Gunsmithing AK Forend Giving Me Grief

[5hans5]

I'll try again in the gunsmithing zone. I've got a Saiga 240(5.45x39). I tried to get the forend out of the receiver but it won't budge. I looked around and saw people slaping them while pushing forward, but mine just won't move.

I'm thinking of taking a scope to the inside and seeing if I can get a dowel down to force it out from the inside. Also thinking of needling some CLP around all edges that I can get to (both inside and outside). Any suggestions?

 

[Heronion]

Re: AK Forend Giving Me Grief

Did you get the flange that is in front of the guard to slide away from the grip?

 

[mike_f]

Re: AK Forend Giving Me Grief

This is probably a stupid question, but has the screw on the bottom front of the receiver been removed?

 

[Kells81]

Re: AK Forend Giving Me Grief

Doesn't the sling swivel screw also hold the forearm on?

 

[LtDan47]

Re: AK Forend Giving Me Grief

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Poke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Doesn't the sling swivel screw also hold the forearm on? </div></div>

No! The Saiga forearm slides onto a dowel pin that is actually an elongated gas block locating pin. Remove the the screw at the rear of forearm and it supposed to slide forward and off. The sling swivel is on a small piece of metal on the inside of the forearm and not holding tthe forearm on.

 

[5hans5]

Re: AK Forend Giving Me Grief

Thanks guys for the notes. I figured it out- Yes the receiver screw on the bottom was removed, but the receiver was very tight on the forend. I initially removed the sling stud screw for the same thoughts, maybe it's a second mounting point- that lead to a resounding no it didn't do that and the inside stud mount fell into the gap between the forend and the barrel (bouncing around).

What I found that worked in the end was that I put down a mound cloth (like a pad) on the table, put a block of wood against the back of the forend (up near the rear sight) and gave that wooden block a couple of knocks. That pushed the forend forward and out of it's mounting. I was able to reassemble the sling mount, clean up the barrel and forend, and reset the forend into the receiver (with a bit of CLP on both to make it slip a bit better the second time around). Reset the screw and it's ready to go.