and just install it into an upper. With an AK a gunsmith will press it into the receiver and set headspace at the same time. Therefore - it's custom work paid and done.

Long range AKs have been done and they cost as much as a premium AR. From 2011: http://www.theakforum.net/forums/71-red-jacket-firearms/129524-long-range-ak-tech-specs.html

And a bunch more: https://www.google.com/search?q=Lon...ui-ak47-ak47s-redwolf-dragunov-svd%2F;576;307

It's like the .300BO, it's all about a barrel and as others have said some kind of stable platform for an optic. Some use long eye relief scopes, others just buy Drugonovs and then curse them because they aren't all that accurate.

When you get a wild hair use a search engine - then if you really can't find nuthin about it, you know you are going to be challenged. Long range AR's have been done and are just as expensive as long range M14's, same kind of gunsmithing and generally known to be about twice that of an equal AR. That's because of the modular engineering the AR has to be able to take things outrageously far at a decent price and not pay a gunsmith just to tighten a barrel nut.

You do know that you could show up at a range just to find some OFWG with a 24" 6.8 AR15 in the lane next to you?

 

[WestKentucky]

I'm kinda hoping to find myself next to some weekend warrior swearing an AK is junk then shoot lights out with him and his incredible AR...Kinda like when I would shoot bowling pins with a charger...22 wouldn't do a lot but a steady stream of them placed nicely at top of mass moves them around quick enough. Pull for the apparent underdog always, never know what tricks they have up their sleeves.

 

[Justin]

Over the years I've seen more than one attempt to take rifles not generally known for their accuracy and build them into accurate guns.

One of those was an attempt to turn an FAL into a rifle that would be competitive in High Power matches. The result was a rifle that was indeed quite accurate, but not quite as accurate as the AR15s and M1As being built and used for the same purpose, and at a significantly higher cost.

The other was a user here who set out to build a 1 MOA SKS. His posts should still be archived, and they make for interesting reading, though, as I recall, the project was quite expensive and involved a fair bit of gun smithing, as well as shooting Lapua ammunition.

There have been other attempts to do similar things as well.

In all cases, the results were guns that, while more accurate than their off-the-shelf brethren, were still extremely costly and still not as good as the "standard" rifle and caliber choices for the guys who were actually interested in shooting competitively.

If all you want is an AK that you can use to troll inexperienced AR owners shooting from the bench at the local range, I'm sure such a project could be built, but it strikes me as a fairly expensive undertaking just for the sake of trolling, and not something that's going to actually be capable of the sort of accuracy you'd see from, say, the guys competing in Service Rifle matches.

 

[urbaneruralite]

There are a couple shops that build accurate 6.5 Grendels on Mini-30s. I'd much rather one of those than an AK. An AK is a hammer. Rifles should be more like swords.