I have a ban era Norinco MAK90 that bought off a friend for cheap back around 1994 or 95.
I don’t know much about them and shamefully kind of beat the hell out of this thing for many years.
Fast forward to the present, I’ve taken an interest in refurbishing this rifle as a spare SHTF/fun gun so I went about ordering all the 922R compliance parts so I could refinish, install a flash hider and change out the thumbhole stock for something longer to better fit my orangutan arm length. There in lies the problem.
Once I removed the old crappy thumbhole it became apparent that my little MAK90 was an underfolder AK in it’s pre-import life. There is no top tang on the rear trunnion and the holes are there in the sides of the receiver but were covered by the thumbhole stock.
I know the underfolder configuration would increase it’s value but, I really would prefer a longer, fixed option just to make it more comfortable for my arm length.
Do I have any real options short of changing out the receiver?
tang needs to be cut off, but since yours is not there, you should just be able to install it. Any of the ace modular stocks can be attatched to it. You can even put in a folding mechanism if you’d like.
I don’t think that mount would work, an under folder trunnion won’t have the bolt holes to bolt that adapter block in.
OP you may as well install an under folder stock, the holes are in the receiver and you don’t really have a lot of options other than welding them up and redrilling for a fixed trunnion. Replacing the receiver would be even more work - I don’t think it would be worth it for the amount of effort it would require. An under folder would be a bolt in affair.
I’m just in denial I guess. I have shot underfolders before and don’t care for them, but in the end it will make it a bit more valuable and it’s by far the simplest fix.
Do you know if there are any USA made underfolder kits available? I’ll be losing a few 922r parts by going with a foreign made underfolder and I would prefer to not replace any more internals than necessary to achieve my USA parts count.
I agree - underfolders look super cool but suck to shoot. I can’t recall ever seeing an American made underfolder out in the wild. You can pretty much get to half of the 922r requirements by using an American made mag or mag parts. Go with a pistol grip plus a FCG set to get to 4 of 6 parts. Add a gas piston if you want to deal with that…
I think the hardest part might be finding an underfolder trunnion. Copes has underfolders with everything you need except the trunnion. I’ve seen a few American underfolding trunnions out there but can’t remember where.
If you plan on replacing the receiver it will be very expensive. Welding the holes up will be expensive as well.
I have a US made flash hider, and a Tapco G2 trigger group already so if I use a US pistol grip and some US mags I’ll be ok on my parts count.
I just didn’t want to have to rely on the US mags to meet my parts count. I have more than a dozen surplus mags that are good quality and reliable so I don’t want to rely on mags for my total parts count if not necessary.
I’ll look into the apex underfolder though, thanks!!
I searched last night and could not find any US under
folding parts it seems that a while back I remember seeing a under
folding US made trunnion But I can’t for the life find it.
I would do as Templar Said Hand guards ,trigger group US FH and you are GTG
I think AK builder made a run of UF trunnions a while back, but it wouldn’t help with the parts count anyways since they don’t count the rear trunnion separately.
Barrel
Receiver
Front and Rear Trunions (Applies to stamped receivers only)
Bolt Carrier
Bolt
Gas Piston
Buttstock
Pistol Grip
Upper and Lower Handguards (Both count as 1 part)
Muzzle Device
Hammer
Trigger
Disconnector
Magazine Body
Magazine Follower
Magazine Floorplate
With the parts you already have I would add either hand guards or gas piston (really not that hard to swap out), that way you can run any mags without issue.
Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.
I really don’t know a heck of alot about the AK platform but I have to say, this thing is bulletproof. It’s had the living hell shot out of it with very little love and has never skipped a beat.
How are the Chinese AK’s regarded as far as quality? Just curious, no offense will be taken on my part if you tell me they are the DPMS of AK’s.
I’ll need to post pictures of my reworked MAK-90 once I get my stock set from Ironwood. I spent a good deal of money turning it into something I always wanted. And I think the Chinese triggers were always very good.
