Author Topic: 90 degrees of Bubba  (Read 27860 times)

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Offline Justin Hell

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90 degrees of Bubba
« on: December 31, 2016, 07:48:08 PM »
Day One, Part one...probably:

This, is how I received this...delivered on the last day of a relatively crummy year, to my delight...and a little dismay.

But, I enjoy a challenge...and this bubba needs a bayonet, and somehow, whether I have to restore this darn thing as close to whole to do it...this will have a bayonet again. 



I think that is a zero rather than an O, based on other parts...the whole serial on the receiver is haphazard and sloppily struck. the next character is a brutally struck 1.



Some of the marks around the barrel lug...sorry about the crummy photo, I am sure I will get a better one later...



90 degree gas block, held in with a roll pin.







Stock ferrule.... Look Ma! No pin!



Rear of ferrule... no weld blob, that is metal pushed inward from the cutting in of the blade notch, on an otherwise non reinforced, but normal sized (I think) ferrule...that started it's milled life with only a cleaning rod hole, although there is a faint little nub of what might have been a very shallow spike U...could just be a tool mark from the notch cut...tough to say.









Potential reason for the blob weld shown here...that is a hairline crack on a blobless ferrule.





There is a hole missing in the Krink styled bolt on brake I have thus far been afraid to remove...it is not just canted, the holes on the top and other side would form a misshapen crescent if it were...I dunno beans about these Krink brakes other than they look cool and were originally intended for an SBR.  Seems to me like it would incite rather than tame barrel whippage...







I will betcha all this time you were thinking this thing was particularly, severely, refurbed at a BBQ factory...but it is much worse...it is the art of Bubba...who had this before me...I swear, nothing you see here is my fault. This gun is thoroughly, and nicely painted with what I assume to be Duracoat? Here is an example of where the benefit of masking tape is thankfully evident.



Loop takedown lever...and a Genuine Norinco BEC steel scope mount....which fits like a glove on a very snug bug...we are talking return to zero for sure without any further Bubbage needed secure. I hate how secure it is. A lot.





William's peep sight along with a two piece Chinese gas tube with the obligatory Bubbattachment for the kitchen...







Looks like it means business, don't tell it that it has been neutered...more on the innards later. Heck, it is New Year's Eve...and despite this being my first one sober, doesn't mean I don't have **** to do.

Like running around the house going yee haw!! Check out my first Russian SKS!!
:)


Offline armedhippie

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2016, 09:28:00 PM »
Congrats brother  thumb1

Your first Russian eh? You know the old saying about opinions right....something like every A-hole has 1 ...or something like that I'm sure  rofl but....I say FULL on restore that bad boy and move all those Bubba parts ( gotta admit for bubba parts they are sweet as I'm sure you know) to 1 of your other cool project guns.

I mean damn man....you got a righteous 90degree gas block there. thumb1 NOW spill the beans on that bolt and carrier and firing pin buddy... inquiring minds want to know....
« Last Edit: December 31, 2016, 10:01:11 PM by armedhippie »
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Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2016, 11:51:21 PM »
Day One, Part 2:

Lets get into the guts of this puppy and see what there is under the hood. It does look more like a hood scoop than a scope mount right? Especially all nekkid without a scope...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. :)

Matching piston...complete with greasy grimey gopher guts.  'Gunsmith cleaned and inspected' huh...I had a hell of a time getting the Chinese gas tube on and off, it is quite tight...I doubt 'he' bothered to attempt beyond the latch snagging on the roll pin for the Williams sight...I digress...



Some shots of the inside of the gas block, people knowledgeable about refurbs let me know if you see anything to worry about here...









Op rod and the supplied spring, which is not the typical rope spring...it is, well...just a regular ol' spring. Is this normal?





Cosmoriffic bolt carrier...remember when I said that scope mount was secure?  It was so secure it was covered in cosmoline as well...















Bolt...again, kinda slimy with cosmo....if this wasn't spring loaded I think Bubba may have been a candidate for an incident at the range...I am amazed at this point the duracoat is even sticking.















Blued recoil spring assembly







Magical latch thing that for some reason was a bad idea?  I love it!



Various shots of the receiver...in the white internally, for the most part...how normal this looks is up to the experts I would love to hear from.

















No chrome down the pipe...with a crummy view through the muzzle contraption, and my inability to get a decent shot...but here they are anyway...







That is all for this year folks...I will be back in a few hours with more I am sure.
Happy 2017 everybody!
 8)

Offline armedhippie

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2017, 12:15:36 AM »
Original spring loaded firing pin/bolt and carrier? Oh Yeah!  thumb1 That's what I wanted to see. Welcome to the club brother. Mines a transitional '50 w/o that sweet gas block but your gonna love that spring loaded pin. I'll be damned if I ever figure out why they changed to a free floating, other than cost/time, cuz I've put over a 1000 rds down the pipe w/o a hiccup. NOW you just gotta full on restore  :))
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Offline running-man

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2017, 12:56:11 AM »
Justin,

The op rod spring is an original '49 or transitional '50. They were solid wound like that before they changed the design to the muliple strand coils we're all used too.

That first 0 in the S/N is an oh, not a zero. The Russians used the same stamp for both. The reason we know it's not a zero is because there are no documented cases (that I'm aware of anyhow) of Russians using leading zeroes in their SKS S/Ns (XX#, XX##, XX###, and XX####, never X0####).

Aside from the gas tube and missing original cover, I'd say you've got the complete '49 package there.  If you can get the paint off, and with all the cosmo I think that's a good possibility, you'll be golden. Aside from the semi-easily replaced neutered bayo lug, there's nothing irreversible there.  thumb1
      

Offline pcke2000

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2017, 04:38:43 PM »
Congratulations!! You got some real nice and rare parts in the package!

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2017, 05:57:21 PM »
Thanks guys...more pics coming up, but I thought I would reply here first.

I plan on getting it as close as I can to original. I may just get a regular Russian trigger group, I found one comically similar to my serial...
My serial, EO1851...the trigger group, 3п182O, something a dyslexic Ivan could have messed up at the factory right? Notice I used an O for the zero RM. :)

My question, is there any reason, other than not being year correct that a regular 'modern' Russian trigger group would be a bad idea?  It seems as if they changed something like the safety after the first year and never used that design again, it was for a reason...and since I doubt I would ever find a blank one, would it make sense just to get the aforementioned one? What is the deal with either having a rebound disconnector vs not having one? I am not exactly sure what it does...and whether anything else with the early features would be affected if suddenly there was one.

I have a line on the proper FSB, and they have several, pretty reasonably priced to...as I sit here looking at a perfectly good Chinese FSB banghead1

I will show what I have done thus far in the upcoming picture thread...coming right up here in a few.

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2017, 06:54:28 PM »
Day 2:

My attempt to contact the person I got this from continues to go unanswered, but I am going to progress as if there is a chance I may at least get the receiver cover....one can dream right?

I have her roughed in and I am making progress, I am using my 78 /26\'s older stock set, as I found an unserialed one for it finally, and it fits pretty nicely, and the inverted takedown notch works quite well with the looped lever on the Russian.





I borrowed a sight ladder from a Chinese that has been floating around since a Scoutscopes install, and swapped the Williams to a more deserving rifle...I have a line on unserialed unissued proper sight ladders from Russia that will replace this soon.



I have tried and failed to loosen the allen screws on the Krink, and am wondering if the funky directions of the vent holes are there for some kind of reason...as if it was tuned to whatever natural whip the gun makes inherently. I am going to have to put a few rounds through it to see if I can break the loctite that must have been used loose...otherwise I am going to strip the heads out.  :(



I took out the stupid Tapco orange post...that was pretty much invisible to me...and experienced the joy of installing a steel one for the first time...if you haven't tried it...do...it is a real effin treat. I had initially thought that the FSB was canted, but I was wrong...somewhere between the Williams aperture sight, the funky Krink holes and the silly plastic post...it gave an optical illusion I suppose.  Between the ladder and post replacement...heck this thing is turning into an SKS!



Off came the ill fitting pain in the neck two piece Chinese tube and on went a milled one piece...is there a difference between the Russians and early Chinese?  I had a blank one, so I used it for this...and am hoping I can at least get away with that and still be correct.



Duracoat scraping off with every flip of the lever...I am wondering what I am going to find under that stuff....worried in fact...as this gun one would think would have been factory BBQed...and perhaps the spray paint over it will reveal bubba's attempts at removing it....I am torn as what to do....



This crap has got to go...I am wondering if it is possibly just regular spray paint...it isn't very durable.



I am kind of digging the look of this, too bad it is soooo very wrong.



Since the scope cover fits so damn well, I will have to stick to it for awhile, I decided to put my best Red Star on it, the cool one with the post reticle....I really love this scope, I need to find more with this reticle...if anyone ever sees one....help a fella out!









End of day 2...



Day 3

The paint on the bolt carrier just has to go, so I hit it a couple times with some Kleen Strip premium stripper and got all that sorry crud off...this is looking pretty nice, and I am contemplating whether to stop now or not regarding the paint...



BTW...that is a Yugo mag hanging down there...it fits, it's unserialed...sort of, and it works...turns out, this gun will not accept detachable mags of any sort. I am wondering if that is what stopped bubba short...so, any attempt at having any fun with this one goes out the window because of the mags, the bolt one should deserve a public flogging if one were to do the drop free mod upon, and that stupid 922r ****. Maybe the loss of the bayonet lug helps in that regard...but I am not going to look it up and try wrap my brain around that nonsense again.  This will be in military configuration. WITH A BAYONET again eventually...this is just a mock up until the replacement parts arrive...for those with legal concerns.  fineprint



Fuzzy but no paint!







End of day 3....off to look at parts n stuff...

Any help in locating the proper parts would be nifty...I don't know what a proper stock for this one would be...Laminate or Hardwood?
I really like it how it looks at the moment, despite it being so very very wrong...anyone with proper parts just laying around is encouraged to help me get this baby back to normal.


Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2017, 07:28:27 PM »
banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1

I just found my mag and trigger group....sold at a previous auction by the same seller....who won't return my messages....

banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1 banghead1
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017, 08:20:55 PM by Justin Hell »

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2017, 07:41:40 PM »
oops, I panicked...seems as if the mag and trigger group weren't in the auction...just posing for my internal turmoil....I sure hope he didn't previously sell them...and that he gets back to me....ugh!

cross your fingers

Offline montigre

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2017, 07:31:18 AM »
Lovin this story---keep it up Justin!!  And I'm keepin my fingers crossed that the seller still has the parts you need!
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Offline running-man

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2017, 11:01:13 AM »
No reason that a '53-'58 Russian trigger group (or Chinese, or Yugo, or Romy, or Alby) shouldn't work Justin.  The differences are all internal to the trigger group as far as I know: rebound disconnector, rebound disconnector pin, safety rebound spring, and oval vs. round access hole. 

You might try and hit the kink set screws with a heat gun to see if you can loosen up that loctite.  I always find that heat works well when Loctite 262 or something stronger like true two part epoxy is used.  Loctite 222/242 sometimes can be broken w/o the heat, but 262 is a real bear sometimes.
      

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2017, 12:30:07 PM »
The seller finally got back to me, he is out of town...but will check his inventory when he returns.
:)

This tells me...
1- He has no personal relationship with this gun
2- He doesn't recall selling them....but might have
3- He probably isn't aware there is probably a couple hundred in parts alone, and probably a trigger job done on the FCG...as I see a Murray's hammer and trigger....and likely a new spring set. All of which will come in handy for other builds, and it contains the joy of a new mini restore project on it alone....
4- There is the chance that the original receiver cover might still be a possibility.

The mag and trigger group were in an auction that ended a couple days before this did....with a beautiful Fajen rainbow laminate stock, but just in the picture...for whatever reason....as they were not included, nor was the rest of the gun...which he still had....but wasn't pictured. I dunno....but I only unclenched my crossed fingers to type this.

All of this comes as I have auctions coming to a close for some of the parts I need...mainly the dyslexic serialed trigger group, which ends today. So I may be missing that one. :( 

The fun part about all of this, is I am learning about Russians from the beginning. It makes you wonder just how many of the 1949 gun's are made from the original prototype designs used in WWII...and/or the parts. They sure were doing a lot of fine tuning in the first couple of years of production. Seemingly, they let no parts go to waste as they evolved from 49-52, so you might think that some of the 49's parts are actually older. It sure would be nice to see the up close and personal bits of the prototypes.

Another couple of things I would like to ask of anyone reading this out there with a spiker 49, how long is the bayonet?  How do they compare to a M44/T53 bayonet? It would be handy if they were one in the same. For the prices I have seen for the black blades, I might as well get the spike when it turns up...I have an Albanian that can sit there and pretend to be Russian in the meantime. Once I get the FSB and handle that is.

I would really like to fire it to see what is up with the brake...but as I typed this, as the sun comes up...it went from -2 to -3...so that is not happening anytime soon....shivering whilst trying to measure what the end of the barrel is doing while firing probably would lead to faulty results. :)

Perhaps, the brake will loosen when/if I develop the courage to try stripping the gun of its paint. It is a daunting task...and I am still afraid of what I will find underneath. Otherwise I will try to throw some heat on there if that or shooting a tad doesn't break stuff loose.

Offline pcke2000

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2017, 07:46:06 PM »
Nice project! Hope you can get the original magazine and trigger group!

Offline Loose}{Cannon

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #14 on: January 05, 2017, 12:36:32 AM »
Quote
experienced the joy of installing a steel one for the first time...if you haven't tried it...do...it is a real effin treat


 rofl rofl :)) chuckles1 clap1


Nice going so far Justin...  this is a great little project and thread, sorry Im late to the party!
      
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Offline Power Surge

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2017, 10:24:53 PM »
Concerning the hole placement on the Krink.... that's intentional. It has to do with counteracting the rise angle of the AK. If you look at a standard AK slant break, the slant is actually angled up and to the right, not straight up. The holes in the Krink are made to push down and to the left.

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2017, 05:14:03 PM »
Concerning the hole placement on the Krink.... that's intentional. It has to do with counteracting the rise angle of the AK. If you look at a standard AK slant break, the slant is actually angled up and to the right, not straight up. The holes in the Krink are made to push down and to the left.

Thank you!
That confirms what I thought had to be the logic behind that...especially when you take note of how much crap the previous owner did to this. It does look kind of unfinished the way it is drilled, but that makes perfect sense.

I still cannot get the set screws to budge. Now that I know the brake is a little more high tech than your average one...I am starting to suspect it must be threaded on, right? It seems too fancy to be just held on with set screws...and if it is, it seems unlikely that the PO didn't drill in dimples for them to set into. I have another nearly identical in appearance, but the ports are even, and point roughly 45 degrees in either direction...centered...that is threaded, but has no set screws, but the divot for the AK mount, which this lacks.  I haven't seen another like the one on the Russian, but a few out there similar to the other, which is in the $20 range.  I have been hemming and hawing over which gun to break down and install that on for years...and that was over a few mismatched project guns that I couldn't decide which to do such a thing to....this gun is like pre-karma I suppose.

I am hoping this was either professionally tuned to the gun, or the SKS and AK have similar rise issues. For the time being, I am just going to leave it on (as if it is giving me a choice)...even though it is a major stumbling block to overcome to reach my ultimate goal.  :-\

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2017, 05:34:59 PM »
Here is a slideshow of her in the white, I have a little more cleaning to do before rebluing. It appears as if the previous owner bead blasted this possibly...I could be wrong...but it has a faint orange peel look to the steel. The import stamp seems to have been largely obliterated in the process...which explains why it was nearly impossible to read under the paint. I do wonder if this was previously BBQed before being repainted anyway, and the import stamp was largely in the paint....regardless, I suspect rebluing might make it pop out a little better...it is pretty shiny right now.

As much as I wanted to dress her up in bubba furniture while it was in the white, I didn't want to risk any further contamination of oils...I don't want to have to do this again. When I was nearly to this point, I did put it back together...it looked pretty weird with the other blued parts...but I was tempted to look into clear coating this and leaving it....but I knew I would catch hell for it....more than I am going to get for cold bluing this. In that regard, if it sucks...it isn't hard to remove...no where near what I went through with the damn paint anyway. :)

Anyway, the link below will take you to pics of a very naked lady....that is the same age as my mother. That statement alone will prevent me from clear coating it...I assure you.  rofl

http://s89.photobucket.com/user/kissvids/slideshow/1949%20Russian%20SKS/In%20The%20White

Offline running-man

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2017, 05:43:14 PM »
Dude, awesome job on that paint removal!   thumb1  She looks Beautiful!

I take it it was rattle can and not some high end epoxy (duracoat) stuff?
      

Offline Justin Hell

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Re: 90 degrees of Bubba
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2017, 06:08:50 PM »
Dude, awesome job on that paint removal!   thumb1  She looks Beautiful!

I take it it was rattle can and not some high end epoxy (duracoat) stuff?

Thanks!

I am not entirely sure, it was much easier to remove from the bolt carrier for sure, but the stripper I use is pretty awesome at eating away at stuff. The plastic scraper I used for the bulk of it got left in a puddle of it, and became a puddle of it's own.

I think there may have been some leftover BBQ in a couple of spots...or the stripper just didn't want to stick there long enough to do the work. The bead blasting may have done more harm than good in causing the paint to be removable...as it cleaned up REAL nice, luckily it wasn't primed or it might have been a lot harder to remove. The area where the bayo lug was ground off is shiny as a mirror...so slick I am surprised the paint didn't just fall off.

Whatever the paint was...it wasn't the cheap stuff. I certainly am a little low on elbow grease currently...as I worked for it for sure!

I will be needing a new cleaning kit, every single caliber brass brush I have is now shot. And they were placeholders for guns I have yet to purchse. banghead1