Possible Valmet Conversions

theBuilder

theBuilder

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While doing some reading, i see quite often people (especially here in Canada) converting their Valmet Hunters/Petras/m88s into Galil clones and m78(6?) clones.

The more reading i do, the more questions i have.

What about the Valmet restricts it to these two conversions? Say you have a .308 Valmet hunter, is there no way to do a conversion using any other commonly available AK parts?

What model of Galil parts would work? Arm? Sar? I am completely confused, but i find it fascinating.

Hopefully someone with much more knowledge, or first hand experience can chime in.
 
Nothing really about the Valmet Hunter that "restricts" it to particular conversions. With enough work and money you can convert it to look and function like any other AK.

One of the reasons why most people chose to go with a Galil or Valmet M76 conversion is because all Valmets with milled receivers and Galils (which all had milled receivers) have a rather unique receiver profile. Hunters (being a milled Valmet) have the same profile, so the conversion can look more authentic.
Another reason is that Valmets and Galils have always been considered the Rolls Royce of AK's, so many people think its blasphemous to take a Valmet and convert it to look like a Romanian beater AK.
Finally, some Galil and Valmet M76 parts are a little easier to fit on the Hunter receiver. Most times you can retain the original Hunter barrel with these conversions.

The main difficulties in any Hunter conversion are:
- Hunter stocks have proprietary mount. Mounting any other stock will require a custom adapter (or extensive modifications to the receiver). The only exception is a milled M76 wood/plastic stocks, which have the same mount and will bolt right on. But you cant really buy those stocks anywhere, so it's never a factor.
- Barrel mounting on all Valmets is also proprietary. No barrel from ANY other AK will fit (not even Galils).
- Hunters were never available in 7.62x39

But again, with enough work you can convert them to just about any AK. There was a guy on this forum many years ago that converted a Valmet to a VERY close clone of a Russian AKS74-U. That required A LOT of welding, cutting and machining.

As for Galil parts, AR/ARM/SAR parts are all equally difficult(or easy?) to mount on a Hunter receiver. The only thing that would make things a bit easier is if the donor Galil rifle is of the same caliber as your Hunter. But either way, it's not a game changer. The reason you see a lot more Galil conversions than Valmet M76 ones is because Galil parts are relatively easy to get, while M76 parts range from extremely difficult and expensive to impossible.
 
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I'm in the process of collecting parts to convert my M78 to an M76. The decision is definitely influenced by the reputation for quality from the Valmet rifles over all other AK variants. Plus they look awesome, and i cant wait to get rid of that gigantic heavy LMG barrel on the M78!
 
The 7.62x39 variants usually go for 13-14k due to rarity...but even the .223 version is pretty insane. Then again, show me a Milsurp firearm that isn’t astronomically expensive these days....
 
It will give you a starting point if a Galil is what you want. Re-read what zZDennis said about the differences. With enough time and money you can convert it to anything AK - in the age of CAD, designing parts has gotten relatively easy.
 
When it comes to a galil, I’d imagine the most challenging things would be the barrel (you’d have to keep the Valmet barrel or make your own from a blank), the left side safety (you’d have to do some cutting of the reciever), and the stock would also require fitting or possibly even a custom adapter.

Also, thanks to the mod who removed that gong show in the comments, it’s so much better now
 
I am just finishing up a galil build, all I have left to do is have the barrel chopped and threaded for a muzzle brake. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, you can shoot me a PM if you would like. I used a Valmet Huntet in 308 with a milled receiver as a starting point.
 
JasonGTA said:
I am just finishing up a galil build, all I have left to do is have the barrel chopped and threaded for a muzzle brake. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, you can shoot me a PM if you would like. I used a Valmet Huntet in 308 with a milled receiver as a starting point.
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Did you do a .308 Galil, or 7.62x39 or 5.56?
 
I've often wondered... if you had a real valmet and the receiver got damaged, so you swap on an AK receiver blank, have the original markings engraved onto the new part and re-used the original valmet trunions... is it still a valmet then?

Points to ponder...

One guy on here, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, started with a stamped receiver M78, removed literally everything from it but the receiver stamping itself, and build up a romanian AK kit onto it. In the end, it looked identical to a military AKM, and was likely a lot handier than an M78, which is like lugging around an RPK.

It's kinda too bad there aren't more stamped receiver vamets kicking around, they were full of possibilities.
 
Claven2 said:
I've often wondered... if you had a real valmet and the receiver got damaged, so you swap on an AK receiver blank, have the original markings engraved onto the new part and re-used the original valmet trunions... is it still a valmet then?

Points to ponder...

One guy on here, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, started with a stamped receiver M78, removed literally everything from it but the receiver stamping itself, and build up a romanian AK kit onto it. In the end, it looked identical to a military AKM, and was likely a lot handier than an M78, which is like lugging around an RPK.

It's kinda too bad there aren't more stamped receiver vamets kicking around, they were full of possibilities.
Click to expand...

With a stamped M78 it might work. I think you meant a brand new sheet stamping like folks in the US use to make home built AKs. I know of someone in the US doing that - he bought a cut M78 receiver with a trunnion a few years ago, he finally was able to source an original M78 barrel recently, but as far as I know he is not marking it in any way.

In Canada my concern with extensive mods like that is being able to prove this really was a Valmet M78 or hunter to begin with. When I have all the original parts and can more or less go back to original, it seems that proof is easy. I probably will never have to prove it :)
 
KotKotofeich said:
With a stamped M78 it might work. I think you meant a brand new sheet stamping like folks in the US use to make home built AKs. I know of someone in the US doing that - he bought a cut M78 receiver with a trunnion a few years ago, he finally was able to source an original M78 barrel recently, but as far as I know he is not marking it in any way.

In Canada my concern with extensive mods like that is being able to prove this really was a Valmet M78 or hunter to begin with. When I have all the original parts and can more or less go back to original, it seems that proof is easy. I probably will never have to prove it :)
Click to expand...

I think you could take photos of the original gun, marking and serial number. Document the build with photos proving you continued to use the same receiver, and kept all the markings. So your gun might be marked M78 or M88, but outwardly look like an AKM.

I don't see this as much different than a Galil clone build, just maybe takes a little more work.

I used to have an M78, but it was a milled .308 version - not readily convertible to an AK-47 clone without a LOT of welding and machning to make it look like a type 1 or type 2 Russian AK, so I never bothered.
 
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