My kit has finally arrived. Looks nice but no fitting instructions. Can anyone out there help me?
Now our AFRA cards have arrived we can finally construct ours too!
However, I have already figured everything out.
Will get some pictures up over the weekend so just bear with me for a day or two.
It is very straightforward.
Except for the sling loops, unless AZR has sorted those out now?
How do you get the bl&&dy flash hider off an M14?
I've an AGM M-14 and there is a nut just below the front sight. you unscrew that while sliding the flash hider forwards.
On the AGM ones I had to tap the flash hider with a hammer to loosen it.
Unscrew the nut as far as it can.
Tap the whole flash hider assembly so that it slides towards the muzzle end as far as it will go until it is up against the nut again.
You can now unscrew the nut a bit further.
Tap the flash hider a bit further.
Repeat until it comes off.
Cheers - I thought it was time for the Universal Adjusting Device (or the 'Birmingham Screwdriver' as we used to say in the Leyland days)...
RIght... done it! What a pain in the rear that was: front assembly would not screw on so out came the dremel, the stock looks lovely but has a gap by the bolt you could get a finger into and ALL the metal work needs rubbing downn, undercoating and repainting properly.
Still, I now have an M1...
been toying with getting one of these kits. But everyone who gets one mentions issues like above. Barrie and Anne are yours also a bit problematic?
They're really good and we're very pleased.
The black paint does come off the metalwork quite easily but what airsoft gun doesn't suffer from that problem?
Having compared it to some actual Garands there are a few differences which "purists" might take issue with (none of them particularly concern me) which I have listed below and highlighted on the picture.
The front wooden hand guard is, I think, marginally too short as he has had to lengthen the main stock by a bit to get the workings of the bolt return spring in. There is a bit of a step in the woodwork at the front retaining band on ours. They are also very chunky especially around the trigger grip and feel very big, much bigger, in girth, to a real one. You also have to use the M14 sling loops off your redundant stock. See picture below.
However, from his latest post -
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4113
it looks like they're improving all the time and the shape now looks to be bang on to me.
He's now doing them with Garand butt plates rather than the M14 hinged ones which look the part but bear in mind you'll need a screwdriver to replace the battery. Anne's one will fit a large battery but mine only takes a mini.
Once you work out how to get the flash hider off the donor M14 they go together pretty easily and seem quite robust - my one lasted for the D-Day+2 weekend with no problems.
You will need to do some minor filing down on the front sling loop and a bit more on the rear one to make them fit.
You will also need a couple of M3 machine screws for the front loop, the ones that come with the M14 are only long enough to go through the plastic stock. You will also need a 50mm M4 machine screw for the rear sling point. I can get hold of these individually from a local iron-mongers if you need help and don't want to buy a whole box from B&Q.
The woodwork is very nice indeed but I think could do with staining a bit darker. I have some Colron American Walnut for just this purpose but the coating they come with will need to be sanded off properly before application.
Overall I'm really pleased, they certainly look the part except for the magazines. Looking down the sights, over the lovely wood, is a thousand times better than the horrible plastic M14 heatshield.
Be aware these are made to order so order timescale for us was about 3 months.
Hope this helps.
Barrie
Pet cat, shown for scaling purposes (not supplied)
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
maybe its just me looking at the photo wrong but that stock does look to long. the front handguard to short and the metal work to short too. almost a tanker model. on the whole though it does look impressive but sounds like you had to bodge a few bits, ie replace screws, file this n that etc. seems he hasnt got it 100% yet. especially with the grip behind the trigger. but it is getting better.
you may also find the woodwork darkens with use barrie
I'll get some pics of mine when I take her to Fireball for chrono'ing in a couple of weeks. The wood is a darker antique finish and does look the business. Basically, it's a more than reasonable M1 at a reasonable price. 2ndBat's are the nuts but that's a lot of $$$ for a gun most people won't get a lot of use out of - not if you up against hi-caps like me most of the time!
I agree with B&As snag list - my barrel threads were also a right fakir. I had to get the dremel out in the end!
The cat in the pic looks almost identical to mine 
nice gun too 
Lol Steve, Anne thought that WAS our cat.
Rhys - the link didn't appear correctly in my post above but if you take a look at Richard's latest thread here -
you'll see that a lot of my points above have been improved and it's pretty close now.
metal work still looks a shade short but yep thats very very very close now. its either that or some thompson bits from them. anyone with the more recent kits still having problems with screws and metal work fitting?
Just got this in an email today from AZR. Im looking into M1 conversions...Can you tell me if this is an improved version?
Im also in contact with 2ndbat regarding his conversions.
Lost myself in a bit of a search for Garand photos to compare with!
cool animations: http://www.garandflash.com/
Looks pretty close to me........There's not much of a step there either at the front anymore.
The AZR kit is £170 including shipping to the UK. Thats before you've bought the doner M14 and sourced your mags. Has his price increased?
