AK Sponsor
[ARCHIVED THREAD] - New Project Guns RPD (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 4/21/2011 4:50:35 PM EDT
Recently took delivery of an RPD built by Project Guns.   
As usual, Pirate built one beautiful weapon from a kit that I had bought from Military Gun Supply and sent to him. I had purchased MGS’s Grade I RPD Polish kit which appeared to be new and unfired. The first belt that I tried didn’t go so well.  I was having trouble feeding and/or advancing the belt. I was unable to get multiple shots off in a row which was frustrating to say the least. I finally decided that maybe the belt was the problem so I dug out my oldest belt, oiled it up, loaded it and went out to try my luck. VIOLA! She went through all 100 rounds without a hiccup at all. 
Initially I was shooting with the gas on the #3 setting. I shot 80 rounds on that setting and then switched to #2. Fifty rounds later I finally switched to the #1 setting and there it remains. Ejection remains strong but not enough that it seems to be beating the gun. To date the rifle has 280 rounds through her without any major problems. I did have 2 rounds which appeared to have light primer strikes but I attribute that to the individual links as they appeared tighter than the rest. The gun seems to have loosened up quite a bit as I can now run both old or new belts through her. She’s hungry and has been eating Wolf FMJ and HP without issue. I fear my 7.62x39 stash will soon feel the hurt. 
Obviously, I am extremely happy with this gun and Pirate’s work!  Enough so that I just might have him build me a shorty version next . . . if I can get my wife’s attention directed elsewhere for a bit.
I know, I know. Pics or it didn’t happen. 
|
|
Sent the kit to Stan back in December before he really got around to opening a new run. From that time it was about 3.5 months but I’m pretty sure that the kit sat for quite a while so he could rearrange his shop and cleanup over the holidays. Not absolutely sure when he began work on the kits but once he did it sure seemed to go quick. I had no problem with the wait. It was worth it.
One thing that I forgot to mention was that he now is using DSA receivers. They look very good and there’s no question that they work. Even though it probably wouldn’t have made any difference, I’m glad that it wasn’t a Wiselite receiver. After having problems with both an M53 (not feeding & firing OOB) and Sterling (doubling and tripling) I’m a bit gun shy of anything from Wiselite. I had contacted Stan during my initial problems with the gun and he was extremely helpful. It’s very apparent that he wants his guns to work and for his customers to be happy with them. It’s obvious that he cares about his builds and is NOT one of these guys who’s trying to get as much hardware out the door regardless of quality (i.e. Century). Really liking the flash hider. It seems to trim the gun out and make it look a lot better. The one thing that I never really liked about the stock RPD was how the barrel terminated right in front of the sight. Just personal preference. If anyone’s currently sitting on the fence about having him build you one get on it. I seriously doubt that you’ll be disappointed. No, I do not work for Stan nor have I ever met him personally. Just phone calls and e-mail. MGS will be light another of these kits come Monday. I just might need to have Stan build me a shorty so this one doesn’t get lonely. |
|
Unfortunately, I don't have a choice as to a muzzle device since I live in NY - the muzzle nut will have to be pinned and welded. I could have a brake pinned and welded on, but I generally keep my combloc stuff bone stock anyway. For anyone looking to have an RPD built, Wiselite says right on their website that they won't modify any build to conform to state AWB laws... and Stan said he'd pin and weld my muzzle nut at no extra charge. Even if AWBs don't apply to you, think about the difference in attitudes between the two... who do you think will offer better service? |
|
Quoted: I picked my RPD up on Friday. The flash hider will be here on Wednesday. It looks like it was a unissued 1960 parts kit. The tool kit contains an extra firing pin and extractor...cool http://hobbyhorse.com/RPD/rpd1.jpg http://hobbyhorse.com/RPD/rpd3.jpg Nice! Where did you purchase it? |
|
He offers several versions. The base model is about $1700, including the receiver, parts kit, semi auto fire control group and assembly. When you consider what a AK can cost ($1200) this is quite a deal. He has a deal with military gun supply, they give a hand select kit for the regular price and will drop ship to him to save you some shipping.
http://www.projectguns.com |
|
Quoted:
I picked my RPD up on Friday. NICE!! How's she shoot? My kit looked to be unissued as well. I recently bought a second kit from MGS and that one has seen some use. The guys at MGS said the same thing about the kits drying up but I'm unsure how true it is. Of course, they're trying to sell kits but there's no doubt that there will come a time when finding one of these things will be difficult. A good example is the 1919 kits that were everywhere a few years back. They're difficult to find now. |
|
Just a quick video. I had 3 rounds not go off. The primer hits were good and hard....bad ammo.
RPD Video |
|
Those rounds look exactly like a couple of mine did and the problem was traced to overly tight links. While trying to strip the round the velocity of the bolt was slowed just enough that everything didn't get seated as it should have. I'll bet that if you reloaded those in the belt (in looser links) they'd fire.
It looks like you're using a new belt. Initially, I found that older belts worked better however now that the gun has loosened up the new belts run fine. I do still, however, occasionally run into an overly tight link. Not to say that there isn't some bad ammo out there but I've run into very little. Try those rounds again and I bet they go boom. |
|
After years of firing wolf 7.62 x 39 I am now having some duds even with hard primer strikes like you have shown. But I have had them while using them in my polytech,my yugo and my arsennal. So this leads me to think that this is ammo related.
I have fired over 100k of wolf ammo and these are the first ammo problems that I ever had. The ammo was called military classic and I think it suffered from QC issues. I have never used this ammo in my RPD. I have only used the older wolf ammo in my RPD and have used old belts newer belts and even broken belts with half of the link missing and have never had a problem. I have a polish RPD that was built by Vector. |
|
Update on the Project Guns RPD
Took it out to do some shooting today and had a problem. A few weeks ago I had discovered that the transfer pin in the rear of the carrier was not floating as freely as it should have been. I took it out and found that it had been hitting the rear of the retaining pin which had caused a raised ridge. This ridge was keeping the transfer pin from floating. Filed it down and all was good again. Today I was shooting some older 124 gr. lacquer coated FMJ ammo that has “Ulayanovsk Machinery Plant” on the white and green box. I had run this thought the RPD before without any problems. Well, this time I had 5 that didn’t feed requiring a hand cycle. I was running an old belt that I’ve used before so I know that wasn’t the problem. I maybe should have set the gas to “2” instead of “1” but didn’t think about it at the time. It’s been running well on “1” but that’s been mostly with Wolf ammo. The bad thing? On the fifth failure to feed the charging handle broke off!  I’ll admit to being a bit frustrated by that time and probably put a little more “umph” behind it than normal . . . but still. Looks like a call to MGS on Monday to try and get a replacement as there’s no fixing this one . . . unless I weld it solid. Crap! 
BTW, anyone know WTF Stan is?  He still owes me a M249 adapter and he doesn’t seem to be replying to e-mails.  Anyone been in contact with him lately?
|
|
Quoted: Update on the Project Guns RPD Took it out to do some shooting today and had a problem. A few weeks ago I had discovered that the transfer pin in the rear of the carrier was not floating as freely as it should have been. I took it out and found that it had been hitting the rear of the retaining pin which had caused a raised ridge. This ridge was keeping the transfer pin from floating. Filed it down and all was good again. Today I was shooting some older 124 gr. lacquer coated FMJ ammo that has "Ulayanovsk Machinery Plant” on the white and green box. I had run this thought the RPD before without any problems. Well, this time I had 5 that didn’t feed requiring a hand cycle. I was running an old belt that I’ve used before so I know that wasn’t the problem. I maybe should have set the gas to "2” instead of "1” but didn’t think about it at the time. It’s been running well on "1” but that’s been mostly with Wolf ammo. The bad thing? On the fifth failure to feed the charging handle broke off! I’ll admit to being a bit frustrated by that time and probably put a little more "umph” behind it than normal . . . but still. Looks like a call to MGS on Monday to try and get a replacement as there’s no fixing this one . . . unless I weld it solid. Crap! BTW, anyone know WTF Stan is? He still owes me a M249 adapter and he doesn’t seem to be replying to e-mails. Anyone been in contact with him lately? On May 3, he was going to send the work orders out "in a week or so." Still haven't received mine. |
|
Spoke with Stan yesterday. He’s currently working on Bren builds and will be going on a vacation next week for some R&R. Said he’d begin sending out work orders for the RPD after that.
I repaired my charging handle (which was my own fault) and got out to shoot it this afternoon. Everything was going fine until the trigger return spring jumped up and jammed the striker. Was still able to finish the belt but had to pull the trigger multiple times on several rounds in order to get them to fire. Put another 150 rounds through it which should put the total count at somewhere around 800. My firing pin extension also has been hitting the rear of its retaining pin causing a raised ridge. This then effectively binds the firing pin extension so that it is no longer free-floating. I’ve filed the ridge off twice now but something is definitely wrong with the assembly. I have an e-mail into Stan to see what he says. I don’t know. Stan has another kit of mine with plans to build a shorty. I’m beginning to wonder if I should just stick with one to work on instead of 2. Anyone else own a RPD? If so, do you actually shoot the thing? Seems that Stan puts out a lot of work but you don’t see many folks talking about them. Is it that they have problems and don’t want to admit to it for some silly reason? Don’t get me wrong as I’m not here to bash Project Guns. Not at all as Stan’s been a pleasure to work with. I would, however, like to hear if anyone else has had these types of problems and what your solution was. Working together we can, hopefully, get everyone’s RPDs working 100%. |
|
Quoted:
I have had some light primer strikes but none of the problems you have had. I must have about 500 rounds through mine now. We must be the only one actually shooting these things. Maybe the others are safe queens? BTW, I watched your takedown video and noticed that you don’t release the recoil spring from the rear. You can relieve pressure on the spring if you open the cover on the buttstock and remove the rear plug. Take a screwdriver, push in and give the plug a ¼ turn and it will come out with the spring following. You really don't need to mess with the recoil spring at all if you don't want to but this makes it easy if you like to remove it. For reassembly, I install the recoil spring and plug and then slide the lower onto the receiver while guiding the drive spring with my fingers until everything is seated. Easy peasy. |
|
Quoted: Spoke with Stan yesterday. He’s currently working on Bren builds and will be going on a vacation next week for some R&R. Said he’d begin sending out work orders for the RPD after that. Still haven't received one. On May 3, he was going to send them out "in a week or so." Going on two months at this point. |
I haven't either as I was planning on having him build a shorty for me. Yes, that would give me 2 RPDs. 
My original one is going back. The problems are getting worse for some unknown reason. That damned firing pin extension keeps jamming and I can't keep the trigger bar return spring in place. It also won't feed worth a crap with belts that fed great before. Not sure what's going on but I'm out of patience and Stan has agreed to take it back for a looky-see. Sure hope he can figure it out as this thing may look good but she's pretty darned unreliable at this point.
|
|
Myself & a coworker sent in two RPD's in early May to have Stan work his magic on them, but neither have gotten an invoice as to what is going on. I did get delivery confirmation that the kits got there, so I'm not worried for now. Stan was moving to a new shop with new equipment plus trying to finish up a run of Bren builds so I imagine that when all gets smoothed out that he will be back on track with business as usual. I can wait!
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just screw it on. They are the same thread pattern? Seems odd the Russians on metric and the Americans on English Standard would use the same thread pattern... yes I'd like clarification on this as well so, can you really just screw on a M60 flash hider or what??? |
|
I got my invoice on August seventh. Stan told me 6-8 weeks at that time. At the 8 week mark I asked how they were coming and he asked me for my invoice number, he then told me another 4 weeks. That would have put me at the end of October. When I sent him another email last week to see if it would actually be done by then he told me quote "I am building over 40 guns, it won't be ready by then." Okay, then why did you tell me that? When I asked what I could expect for an ETA he sent this: "can't give a date, I don't know how many guns are ahead of you." Funny since he didn't hesitate before and he specifically asked for my invoice number the previous time to see when mine would be done since the invoices are the order the guns were received by him. Which is all pointless anyway since he machines the parts in batches so they will all be done at approximately the same time anyway.
So at this point I'm looking at over 12 weeks. I'm not mad, just frustrated. I would have liked a straight answer from the beginning. If it's going to be 14+ weeks, tell me that so I don't get my hopes up or make plans on the dates you've given me. I hope it's a good shooter when it finally does get done. |
|
Quoted: I got my invoice on August seventh. Stan told me 6-8 weeks at that time. At the 8 week mark I asked how they were coming and he asked me for my invoice number, he then told me another 4 weeks. That would have put me at the end of October. When I sent him another email last week to see if it would actually be done by then he told me quote "I am building over 40 guns, it won't be ready by then." Okay, then why did you tell me that? When I asked what I could expect for an ETA he sent this: "can't give a date, I don't know how many guns are ahead of you." Funny since he didn't hesitate before and he specifically asked for my invoice number the previous time to see when mine would be done since the invoices are the order the guns were received by him. Which is all pointless anyway since he machines the parts in batches so they will all be done at approximately the same time anyway. So at this point I'm looking at over 12 weeks. I'm not mad, just frustrated. I would have liked a straight answer from the beginning. If it's going to be 14+ weeks, tell me that so I don't get my hopes up or make plans on the dates you've given me. I hope it's a good shooter when it finally does get done. No kidding and thanks for the update. You saved me a phone call or email.
|
[ARCHIVED THREAD] - New Project Guns RPD (Page 1 of 3)
AK Sponsor