So I recently picked up a used primary arms scope that turn out to have a reticle of potatoe quality. I had originally bought it to put on my m10x, and I was disheartened to say the least when it arrived and it was not up to the quality I was expecting, my thread on the specified optic can be found in the optics forum. I knew immediately the optic would not be suitable for the m10x.
I was unsure of what to do with as I can't see anyone buying it knowing the issues with it. The following day I arrive at work to have my boss give me a ATI sks stock that have been partially bubba'd and that is when I knew what needed to be done. The Ultimate bubba sks build.
I'm going to be looking for everything, preferably in the condition of most disrepair possible, corroded out barreled actions, those scope mount dust covers, basically the most horrendous parts possible. No redneck mod ideas will be to far.
I'm also looking for ideas, as this build needs to stand out from all other bubba'd sks's. I have all the necessary bubba tools at my disposal (Welder, drill press, dremel ect) and enough redneck ingenuity to make some pretty decent stuff. I'm sure as a community we can come up with enough unique ideas to make something great.
I'm typically a purist but I don't have a problem modifying parts that are broken/going to be thrown out or in such poor condition they're not worth using. If anyone has any trashed parts let me know or if anyone wants to make something crazy to stick on it that's also cool.
Ideas so far:
Huge muzzle break(Duh)
Skeletonize/Relief cuts as much as possible but probably just the dust cover
Add a pistol grip, and some sort of forward mounted grip
Paint?
October 16th 2019 UPDATE
I have been a little busy with work and other projects so this project got put on hold for a little while. So far I have started modifying the bolt to accept a left handed charging handle and also to remove the original charging handle and stripper clip guide. I plan on making the front of the bolt a little more aesthetically pleasing because that squared off front is almost as ugly as the stripper clip guide I cut off. I will likely trace around where the op rod is and angle it down toward the housing of it.
Doing all this did remove quite a bit of material, which may lead to faster cycling but I don't think whatever increased speed will damage anything within the life of the gun. However I could add a large charging handle to accommodate for the weight of the material removed. I haven't really found a charging handle worth using yet. I picked up a couple of shouldered bolts I planned on using but I'm undecided. I'd like to try and find a long shouldered bolt with a roller bearing type thing on it but I've been unsuccessful so far so I may try and make one using a bushing.
The flat portion on the left of the bolt is where I plan on drilling and tapping for a swap able charging handle. I will be cleaning all the cuts up, and making it a little more round on the face. The dust cover will interfere with where the charging handle is going to go when cycling so I'm going to square it off with the right hand side.
Nov 2nd Update
I removed the front sight/bayonet lug, and re-crowned the barrel. It turned out better than I had expected because I was worried the method used for removing the front sight and "Re-surfacing" the barrel would mess up the chrome lining. To do the crown job I used a few brass screws and lapping compound in the cordless drill. It took a while because the amount of material that needed to be removed. The end result was pretty good. I have used this crowning method on a few other firearms and it produces very good results. This method noticeably increased accuracy in my M305 and tt33 pistol.
After that I removed the front sling loop thingy. After that I squared off the dust cover because it was going to interfere with the way in going to make a charging handle. I have yet to figure out how I want to mount the potato quality optic to it. I can get a magwedge rail or the dust cover scope mount and modify it like it did the original dust cover.
July 8 2020 Update
I put the project on the back burner for a while but I found some time to work on it over the last few days
The first thing I did was finish adding the left side charging handle. My initial plan was to drill and tap the bolt into the BCG however in grinding away the material for a flat spot to drill into I found the BGC was hollowed out a little further than I had anticipated. I had ground right into the spot for the recoil spring. I then welded on a flat piece of metal on to give me a surface to weld a bolt to it. I had planned on tapping this bolt to fit but now I modified the head and welded it to the flat piece I added. The threads with get cut off and I'm going to find a bushing or something to attach to make it a roller style handle. I know those of you who actually know how to weld are probably cringing at this.
Next up was making part of the chassis/stock system. I made these two metal plates to fill in the sides and back. I'm going to attempt to weld it to the receiver and grind it flush so it looks like one piece. its going to be square on the back as well and im going to thread it and attach a 858 folding stock to it. IF anyone has one they want to part with pm me please.
If anyone has any tips for welding this thing if would be much appreciated. I'm using a mig welder with 0.35 flux core no gas.
July 15 2020 Update
Well I'm pretty motivated to get this project completed.
First off I managed to weld the receiver like I had planned. The one side came out of square ever so slightly as I was welding it but not enough to bother me to much, and I doubt people will notice. I practiced my welding using the same metal I planned to use and I got the machine and myself pretty well dialed in. The weld penetrated plenty and I was able to remove the trigger group and get a couple of beads inside too, for a little extra strength. I'll be filling in the spots that are missing the weld with jb weld and painting over it so no one will ever know it wasn't factory made haha.
Next I made a gas tube cover out of a piece of aluminum tube, going to paint it too, Might try and put some slots or something in it.
Because the front sight is missing I had to figure out how to aim this monstrosity. I found this mount that replaces the rear sight with picatinny rail so I guess my shotgun will have to share my Burris fast fire for the time being. I also got a 5/20 round mag and a obnoxiously large muzzle brake.
Now the stock has been something that I've been struggling to coming up with an idea for. The front handguard was probably going to be another piece of tube and the stock was going to be my recreation of a rk62 shovel handle stock. I had forgot this Russian laminate stock was sitting in my closet from a previous project that never came together. I really didn't want to cut this stock up however I didn't see myself using it for anything anytime soon with the way sks prices have been. I cut the front part of the stock where it aligns with the magazine. The magazine holds it on with no play whatsoever. The butt of the stock has been inletted and I used jb weld to bed it to the exact size of the receiver. Its a snug fit and I'm going to put a bolt through the receiver to hold it as well. I have some laminate left over to make a pistol grip, and naturally a dong grip too.
August 16 2020 Update
Well it is finally in it's completed form. The wood has been finished, the guns has been painted and everything is put together.
I was a little nervous shooting it because i welded so close to the recoil lug but nothing seems to be wrong. I'll monitor it for cracks but I really don't think anything bad will happen.
The next step is to throw my burris fast fire on it and see what its capable of accuracy wise. I won the sks lottery with my original condition sks, it would be hilarious if this one can group as well. I might even hunt deer with it this season for the heck of it.
I was unsure of what to do with as I can't see anyone buying it knowing the issues with it. The following day I arrive at work to have my boss give me a ATI sks stock that have been partially bubba'd and that is when I knew what needed to be done. The Ultimate bubba sks build.
I'm going to be looking for everything, preferably in the condition of most disrepair possible, corroded out barreled actions, those scope mount dust covers, basically the most horrendous parts possible. No redneck mod ideas will be to far.
I'm also looking for ideas, as this build needs to stand out from all other bubba'd sks's. I have all the necessary bubba tools at my disposal (Welder, drill press, dremel ect) and enough redneck ingenuity to make some pretty decent stuff. I'm sure as a community we can come up with enough unique ideas to make something great.
I'm typically a purist but I don't have a problem modifying parts that are broken/going to be thrown out or in such poor condition they're not worth using. If anyone has any trashed parts let me know or if anyone wants to make something crazy to stick on it that's also cool.
Ideas so far:
Huge muzzle break(Duh)
Skeletonize/Relief cuts as much as possible but probably just the dust cover
Add a pistol grip, and some sort of forward mounted grip
Paint?
October 16th 2019 UPDATE
I have been a little busy with work and other projects so this project got put on hold for a little while. So far I have started modifying the bolt to accept a left handed charging handle and also to remove the original charging handle and stripper clip guide. I plan on making the front of the bolt a little more aesthetically pleasing because that squared off front is almost as ugly as the stripper clip guide I cut off. I will likely trace around where the op rod is and angle it down toward the housing of it.
Doing all this did remove quite a bit of material, which may lead to faster cycling but I don't think whatever increased speed will damage anything within the life of the gun. However I could add a large charging handle to accommodate for the weight of the material removed. I haven't really found a charging handle worth using yet. I picked up a couple of shouldered bolts I planned on using but I'm undecided. I'd like to try and find a long shouldered bolt with a roller bearing type thing on it but I've been unsuccessful so far so I may try and make one using a bushing.
The flat portion on the left of the bolt is where I plan on drilling and tapping for a swap able charging handle. I will be cleaning all the cuts up, and making it a little more round on the face. The dust cover will interfere with where the charging handle is going to go when cycling so I'm going to square it off with the right hand side.
Nov 2nd Update
I removed the front sight/bayonet lug, and re-crowned the barrel. It turned out better than I had expected because I was worried the method used for removing the front sight and "Re-surfacing" the barrel would mess up the chrome lining. To do the crown job I used a few brass screws and lapping compound in the cordless drill. It took a while because the amount of material that needed to be removed. The end result was pretty good. I have used this crowning method on a few other firearms and it produces very good results. This method noticeably increased accuracy in my M305 and tt33 pistol.
After that I removed the front sling loop thingy. After that I squared off the dust cover because it was going to interfere with the way in going to make a charging handle. I have yet to figure out how I want to mount the potato quality optic to it. I can get a magwedge rail or the dust cover scope mount and modify it like it did the original dust cover.
July 8 2020 Update
I put the project on the back burner for a while but I found some time to work on it over the last few days
The first thing I did was finish adding the left side charging handle. My initial plan was to drill and tap the bolt into the BCG however in grinding away the material for a flat spot to drill into I found the BGC was hollowed out a little further than I had anticipated. I had ground right into the spot for the recoil spring. I then welded on a flat piece of metal on to give me a surface to weld a bolt to it. I had planned on tapping this bolt to fit but now I modified the head and welded it to the flat piece I added. The threads with get cut off and I'm going to find a bushing or something to attach to make it a roller style handle. I know those of you who actually know how to weld are probably cringing at this.
Next up was making part of the chassis/stock system. I made these two metal plates to fill in the sides and back. I'm going to attempt to weld it to the receiver and grind it flush so it looks like one piece. its going to be square on the back as well and im going to thread it and attach a 858 folding stock to it. IF anyone has one they want to part with pm me please.
If anyone has any tips for welding this thing if would be much appreciated. I'm using a mig welder with 0.35 flux core no gas.
July 15 2020 Update
Well I'm pretty motivated to get this project completed.
First off I managed to weld the receiver like I had planned. The one side came out of square ever so slightly as I was welding it but not enough to bother me to much, and I doubt people will notice. I practiced my welding using the same metal I planned to use and I got the machine and myself pretty well dialed in. The weld penetrated plenty and I was able to remove the trigger group and get a couple of beads inside too, for a little extra strength. I'll be filling in the spots that are missing the weld with jb weld and painting over it so no one will ever know it wasn't factory made haha.
Next I made a gas tube cover out of a piece of aluminum tube, going to paint it too, Might try and put some slots or something in it.
Because the front sight is missing I had to figure out how to aim this monstrosity. I found this mount that replaces the rear sight with picatinny rail so I guess my shotgun will have to share my Burris fast fire for the time being. I also got a 5/20 round mag and a obnoxiously large muzzle brake.
Now the stock has been something that I've been struggling to coming up with an idea for. The front handguard was probably going to be another piece of tube and the stock was going to be my recreation of a rk62 shovel handle stock. I had forgot this Russian laminate stock was sitting in my closet from a previous project that never came together. I really didn't want to cut this stock up however I didn't see myself using it for anything anytime soon with the way sks prices have been. I cut the front part of the stock where it aligns with the magazine. The magazine holds it on with no play whatsoever. The butt of the stock has been inletted and I used jb weld to bed it to the exact size of the receiver. Its a snug fit and I'm going to put a bolt through the receiver to hold it as well. I have some laminate left over to make a pistol grip, and naturally a dong grip too.
August 16 2020 Update
Well it is finally in it's completed form. The wood has been finished, the guns has been painted and everything is put together.
I was a little nervous shooting it because i welded so close to the recoil lug but nothing seems to be wrong. I'll monitor it for cracks but I really don't think anything bad will happen.
The next step is to throw my burris fast fire on it and see what its capable of accuracy wise. I won the sks lottery with my original condition sks, it would be hilarious if this one can group as well. I might even hunt deer with it this season for the heck of it.
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