AK 25 cent trigger

Shot my newly acquired century ak74 today and loved it, but immediatly saw room for improvement in the trigger.

tonight (this morning?), inability to sleep and boredom lead to a major improvement in my new AK74. While i was taking it all the way down to familiarize myself with the gun, I found that almost a full cm of travel in my trigger was unnecessary take up. i played around a bit marking where the trigger actually broke, and measured the full distance of take up. I then divided that distance in half (could have gone way more, but then safety becomes an issue IMO) and began thinking about the cheapest way to hold the trigger back that distance.

i realized anything stuck between the forward travel stop on the trigger group and the receiver where it makes contact alters the distance the trigger is allowed to return forward. too much and it wont reset, too little and it is still too long. It turns out that a small paperclip - straightened then bent appropriately - will fit in-between and go a hair over halving the distance. Even better, sliding the bar of the paperclip intercepting the forward stop forward or backward allows for fine tweaking.

The excess paperclip on both sides was the perfect length to string back out through the small amount of room in front of the pistol grip handle nut and bend back around the receiver - securing the paperclip. Even better- the nut firmly holds the clip when tightened, and the pistol grip hides the ends of the clip.

After doing all this i noticed that the safety would not fully rise. Realizing that if i botched it i could buy a new one for next to nothing, i filed away at it, re-assembling everything every few strokes of the file until i got it just perfect, where it would engage perfectly. (btw, i took off appx .5mm)

Now i have-
- NO travel of the trigger when the safety is engaged- a good 'duh' indicator when you have forgotten to take the safety off and are sloooowly bringing the trigger back for a long shot.
-a 6mm pull with 6mm reset (instead of 16mm pull with 6mm reset)

***SAFETY CONCERN***
While checking the distance in tinkering it was not the trigger length which was most important to me- it was the amount of purchase that the sear hook had on the hammer. Fortunately, the lever is set up so there is a VERY good amount of steel hooking over the hammer. I estimate that i reduced the amount only about 20%. it is important to make sure that the sear has plenty of purchase and that the safety is filed just enough to engage. Any wobble or movement in the trigger with the safety on means you botched the whole job- buy a new safety and start over.

hope this is useful, and that this method isn't already out there- i'm feeling pretty clever and very pleased with myself...

WTF????????????

Let's see- a paperclip in the FCG group on an AK.


What could possibly go wrong?[Swim]

Scary shit.


There are only 2 acceptable ways to adjust trigger hook engagement on an AK:
1- adjustable trigger
2- proper adjustment of trigger hook length/engagement by a knowledgeable Smith

What you have accomplished is to create a very unsafe weapon. Do you understand the concept of slam fire, firing out of battery and disconnector timing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BPTactical

WTF????????????

Let's see- a paperclip in the FCG group on an AK.


What could possibly go wrong?[Swim]

Scary shit.


There are only 2 acceptable ways to adjust trigger hook engagement on an AK:
1- adjustable trigger
2- proper adjustment of trigger hook length/engagement by a knowledgeable Smith

What you have accomplished is to create a very unsafe weapon. Do you understand the concept of slam fire, firing out of battery and disconnector timing?

---

Remember:

Here Lies Common Sense.

Very quick to judge...

I have not modified the FCG in any way, I have just raised the frame of the receiver where it meets the fcg. All that has been elminated is the pre travel. All of the adjustable AK kits on the market eliminate pre travel in the same area, but instead of raising the receiver, they add or subtract metal with adjustable notches or screws on the FCG.

The trigger is just prevented from returning all the way out, while leaving a substantial amount of metal engaging the forward sear hook. It would be the same as drilling the trigger guard and mounting a bolt in front of the trigger to prevent it from returning all the way out.

As the clip is mounted as secure as all other elements in the FCG. The odds of it breaking or falling out are as likely as the stock FCG falling apart while in use.

As for slam-fire and fire out of battery - the likelihood of it happening on the modified trigger and the unmodified trigger are the same. - I have not altered the timing of the trigger at all. engagement points x, y and z of forward and rear sear hooks have not changed.

The only change is the initial distance of pull to disengagement. The play on stock AK triggers that is felt when the safety is on is all unnecessary travel. It is as safe if the trigger is pulled back as it is if it is not- as long as the safety is engaged. You can pull the trigger on a chambered AK all day with the safety on and all you will hear is the rattle of the trigger against the forward most position and the safety bar. All I have done is moved the trigger back slightly and eliminated the unnecessary travel.

----By your logic, it would be dangerous to have trigger follow through and release only to the point of sear engagement for follow up shots.

I have altered the trigger's pre travel to a position that is appropriate to me. I have shot pistols and rifles with professionally altered triggers much shorter and lighter than mine- all working on the same principles of my modification, but using expensive milled parts to do it.

The idea is fundamentally the same as the Powder River Precision over-travel stop, just applied to an AK and to pre-travel instead of over-travel.

Do you work for "Gunsmoke" perchance?

There are only 2 acceptable ways to adjust trigger hook engagement on an AK:
1- adjustable trigger
2- proper adjustment of trigger hook length/engagement by a knowledgeable Smith

What you have accomplished is to create a very unsafe weapon.

Quote:

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Do you understand the concept of slam fire, firing out of battery and disconnector timing?

---

Obviously not

It is also obvious you have no concept of "timing" within the action.















Unfrickingbelivable

I will say I am not an AK expert by any means but I do know that all kinds of shit happens inside the action of one. I say this because I have seen how simple things that one would do in an AR would never stand up to an AK.

AK actions are very "extreme" so to speak. Clips that would live in many guns have been destroyed in an AK. Just my two cents.

Honestly the best way to work a trigger is to work the hammer hooks and trigger hook points of contacts. I was recently doing some AK trigger work on some US made FCG that I got for $12. It turned out to be a 2 stage trigger(tapco's are not) and its very similar to a Garand/m14 FCG, which I have tuned and worked before. I actually made a somewhat decent trigger that is SAFE and I can even go a little more with the files and stones to get it even better.

Anyone have experience with working over an yugo SKS trigger or know of any good resources?
Thanks!