Flats for building AKs

[KillJoy149]

Where is everyone getting their Flats from?

Do they still have the Front and Rear Trunnion Holes drilled?

KillJoy

[Quarterbore]

I am building one now with a flat I got from ak-builder.com. This new flat does not have all the trunion holes (It does have one at the rear) and the receiver really looks nice so far. This is the flat that I am bending for the site and shown in the photos in the link above.

[KillJoy149]

I was just wondering.

I just picked up five from Cope's Distrubiting for $11.99 each, that do have the Front and Rear Holes (according to the guy there who answered the phone) and rails.

I got them from them because Tapco no longer had any with hole listed on their Website, but they are now listed today. Oh well. Hopefully I will get a decent quality product.

Now I am in need of a good source for Rivets.....preferrably on the cheap :)

KillJoy

[Quarterbore]

I split this off the jig rental thread...

I find it interesting that you are looking for flats with the holes when most guys are after flats without them... My first flat seemed to lign up with my trunions fine (AMD-65 build) but I know others had to egg out holes and JB weld to make them look better.

I am quite impressed with the flat that I got from AK-Builder.com although there are a couple strange holes on the bottom of the receiver that I don't quite understand... I really need to get my phtos cropped down and posted however to show them but they are rear of the pistol grip and they are wide like the front rivets for the trigger guard. They will not hurt anything and I can hide them so no biggie...

Just the same, both these new ones and the original Tapco flats seem to bend the same so either will work as will others!

[KillJoy149]

They are probably for the Receiver Stiffener used on Folding Stock Rifles. It mounts inder the Pistol Grip.

KillJoy

[KillJoy149]

Also, I like the ones w/ the holes because there is less guess work involved. My Polish Underfolder turned fixed stock lines up perfectly w/ the Tapco's.....

KillJoy

[Quarterbore]

Yea, I never had problems with the holes being off a great deal but that depends on your kit. I just received a new flat from AK-Builder.com and it is the polish underfolder flat. I hope to get that bent up soon so I can post feedback. From first looks it is a nice looking flat.

[KillJoy149]

You're much more brave than I.

Whenever I only get one of something, it is doomed to be a failure!

That's why I got 5 this time around. Hopefully, at least one will turn out well.

KillJoy

[Quarterbore]

I just figured out the flats I am building on now are not from AK builder but instead from:

http://www.MidwestArmory.com

These are no trunion rivet hole flats and they are the ones I have pics of in the jig rental thread... I really need to get the pics and directions up for the jig usage!

Th eLA power outage caused a numbe of my websites to go down and I have a couple sites that have some pretty major problems that i have been trying to fix when I am not at work or playing with gun stuff... Too many hobbies is not a good thing I guess!

[555th]

They are probably for the Receiver Stiffener used on Folding Stock Rifles. It mounts inder the Pistol Grip.

KillJoy

The underfolder plate is spot welded in on factory AKs, so no holes should be aloud..I bet it is an alignment hole of some sort to index the laser cutter to the rest of the flat and it is hidden by the PG. It really doesn't matter much, if you are building an UF it will be covered by the reinforcing plate or at least be covered by the PG if it's a standard stock build.

[Quarterbore]

Yea but finding the correct reinforcement plate has proven to be a challange... I tried an E-mail to TANTIAL to get some as they are listing two varieties now... essentially an AK-74 type and the AKM type... I am getting confident enough with my latest build (Rivet AMD-65) that next is my cut-a-way project and then I am ready to do my nicer PMKM and PMKMS builds on Global 1.0 receivers... then it's time to do my SBRs (AMD-65 and M92).

I would love to have these reinforcement plates for all the folders at a minimum... not that I am real likely to pull the trigger with the stock folded... but why not do it right if I already have the spot welder?

Oh well, the search goes on...

[KillJoy149]

Well, I have gotten my flats from Cope's. These are the exact same flats, wrapping and labeling, that I got from Tapco last time around.

I do not know who makes these, but at this point, I am pretty sure Tapco does not.

All holes are there, including the Front and Rear Trunnion. The evil extra hole is NOT present. These DO have the alignment holes for the DHP Jig.

Well, when the Jig gets around to me I will try and document the bending and the assembly. Although, I tend to get comsumed when building and never take any pictures.

[Quarterbore]

I am working on the pics today as I need to get it up as the DPH jig will be to the first guy on Monday... I have a ton of pics I am going through today to set up a series of pages that show how to build from a flat... I am not completely done with my build yet but I have a bunch of stuff covered....

Link will be comming...

[KillJoy149]

How is this jig compared to the 555 for aligning the flat, and getting nice crisp corners that do not cause the bent flat to bow out?

KillJoy

[Quarterbore]

The jig works nice... I never had problems with the 555th jig either however..

It is faster in that you do not need to measure anything. Just put the flat into the jig over the two pins and tighten it up. The 555th jig required a little measuring but I never found that to take that long.

As for the bent flats, as long as you move the press from end to end and do a little at a time I really don't see a difference between the results... This includes either of the two 555th jigs I owned or the two DPH jigs I own now... They all do a nice job!

The kids kept me running today... I did do a little more work on my AMD-65 today but I did that to keep the older two in the basement with me while my youngest got a nap... I will get the pics up tonight (or so I hope)

[Wrangler]

I received one Friday from Tapco with the holes predrilled.

[KillJoy149]

I saw, shortly after starting this thread, that Tapco now has both w/ and w/o listed for sale.

Like I said, I prefer the holes included model.

KillJoy

[Wrangler]

Has anyone gotten any pictures of the receivers being made in the factories of the Eastern Europeans? I would love to see how they do the bending.