Arsenal SGL-24 chambered in 7.62 with Red Dyed Ironwood Design Furniture. You can't see it but the rifle also has an East German rear sight, adjustable for windage.

 

Also, Chris Butler from AK-USA did some wonderful upgrade work for me. He pressed off the old front sight block and pressed on a new one. Then permanently pinned and welded one of his chrome lined AK74 brakes. The pinning and welding is unimaginably CLEAN! It's unreal! If you aren't familiar with Chris Butler... the guy is probably one of the best AK builders in the country. And a real top notch, class A guy! Great guy!!!!

 

He also did trigger work. He prefers to keep the Arsenal triggers and tweak/tune them versus replacing with aftermarket parts. I think he feels after tuning it's a superior trigger compared to what you can buy aftermarket. He also converted it from a two stage to a single stage. Whatever he did... it's lighter and way way way smoother... noticeably so!

 

I have two bolt carriers for the gun so I sent him one and he media blasted it. It looks fantastic...

 

I don't think I left anything out...

Looks awesome!

Also... on the safety side of the gun both red and white Lacquer Stiks were used to fill in the "F" with Red and the "S" with white. On the opposite side of the rifle the serial number and the Izhmash symbol were filled in with white Lacquer Stik. I forgot to mention that in the above post.

Lookin good! Now enough talking, more shooting

that looks too nice for an AK!!! Great job!

Very nice! I want one just like that

Arsenal SGL-24 chambered in 7.62 with Red Dyed Ironwood Design Furniture. You can't see it but the rifle also has an East German rear sight, adjustable for windage.

 

Also, Chris Butler from AK-USA did some wonderful upgrade work for me. He pressed off the old front sight block and pressed on a new one. Then permanently pinned and welded one of his chrome lined AK74 brakes. The pinning and welding is unimaginably CLEAN! It's unreal! If you aren't familiar with Chris Butler... the guy is probably one of the best AK builders in the country. And a real top notch, class A guy! Great guy!!!!

 

He also did trigger work. He prefers to keep the Arsenal triggers and tweak/tune them versus replacing with aftermarket parts. I think he feels after tuning it's a superior trigger compared to what you can buy aftermarket. He also converted it from a two stage to a single stage. Whatever he did... it's lighter and way way way smoother... noticeably so!

 

I have two bolt carriers for the gun so I sent him one and he media blasted it. It looks fantastic...

 

*******************************************

Anybody know how the double to single trigger is done? Is that a file and feel job?

 

Also I seem to have heard here that the Tapco and whatever other trigger is better than the stock trigger.

 

But a more basic question on stock factory triggers. Has anyone compared the factory triggers such as Arsenal SGL vs Century vs WASR vs ? Some Ak variants are $450 and some are $850. Gotta be a reason.

 

Thanks.

Nice! I am curious about the muzzle brake. Is that a typo above, you said AK74 chrome-lined brake?

 

Hate to sound like too much of a newbie, but what exactly does the muzzle brake do for you?

No... that wasn’t a typo. It's an AK74 "style" brake and yes it is chrome lined. What does it do? On a fully auto rifle I'm sure it reduces a hell of a lot of the muzzle rise as well as the pull to the right. With semi auto fire it still effectively reduces muzzle rise and pull but it's not needed as much. I wanted it on there to make it a "truer" looking AK variant. But I didn't want a K-Var brake or an even cheaper knock off. Chris Butler's brakes are probably as good if not better than the original article. They are so good the muzzle virtually doesn't rise at all... as hard as that is to believe. Even though I haven't tried them all... out of the few high quality AK74 brake options for 7.62 Chris Butler's brake has to be the best. Krebs would probably be 2nd and K-Var 3rd. But I'll tell you what though.... It makes the rifle WAY WAY LOUDER! That's not so great. But the brake is chrome lined, which is an added plus considering the SGL rifles have chrome lined Bulgarian barrels and the brake is permanently attached. It's not an absolute necessity but I wanted the chrome lining for the long haul.

not to pry....but how much did this run you total?

Anybody know how the double to single trigger is done? Is that a file and feel job?

 

Also I seem to have heard here that the Tapco and whatever other trigger is better than the stock trigger.

 

But a more basic question on stock factory triggers. Has anyone compared the factory triggers such as Arsenal SGL vs Century vs WASR vs ? Some Ak variants are $450 and some are $850. Gotta be a reason.

 

Thanks.

 

 

what do you mean double to single....

From the original post:

"He also converted it from a two stage to a single stage."

 

I should have used his words. My SGL two stage trigger does have some (oddly not always) ugly slap. I greased it some which seems to have helped a little.

 

I'm wondering if the single stage mod eliminates the slap.

Very Nice! How Muchie?

not to pry....but how much did this run you total?

 

A lot... A LOT!!! Way, way too much! You know what the rifle costs already... I think when I bought mine it was less then $800 bux but lets say roughly $800. The Walnut Ironwood stock set was $150. East German rear sight was $35 bux off eBay. The front sight block job, muzzle brake job, trigger job, zeroing and bolt carrier media blasting cost $300. Add that all together and its roughly a $1300 Saiga... give or take. CRAZY! Fortunately I had the extra cash to do it and it's a beautiful gun! It really came out top notch. It shoots great too! A lot of fun.

Lol. I bet it's worth every penny though!

It really was worth every penny... I'd do it again! Wouldn't think twice.

nice toy!!

Very nice. Chris is a master at his craft. He's done work for me in the past including custom builds. In league with a few and second to none.

 

What did you use on the Ironwood? It looks like you went with the birch.

Very nice. Chris is a master at his craft. He's done work for me in the past including custom builds. In league with a few and second to none.

 

What did you use on the Ironwood? It looks like you went with the birch.

 

Thank you. Chris is awesome. The stock set is Walnut... the pictures aren't so great.

That really is a beautiful rifle. When I'm done with my "necessary" firearms, and into the "for fun" collection, I would love to build a rifle just like that. Just beautiful.

Beautiful AK!

 

I just ordered a similar Ironwood stock set. What dye/stain did you use on yours?

Beautiful AK!

 

I just ordered a similar Ironwood stock set. What dye/stain did you use on yours?

 

 

Thank you for the compliment. Kevin Teti finished the rifle… He's Matt Shuster’s guy. And it was well worth it! It came out impeccable and it was CHEAP! $50 bux with shipping. He basically charged $40 bux to finish it + shipping! And it's a top notch finish. Unless you really, really want to do it yourself how can you beat that? First off he's done hundreds of AK’s, he does red dye, oil or whatever else you want AND $40 - $50 bux???? The cost of doing it yourself and the time you will have to put in to achieve what this guy does, will cost you WAY more than $40 or $50 bux. That’s why I went with Kevin. Let me know if you need his info. He's a real stand up guy... like Matt.

Do you know what is their lead time is for a stock set?

 

Beautiful AK!

 

I just ordered a similar Ironwood stock set. What dye/stain did you use on yours?

You have it in your hands in about 3 weeks roughly. I got mine in 2. Call Matt Shuster directly and he will tell you how busy he is and how long it will take.

Thank you for the compliment. Kevin Teti finished the rifle… He's Matt Shuster’s guy. And it was well worth it! It came out impeccable and it was CHEAP! $50 bux with shipping. He basically charged $40 bux to finish it + shipping! And it's a top notch finish. Unless you really, really want to do it yourself how can you beat that? First off he's done hundreds of AK’s, he does red dye, oil or whatever else you want AND $40 - $50 bux???? The cost of doing it yourself and the time you will have to put in to achieve what this guy does, will cost you WAY more than $40 or $50 bux. That’s why I went with Kevin. Let me know if you need his info. He's a real stand up guy... like Matt.

 

 

Yea I would appreciate that, thanks.

Did you have to send it back to him or was it done out at Ironwood?

Was

You should get the stock and fit it to the gun first before you send it for finishing. As opposed to having it sent straight to Kevin. Make sense?

 

Kevin Teti

[email protected]

Sounds good. My stock should be here soon.

Thanks!

No sweat. Good Luck.

Do you know what is their lead time is for a stock set?

 

Just got mine today. Total it was just shy of 3 weeks.

My Hungarian pattern one took less than a week.

 

Just got mine today. Total it was just shy of 3 weeks.