The AK-47 was designed by Mikhail Kalishnikov in 1946 to address the problem the Soviet Union had with its battle-rifles. The semi-automatic SKS had done an admirable job replacing the wonderful bolt-action Mosin-Nagant rifle which was designed in 1889, and which served through the Great Patriotic War in Russian armies. The problem with the SKS aside from its relative complexity was its internal 10-round magazine which could not be replaced with an external magazine to ease and speed the reloading process. Kalishnikov designed his rifle to address this problem as well as to incorporate other design improvements. His rifle was so far superior to the SKS that the Soviet Union has never looked back. The U.S. military has encountered it in every conflict it has fought since the 2nd World War.
Infrequently encountered in Korea, the AK-47 came into its own in the war in Vietnam, and has been ubiquitous in every conflict since then. The growth of nationalist movements around the world has fueled its popularity due to its simplicity and robust design. The wide availability of its powerful ammunition has made it inexpensive to train and fight with.
In the United States the Kalishnikov was widely superceded by the more finely machined AR-15, which in its M16 variant has armed the soldiers of the U.S. and its allies since the 1960’s. The design flaws of the M-16, most notably its poor performance in dirty conditions and its lack of penetrating power made the AK-47, which is less accurate at long range but more robust than the M-16 a desirable weapon. During the Reagan administration of the 1980’s the U.S. government banned the importation of the AK-47 without extreme modifications, and this brought the rifle into the spotlight. Someone hit on the idea of importing rifles destroyed by the disarming nations of the world. In order to comply with treaty stipulations the nations had to destroy their AK-47’s by cutting the receivers, so they could not be reassembled. Not technically “rifles” these became euphemistically known as “parts kits”, and have been imported and sold in the States. With a modicum of effort however a receiver can be built, and the parts from the destroyed rifle can be mounted on it. Because of a peculiarity of the U.S. gun laws this home-built gun does not have to be registered in any way unless it changes hands. Thus a home-builder can build and own as many unregistered guns as (s)he wants and not tell a soul.
I stumbled across this strange situation in 2006, and after a month or so of studying I built my first AK-47. It turns out that to buy a commercial AK-47 you have to pay $350 - $1200, while you can build one for about $150. It was in the process of building my AK-47 that I realized that I needed to assemble an instruction manual to help others repeat my efforts. That is the purpose of this document. In it I try to give an idea of what tools and materials you will need to build one, and what effort is involved in doing so.
I. Materials - Gathering the materials breaks into two steps - Tools and Parts
a. Tools
i. Shop Press
ii. Drill Press
iii. Bench Grinder
iv. Dremel Tool with grinding tips and cutoff wheels
v. MAPP torch (blow-torch)
vi. Spot Welder
vii. Vise
viii. Hand Files
ix. 3-lb Hammer
x. Bending Jig – Buy at
1. DPHArms.com
2. AK-builder.com
3. DeadFord Trading Post
xi. Riveting Tool – This is a device you should build from a 24” bolt cutter. You build the device by removing the jaws and using a bench grinder filing down the jaws as shown in www.surplusrifle.com, so they can fit inside the front trunnion and crush the short rivets that pierce the receiver and trunnion and fasten the two.
xii. Bucking Plate / Bucking Bar – This is a ½”steel bar and a ¼” steel plate dimpled to receive / form the rivet heads. You will make these. Typically the plate has a dimple into which you place the rivet head while the bar has a dimple that you place over the raw end of the rivet. Using your BFH or a shop press you apply pressure to the bar to crush the raw end of the rivet into a head. This rarely works.
b. Parts
i. Parts Kit – Buy this via one of the importers.
1. CheaperThanDirt
2. Centerfire Systems
3. AK-Parts
4. J&G Arms
5. CenturyArms
ii. Receiver Flat – the type of rifle you are building determines the type of flat you buy.
1. Fixed-stock AK’s take an ordinary Tapco flat, except
2. Yugoslavian AK’s which are built on the wider RPK light-machinegun trunnions, and which use thicker steel receivers. These flats are not available as of this writing. 80% receivers which are pre-bent, but have no holes drilled can be obtained from ColdSteel.com. These may be your best bet.
3. Underfolder AK’s take a different type of receiver, and you should buy the flats through AK-Builder or DPH Arms. Theirs are superior to Tapco’s.
4. Polish Tantal flats are altogether different, as they have a separate selector switch on the left for full-auto or three-round burst mode. Of course this switch is inert in the civilian rifle.
iii. Compliance Parts. U.S. law requires that any weapon imported or built resembling or functioning as an “assault rifle” can not use more than ten imported parts. The parts that count toward this total are below. Since we’re building the receiver, most people just replace the fire control group (trigger, hammer, disconnector) and the pistol grip to meet their compliance count. Now I know the law is stupid, and it doesn’t change the weapon one iota, but just shut up and do it.
1. barrel
2. stock
3. handguards (both count as one)
4. receiver
5. muzzle attachment
6. trunnions (both count as one)
7. magazine
8. magazine floor plate
9. trigger
10. disconnector (sear)
11. hammer
12. bolt
13. bolt carrier
14. gas cylinder piston
15. pistol grip
16. ??
iv. Rivets – Make sure you get the right set for your kit, and more importantly, get extras. I seem to go through a couple extra rivets for every kit I build. Most kits use the standard set of six short front trunnion rivets, two long rear trunnion rivets, five short trigger-guard rivets, and a long “cross-member” rivet to hold the center of the receiver together side-to-side. Underfolders and Yugoslavian kits will use more, and Tantals will likely also.
II. Pressing the Receiver Flat – I assume you’re using a 555th jig (named for the inventor) to press your flat into a receiver in these instructions. If you’re not, get one or make one. Instructions are public-domain and widely available. Google it.
a. Start by thoroughly cleaning the receiver flat as well as the jig. Any metal shavings or grains of dirt will leave scratches on your receiver as you apply tons of pressure to bend the flat into a receiver.
b. Open the jig. Remove the bottom part of the jig inside member. This piece can be identified, because it has six or seven hex-wrench bolts screwed into it.
c. Lubricate the flat, frame, and jig. Using automotive bearing grease, thoroughly coat the flat, the jig to which the flat will be affixed, and the inside of the external frame into which the flat will be pressed. This grease will help prevent the flat from stretching and distorting the holes into which you will insert your fire control group dowels.
d. Lock the flat in the jig. The bottom piece of the jig has two pins protruding. Insert these through the matching holes on the flat, and slide them into the holes on the top part of the center section of the jig. Pay attention to the way you do this. The magazine well cutout on the flat has a protrusion that must seat into a dimple on the jig. This will be obvious when you try to attach it. Likewise the flat has dimples on either side of the magwell, and they must line up with the dimples on the jig, so as the flat bends they will be accommodated. Screw in the six hex-head bolts.
e. Line up the jig. Place the jig with flat attached into the jig-frame with its screws facing down. When you do this beware of the frame’s cross-members. Most jigs allow you to set the jig in the frame in such a way that you can drive the bolts down into the cross-members, bending the cross-members and crushing the bolts. This is bad. Avoid this situation by careful placement of the jig in the frame.
f. Line up the ram. Set the frame and jig on the arbor plate of your press, and lower the ram until it is just above the jig. Try to avoid having the ram descend between the outer members of the inner jig. This can distort and damage the jig. A good solution is to put a piece of steel atop the jig, so the pressure on the steel distributes evenly across the top of the jig.
g. Bend the Flat. Apply pressure to the jig. This is where you actually bend the flat. They will tend to resist the pressure at first, then suddenly bend and descend into the frame. When this happens the jig will typically not descend straight. Usually one end will descend before the other or one side will go first. Move the ram around and apply pressure to various parts of the jig, so it will seat level.
h. Bend the top rails. Once the flat is bent around the jig you will notice that about 1/8” of flat protrudes above the top of jig. This will become your upper rails upon which the bolt carrier will slide in the finished receiver. To get them that way you will have to bend them over the top of the jig. The best way to do this is with a BFH.
i. Place a 2” x 4” piece of ¼” steel plate against the side of the rail to distribute the impact, and start whacking it with a rolling blow to fold over the top of the flat and form the upper rails.
ii. Move the steel along the rails striking it with the hammer until the rail is folded over. It is really important here to make sure the rail is smooth on top, as the bolt carrier will have to slide back and forth on this, and we don’t want it to bump over irregularities in the rail as it does so. This is why we use the steel plate to distribute the force of the impact.
i. Remove the flat from the jig.
i. Turn the frame upside down, and using a piece of bar stock (a steel dowel) and a hammer tap the jig out of the frame.
ii. Next remove the bolts from the bottom of the jig, and open the jig.
iii. The jig has side rails that are bolted to a center section. Remove the bolts and tap the center section to loosen it, and then slide it out.
iv. The outer rails will fall out once the center is removed, and the folded receiver will be freed.
j. Clean off all the grease from the receiver, jig, and frame, so it’s ready for the next flat.
III. Trimming the Rails. When you get the receiver flat it is a little bit too big, and when you fold over the top of it to form the rails on which the bolt carrier will ride the rails are a bit too wide. You will have to trim off some of them to fit the bolt carrier. This isn’t very difficult, so don’t be daunted by it.
a. Fit the front trunnion. The front trunnion is designed to fit into the receiver with about 1/16” of rail holding it in place. Its sides should be flush with the receiver wall. Hold it against the receiver with its front flush with the front of the receiver, and use a permanent marker to mark its outline on the receiver rails. Slowly and deliberately using a dremel grinding attachment or a hand file remove bits of the front of the upper rail stopping frequently to fit the trunnion. It’s easy to overdo this, and if you do you will have to throw away the receiver and start over. Do not let this happen to you.
b. Fit the rear trunnion. With the front trunnion held in place in the receiver using a vise (it’s important to get the rails fully seated in the grooves on the trunnion) draw the outline of the rear trunnion on the upper rail as you did for the front trunnion. Repeat the process of trimming as described above until the rear trunnion fits snugly. The rear of the rear trunnion should be flush with the back of the receiver.
c. Form the bolt-carrier cutouts. The AK47 receiver is designed to allow the bolt-carrier to be removed by sliding it all the way to the rear of the upper rails to where the rails have been cut away to allow the carrier to be lifted out of the receiver. This cutout should remove almost all the rail in the EXACT shape of the bolt-carrier attaching flange. This process is exacting and precise, and if the cutout is made too long the bolt-carrier will pop out when the rifle is fired. In this case you can correct the problem by buying a “recoil buffer” and inserting it between the bolt-carrier and the rear trunnion.
d. Cut out a notch for the bolt. You will notice that to insert the bolt-carrier (with the bolt inserted) into the receiver the bolt must be slid all the way forward in the carrier. This will leave the left locking lug protruding to the left and preventing the bolt-carrier from easily inserting into the receiver. We make a small cutout in the left rail about 1/16” deep and exactly the length of the lug, to allow the lug to slip into the receiver without hanging up on the left rail.
e. Trim the rails, so the bolt-carrier slides freely. When the receiver rails are trimmed to allow the trunnions to seat snugly the rails should be too tight to allow the bolt-carrier to fit between them. To make it fit you will have to trim about 1/8” of steel off each rail. Don’t take my word on it though. As you trim the rail frequently stop to fit the bolt-carrier until it slides smoothly from the rear of the receiver all the way to the front where the bolt will lock in place in the breech. At this point you should use a hand file to finish up the job and to smooth over any bumps you made while hammering down the rails.
IV. Heat-Treating. The receiver flat is shipped in a “softened” state. This means it hasn’t been tempered to make it strong. This is done to allow you to more easily shape it into a receiver. Before you can use it, though you should temper the steel, so the receiver will be able to take repeated firing without bending or deforming. With the correct tools this process is easy and fast. There are several areas that you will want to harden, though it’s not necessary to harden the entire receiver. The holes where the hammer pin and trigger pin fit should be hardened as should the lips of the magazine well and the rails on which the bolt-carrier will slide. I usually do the rivet holes as well, as they’ll have to take a lot of recoil.
a. Materials: You will need a good pair of 8-inch long vise-grip pliers, a MAPP torch ($40 from Home Depot), and a 5-gallon bucket of water mixed with a lot of dishwashing soap.
b. Temper the receiver. Hold the receiver using the vise-grips, and light to torch. Holding torch about 2 inches from the metal heat it until the metal glows bright orange or yellow. Don’t expect to be able to heat an area larger than about a silver dollar with a $40 Home Depot hand torch. Immediately douse the heated section in the soapy water until it’s cool to the touch. Move on to another section. Until you have heat-treated all the areas you want to treat. You may have to shift your grip with the vise-grips, as you don’t want to be heating the part you’re holding. It will soften and bend if you do, and the pliers will act as a heat sink making it more difficult.
c. Anneal the receiver. The last step is annealing. This makes the tempered steel, which is brittle more flexible, so it doesn’t break. To do this step, you re-heat the receiver areas that you tempered, but this time only to the point where they become grey or light blue. Let them air-cool. The step is finished.
d. Treat the lower rails. These should be treated the same way as the rest of the receiver. Heat-treating these rails is imperative, because they will take a lot of stress from the bolt and the shell casings.
V. Riveting the Front Trunnion – I do the riveting in two separate steps, because it may be best to press in the barrel while the rear trunnion is still out of the receiver. This allows you more room to work inside the receiver without worrying about hitting the rear trunnion.
a. The riveting tool. We’ll assume you’ve already made your riveting tool and your bucking plate. I have given and received instructions for doing so elsewhere, and it shouldn’t be hard to discover. Suffice it to say you use a pair of bolt-cutters with the jaws ground down to fit inside the front trunnion.
b. The front trunnion takes two short rivets in each side up in front in the barrel hole and two short rivets near the rear near the magazine well. The four in the barrel hole must be crushed so they do not interfere with sliding the barrel into the trunnion.
i. I like to start with the rear short rivets that go inside the barrel hole. Put the receiver with the rivet inserted and a bucking plate in a vise so the parts are all tightly held together. It’s important here to have the upper rails fully clamped in the slots on the front trunnion while leaving the area outside the bucking plate where the rivet is clear, so you can clamp it down with the riveting tool. The receiver walls should be pressed against the outside of the trunnion before you crush the rivet. This usually requires considerable pressure. Once everything is firmly held together, take your riveting tool, reach inside the trunnion so the tooth is squarely on top of the rivet, and squeeze like hell to crush the rivet head. Now looks aren’t important here, but it is important to fully crush the rivet head, so it doesn’t interfere with sliding in the barrel when it’s time. Do the corresponding rivet on the opposite side of the receiver the same way.
ii. Once the rear barrel rivets are done the vise becomes unnecessary as the rivets are now firmly holding the whole assembly together. The bucking plate you reuse on the front rivets. If you designed your bucking plate correctly the dimple is near a corner, so it doesn’t interfere with the riveting tool jaws. Repeat the process from the previous step for the front rivets.
iii. The magazine well rivets are the easiest to do. They hold the rear of the front trunnion firmly in place, and give it stability as the magazine is repeatedly inserted and clamped in against the front trunnion. Crush the heads inside the receiver with the bucking plate outside, making sure the completed rivet doesn’t interfere with the insertion of the magazine.
VI. Pressing in The Barrel. There are several methods for doing this, and I’ll give a brief explanation of each, but the one I like which works only on AK-47’s but NOT AK 74’s is the all-thread method. The idea in all methods is to get the barrel slid all the way into the trunnion while keeping the front sight square (not rotated to either side), so the rear sight block slides in between the upper ears of the front trunnion. The barrel should slide in EXACTLY far enough so the horizontal groove drilled across the barrel lines up with the hole drilled in the trunnion block for the barrel pin. If these do not line up the barrel retaining pin will not properly insert, and you will be in a world of hurt. Don’t ask me how I know this.
a. Freeze and heat. Always start by placing the (thoroughly cleaned) barrel assembly in the freezer for several hours. Clean the inside of the front trunnion, and lubricate both it and the end of the barrel where the two will mate. When the barrel is frozen use your MAPP torch to heat the front trunnion just so it begins to turn blue. Do not overheat this piece or it will change its molecular structure, and it will lose strength! Once it is heated, run to the freezer, remove the barrel, run back, reheat the trunnion, and slide the barrel in (LINED UP CORRECTLY!) as far in as it will go. This will not be far, but it should go in about 1/16”, which is far enough to hold it in place as you begin applying pressure.
b. The BFH Method. This involves using a (ahem!) hammer to beat the barrel into the trunnion. Set the receiver with the barrel facing up on some soft surface (wood?), screw on a barrel attachment cut square across the end to protect the muzzle, and get to hammering on the muzzle. This method may be appropriate in some cases, but the forces applied to the muzzle and the lack of control makes it my least favorite method.
c. The Press Method. Some have figured out how to properly do this. I have not. With the back of the receiver braced against some part of the shop press, lower the ram until it contacts the muzzle which again is pointed up and which is protected by a muzzle attachment. Stop and ensure everything is correctly lined up here. You don’t want the pressure to be out of alignment. When pressure gets high weird violent things can happen. Now (very) gradually increase pressure. The barrel will imperceptibly slide into the trunnion. Or it will bend. Or snap violently and stick in your throat. It’s hard to predict. As the barrel slides in watch for the barrel pin groove to line up with the trunnion hole. Usually this will coincide with the barrel touching the end of the trunnion recess.
d. The All-Thread Method. For about $10 you can buy a 20” piece of all-thread (a bolt threaded for its full length) just big enough to fit down the barrel, 2 bolts and aluminum washers, and a piece of 1 x ¼” plate steel. You can buy this in Home Depot in the fasteners aisle.
i. Using a grinding blade on a circular saw. Cut off a piece of the steel small enough to fit into the receiver. It should be about 1” x ¾”. Cut a ¼” x ¼” groove in the top of the plate descending toward the center where you will drill a hole large enough for the bolt to pass through. You should use the biggest diameter bolt that you can find, and you should get one made of coarse or hardened steel, not zinc-coated, because the first two are stronger, and you will need their strength to do this operation. Put duct tape over the threads, so they won’t scratch the rifling.
ii. Insert the bolt-carrier without the bolt into place. This will allow you to apply pressure without damaging the breech. Clamp the receiver firmly in a padded vise, so your hands will be free during this operation. Slide the bolt through the barrel from muzzle to breech and through the carrier and 1’4” steel plate, and put a washer and nut on each end. Tighten the nuts until they contact the muzzle and carrier, then get an appropriately sized open-end wrench, and start tightening from the breech end. The carrier will protect the breech, and you will gradually, almost imperceptibly, see the barrel sliding into the trunnion. Don’t expect this to happen in 30 turns of the wrench. It will take a while, and you should again check frequently when it gets close, to be sure you’re not drawing the barrel in past the barrel-retaining pin groove.
iii. As the barrel draws in you will see the rear sight slide in between the front trunnion “ears”. This ensures the sight isn’t canted to one side or the other. Stop when the barrel pin hole in the trunnion lines up with the barrel pin groove in the barrel.
iv. Now you have to re-insert the barrel pin. There is no easy way to do this that I know of. Lay the trunnion and barrel in your vise with the pin in its hole, and tighten the vise extremely tightly. The pin will seat just a tiny bit. Take the receiver out, and begin using your BFH to pound the pin into place. This step is tricky because you don’t want to slip and hit the trunnion with your hammer. It will damage the trunnion and barrel if you do. You will see the pin going in. When it gets far enough that you can’t readily get at the pin with the hammer, use a big punch to finish the job. Do not hold the punch with your hand. Use the vise-grips. You will thank me for this advice.
VII. Finishing the Riveting. Several people sell jigs for doing the long rivets that go through the rear trunnion and the main cross-member rivet. They are called Plinker’s jig for the guy who invented them. I suggest you get one of these. They should cost about $100, and are well worth it. These long rivets are hard to do and easy to (badly) screw up.
a. Rivet the Rear Trunnion. On a fixed-stock AK this piece uses two long rivets to attach it to the receiver. The rivets run clear through the trunnion and out the other side.
i. Hopefully the holes in the receiver line up with the holes in the trunnion, so you should be able to just drop the rivets through the holes in the receiver and the trunnion, and they will pass right out the other side. This has never happened to me, but maybe you’ll get lucky. If you can’t get them through you’ll have to ream out the receiver holes to make them line up with the trunnion holes, so the rivets will go all the way through. Your drill press and reamer bits will come in handy for this job.
ii. Once you are able to get both long rivets through their respective holes I suggest you leave them both in place for the riveting process instead of waiting to place the second one until the first is done. This is because the trunnion will try to shift a little when the first rivet is being crushed, and if you don’t have the second already in place you may not be able to get it in later.
iii. To crush the rivet, place the bucking plate beneath the receiver, and place the pre-formed rivet head in the dimple you drilled in the plate. On the top of the receiver the ends of the rivets should be protruding. Take the bucking bar you made, and put its dimple on the opposite end of the rivet from the head that you put in the bucking plate. Now using a ram from a shop press or a maul apply pressure to the end of the bucking bar to crush the rivet. Repeat this process for the second rivet.
b. Rivet the Trigger Guard. Most AK’s use five rivets for the trigger guard. Yugoslavian AK’s and RPK’s use more, so before you do this ensure that you have the correct number of short rivets for the job.
i. Several people have designed jigs for this job, but because it’s the trigger guard and not the sides of the receiver I think perfection is less important here. If you disagree get the jigs.
ii. Make a bucking plate like the other one you made, but this one will have the dimples lined up for the trigger guard rivets. Put the edge of the plate steel against the trigger guard underneath the rivet holes, and using a permanent marker mark the holes. Using a drill press and an appropriately sized bit drill the dimples for the rivet heads. Easy.
iii. Now screw the guard to the receiver using two rivet-sized bolts through the trigger guard rivet holes on the side opposite that which you are about to fasten, and through the hole at the rear of the trigger guard. These will ensure that as you apply the pressure to crush the rivet heads, the other rivet holes don’t drift out of alignment.
iv. Place the two rivets that you wish to crush in the guard rivet holes, and through the bottom of the receiver. Place the bucking plate you just made over the rivet heads, and turn the whole assembly over, so you can get to the rivets.
v. Now for this you will need a specialized bucking bar with a notch ground out (using a bench grinder) to allow the bar to fit against the receiver wall without interference from the upper rail of the receiver. When you try to crush the rivets you will understand what I’m talking about. One at a time using your specialized bucking bar, crush the rivets. I use a maul for this operation, and my rivets always look awful, but since this is inside the receiver I really don’t care. Out of sight, out of mind. Repeat this process for the rivets on the opposite side. When you remove the screws, immediately replace each with a rivet, so they don’t move out of alignment before you’re ready to crush the rivets.
vi. The rear rivet(s) is easy. Clamp the assembly together, so the holes don’t drift out of alignment. If the holes are misaligned by more than a 32nd inch then you should probably ream out the receiver hole, so it lines up. Now this one is probably the easiest to crush because it has a relatively large amount of space with which to work. Use the bucking plate, crush it, and let’s move on.
VIII. Welding the Rails. There are two parts of the receiver that came with the flat, but are not attached, and must be before the rifle can fire correctly. These are the lower rails which are positioned, so the bolt can glide on top of them, and so the left one can catch the extracted shell casing and fling it clear of the receiver to make room for the new one stripped off the magazine when the bolt returns to the breech. These rails have to be welded in place.
a. Position the right rail about 5mm behind the right side of the front trunnion, and at the same height as the rail that forms part of the right trunnion. The idea is that they should form a semi-continuous rail on the right side of the receiver. It has been said that a ¼” drill bit placed between the lower rail and the upper rail is the correct space. I have found this generally but not always to be true. Use a pair of vise-grips to hold the rail and bit in place, and prepare to weld it.
b. You may have to grind the welder tongs to points to get them to fit around the upper rails and below the lower rail without touching it. If it touches the lower rail it will short-circuit, and the heat will not be applied directly to the weld point. When you can, get the tongs to hold together the pieces to be welded, press with the strength of a firm handshake, throw the switch, and watch for a red spot to appear. When it does, hold it for a second, and simultaneously release the switch and open the tongs. If you wait too long to open the tongs they will fuse to the steel. Bad thing. Repeat this three times at different spots on the rail, and you’ll have a good joint.
c. Repeat this process for the second (right-hand) rail, but when you position it, make certain that the bolt will slide over it. Weld it the same way you did for the other rail. Three points should do it for this rail.
d. After you weld in the rails, you should check the fit of the ejector rail. It is often sized to work with the .223 AK-74, so it will be too big for the AK-47. In this case you will have to break out your dremel tool, and grind it down a bit. Do Not Take Too Much Off!!! It’s a lot harder to put metal back on than it is to take it off.
IX. The Central Rivet. There is a long central cross-member rivet that you will need to insert and crush before you fire the rifle. It has a steel sleeve through which it slides and which goes inside the receiver between the receiver walls. Insert the rivet, and using Plinker’s jig, crush the end. When you do so the receiver walls will close up a bit. A result of this will be that you may have to re-trim the upper rails, so the bolt-carrier will freely slide on them.
Your AK-47 can now be assembled. You should immediately do so. Take it to the range, and test it out. Don’t be afraid to fire it. The rifle won’t explode or do anything else that will hurt you, so go ahead and shoot it. The worst thing that will happen is that the head-space will be wrong. The head-space is the space between the bolt face and the end of the barrel. You can buy a set of “Go / No-Go” gauges to test the head-space on your rifle, but I’ve only heard of one case in which an AK-47 failed to chamber a round. I haven’t heard of any cases in which something dangerous happened. Except for me, I haven’t heard of anyone buying the gauges. Everyone else just goes to the range and shoots it. The AK-47 is the best-built battle rifle in the world, so you should have great expectations of it.
Now at the range you will often discover imperfections that obstruct proper operation of the rifle, and these can then be adjusted. On my first build my upper rails were uneven and needed to be filed flat, so the bolt-carrier would freely slide back and forth. It took six 30-round clips to discover this problem J. Expect to encounter something like this. Fix it, repeat the testing process, then know that you have the best battle-rifle man has ever created.
So what happened to me? Why did an employed, land-owning, happily-married, (arguably) well-adjusted man decide to descend into this underworld? Who knows precisely? I love shooting. Guns make loud noises and bright lights, and shoot fire out of the end. When you shoot them things happen far away, and if you do it right the things happen to the things you intend for them to happen to. Part of it also is the marvelous feeling I get when I fire an AK-47. Though I enjoy shooting I don’t get this feeling when I fire any other type of rifle. Now this may have something to do with the fact that I BUILT my AK-47, and it may be because of the delightful design of the Romanian AK-47 with the incorporated forward handgrip, and it may be because of the 30-round clip, but I just love shooting that rifle.