Making an ak look "right"

[cloakndagger]

Many of you know, i am a peculiar breed of gun nut, I like everything on my guns to look "right". So, when i saw creepers gun the other day, aside from the traditional teasing i noticed the handgrip looked oddly right. It was smoothe and black, like a fine black pearl (or the finish of my clarinet), unlike my new cyma ak grips which were a matte finish. So i did a bit of research, and it turns out, most ak handgrips are or were bakelite (a type of smoothe hard antique plastic) of one color or another including black. So, i set about looking for a way to put a bakelite finish on the handgrip of my guns. I tried several unsuccessful methods including buffing, sanding, and even solvents. None worked. I could have, possibly, used paint or varnish, but im loathe to put paint on my guns, so i searched out another method....in the garage.

I found the one way that works well and easily in a box marked "headlight restorer".  the steps are too tediously long to describe here but following the instructions and end up sanding with finer grits of polishing wheel yill you are buffing a smoothe pearly surface. I added my special recepe of shoe cleaner and dye paste to give it that deep gloss and shade variation which is the hallmark of real bakelite. I must say the results surprised me so much i decided to do the orange mag tbe same way, but using a brown pigment to give the finish depth. I will post pics as soon as i can get good ones, but yes, it is very possible to give that right look to your ak.

[cloakndagger]

Ok, here we go....
Before


The two aks, the top one with the stock grip, the bottom with the modded one (note the gloss)


And the mag, once again note the gloss compared to the before pic


Now you are scratching your head thinkin ole cloaks gone off his rocker, but trust me these little changes realy set off the guns when theyre in the rack, after all if you do enough little stuff you end up with something big

Till next time

[CREEPER™]

Here's the AK Cloak is talking about:

S V E T L A N A



Personally, I didn't know how it was supposed to look.  I would rather have wood, but S V E T is a 74U, NOT a 47.  Lots of guys don't even know there is a 74!  It's NOT a misprint!  The 74 fires a 5.45mm while the 47 fires 7.62X39 in the real steel world.  But anyway, yeah a 47 would have had a wooden handgrip, while the 74s had plastic.  Now you know!  Btw, great job there, Cloak!

[cloakndagger]

yea iF youve heen paying close attention kiddos, like creep said, svet is a 74. My current project is an aks 74u  (s for folding stock or paratrooper and u for shortened) my full size ak is an akm, note the slant muzzle break and lack of designator cutouts on the stock. Also in my gun rack, an ak101 which is the grandson of the akm. It is identifyable by a shorter than normal barrel, a muzzle device like the 74u, and zytel furniture. Now youve had ak 101 for the day. Also note, when i say making a gun look right, i mean look like you just jacked it from an armory in siberia, not from some natives in the sahara like svet lol

[CREEPER™]

yea iF youve heen paying close attention kiddos, like creep said, svet is a 74. My current project is an aks 74u  (s for folding stock or paratrooper and u for shortened) my full size ak is an akm, note the slant muzzle break and lack of designator cutouts on the stock. Also in my gun rack, an ak101 which is the grandson of the akm. It is identifyable by a shorter than normal barrel, a muzzle device like the 74u, and zytel furniture. Now youve had ak 101 for the day. Also note, when i say making a gun look right, i mean look like you just jacked it from an armory in siberia, not from some natives in the sahara like svet lol

Haha!  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think S V E T is GAWJUS!! Remember the movie "Shallow Hal"?  Well apparently, I'm Hal!