CZ858 Transformation to an Iraqi Tabuk **It's Finished!!! See post #36**

Looks great! Glad I could help. You really don't want that bolt going too far into the receiver. I'm liking the whole look and the pistol grip should be the easy part. If the inside is the part that is tight run some sand paper on a block through it but keep checking it. It is better to have a tight fit than have wobble. Remember the finish will add a little and make it very hard to get on and off. I just repaired an upper HG for a guy (actually I made him a new piece and repaired it for my own purposes) It had so much gun stock wax on it it was ridiculous and also the reason why it broke in the 1st place. The wax heats up and gums up and makes the pieces get stuck. This holds true for anyone using a heavy finish like varathane as well. The plastic consistency melts a little under heat and binds to the metal...your upper HG gets really jammed. I have fixed 2 of these and wouldn't be surprised to see more. The tung oil should be a good idea as it is lighter but I never use it so I can't say for certain... but I do use an oil product or a dewaxed shellac and it works well. As I said tho all finishes take up space and if they are tight now they will be super tight after finishing. Keep up the fantastic work and I eagerly await the final project.
 
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Once again, thanks for the great advice ButtWhat! I really glad I decided to report on this project as I went rather than post production. Your insight is invaluable to me getting this project done right all the while minimizing mistakes and re-dos.

Anyway, got around to fitting the pistol grip today. I managed to trim the inside of the pistol grip so that it would accept the factory grip screw. With a little bit of drilling and routing with a dremel I had it fitted in no time. Next thing I had to do was shave off about 1/8" on each side of the upper part of the grip so that it would be flush with the sides of the receiver and so that the safety lever could operated. This was easily accomplished with a rasp.

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The pistol grip locks up nice and tight even without the ferrule there for the factory grip. I removed it but left the trigger guard intact when I did my initial Dragunov conversion. The Yugo/Tabuk grip is very comfortable! The swell and size of it is leaps and bounds better than the factory one.

All that is left now is the final sanding before applying some oil. I'm getting really excited to see how it all turns out. :dancingbanana:
 
Looks sweet Jacko glad to see you're using your spare time on things that matter!


About the tight handguards and along the lines of what Buttwhat said; I'm thinking you'll want to pay attention to that area when you start firing the rifle and heating it up. If the metal expands too much it could crack the wood or bend the metal.

I've got the same problem on my Garand and I might have to get mine checked out.
 
Haagen_Dazs said:
Looks sweet Jacko glad to see you're using your spare time on things that matter!


About the tight handguards and along the lines of what Buttwhat said; I'm thinking you'll want to pay attention to that area when you start firing the rifle and heating it up. If the metal expands too much it could crack the wood or bend the metal.

I've got the same problem on my Garand and I might have to get mine checked out.
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Thanks Haagen!

I did spend a considerable amount of time sanding down the insides and the lips of the hand guards to ensure a better fit. Dry they can be easily installed and removed therefore once they're oiled they should fit perfectly.
 
Oil coat #1

This evening I was able to finish sanding and prepping the wood for oiling. Last night after sanding everything nice and smooth I wiped it down with a warm damp cloth to raise the grain of the wood. This allows for the fibers of the wood to expand a little and help even out the surface of the wood that way you minimize blotches in the finish when you apply it. I let it dry for 24 hrs and then sanded it down again and buffed it with some steel wool. I also used my air compressor to thoroughly dust off the wood. Then, the moment I have been anxiously awaiting: The first coat of oil.

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, this wood set is made out of Afromosia (African Teak) which is obviously a darker complexioned wood. I was a little nervous of how it would turn out with the oil but as soon as I made that first stroke with the rag I was elated. The colour is fantastic! It's a nice light brown and the oil just makes the grain stand right out.

Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures that really do it justice so rather than post crappy pics of beautiful wood I'm going to wait until tomorrow for some natural light to take the pictures.

Stay tuned.
 
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Nice day outside so I took advantage of the lighting and snapped a few pictures of the wood with the first coat of tung oil on it.

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I'll be buffing it again with the steel wool tonight before I put on a second coat.
 
Almost done!!!

Hello Everyone,

Today I applied the last coat of polyurethane clear coat to seal the wood and protect the beautiful job the tung oil did. Once the pieces were completely dry I couldn't wait anymore to finally fit them on to my CZ 858. I absolutely love how well the wood dresses up the rifle. I managed to put it all together so you guys can see what she looks like all done up. I"ll be bringing her into my gunsmith this week to get the side rail put on and have the stock screw cut down to size so I can properly tighten the stock in place. Once I get her back I'll post the final result pictures so you can all enjoy.

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ButtWhat said:
I'm not sure how those pictures relate to your project...but whatever.
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Yeah, I'm not really sure but cool rifle nonetheless. I envy the states when it comes to some things.

ButtWhat said:
Where did you source the butt plate/ pad for your stock? This project is looking awesome...
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I got Matt (owner of Ironwood Designs) to include the butt pad when I placed my order for the set. He has a lot of hardware to compliment the to wood sets they make. They have surplus or reproductions parts for almost all the variants they make wood for.
 
Hey all,

It's been a while so I thought I would give an update just so that you didn't start to think that I abandoned it. Unfortunately when I dropped my CZ 858 off with my gunsmith he was somewhat back logged with work and wasn't able to start working on her till yesterday. I was informed that she's currently sitting on his bench as the next rifle to receive his attention and care.

Shouldn't be much longer now until I have the finished product to show you guys.
 
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It is finished at long last!

Hello Everyone,

I am so very happy to announce that my CZ-858 Tabuk is now complete! I cannot get over just how well this project came out. No word of a lie, I was at the range last Saturday getting her sighted in and the fellow shooting beside me came over between relays and asked me if it was a Yugo. Considering that the Tabuk is a variant of the Yugo M70 I took it as a compliment. :D

So, I'll let you guys be the judge. The top picture is that of a genuine M70 Tabuk and below it is a picture I took of my CZ-858 Tabuk.

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As I said, I brought her out to the range on Saturday just to get her sighted in at 100 yds. Because you can still see down the sights it was easy to line the sights up with the target and then adjust the scope so that it to was on target. This way my first shots would be on paper and then I could fine tune from there.

By the time I had her all good to go I put 20 shots into a Fig. 11 target. The group is nothing crazy but, considering I was shooting Czech surplus ammo and that the barrel was good and hot by the time I shot that group, I am happy with it.

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When I get the chance, I want to try shooting another group to see how she does with a cooler barrel. I also want to put the Simonov reticle, which is supposed to be calibrated to 7.62x39R, through it's paces and see how well it does out to 300 yds.

And now... For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple pictures I snapped to capture the beauty of this rifle.

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Thanks for following the project!
 
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luke s said:
looks great, but the stock angle is just awkward looking
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ya...what he said.

It looks effing awesome mate! I would just redo the crazy angle of the rear stock, and it'll look damn near identical.

Nice work on this cool project... I am totally jealous!
 
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