Hey everyone,
I’m looking into adapting the Plastikinov v4 from 5.45x39 to 5.56 NATO. Good news: apparently the mag lockup is identical between calibers, so only the follower needs modification.
According to people familiar with the design, it “shouldn’t be too hard looking at cartridge specs” to adapt the files.
What I need to research:
- Follower geometry differences between 5.45x39 and 5.56 NATO magazines
- Taper differences: 5.56 is straighter than 5.45x39
- Barrel/bolt specs: What changes beyond the obvious bore diameter?
- Trunnion and bolt carrier might be identical between calibers
- Commercial 5.56 AK mags to test-fit geometry (Galil, M85, SLR-106)
Has anyone here done work converting AK receiver files between these calibers? Any gotchas I should know about beyond the follower and barrel?
Alternative: Should I just buy a ZPAP M85 and call it a day?
Thanks!
You can do it with the correct profile barrel and a follower (or 5.56 mag) but it’s not ideal due to the larger face on the 5.45 bolt. AK builder has barrels to do this for the common offerings. Ideally you’d get a 5.56 barrel, bolt, carrier and trunnion, but that’s more work and you’d end up with a lot of extra parts unless you pieced the whole thing together.
The same would go for .300BO, but I’m not aware of anyone making off the shelf barrels, so you’d need to have a .300 barrel blank profiled to match your AK barrel components. There may be .300 AK barrels already, I haven’t looked.
