They said it couldn't be done... THEY never met me.
This is not a task for the squeamish or faint of heart. There is a lot of cutting and grinding involved, and once you start you can't go back.
I am extremely green when it comes to the AK rifles. I don't know jackshit about them, and didn't know the difference between a Century and an Arsenal... or even the C39v1 and the C39v2. All I know is that I had an "AK" (albeit American milled) and it shot everything I put in it and held a decent patteren.
This began my quest for "more". I've been in LE for nearly 15 years. I'm a department armorer and tactical rifle instructor. I can literally run circles inside an AR platform rifle.... I can barely tell an AK from a toilet plunger, and honestly thought they were going to be as easy as the ARs.... dumb!
After leaving SHOT2015 I knew I had to at least have one AK in the safe. Best deal I found was a Century C39v1. A couple of Web searches said "meh" it ain't good, but there's been a lot worse... sold!
Shot the bejeezus out of it.... I was very uncomfortable, and the iron sights suck... but it did everything I asked of it.
First I put on the Troy top rail and a red dot sight. Easy enough.
Second, I put on the Magpul MOE+ grip... also easy
Third... getting tricky.... I put on the Magpul Zhukov handguard. Had to chop off the old handguard cup, but once that was done the rest was pretty simple.
Lastly, the Magpul Zhukov stock....
Shitsticks!!! Why is this lower tang in the way?
So I cut it off... I also had to relieve the hole a little bit at the top too, but more about that later.
Crap!!! The insert is too thick to fit in the end of the milled receiver. So I grind that to fit. Just a hair off the sides... a very tight fit.
Punch me in the nuts! There's a wall inside the receiver that prevents the insert from installing. Time to think outside the box...
After hours of cutting, grinding and fitting I finally got a flush fitting Zhukov stock on my C39v1. Some said it couldn't be done... they never hung out with me.
You can see below, how much I had to cut off. The red section on the right was discarded, leaving a flat 90° surface. The stock was still off center, sitting high inside the receiver. So I cut off the bottom of the insert, and then reattached it at the top... represented by the red and blue squares.
Because I didn't have the same attachment points /screws as the rifles that were intended to be used, I modified the stock to install into the receiver with a much larger screw and internal anchor system.
The screw that came with it was 10-24. I replaced it one size up with a 1/4" bolt. I had to slightly enlarge the diameter of the hole. That's when I made the relief space inside the receiver. That allowed the bolt to pass through the receiver where I placed a stainless washer and nut.
After all was said and done, I felt I had weakened the back a bit and wanted to add some extra material. I took the pages out of "How to build a Camero" and filled the inside of the stock with JB Weld.
These pics are "a work in progress"...
Bottom:
Top:
Inside: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4/robocop1051/AK47/20150528_215515-1_zpsvez25ple.jpg Unfortunately, because this task was a lot of trial and error, littered with four letter words and anxiety, I forgot to take pictures of my progress. I will post pictures of the final product and the complete assembly ASAP.