L96 to Kar98 conversion

[Dracul]

Time for my next project, and a new Kar98 conversion. Will it turn out good, or will it be, bad? 

I'm going to be testing the waters with a L96 as the donor rifle. I chose a L96 for the 90 degree sears and it has as many parts as the VSR-10's. The 90 degree sears mean that it naturally holds up to stress from operation for much longer, than the 45 degree sears of the VSR-10's. That means unless I'm upgrading the FPS to insane level, I can leave the stock pot metal sears in them and be good for a long time. Actually, the common problem is that the stock plastic trigger boxes will break before the sears do. 

I have here an upgraded, but boneyard UTG L96 with three mags, that I got for 50 bucks, and was missing the trigger box. I bought a full metal one from evike for 25 bucks. It shoots 444fps w/ .25's. 












So, already we can see that, design wise, its further away from Kar98's design than the VSR-10. The receiver is angled and not rounded. Although, the bolt handle is rounded at the end, but doesn't fold down to the stock. Also, that the spring guide arm is going to stick out of the bottom. The magazines are also pretty big (M1 Carbine mag there for comparison), and these definitely won't fit in the proper Kar98 pouches. 


Since I now have one in my hand, this is already turning out to not be the best choice for donor rifles. Its what I have, and the stock is nothing WWII to use for any other, so I have to use what I have here. I don't have the Kar98 yet, but when I do, I get working on it ASAP. 


Side note: Stay faaaar away from the AGM L96. Its only a L96 by looks, the insides some VSR wannabe stuff, that are all proprietary and no one makes stuff for them any more. 

[shiftysgarand]

Well, this is going to be interesting. I've thought about using a Matrix or Marui L96 in a conversion like this, as the magazine is in the place where it should be instead of in the middle of the stock. I look forward to see the progress you make.

[Dracul]

Thats apparently different. This one has the mag well in the middle of the stock. The one you are talking of is the Marui version, this L96 is the Marushen clone, just in 6mm. Most L96's out there are like this one. At least, I think thats correct info I remember, haha.

However, I was thinking about the one you mentioned for a Lee Enfield, since the Marui L96 mag placement is perfect for that, and the mag of the Lee Enfield sticks out. So, you just have to cut the mags down a bit, and it should look alright.

[insterburger]

Magazine locations notwithstanding, this looks a lot more like a Lee-Enfield with the flats on the receiver. I would be concerned about being able to get it to resemble a 98k.

If you found a nice cheap DP Enfield...

[Dracul]

Not going to lie or BS it, or anything. Its probably not going to resemble it well, definitely not as well as the VSR's do so. I wanted to test waters with this platform, would be lying if I said the price had nothing to do with it, and I'm willing to make a visual-practical compromise. While the visual will be worse off than the VSR conversions, at least all the inaccuracies should be in the same places. Receiver area, magazine placement, etc etc.

The killer deal? I got this and a King Arms SVD for 100 bucks. King Arms has the only AEG SVD that the motor does not go into the pistol grip, making it possible for an easy SVT-40 (like Aldrich's springer SVT-40). The motor is horizontally aligned with the rest of the gearbox. But thats for another thread.

The Dboys Kar98 comes in on thursday, event is this weekend, Germans need guns, my other Kar98 has problems with keeping BBs from rolling out of the barrel, I need to do this. The arrow already left the bow.

[Dracul]

Alright, so, when I checked the USPS tracking this morning, for my Kar98, I found out that it hadn't updated. Even though it was supposed to be shipped today, and it still said today was the expected delivery. I thought real fast and decided this: My first, decent Kar98 job looked bad already, since I reconstructed the stock from my failed G43, and the AGM L96 internals started to crap out (BBs roll out of barrel). So, why make two Kar98's not look good. Lets make just one with minimum resemble, and have it at least perform well.

So, I started to mod my first Kar98 to accept these, proper, L96 internals. I had to cut out a lot more sections, but luckily, since a lot the process on the Kar98 was already done, the whole thing went faster. Like the rear sight, just knocked it off the AGM internals and JB welded it on the L96's. 




Yeah, it looks heinous, I know, haha. But at least it doesn't perform as well as it looks. 

Still have to repair the underside of the stock, and a few other minor details. Outside of that, all the hard parts are over. 

[Dracul]

So, everything was good, just fine, but then disaster struck. The bolt operation started was taking too force to rack it forward. I've tried all the things I could have possibly done, no luck. Then the receiver itself just cracked. Thats it for this, until I can get a new receiver.

Outside of that, some notes here about the conversion. The only other main concern, is that when shave down the spring to fit, it will still interfere with the inside, rear ring of the Kar98's magazine plate. Other than that, the outer barrel between the receiver and the hopup, sits pretty low. Its a good thing, because the sights actually line up.

Well, out of all German weapons for this weekend.

[Dracul]

No updates on this yet. Its going to be a hot minute before I get a new upper receiver, but some notes and thoughts of mine.

I really suck at these conversions.

I think the reason why the receiver broke because I notice the donor internals were crooked, and forced a bend where the outer barrel and the receiver met. Which makes sense, given the outcome of destroying the receiver. I'm going to try to get a new one and hopefully I can salvage this.

I have another Kar98 planned, but even though its VSR based, I'm having a lot doubts of doing the standard conversion. Its an Echo1 M28, its VSR based internals, but externally its like a Snow Wolf M24. So, for this next one, I'm going to use the Hairy Apple's 1903 approach. I'm going to lob off parts of the Kar98 and install it into the M28, while modding the stock to make it more Mauser like. Adding the rear sling hole and such.

Shifty: I researched into the Marui style L96, and I found that the magazine placement is kind of charade. Yes, the mag loads in the proper part of the rifle, but the stock features an internal loading ramp/tube that pushes the BBs into the hopup, further down the stock, to where a VSR hopup would be normally. I'm not saying using for a WWII conversion is impossible, but its going to take much extra care and planning to transplant that loading ramp from the L96 stock to the Kar98's stock. Its all I can say, I haven't the internals of it, just read it, so I have no idea if that system is removable by screws/pins, or you have dremel it out.

[2nd Bat]

My experience has taught me the merits of Hairy Apples approach to leaving the mid section of the VSR stock alone and blending or modifying the butt stock and adding the intended rifles forestock and upper handguard.. In addition to being less work it also insures that your mag feeding and trigger assembly will be exactly as it should be. The visual blending is something of an art from but it is also something I enjoy.

I think the long term reliability and consistency of this approach is worth whatever is lost in the approach.

[Dracul]

Exactly! And that the rifle will shoot straight! No matter if the other parts I add on are all crooked and not perfectly straight.

I think this one might be done for.I'm missing a few more things than the receiver. Mainly specific screws... I don't know yet. Since it was originally cut out for VSR-like internals, that which went back into Kar98 with ease, I might just get a BAR-10, drop it in, fill up whatever gaps and call it day. Or use it for an Hairy Apples approach. Would have to clean more things up though...

I'm still going to salvage this, just not sure what direction I'm going to take yet.

[volkssturm]

One thing I've been learning the hard way, nothing is ever as easy as you think it will be.