Gun Talk NoDak Spud hand grenade

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(Edit: timestamp with ugly, yet distinct, flooring for compliance.)
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Hey kids, I picked up this NoDak 5.45 NDS2 spud ak74 during covid. Bored as hell and it shot well, so I paid 600 strictly on the premise that it was a screaming piece of shit that *would* fail. I magdumped about 600-1000 rounds into the trash and was able to hit a 4" steel very consistently at 100-110ish yds. It did eventually shear at the rear trunnion due to being severely overgassed and likely having a very worn recoil spring and striking the rear trunnion. I finally dug it out of storage with dreams of re-riveting it myself and noticed the severely canted gas block among other glaring issues I intend to address. Can anyone give e me any information on this heap? Namely:
- Is this a bulgarian style receiver that most NoDak 5.45 were supposed to be sold with? I know some 5.45 were also polish style.
- is this receiver even worth saving with that egging on the rear trunnion rivet? Ideally I would like to just slap some rivets in this and be done but I am a bit concerned about the egging.
-It's worth noting I am a very capable tig welder who could easily weld that hole shut to re drill it, but would the receiver need heat treated again if I did so?
-I'm in the process of collecting tooling to build/repair my own guns and would like to correct the canted gas block, although when I did shoot the gun before it gave me no issues aside from being severely overgassed as mentioned.
-if the gas block needs replaced, could I just go AKM style WBP adjustable or similar?

Yes, I am aware this rifle is a screaming heap of trash, but it was exceptionally cheap for what was a serviceable rifle, and would be an easy platform to learn on even if it's untrustworthy as a candidate for repair and service. I have no issues with the idea of ruining this gun trying to work on it myself, and will be using it as a practice platform before trying to build other rifles I will actually care about. Any help or advice is appreciated greatly! Attached are as many pictures as i could muster of the rifle in question, including the issues in question.

Comments

My first thought would be to answer the question of why its over gassed. Is the gas post too big, is the piston set wrong, is there an issue with the recoil spring? There is nothing wrong perse with the receiver. Whomever build it may not have been competent to address the gas issue from the start. Shouldn't be an issue to re-rivet the rear trunnion unless the new rivets fail to lock it down correctly.
 
My first thought would be to answer the question of why its over gassed. Is the gas post too big, is the piston set wrong, is there an issue with the recoil spring? There is nothing wrong perse with the receiver. Whomever build it may not have been competent to address the gas issue from the start. Shouldn't be an issue to re-rivet the rear trunnion unless the new rivets fail to lock it down correctly.
Cool, good to hear. I really do think that the recoil spring was just very worn out and it was tossing brass pretty far. I planned to replace that and go with a KNS piston to try to address the issue. I was also hoping to get it recoated because wow... what a paint job lol
 
Cool, good to hear. I really do think that the recoil spring was just very worn out and it was tossing brass pretty far. I planned to replace that and go with a KNS piston to try to address the issue. I was also hoping to get it recoated because wow... what a paint job lol
There could have also been issues with how the rear rivets were set or even the rivets themselves. Painting is easy. You can use citrastrip to get all the old paint off, degrease really well and use any variety of high heat engine paints to recoat. There are lots of tutorial forum posts and videos about how to accelerate the curing process in your oven. Wolff gun springs makes replacement and % upgrade springs for recoil as well as magazines. You may not even need a new or upgraded recoil spring if the KNS GP does the job. When you replace the rivets, use some from AKB or other reputable vendor to make sure you are getting the correct rivets and best quality product.
 
There could have also been issues with how the rear rivets were set or even the rivets themselves. Painting is easy. You can use citrastrip to get all the old paint off, degrease really well and use any variety of high heat engine paints to recoat. There are lots of tutorial forum posts and videos about how to accelerate the curing process in your oven. Wolff gun springs makes replacement and % upgrade springs for recoil as well as magazines. You may not even need a new or upgraded recoil spring if the KNS GP does the job. When you replace the rivets, use some from AKB or other reputable vendor to make sure you are getting the correct rivets and best quality product.
Yeah I already have my press and akb rivet jig and 3 rivet sets and drill kit. I'll be sure to seat them properly and given the condition of the other rivets I'll be replacing them as well. I only bought the gun because it was cheap at the time and the price of a 5.45 kit would be more than that complete rifle. I fully expected to rebuild it, so thankfully no loss there. Ive got a couple old repair/build manuals and good old YouTube to guide me. Will make sure to post results
 

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