dakota.potts
New member
I've been intrigued recently by an RPK parts kit build from an 80% receiver. I would work with a qualified gunsmith to learn to do the riveting and barrel pressing and have them do a safety check prior to shooting.
The goal is to build something, learn some new things, and come away with something unique and fun even if it's not outright useful.
There are parts kits available under $300 without a barrel or receiver, sometimes as low as $225.
I would replace the trigger with a Tapco G2 which counts as 3 parts for 922(r) compliance and should be a little nicer than the military trigger that's included with any of the parts kits.
I also would replace all of the wood furniture with a set from Ironwood designs - a maple set that I would like to finish with aqua fortis or maybe pine tar. I do have experience finishing wood in the past from my knife making. I really like high quality wood and most of the parts kits don't come with the club style stock.
I would also have to buy a barrel for any parts kits.
So, looking at it all together, I'm already buying separately the barrel, the receiver, all of the furniture, and the trigger.
At what point does it become more cost effective to buy individual pieces than a whole kit? Headspacing obviously will be done with the barrel pressed in, so do I still need to worry about pieces matching? Does it matter if any of the parts match or come from the same kit or will there be any extra fitment required if they don't?
Perhaps this will never happen, like many of the other projects that I plan out, but the ones that do make it to fruition take a lot of planning and are awesome when they come out successfully.
The goal is to build something, learn some new things, and come away with something unique and fun even if it's not outright useful.
There are parts kits available under $300 without a barrel or receiver, sometimes as low as $225.
I would replace the trigger with a Tapco G2 which counts as 3 parts for 922(r) compliance and should be a little nicer than the military trigger that's included with any of the parts kits.
I also would replace all of the wood furniture with a set from Ironwood designs - a maple set that I would like to finish with aqua fortis or maybe pine tar. I do have experience finishing wood in the past from my knife making. I really like high quality wood and most of the parts kits don't come with the club style stock.
I would also have to buy a barrel for any parts kits.
So, looking at it all together, I'm already buying separately the barrel, the receiver, all of the furniture, and the trigger.
At what point does it become more cost effective to buy individual pieces than a whole kit? Headspacing obviously will be done with the barrel pressed in, so do I still need to worry about pieces matching? Does it matter if any of the parts match or come from the same kit or will there be any extra fitment required if they don't?
Perhaps this will never happen, like many of the other projects that I plan out, but the ones that do make it to fruition take a lot of planning and are awesome when they come out successfully.