Valmet M78 - AK74 clone project

Murray 3-D said:
Very nice project !

It blows my mind that someone on here hasnt taken a .308win model and made a PSL clone yet.... guess everybody has a bigger hard on Galils and RPKs. if i had the money.... haha
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I have a Galil clone made from a milled .308 Valmet Hunter, and an M76 clone from another .308 Hunter, and a Valmet M71 clone in .223. I imported a PSL parts kit years ago and planned on doing just what you mentioned. I haven't gotten around to it yet because I was torn between using up another Hunter or seeing if it's potentially easier to do the conversion with an SVT40. The SVT is the daddy of the Dragunov where they are dimensionally close, and the PSL is reasonably similar to the Dragunov. That would certainly be thousands of dollars cheaper if it worked out, and the barrel is already the proper caliber. I also have AK74 furniture, an AK74u parts kit, a Norc underfolder parts kit and a whack of other AK bits and pieces so I either need to find a few more .223 Valmet Hunters or figure out what to build. I also bought a surplus unissued Yugo SKS barrel in 7.62x39 and found out that it threads into the milled Valmet receiver perfectly. There's a potential option to churn out a x39 something or other... One thing I haven't figured out yet was if the Bakelite AK74 5.45x39 mags will work for .223. somehow 5.45x39 is not importable or somehow virtually unobtainable in Canada. This is coming from one of the largest importers many of us on here have used. Apparently that caliber is not on their extensive list of calibers on their importing permits. I guess that's why that cal has almost never been seen up here and .223 is an acceptable to me similar caliber to get some AK74 clones up and running. Finding .223 AK mags isn't overly easy, I have a dozen or so, some Valmet and some IMI. The bakelites make for a more proper look imho...
 
b-wingpilot said:
Definitely not compatible. I had to butcher the 74 stock in order for it to fit haha. I suppose the Zhukov could be made to fit with a bit of work.
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You can make a Zhukov stock fit just about anything. This is an SKS

j9W1Lht.jpg
 
Canuck1978 said:
I have a Galil clone made from a milled .308 Valmet Hunter, and an M76 clone from another .308 Hunter, and a Valmet M71 clone in .223. I imported a PSL parts kit years ago and planned on doing just what you mentioned. I haven't gotten around to it yet because I was torn between using up another Hunter or seeing if it's potentially easier to do the conversion with an SVT40. The SVT is the daddy of the Dragunov where they are dimensionally close, and the PSL is reasonably similar to the Dragunov. That would certainly be thousands of dollars cheaper if it worked out, and the barrel is already the proper caliber. I also have AK74 furniture, an AK74u parts kit, a Norc underfolder parts kit and a whack of other AK bits and pieces so I either need to find a few more .223 Valmet Hunters or figure out what to build. I also bought a surplus unissued Yugo SKS barrel in 7.62x39 and found out that it threads into the milled Valmet receiver perfectly. There's a potential option to churn out a x39 something or other... One thing I haven't figured out yet was if the Bakelite AK74 5.45x39 mags will work for .223. somehow 5.45x39 is not importable or somehow virtually unobtainable in Canada. This is coming from one of the largest importers many of us on here have used. Apparently that caliber is not on their extensive list of calibers on their importing permits. I guess that's why that cal has almost never been seen up here and .223 is an acceptable to me similar caliber to get some AK74 clones up and running. Finding .223 AK mags isn't overly easy, I have a dozen or so, some Valmet and some IMI. The bakelites make for a more proper look imho...
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Sell me your AK74u parts kit haha. Since we are limited to 5rnds, bakelite AK74 mags will work for .223. I've heard that the can work unmodified up to about 20rnds or so from guys in the US that have tried. Robinson Armament used to make 223 followers for AK74 magazines, and I tried to replicate them, but with no success. If I could find one, I'd gladly model it up so that everyone could just 3D print it out.

Also, 5.45x39 ammo is somewhat available in Canada. SFRC used to get Hornady 5.45 on a semi-regular basis. Also Tulammo, and I believe wolf or barnaul 5.45x39 is approved for importation into Canada, but not any of the military surplus stuff from what I saw.
 
b-wingpilot said:
Thanks guys!Yup! But I wouldn’t modify the receiver in any way to put a triangular folding stock on. RCMP might then consider it to not be an M78 ��
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There's no might about it. I was talking to a Canadian firearms manufacturer a few weeks ago about the feasibility of switching a pin held by a c-clip to an AR-style captive pin and was told that if they did even that "modification" to the receiver that the RCMP would require a sample and the usual time to do their slow walks before making a determination.
 
Canuck1978 said:
I have a Galil clone made from a milled .308 Valmet Hunter, and an M76 clone from another .308 Hunter, and a Valmet M71 clone in .223. I imported a PSL parts kit years ago and planned on doing just what you mentioned. I haven't gotten around to it yet because I was torn between using up another Hunter or seeing if it's potentially easier to do the conversion with an SVT40. The SVT is the daddy of the Dragunov where they are dimensionally close, and the PSL is reasonably similar to the Dragunov. That would certainly be thousands of dollars cheaper if it worked out, and the barrel is already the proper caliber. I also have AK74 furniture, an AK74u parts kit, a Norc underfolder parts kit and a whack of other AK bits and pieces so I either need to find a few more .223 Valmet Hunters or figure out what to build. I also bought a surplus unissued Yugo SKS barrel in 7.62x39 and found out that it threads into the milled Valmet receiver perfectly. There's a potential option to churn out a x39 something or other... One thing I haven't figured out yet was if the Bakelite AK74 5.45x39 mags will work for .223. somehow 5.45x39 is not importable or somehow virtually unobtainable in Canada. This is coming from one of the largest importers many of us on here have used. Apparently that caliber is not on their extensive list of calibers on their importing permits. I guess that's why that cal has almost never been seen up here and .223 is an acceptable to me similar caliber to get some AK74 clones up and running. Finding .223 AK mags isn't overly easy, I have a dozen or so, some Valmet and some IMI. The bakelites make for a more proper look imho...
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You boys are all starting to get out of hand chopping up these nice Finn rifles to make them look like commie garbage.
 
Sakonut said:
You boys are all starting to get out of hand chopping up these nice Finn rifles to make them look like commie garbage.
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You mean the up to 70yr old "commie garbage" that was made to a higher quality than any current Canadian made semi-auto or USA made AK?

When the crux of your argument against the manufacturing quality of a thing comes from using an insult from a period of time that ended 30 years ago maybe it's time to re-assess your viewpoints.
 
Bratwurst said:
You mean the up to 70yr old "commie garbage" that was made to a higher quality than any current Canadian made semi-auto or USA made AK?

When the crux of your argument against the manufacturing quality of a thing comes from using an insult from a period of time that ended 30 years ago maybe it's time to re-assess your viewpoints.
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In all seriousness, I'm just poking fun... but since I clearly got you fired up, what I'm getting at is it would be nice to see some of these nice Valmets get some valmet parts from overseas to build valmet military clones... not galils, russian clones etc. To me, its no different than hacking up a swiss arms to clone a FAMAE lol
 
Sakonut said:
In all seriousness, I'm just poking fun... but since I clearly got you fired up, what I'm getting at is it would be nice to see some of these nice Valmets get some valmet parts from overseas to build valmet military clones... not galils, russian clones etc. To me, its no different than hacking up a swiss arms to clone a FAMAE lol
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Apologies, normally when I see "commie garbage" it's someone grunting out the same old tropes without really knowing anything about what they are saying.
 
That's a beauty! All you need now are some '74 handguards! This is where things could get involved though since the retainers are quite different than Valmet ones and it could become a project. I know I had a lot of work done on a Hunter barrel to accept an M71 handguard. I do have a virgin '74 furniture set too.
 
Canuck1978 said:
That's a beauty! All you need now are some '74 handguards! This is where things could get involved though since the retainers are quite different than Valmet ones and it could become a project. I know I had a lot of work done on a Hunter barrel to accept an M71 handguard. I do have a virgin '74 furniture set too.
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Replacing the current barrel with an AK-74 profile barrel (with appropriate rear sight block, handguards, gasblock and front sight base) is possible, but changing the barrel on an M78 is a nightmare. Maybe once this barrel gets shot out, I’ll swap it for a proper AK-74 profile barrel with all 74 parts attached to it and chambered in 5.45x39. But at this point the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
 
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