AGI AK47 Barrel Press

[grifter95]

I cannot find my copy of the DVD to print the drawings. Does anyone have a copy of them. They show the barrel press which is made from a long piece of screw stock with a trunnion plate one one end and a brass washer and nut on the other. You use it by turning the nut and it presses the barrel in.
Any help would be appreciated!

[Bulletboy]

Grifter, I have one like that I made, I didnt make it from the AGI video, but I like it and it works great. If you want, I can post some pics. Its not hard, I used a threaded rod, couple of washers, an extra bolt carrier that I removed the gas piston from, and I made a rear plate out of angle iron from an old bed frame.

I used the bolt carrier because it mates with the trunion and it will draw the barrel in perfectly aligned everytime. In fact, here, I'll just post the pics now;

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2328.jpg

The parts here you can see, I wrapped the rod with tape so it didnt damage the rifling. Also you can see the rear plate with the hole for the rod, and the slot underneath matches the tang at the back of the bolt carrier. The slots in the sides are for the top rails.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2331.jpg

Heres the rear assembly in action.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2332.jpg

And the front. I used a blank firing muzzle device drilled out to fit the rod through.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2329.jpg

Hold it in a vise, and tighten away. You will probably need a wrench at both ends. The very important part of this is to grease the threads of the rod. If you dont, the pressure and friction causes too much shear on the rod and it will snap. And this is the strongest threaded rod that is made, its chromium molybdenum alloy. I got it from MSC Direct, it only cost a couple bucks. I had to order 2 of em because I snapped the first one by not greasing the threads. Second time I used white lithium and it screwed right in like it was nothin.

[Bulletboy]

Also thought I would mention, I did grind away a bit of the shoulder just forward of the charging handle on the bolt carrier because with it fully forward to the trunion, there was a gap in the left side. That will yaw the carrier off at an angle under pressure and pull your barrel in crooked. Bolt carrier needs to contact the trunion evenly on both sides. Remember, this is a scrap bolt carrier, that I will never use in a weapon. If you dont have a scrap one, places like Centerfire have em for not too much..

[grifter95]

Thanks Bulletboy. But I was trying to find the dimmensions for the plate that is used to mate up directly to the trunnion. Reason being is that I am building a Romanian PSL and spare bolt carriers are hard to come by. I know the video have a mechanical drawing of this plate so you can machine one. However, for the life of me I cannot find what I put the DVD or who I loaned it to.

[grifter95]

UPDATE 7-3-07

I used the freeze method I had seen somewhere. I polished both the barrel end and the inside of the trunnion with 600grit sandpaper to remove any burrs. Then I measured the difference in outside diameter of the barrel to inside diameter of the trunnion. It was .0035" difference. So I put the barrel in the chest freezer and left it over night. I took it out and measured it again. The difference had shrunk to .001". I took it and supported the reciever, oiled both pieces, and used a nylon hammer and tapped it right in until the pin holes lined up completely. I then let it all wamr back up o room temperature and drove in the barrel retaining pin. I was amazed at how easy it was. It took less then 2 minuted to get the barrel in the trunnion and cost me $0!!! Now I can finish the rifle this weekend!

[Bulletboy]

Nice job, glad ya got it in. Never tried the freeze method myself, but I heard of it working real well for a lot of folks. I might give it a shot, I have another couple of builds going right now. Heres one I finished last week;

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2351-1.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2349-1.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/suckaf00/DSCN2348.jpg