WE AK-74U - was good, now bad

[Latvian291]

Originally Posted by Rommen

Ah, my mistake on AK47/ AKM. For some reason I thought the AKM was the variant with metal underfolding stock : s I'll edit my post

As far as curved magazines go, looks like the WE AK PMC takes them. And if it's the same receiver as the 74, the magazines should be interchangeable.

I want to do this project for a few reasons, first being I already own the WE haha. Also, the WE has a full travel bolt while the GHK has a 'regular' travel bolt (only uses about half of the bolt's raceway, judging from videos). That small feature goes a long way towards realism for me. Finally, I'm doing this project because I enjoy working with guns (swapping a trigger group is fun for me lol) and would rather build a quality machine myself than just trade money for one. Kinda like building a relationship with the rifle ; P

I'll be calling TorontoAirsoft on Friday to talk to the WE tech about this, but any answers are still appreciated

Well if you still wanted to go after that idea, I am certain that the front ends interchange. I believe the buttstock is riveted in, which means changing it is likely a difficult task. Also, what do you plan to do about the stock retention catch on the receiver? There is a hole in the receiver for it and I don't know how you plan to patch it up.

The best bet would be to turn it into a folding stock AKS-74. Keep the triangle stock, change out the front end, get the long flash-hider typical of the 74, and keep the magazine.

[TPM001]

I hear that WE may be coming out with more variants of the AK over the year. Same general platform, but at least it gives us an option to choose the look and feel. Kinda like what they did with their G36 series.

The stocks can be removed and changed out, but it's a bit of a hassle. As was said here, the stock is secured on by rivets. The only way (that I know of) to remove the rivets is to drill through them. Make a new hole. Go to home depot and buy a rivet gun and new rivets that fit the new hole size and proceed with the install of the new stock. The next step is to take a picture of your fancy AK and post it here so we can all check out your fancy AK.

[TPM001]

By the way, there is no steel bolt (yet). I am anxiously waiting for Ra-tech to come out with one because my bolt is starting to show small indents from the contact with the hammer and the rear dampener. I still believe it will last for thousands of rounds more because the bolt is pretty heavy duty. My steel hammer will probably break by the time the bolt needs replacing.

As for increasing the rate of fire, there is currently no solution in place that doesn't sacrifice the full travel of the bolt. Which is too bad because the full travel bolt is a huge selling point for me and a big differentiator from the competition (with the half travel bolt and half the recoil). I'm working on an idea to change out the return spring for a much stiffer spring or adding a spacer. Hopefully this will result in a meaningful increase in ROF without sacrificing the bolt travel distance.

[Latvian291]

The bolt may not travel as far from the blowback with a stiffer spring, but it should still travel as far on manual cocking.

[Rommen]

The AKS-74 suggested by Latvian looks good, so I'm going to use it as a starting point in the conversion. That being said, does anyone know where I can actually get a full-sized front end? Seems like there's not one available anywhere on the internet : / Even if it is the railed version found on the WE AK PC, as RATech will most likely release a wood kit. Cheers

[N_Force]

just wonder if there is any wood stock in the market available for WE AK74U? or for WE AK PMC?

[ViR]

If you want a fun project, make OC 14, that's what I'm planning as soon as I find 2nd cheap WE AK (still want to keep original too).

[MilanWG]

Anyone have any pics/visual guide for RA trigger group or NPAS install?

Would be appreciated

edit: is it possible to remove the optics mount on the side of the receiver?

[Shirley]

Originally Posted by MilanWG

Anyone have any pics/visual guide for RA trigger group or NPAS install?

Would be appreciated

edit: is it possible to remove the optics mount on the side of the receiver?

Would also like to know this too!

Edit: There should be a pin you knock out through the nozzle, and it opens in half. That's what I assume. Should be like the M4.


Anyone also have their fingers being cut from the trigger guard?
The damn thing is so sharp.

[-tastic]

Originally Posted by TPM001

I even slept beside it every night (comon...I know you all do the same thing!).

you caught me... but i have to make it clear! i strictly sleep beside it for security reasons,fa nah not really. xD however i do love my guns.

[turok_t]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hitman

Would also like to know this too!


Anyone also have their fingers being cut from the trigger guard?
The damn thing is so sharp.

Hey, send me a PM and ill teach you how to install the trigger set

[TPM001]

NPAS Quick Installation Guide:

You will need a punch kit that goes as small as 1/16".

Remove bolt:









Punch out this pin at the back of the bolt. Be mindful of the direction you punch it out. It should come out easily after a few taps with the hammer on the punch tool. If it doesn't, tap from the other direction. This pin holds one end of the spring connecting to the nozzle.



See how the pin is kind of textured at one end? You want this end to be coming out.



Next, unscrew the two screws on both sides of the bolt. One of them is located here:



These screws act to pull the nozzle out of the hop up as the bolt cycles and prevents the nozzle from extending too far out of the bolt and overly stretching the spring.

Ok. Slide out the nozzle from the bolt.



In the middle of the nozzle, there's a pin that holds the two halves of the nozzle together and also secures the other end of the spring. Pop this pin out. It's small so I usually use the tip of a small nail and gently tap with the hammer. I believe this pin can come out in either direction.



Ok. With the pin out, you can now pull the nozzle apart. Be careful. Don't go crazy because there's stuff in there. There's a spring and a valve. Keep the spring. You won't need the valve anymore.



Here's a comparison of the stock valve and the RaTech NPAS valve.



Although they look the same in size, it is not a drop in replacement. Unfortunately, we actually have to mod the rear half of the nozzle to make this work. Fortunately, the mod is simple. You will need a sharp box cutter knife or exacto knife. This mod should take no more than 2 mins.

First, let's have a look at my crappy pic of the rear part of the nozzle:



On the left side of this picture you will see two raised tabs. The valve normally sits on these tabs. The reason why it's raised is to allow gas to vent into the rear of the bolt. It's important that whatever mods we do that we allow the gas to continue to vent to the rear of the bolt.

So here's how the mod will work. We are going to cut off those raised tabs. "But that's gonna cut off the gas flow to the bolt!", you say. But wait, you didn't let me finish. We're also gonna carve out some new gas vents too. By the end of the mod, it's gonna look like two raised tabs again, only the rear nozzle is now slightly shorter by exactly the height of the tabs (approx 2.5 to 3 mm).

Do yourself a huge favor and make sure your exacto knife is sharp. The nozzle plastic is pretty strong and all, but with a sharp knife, it cuts like butter. Dull knife? Don't bother with the mod because you'll mess it up and probably end up bleeding to death.

I always start the mod by widening the opening of the vents first. Cut vertically into the plastic with your knife until the depth approximately matches the tabs' height. Do this a few times along the base of the vents. Make sure the depth of the vertical cuts are close to the tab height. Then turn the nozzle onto its side and sink the tip of your blade into the nozzle horizontally where you were making the vertical cuts. Be careful. Don't be a putz and cut yourself! The little plastic pieces should start popping out leaving you with nice clean lines. Do the same on the other side. if you did a crap job, just clean it up a bit. It doesn't need to be pretty. It just needs to work.

The hard part is over. The next part is simple. Just use your knife to cut the tabs away. Don't be an idiot and cut more than the original height of the tabs off. Because that would ruin it and you'll need to go and buy another nozzle.

Apologies in advance for not providing pics describing the above mod. I didnt have them handy but hopefully the description is detailed enough for you.

Ok. Time to put the nozzle back together. Insert the new NPAS and the old spring into the front half of the nozzle like this:



Then put the two halves back together again. It should be pretty logical on how the two halves come together. Place the pin into the mouth of one of the holes but don't push thru yet. We need to align one end of the long spring into position first. Luckily, WE makes this easy to align by making the spring length long enough so that the end loop is in the proper position to push the pin thru when the other side is like this:



Pull on the spring to check if the pin is securing it.

Once that is done, lube up the nozzle o-ring with some silicone oil and gently slide the nozzle into the bolt. We will need to pin the other end of the spring onto the bolt so if it's not already properly oriented, twist the loop so that it will align properly. Again, WE was very thoughtful to make this part easy because all you have to do is push the nozzle all the way in and the spring loop should already be in the proper place in the bolt for you to push the pin back in and secure the spring. You'll need to use a hammer and punch to tap the pin all the way in. Pull on the nozzle to make sure you caught the spring.

That's it. Put the two bolt screws back (recommend using loc-tite), put the bolt back into the receiver, pop the recoil spring into place..... Cock, lock, and your are ready to rock.

As for adjusting the NPAS, you simply slot the NPAS tool thru the nozzle opening in the front. Turning clockwise will increase fps. Counterclockwise will decrease fps. I use a little screw driver to help stop the valve from turning as you use the adjustment the tool. Unfortunately you need to do that because there's nothing stopping the valve from freely spinning inside.

With my mods, I am able to maintain my 430 fps upper limit (on 0.2) and can get a very stable and consistent lower limit of 330 fps which is perfect for indoor CQB.

Anyhooo, I hope this was helpful to you guys. I apologize for the crap pics but oh well.

[N_Force]

I heard about this WE AK74 is a full length bolt that makes the ROF lower. I did an experiment by shorten the bolt travelling distance in one third, also compress the spring in about two inches, that could increase the ROF. only down side is the bolt lock will be diable causes the bolt can't move all the way back. I think this way is good for automatic shooting for gaming, even single shooting decrease the blow back time. this doesn't need any modify but just put in something to decrease the bolt travelling distance. let me see if I could up load vidoe for viewing.

[turok_t]

Im using a RS buffer on mine to dec bolt travel, inc ROF

[N_Force]

Originally Posted by turok_t

Im using a RS buffer on mine to dec bolt travel, inc ROF

is it disable the bolt lock too? and how much it cost for a RS buffer?