How to Make a Ak Heat Treat Jig
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- AK-47 receiver hardness
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Anbody know how hard (rockwell) the receiver is when finished? Are the 2 small pcs. the same hardness?
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Not super critical, around RC 40, The trunnion locks the bolt so the receiver just has to deal with recoil of bolt assy/recoil spring pressure, and hold everything in place. The ejector tip which is an internal part of left receiver rail that is spot welded in, should be somewhere around Rockwell C 35~40 or so to withstand battering (For longest life, both of the internal rails should be hardened,along with upper edges of receiver which operating rod slides on) The trigger and hammer pin holes should be spot hardened about the same to prevent deformation. A simple sheet of cold rolled mild steel would last quite a while in a semi rifle before any problems occured (except for ejector). All the receivers I have worked on could be touched up with a sharp fine single cut file with a little pressure in the hardened areas. A fully stress relived and hardened receiver is best, but kind of overkill for a Semi rifle. These guys make good ones:
http://www.globaltrades.com/ak_receivers.html
http://www.nodakspud.com/page2.htm
These are not bad either and say hardened to RC 40 : http://ewbankak47.com/AK47_Receivers.php
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So the 2 pcs. that come with the flat should also be 40 RC?
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for best results, yes. the ejector (left side) has to be hardened, the right side doesnt have to be, but its better to do both
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Building from a flat is actually NOT the way to build your first AK. The time it takes to make a proper folding die is not justified by the low price of a finished receiver. It can be done, but unless there are Black Helicopters flying around in OK, I would recommend starting your first build off of a finished receiver. If you have a mill you can make the dies though. Tooling up for a 1~2 pc job is not worth it Unless you are just doing it for fun. Don't forget some US Parts are required......
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It would not be any fun to buy an already finished receiver. Thanks for the info guys.......
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Another question. If I send the receiver to Bodycote for HT, will i have to screw the sides together with spacers in the middle, to keep the thin metal receiver from distoring?
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On thin sheet steel like that, a full length support die would probably be best (Think folding die [img]smile.gif[/img] )
The steel is thin, every heat treated AK receiver I have seen had some distortion. Center receiver spacer rivit should be installed after heat treat to make support die easier.
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You should probably go to www.akfiles.com and peruse the build it yourself forum. No one there recomends hardening a stamped receiver due to the difficulty in preventing warping and the originals were never done this way. Stamped receiver flats are usually 4140 as is the 2 piece rails that come with them. It is in the soft state so that it can be bent to shape, filed or ground to recieve the trunions and bolt carrier etc, holes enlarged for parts to fit. The ejector area on the left lower rail can then be heat treated with a propane torch (heat to cherry red, quench, reheat to 600 deg or so). If you want the rifle to last this heat treatment must be done, however it can be done at the end of the build as only the ejector part of the rail absolutly needs HT and it's easy enough to get a flame on it. Then the lower rails are spot welded or screwed in. After this the trigger/sear and hammer holes can be spot heat treated with a torch as above in an area of a couple mm's or 1/8 in around the hole is sufficient. Many don't and have shot 1000's of rounds without any malfunction.
hope this helps.
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Not to get in a p&****ing contest, but the remnants of Yugo, Hungarian, and Romanian AK receivers I have were certainly heat treated........... As I stated above HT is not really needed on a semi rifle (except ejector tip)
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The commercial heat treater thinks the full HT may screw it up. I may heat it with the map gass torch, and quench in oil. I need to find out what the flats are. They say high carbon steel. 4130 is NOT that. A lot of flats are 4130. They must be 1050 or 1080......
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I agree with mtharris. Here are another couple good sites with some helpful info, especially the second one:
http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/
http://gunsgutsandgod.com/index.htm
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Don't get me wrong on the following, not everyone has 22+ years doing this sort of work:
The second post goes to show how little is required to BODGE together an AK. And I bet it works just fine [img]smile.gif[/img] I guess I will have to put up a site showing all my tricks on making one that looks better than an Original Russian AK, NOT....
Will be glad to post a pic on a problem, but I get paid to custom build em so they look better than right....
What a hack job, NO PADDED vise jaws (OK I saw one shot where he had some padding, but....) , Finish as can be expected using a 22 Ounce Framing hammer to set rivits...Pounding out Barrel retaining pin instead of pressing. Good thing I get paid to do it properly........ Steel Pennies for shims on barrel. Looks like a candidate for a job making jig borers in China......I have seen better work out of Afghanistan.
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How to Make a Ak Heat Treat Jig
Source: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/gunsmithing/ak-47-receiver-hardness-127345/
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