Arsenal SGL 20 AKM with Blond Wood Furniture

This Independence Day weekend James and I tried out the Arsenal SGL 20 Russian Izhmash AKM. This is one nice rifle. Nice finish, build and accurate out of the box. I put some Ironwood blond furniture on it. It came with some nice plum furniture, but I really dig the blond look. No failures of any kind with this rifle. I got a great deal on this rifle a while back when K-VAR had their big "stimulus" sale. If I had the funds, I'd buy another.

Here's how it started out:







And here it is now:







Here's the video of James and I with the Arsenal SGL 20.

Blonde Wood AK Furniture

I have some Bulgy AK 74 wood furniture that I stripped the lacquer from and refinished in order to give it the blonde look.

This is what is started out as:



This is the look I wanted:







I used Formby's Paint & Poly Remover, some brushes, sandpaper, a plastic scrapper, Oxyclean and Minwax "Natural" stain to do this project.


I first applied Formby's Paint & Poly Remover (a gelatinous substance) with a brush to the wood and let it set in for about 30+ minutes. I then used a plastic scrapper to remove the old stain that bubbled up to the surface (kind of weird/cool).




Once it dried, I sanded off the excess gunk (stain) with some light grit sandpaper. I cleaned off the wood and then I used a strong mix of OxyClean and water (in a small tub) to bleach the wood after stripping it.




Here is how the Oxyclean bleached it.







I let the wood dry for about a week and then I sanded it and applied the first coat of Minwax "Natural" stain. Well, it did not turn out to be blond, but it looks nice. I should have just used Shellac or maybe a Golden Pecan stain.











I got a ton of help from the nice guys at Gunco.net and ak47.net. Let me know if you need any help attempting this. I plan on doing more refinishing in the future and I'll be glad to share any tips with you. I'd love to hear your tips as well.

My SAR 3 (AK in 5.56) Rifle

Well, after much debate, I broke down and bought a SAR 3 rifle. I used to own a WASR 3, and had to take it back to the store where I bought it. That rifle was a jam-o-matic joke. The quality and finish were poor and it no matter which mags (Weiger East German or the Romanian versions) the rifle experience FTF's and FTE's. I was really disappointed, as the concept of an AK 74 style rifle in 5.56 really appealed to me.

Here's what an out of the box WASR 3 looks like (rough wood and finish, non threaded barrel).



I did quite a lot of reseatch before I bought my SAR 3, and found a good deal on Gun Broker. The rifle came with black, polymer furniture. It was pretty nice, but as I already have a nice set on my SLR-160fr, I wanted to use some Bulgarian AK 74 wood furniture. I attempted to bleach the wood in order to give it a blond look, but that didn't work out. I do like the way it turned out though.



I had to mod a Bugarian 5.56 "Circle 10" mag to fit the rifle. The rifle came with a bakelite AK style mag that's labled 5.56. I haven't taken the rifle to the range yet, but I will do that this coming Independence Day weekend and post the video. I think I'm going to take out my recently deceased Hoover vacuum cleaner!

Glock 23 Pistol (James and I at the range) 40 Cal.

I know that it's been a while since I've last posted anything, but I was able to go to the range with my friend James the other weekend. It was his first time with a Glock 23, or .40 cal pistol for that matter. I was there to let off some steam after a brutal work week in corporate America. I thought that James would like it, so I asked him to come along. We both had a lot of fun.

P.O.F. p415 (HK 416 clone) with Barska red dot

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I took out my P.O.F. p415 (HK 416 clone) with Barska Electro Sight red dot optic. The red dot sight works pretty well, and is sighted in at about 25 yards. I used PMC 55 grain ammo and got pretty good results. I really like my P.O.F. p415. It's accurate, easily modified, a bit on the heavy side, but really a great rifle. It has an "18 heavy barrel and a great HK style front sight. I use a Stag Arms lower with the POF upper and I've had good luck with just about all the mags I've used. I bought some Tapco mags for $10 a piece and they work great so far. I really like the Korean HK 416 knock-off magazines as well. The POF p415 upper is a bit pricey, but if you want quality and accuracy, POF is the way to go. If I had the money, I'd like to get one of their 7.62x51 (.308) models.

Lone Wolf 40-9 (9mm) Conversion Barrel for Glock 23 (.40 cal)

I bought a Lone Wolf 40-9mm conversion barrel for my Glock 23, along with some KCI after market Glock 19 mags. I bought four magazines that came with mag pouches. All four of them worked without a hitch. Not bad for $40 total. I wasn't sure how the 40-9 conversion barrel would perform, but it was FANTASTIC! I just dropped it in and used the Glock 19 mags. I didn't have to change out the ejector or anything else. The barrel was really accurate, and was basically point and shoot. It only cost $99 and I can now shoot lead (sans jacket) bullets without worrying about a KB.

I had a lot of fun shooting with my LW 40-9 barrel and went through about 300 rounds in two different sessions. The shots were fired mostly from about 20 feet, but some were at the 5-7 range. My wife LOVED it! I recommend this barrel to those who want to save money while practicing, but want to have a .40 cal pistol at the same time.

Glock 23 Review

It's been a while since I last posted anything, so I thought that I'd write a bit about my new purchase. Last weekend at the gun show I picked up a Glock 23, which is a .40 S&W mid sized pistol. It came with two standard 13 round magazines. The 40 S&W ammo isn't cheap, but it's less expensive than 45 ACP ammo. I also just ordered a Lone Wolf 9mm barrel that can be used in my G23. I can use Glock 9mm mags with it too, so that's really cool. The Glock 23 is a rally nice pistol, with not much reccoil and the 40 S&W round isn't bad to shoot at all. I really like the 45 ACP round, so smaller rounds were a step down recoil wise. I had one failure to eject, but I that's part of the break in process. It was fun to shoot and I can't wait to get out there again. I want to use it as my CCW once I get the permit. Here is my short review and some video and pics as well. Enjoy!