I called up Ironwood designs, explained what I had and needed and this stock kit was ordered. After almost 8 weeks (would told it would be two) it showed up this week. I noticed that some of the cuts on the upper gas block cover were a tad different when I unboxed it, and that it was slimmer overall but the inner dimensions seemed to match the factory one pretty closely. I left the receiver and parts at my brothers house weeks ago, and me being impatient as shit I decided to stain it before initially putting it back together...

Fast forward to tonight, after five coats of stain over the week, I swung by my brothers tonight to grab the receiver and I started to put it together. Ok, am I just fookin' stupid or is this cut wrong or possibly the wrong piece all together?

Side by side:


Gas block inserted: This goes in upside down, and rotates 180 degrees and seats into place. Factory one fits in perfectly, and spins.



Gas block fits into the Ironwood piece, but is snug and will not rotate into place.



The stock slid like butter all the way in until' this point. I smacked it with my mallet but this SOB wont budge. Ill have to remove this tomorrow and sand it down a bit to make it work.

Every time I've replaced the wood around the gas tube it's been a son of a bitch trying to rotate it back into place. Might just take some doing.

Can you take a pic of the part of the stock that slides into the back of the receiver? There should be some pretty significant scratches on the stock that show where the conflict is.

This is my first time switching out wood for wood, Ive done composite ones before that were pretty damn easy. I will need to yank on the stock to get it out of there, its in there pretty damn good.

Ooh. Sounds like the side of the receiver are pinching it then. Shit.

Last gas tube I did I had to lock the tube in a bench vise and use both hands to rotate the wood into place.

well damn

Nhm91 is the only model with the ugly fat handguards, all others models are skinny. Slight sanding is normal on the stock and forearms. They are fit at the factory per rifle (that is why the serial number is on the wood). You do not want them sloppy. Usually a few minutes with some sandpaper in just the right place and it will fit perfect.

I'm going to guess that the angle of the tang to the back of the receiver is slightly different from the let-in on the stock.

There some kind of black soot like stuff you can apply to the stock and then push the receiver in until it binds.... then pull the stock back off and the marking compound will show where the friction is.

(Ask Tincan, he uses the stuff all the time)

Better tight than sloppy to start. Good luck with the fitting. Looks like it will work fine with the right touches.

They probably leave extra on the stock so you can sand it to make it tight since ak's are all over the place. The handguard dosent look right to me though

I have an Ironwood stock on a spiker I made from a Mak90.

As previously pointed out, the NHM-91s have that ugly fat fore grip. As long as you weren't hoping to duplicate that look, the fore-end is just fine.

Yes, there is a little extra meat on those stocks so you can sand, finish, sand, fit, finish them.

Things that are fabricated out of metal may look identical but not every AK is exactly the same.

I bet if you put two brand new FORD or DODGE or Toyota trucks next to one another, same models etc etc, there would be differences in the way they sit and the way they fit.

First, almost every piece of AK wood furniture will need to be fitted to a particular rifle, especially new production furniture. The wood also swells with any sort of penetrating finish.

When fitting the buttstock, most of the time you just need to sand/file a tiny bit at a time from either side of the stock where it inserts into the receiver, but don't overdo it. The stock shouldn't necessarily slide in smoothly by hand, but you shouldn't have to beat it in mercilessly with a mallet either. A few moderate taps from a plastic mallet are ideal.

It's also best to leave a very tiny bit of free space between the end of the receiver and the wood stock. I don't know if Ironwood mills their stocks this way, but military AK stocks leave a small gap here so that the wood can shrink in colder climates. Otherwise it has a tendency to shrink, press up against the edges of the receiver, and split or fragment.

As for the gas tube, you can usually put an adjustable crescent on the square end of the gas tube and use it to hold the tube while you rotate the wood piece in hand. For whatever reason I usually find that the wood piece will want to turn one way easier than the other, even though from the outside the milling looks the same. If it rattles once you have it rotated into place, you will probably also need a tension spring - this fits into the small circular slots milled into the inside of the wood tube piece.

I love the stock, but after my experience with the customer service, wait time, and BS stories I don't think I will ever from them again.

Well, it looks damn good!

Or, you can do what Jason does, and just hammer the fucking stock into the receiver so far it bulges out the walls, and can't be removed.