VZ58 Lightning Bolt

It makes sense when and if top rails gets developed and used. Others will say they will increase snagging, and when the rifle is carried close to the body the lefty handle will dig in.

I actually like this bolt carrier - why not? It's Deck approved. :rockOn:
 
Mike_R23A said:
DSCF0985.jpg


Now with cocking handles on both sides.
Click to expand...

Snails and garlic butter anyone?
PP. :p
 
on the lightning website theres a video of the veft hand bolt on the fellas own AK74 .. he beats himself with the lefthand side of the rifle to show that the cocking handle doesnt really have the issue of digging in.. might get hung up on a rig, but dont think anyone would hurt themselves on the left hand lever

ht tp://www.coloradoshootingsports.com/AKLBMedia.html
the first video
 
BigDotGlock said:
Go ahead and have some dude birdsh*t weld your handle to the other side, because it's just that easy, see how that works out. I hope you have an extra bolt carrier, and the handle flies off foreward.
Click to expand...


This line made me laugh so hard... I was just pondering about how to get the handle welded, about 3 seconds before reading your comment
rofl.gif


$160 is too steep, I think i'm gona copy DMcFaul's genius idea.
 
...I butt-welded the right handle back on the left side of a bolt to prove to a guy that it was a bad idea. He said that he "must" have the same handle on the left.

I did it up, put the gun in my vice.. It did take ~75 to happen but the handle blew off... not forward but backward with enough force that it cracked the siding on my shed 30ft back. I imagine if your face was in a firing position 6" behind it, you'd want to have some real good eye protection.

He ended up going my suggested route.

For the record. The Carrier is harder than ####, I replace 2x (lifetime warranty)carbide bits to properly drill one carrier. I suppose you could shock heat it to soften it up, but I'd rather heat treat a handle & weld than a whole bolt. Especially when it's already that hard.
 
DMcFaul said:
...I butt-welded the right handle back on the left side of a bolt to prove to a guy that it was a bad idea. He said that he "must" have the same handle on the left.

I did it up, put the gun in my vice.. It did take ~75 to happen but the handle blew off... not forward but backward with enough force that it cracked the siding on my shed 30ft back. I imagine if your face was in a firing position 6" behind it, you'd want to have some real good eye protection.

He ended up going my suggested route.

For the record. The Carrier is harder than s**t, I replace 2x (lifetime warranty)carbide bits to properly drill one carrier. I suppose you could shock heat it to soften it up, but I'd rather heat treat a handle & weld than a whole bolt. Especially when it's already that hard.
Click to expand...

Would you be willing to go into greater detail as to the process?

I have an old southbend lathe with some milling attachments so I could get an endmill bit and bore a nice hole in the bolt carrier...

What kind of material would you make the bolt knob out of? Do you just cut the old bolt knob off and clean it up with a fine file or what have you? Was the handle tig welded on? Could it also be brazed on if you didn't have access to tig? Did you have to be overly concerned where and how deep you bored into the bolt carrier?

What kind of treatment did you have to do to the bolt knob, or was that simply because you had to weld it?
 
DMcFaul said:
...IIt did take ~75 to happen but the handle blew off... not forward but backward with enough force that it cracked the siding on my shed 30ft back.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that the you welded the original handle on the left side and after 75 rounds it flew off backwards?

What kind of welding and pre-welding prep are we talking about here?
 
yes, surface tig'd the original handle to the left side causes a failure. There's a ton of concussive stress on that carrier when it fires. I suppose you have a 50/50 chance of it not hitting you in the face, instead hitting your target. ####ty odds and ####tier design. There's just not enough support for a butt weld with that much lateral force.

There's another member here that had the same done to his with the same result. There's a post here somewhere. I think he got cracked in the glasses. The weld in his pictures was a tad suspect as well though.

I use a Grade 8 threaded rod tapped into the left side then TIG in place. I then thread on a Grade 8 Coupling bolt to the shaft & TIG to the shaft for heft then shape. Then heat treat the handle & carrier. Not difficult, bjust have to have the time. It takes longer to prep the carrier before and after the weld than installing the handle (stripping paint, cleaning, shaping handle, repainting etc)


I'd rather be sure I'm not going to have a handle installed somewhere on my person.
 
So basically if the knob itself was threaded and inserted say, at least equal to the width of the threading into the carrier, then tig welded to ensure that it won't back out? Do you believe brazing would be satsfactory? If I brazed would I be able to prevent having to heat treat the carrier again?

Is the heat treating pretty straight forward?
 
Yep that's it.

Technically you could probably just loctite or JB the threads. But I have a welder and I think the weld will stand up to the cleaning and lube chemicals I use better than binders.

I'm not much of a braizer, so I can't speak to that. Lots of gun parts are braized though, I'm sure it's possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom