Norinco NHM-91

[Greasemonkey]

Welp, I chased down another Ak variant  the AWB ban version of an RPK. The RPK was a heavier built weapon designed to provide higher amounts of firepower for longer than the regular Ak. I have not tried it as of yet, but having a heavy barrel, heavy receiver and longer sight radius it could be more accurate than the standard rifles. I'd like to say it's a heavy built Ak, it is when you compare it to regular European Aks, but, it does have the same receiver, double hook trigger as the MAK90. It just has a longer, slightly heavier barrel, a 20 inch chromed barrel. Not many of them were imported when compared to the vast number of regular Chinese Aks. They included 2 30rd mags and a drum mag, which this one included a 5rd Chinese mag, thankfully it will use any standard issue Ak mag. It also has a removable nut on the barrel, remove the lock pin, this one is not welded and the threaded nut will come off, and you can install a normal RPK brake. Also, it's one of the few I have seen that still has the orginial Chinese bipod still mounted on it, a commonly missing part.














Aks are cool 

[firstchoice]

Alright! Nice NHM-91! It looks like it's in excellent condition, too! The wood looks so good on these. I think one of the major, (or, at least well known), stock companies made the stock sets for these. Do you have to remove the forward pin on the FSB to get the barrel nut removed? I bought a couple different types of the Chinese muzzle brakes for the RPK, but never dared to figure out how to remove the barrel nut.   

I wish I had bought a set of the Chinese clubfoot furniture way back when. I've searched high and low, nothing yet. I did find a brand new set of Russian RPK laminated furniture that's purdy. But it just wouldn't be right.

Ooohh...a PSL, maybe a Romak III? in that last pic? Man, those are sweet.

firstchoice

[Greasemonkey]

I have seen Boyds or Bishop mentioned as to who made these stocks. I know the pin in the front sight is not spring loaded like most are, I think it is fixed, meant to be permanent, but I think it's possibly removable without much effort. I thought about converting it, but have not decided as of yet, I've seen a few Romanian RPK stock sets floating around, it would probably be a pretty good match, one of my MAK90s wears Romanian furniture.   It has seen some use, it wasn't abused by any means, the piston had some soot on it, and it looks to have been from a while ago given the gumminess of the oil thats left inside of it.

And thats my PSL, in it's finished state.

[Phosphorus32]

Very nice pickup! Sure looks to be very lightly used   That PSL in the background is kind of distracting   

I think all of the Chinese AKS used the heavier (RPK-style) 1.5 mm thick receivers, right?

[Greasemonkey]

I think, but don't quote me... the list off the top of my head on the European side Aks are Valmet and the Yugos used 1.5/1.6mm receivers from this time frame. Veprs are real recent, throw them in the fray if desired. I do believe all Chinese Type 56 Aks have the heavier RPK style receivers(with exception of the milled variant), and they also usually have slightly heavier barrels.

Some barrel thickness readings..all measured between the gas block and front sight..
MAK-90 milled .615 
MAK-90 stamped(both in 7.62 & .223) .608
NHM-91 stamped .668
Egyptian Maadi .580
Romanian typically .584

Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Russian all seem to fall somewhere within the Maddi/Romanian measurements. But, these nations adhered to strict Russian design. 

One or more of those questions is why, extra strength for bayonet use, thought thicker was better for durability or accuracy testing proved it to be a valid point, they were provided a heavy receiver from Russia in the design/planning stage and it just stuck, it's heavier to support the slightly heavier barrel(see above) plus countless other questions, like possible launching of grenades like Yugoslavia or simply make just one receiver and be done. I cant blame "heat treatment" the Chinese are all over this planet, if heat treatment was questionable, they wouldn't have never lived up to their name and hype.

The heaviest x39 barrel I could find was the M72 Yugoslavian RPK, it measures .808 dia at the gas block. Again...I didnt include current Sagias or Veprs. The PSL has a fairly thin barrel for it's 24.5/25 inch length, my example is .592 between the gasblock and front sight, it's two biggest enemies are heat and whip, on a short 16.5 inch barrel rifle it's not as noticeable, but you kick out 10 rds of x54 through that long barrel, quickly, your done till it cools. They are terrible for stringing shots from heat. 

And just for giggles, and I will throw this out there.. A while back, and I may have mentioned it at some point, I compared a press fit SKS barrel to the MAK90, other than the length, they measured very close, most measurements were within or even less than .004 of each other at the same respective measuring spots. Maybe they were sharing barrels, I say maybe here very loosely, because it's one example of each, not enough info to even begin pondering. But, logistically speaking, if you could make two weapons systems using a common time consuming part that differs by 4 inches and maybe a bit of final finish machine work, how much production/labor time and material would one save.