http://www.gunco.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48058

Retrieved: 12/07/2013


TRX
06-01-2009

I'm looking at a PDF on the Valmetweapons web site:
http://www.valmetweapons.com/uploads/Valmet_m76FS.pdf

The rifle has a vertical gas block with the sight on top, no front sight block, no rear sight block, and the rear sight is on the top cover.

The receiver is stamped, with riveted trunnions. Howevever, it still has the "kinked" Valmet (or Galil) shape. There's a vertical line just above the kink point; it looks like they simply sawed a notch, bent the receiver, and welded it. I still don't know what the advantage of the kinked receiver was supposed to be; it looks like a lot of extra work for nothing.

The back of the top cover has some kind of reinforcement spot welded around the back end. At least, it looks that way in the grainy pictures. I guess they did that to make the fit more consistent since the rear sight is attached to it.

The buttstock is a weldment of steel tubing and some sheet metal. It still looks odd to me, but I can see several advantages for military arm. It's lighter, won't crack or break, and I've sometimes wondered how waterlogged/oil soaked wood or "polymer" would hold up at forty below zero. Maybe the Finns decided to bypass the whole question.

The gas piston is held in with an ordinary roll pin, not a rivet. I had wondered about this, and it's time to install my 922r-compliant gas piston to my Romy bolt carrier. I had wondered why a roll pin wouldn't work. Now I'm going to try one.

The bolt is drilled for a spring-loaded firing pin. Though literally millions of Kalashnikov-pattern rifles have been made with free-floating pins, I still like the idea of a sprung pin. If nothing else, it'd reduce the chance of an accidental double-tap if you had some soft primers

The particular model covered by this manual uses a wraparound handguard. The gas tube slides out the back, over the receiver, after removing the top cover. As far as I can tell, the only thing holding it in place is the top cover, as opposed to the step and notched pin of the normal AK layout. Perhaps someone who has actually field-stripped one of these rifles can comment.

The flash hider is retained by a transverse cross pin. The manual doesn't say anything about unscrewing it, just driving out the pin. The hider also forms the bayonet lug.

"The handguard is retained by a threaded nut-plate at the front, and the plate has spanner-holes for the use of a special wrench," according to the manual. Of course, the Valmet doesn't have a standard rear sight block, which carries part of the standard AK handguard retention hardware. If you look at an AK handguard set, there are quite a few bits and bobs, and some fairly precise machining. I had wondered about this more than once. Apparently the Soviets placed a good deal of importance on being able to clean under the handguards. Stripping, say, a Mosin-Nagant out of its wood to wipe out water or crud isn't something you'd expect soldiers to do in the field. All the bits and levers on the standard AK let you remove the guards quickly without tools... but the Finns apparently didn't think it was worth the extra trouble.

The Valmet uses yet another type of shepherd's hook to hold the fire control group pins, this one with a horizontal loop at the front.


TRX
06-01-2009

Hmm, found some more Valmet stuff smurfing around. Found some nice exploded views at

Valmet Diagrams

The handguard nut engages threads cut into the barrel. To remove the nut, you have to drive out the cross pins and drive off the gas block.

The barrel is threaded for the flash hider; after you drive out the crosspin, you unscrew it as usual.

There are a few bits in the gas block/sight assembly that I'm not sure about. I'm guessing there a spring-loaded doohickey to keep the gas tube firmly in contact with the top cover.

The picture here shows a shepherd's hook very similar to the one on my Romy G.

The gas piston has a "star" near the front. Wikipedia says: "The gas piston included small "fingers" near the piston to ensure smoother functioning inside the gas tube, which helped to increase the inherent accuracy of the rifle." Some Galils have something similar, except they call it a "sand scraper." I'm doubtful that it would either enhance accuracy or scrape sand; the star is way up at the front end of the gas piston, which isn't always tightly coupled to the bolt carrier. And if sand is going to get into the gas tube, it looks like it would hang up the scraper as easily as the end of the piston.

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Some "sporter" models used a left-right pushbutton safety instead of the usual AK pivoting dust cover/lever. Supposedly the pushbutton was quieter and less likely to spook game while hunting.

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Some Valmets have a carry handle. I've not found any drawings or pictures of how they mount.


TRX
06-02-2009

From the M-88 Valmet manual:

The M-88 has a crosswise pushbotton safety. There is no conventional AK safety lever, and it doesn't use the mainspring-mounted dust shield some variants do, so there's an open hole in the side.

The top cover holds the iron sights and/or scope mounts. It's attached to the back of the rifle with a button head Allen screw, thus requiring an Allen wrench for removal.

The front of the top cover is formed into a short cylinder, which telescopes over the gas tube by 5mm. There is no rear sight block or separate gas tube retainer hardware.

There are two round blocks pressed onto the barrel. These are threaded to accept the screws that hold the wooden foregrip. This dispenses with all the conventional lower handgrip retainer hardware.

The magazine release isn't covered well in the manual. It ism however, very small; all I can see is a nub hanging under the receiver. According to the text, you pull a button back toward the trigger guard.

A half-cock position is described; it has a whole section (number 5) telling how to do it. I can't see any unusual parts in the exploded view; it sounds like they're making a "feature" of how the hammer hangs up the bolt carrier sometimes.

The M-88 has a rear-set trigger like a Saiga.

The gas block is adjustable via a flathead screwdriver.

In the exploded view, the main spring retainer has no release button. It is threaded for the top cover retainer screw.

There's a "screw number 2" on the front of the receiver; it has something to do with snugging the fit of the top cover. I couldn't really tell from the pictures.

There's a Valmet Part Number 15 shown loose near the middle of the receiver, described as a "buffer". It looks for all the world like a Romanian slant cut muzzle brake.

There's a wide-base front sight at the muzzle, instead of the usual Valmet gas block ears.


TRX
06-15-2009

Some net.lore, mostly from valmet.org:

Picture of a Valmet Hunter in .30-06. Had a bolt hold open notch in the safety lever, and a big wing sticking up and back at a 30 degree angle or so, close to the back of the top cover, to turn the safety into a rocker instead of a simple lever. Didn't look worth the trouble to me.

Same picture, the top cover had an integral scope rail (not Picatinny), and was retained by two screws through tabs at the back bottom corners, as opposed to the single rear mount screw of the M88. I've seen Norinco Hunters with similar two-screw anchors.

Various pictures, magazine releases twisted up and around into paddles beside the trigger guard. I've seen aftermarket and some later Soviet releases like that. Oddly, some Valmets appeared to have the lever on the left, others on the right.

One Valmet.org poster said the military Valmets had ordinary floating firing pins; the floating pins went on civilian models.

As far as I can tell all the Valmet top covers interchange, but the gas tubes don't. There are differences in the flanges and lengths between models.