By: Cary Kieffer

Here is a transformation of a Serbian PAP M92 pistol into something a bit more usable. I’m not really a big AK fan but I’ve had enough of them shot at me that I wanted a couple in the collection. So here is my “tacti-coolest” one.

I didn't have a picture from that far back but this is a file photo of the PAP M92 stock out of the box.

I didn’t have a picture from that far back but this is a file photo of the PAP M92 stock out of the box. Let’s look at what you can do with it.

Initial Impressions: Much nicer looking gun than what I’m used to in an AK. Those Serbs over at the Zastava plant have this AK building thing down pretty good. The fit and finish is as nice as any I’ve ever seen and way better than most. That’s comparing them to civilian guns here and real AK’s the world over I’ve seen. The parts look mostly to be machined and well done, I remember looking at an Egyptian gun many years ago thinking it looked like a monkey with a big hammer beat it into a rifle from the bumper of a junkyard car. Not the case here, very nicely done weapon and the kind of thing that inspires confidence that you’ve bought something good. It also came with 2 Yugoslavian mags that hold the bolt open when it’s empty. That was pretty cool, it closes when you remove it but you can feel it lock open, so it gives you a heads up it’s hungry again. I paid $399, $25 to ship and a $20 transfer fee. As is I feel like I got every bit of my $444 worth of gun.

This is a Sig like brace that fits the back of the receiver and gets held down by the pistol grip. I've thought before it needs a weld...you really need to torque down the pistol grip to keep it in place.

This is a Sig like brace on a steel adapter that fits the back of the receiver and is held down by the pistol grip. I’ve thought before it needs a weld…you really need to torque down the pistol grip to keep it in place.

Modifications: As nicely as it’s made…it’s a bit goofy looking as is. It needs a “wrist brace”, a muzzle device of some kind, a different pistol grip, some sort of rail set up up front and a red dot.

As you can see the adapter sits under the grip. Probably not the most solid set up I can imagine but usuable.

As you can see the adapter sits under the grip. Probably not the most solid set up I can imagine but usuable.

Wrist Brace: I did this weapon up a few years ago so all the prices may be off compared to now. I remember getting the brace from Atlantic Firearms I believe and near as I can remember it was $140. At that time there wasn’t any kind of an ATF ruling on how you held it, they really took a bite out of crime with that one…Has anyone ever been prosecuted on that?? If they have I haven’t read it. Anyway, now it’s the cheek weld only, keep it out of your shoulder. It is still very effective that way, just leave an inch between your shoulder and the brace. This is a mod you’re going to want to do, I see now they have these folding brackets with Shockwave Blades. Those are pretty cool looking and if I were going to do this again I might have gone that route.

Once the thread cover is removed this just screws on left hand thread. From there any normal 5/8x24 30 cal muzzle device will work.

Once the thread cover is removed this just screws on left hand thread. From there any normal 5/8×24 30 cal muzzle device will work.

Muzzle Device: They had this big, hideous metal cap on the barrel threads. It’s as simple as taking your Dremel tool and cutting the 1 small weld. After that I bought an adapter from US Machinegun LLC for about $50. It was M26x1.5 LH threads, it screws on to the gun and leaves you with 5/8×24 threads up front. That allowed me to use whatever 30 cal muzzle device I wanted. One more thing just to be clear, these threads are not on the barrel, the adapter screws to threads on the gasblock around the barrel.

IMPORTANT: NO WAY!!! I’d chance my suppressor on there…Don’t go thinking this thing is straight enough to chance your Can on it. I never have and I never will, I’m pretty sure you’ll be out one Suppressor. Finally, I screwed a modified KAK flashcan on the end. These were made for me by a machinist (Bill C.) I know that does some pretty nifty gun stuff.

This brake is just pure badass. Bill C. made me a whole bunch of these. They are directional and send some of the big blast from this gun away from you.

This brake is just pure badass. Bill C. made me a whole bunch of these. They are directional and send some of the big blast from this gun away from you.

If you do nothing else buy this Magpul AK+ grip. Well worth every penny.

If you do nothing else buy this Magpul AK+ grip. Well worth every penny.

Pistol Grip: I just finally bought this thing the other day at Gander Mountain for $24, that grip finally finished this weapon. The PAP M92 has been sitting for several years and I always hated the pistol grip. I happened to see this there and regardless if that was a good price or not I didn’t care…It VASTLY improves the way this weapon feels and handles. Trust me, get one of these things. Magpul AK+ grip, you can’t beat it.

A good quality USA made rail system. Solid as a rock.

A good quality USA made rail system. Solid as a rock.

Rail System: I saw a lot of cheapy $40 Chinese ones all over the web. Being that I wanted to put a red dot on it I wanted one I thought would be solid. The red dot would be useless if the rail shifted all over. I saw a USA made one from MidWest Industries and it was around $150. I liked that one the best but didn’t want to drop that much on this project so I waited till I finally saw a used one on Ebay. I got that thing home for $80 and not a scratch on it, a good find. Simple enough install, went on just fine. I’d recomend this one even if you have to wait to find a cheaper used one like I did.

Left side of the rail has one of my old Iraq Surefire lights on it.

Left side of the rail has one of my old Iraq Surefire lights on it. You can see the Burris FastFire 3 in both rail pics. Damn good red dot I think.

Red Dot. You could use anything, I like the Burris Fastfire 3. Everytime I buy another Burris MTAC 1-4x I just get the whole package deal. That way I have good quality red dots standing by waiting for stuff like this. The height was just right and it’s plenty bright enough. Good piece of gear. Incidentally, the iron sights on it were no good to me, these were way to far off to be of use. Not a big deal, I had this red dot thing planned from the git go.

Here she is all finished. Looks great in my opinion but let's see if it shoots as good.

Here she is all finished. Looks great in my opinion but let’s see if it shoots as good.

Shooting: I haven’t fired the thing in a few years so let’s take her back out. I’ll pull as many kinds of 7.62×39 as I have and we’ll see what happens. I know I have Tula, MFS, some unbranded German stuff and some real live quality brass cased loads from the muzzle man Bill C. Being what this thing is I’m going to just dial it in for a 50 yard BZO. That ought to do it from point blank out to 200 plus yards for “Minute of Man” accuracy…I read these 10 inch barreled PAP’s were still chrono’ing just past 2100 fps, so I think a BZO would still be good at 200’ish. If I can borrow a chrono, I’ll do that for us too. Here we go.

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This nondescript box of German steelcase grouped best, several groups of 5 at 1.5 inches. Better than I would have expected.

This nondescript box of German steelcase grouped best, several groups of 5 at 1.5 inches. Better than I would have expected.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary: I was happy with the accuracy of the PAP M92, it exceeded what I really thought it would do. With several 3 MOA groups and 4 to 5 MOA groups for the rest of them I was pleased. No problem at all shooting “minute of man”. Reliability is what you’d expect from an AK, flawless. Like I said before it’s a good looking gun with fit and finish above standard for these types of weapons. It’s a fun range toy and people who shoot with me love to play with it. In fact it’s been on trips with friends, this is the one they ask to borrow. It might be a bit lacking for an HD gun because it is LOUD and the fireball out the muzzle is huge. For these reasons, indoors and low light would leave you blind and deaf after 1 round fired. At 9.14 lbs fully loaded it’s also a bit hefty for some. It is fun though and I’m glad I finally got it all finished up. As always thanks for reading and train often.

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Cary Kieffer

USMC Infantry/Combat Veteran/MUESOC/Sniper School - Med Retired LEO w/ 8yrs on job before Iraq wounds caught up with me.

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