REVIEW: ACE LTD Replacement Stock set for AK Sporters, $155 at a gun show Ace Ltd, (530) 346-2492, Chicago Park, CA.. Pacific time zone Hi Folks! Just went to a show last weekend (Aug 28-29th), scrounging for a couple of odds-and-ends. Well, you know how it goes, you stumble across something that is just too cool for words.. Lo and behold, set up in a small both, I ran across Bob of Ace Ltd., from Chicago Park, CA. I had seen his ads nuemrous times in SGN but was hesitant to order anything because I had heard from others that some parts kits are worth the money and some aren't. Fortunately, I was able to check these kits out firsthand for myself.. OVERVIEW: The quality of the kit is very impressive. The stock is a skeleton stock, with the cosmetic appearance of being foldable (mine isn't, it's on a post-ban rifle). There are preban folding stocks available for those who would like to replace their current folding stocks with something else. The buttstock is sturdy and, in my opinion, of very high quality. The handguards are molded plastic of some kind, very easy to work with and file down should your kit require hand fitting. There were a variety of pistol grips and handguards to choose from, each being originally from a different country of origin. Of course, those available from Ace Ltd are USA made, for the purpose of complying with the laws. For internals, I bought a US made hammer (double arm), trigger, and disconnector. This brought the total of my US made parts to 6 (see the legal reference below). I stood there and chatted with the guy for a bit, he was very helpful and gave some verbal tips and tricks for getting the kit installed. INSTALLATION: Installation might seem daunting for the uninitiated. I consider myself an amateur enthusiast. I reload and have worked on my own pieces in the past, so I felt up for a little bit of home-smithing work. If you are not mechanically inclined, you may wish to stop here and find someone who might be able to help you get your kit installed. Read through before you begin to get a "birds-eye" view of the project. 1) Remove the old buttstock. The wooden butthole thumbstock on my Romak 991 was very well wedged in the recevier of my rifle. Removing it proved to be a pain, at least initially. I had unscrewed the two retaining screws and pounded on the stock with a rubber mallet, but to no avail. I made a tough decision right then and there - that ugly wooden stock was going to meet my hacksaw. Got the saw and sawed off as much of the stock as I could. Then, I introduced Mr. Electric Drill to the scene and drilled out the rest of the wood until it dislodged from the receiver and came out with some coaxing by my nearby set of pliers. I promptly threw the wood scraps away. Too bad, it was pretty solid nice wood. 2) Install new buttstock. Some light tapping with a hammer got the new buttstock seated properly. Installed screws. Nice tight fit, no wobble whatsoever. Looked very nice. 3) Install USA made pistol grip. The Romak 991's receiver hole to accomodate the pistol grip block nut isn't big enough. I had to shave down the block nut a bit to get it to fit into the square hole. When you do yours, if you have the same rifle I do, you'll see. My pistol grip screw and nut were made in China, so if you have Euro grip hardware this might not be a problem. I chose the Bulgarian pistol grip style. Also available was a FAL style grip, an AR type grip, and another Combloc country grip which I do not recall at this moment. 4) Install forward hardguards. Remove the upper handguard/gas tube. The lower handguard is simple to remove; lift up the very small tiny latch that is located next to the barrel/lower handguard. The metal retaining piece that keeps the handguard in place should slip forward allowing you to wedge the old grip out of there. Eyeball the fitting of the new handguard. You may need to carefully file off some material (as I did) to get the new guard to fit. Do not overdo it as you want your new handguards to fit snugly, with no rattle. File some off and then test fit, then file some more off. Repeat until the grip fits nicely. Again, do not file too much and take your time. The upper handguard is a little more of a challenge. I had to break the wood off of my piece, you may not feel inclined to do the same.. so, what you would need to do is mount the gas tube block in a vice (there are a couple of flat spots near the back of the tube where this could safely be done). Then, using a gloved hand (glove is important.. gives you better gripping ability and protects your hand from getting hurt) you can twist off the old handguard wood. Note: this was very difficult for me. Nearly impossible.. that's why I chose to break the wood off. Installation of the new plastic is accomplished in the same twisting manner as removal. Keeping your gas tube in the vice, and wearing your gloves, try to fit the upper guard plastic onto the tube using the same half-circle twisting motion. Be patient, use some oil if you have to, and file some excess plastic away if needed. Be sure not to file too much off as again, you want a snug fit here, not a rattletrap. Be patient and don't overdo it too much, but getting that handguard on requires a little bit of brute force. 5) Remove your old internals. Before hacking into your receiver, study the positioning of the wire-wound spring and pin retaining spring before you remove anything. I started by first removing the hammer pin, then the pin retaining spring (looks like an unfolded paper clip with a hook on one end), then the trigger and disconnecter, then the hammer retaining pin, and then finally the hammer and wire-wound spring. Be sure not to lose the small disconnector spring in the process, and be gentle in getting the hammer/spring out of there. Try not to mess up the spring tension. Note, when removing the first pin, be sure to depress the pin retaining spring with an object (say, a flat blade screwdriver) to allow easy removal of the pin. 6) Install new internals. This may require some metal fitting. Be prepared with fine sandpaper for any surface polishing. You may want to use emory cloth or something similar for polishing up the hammer/trigger arm engagement surfaces, for a better trigger pull. I decided that since I wasn't building a match rifle, I'd leave those surfaces alone -- but you may feel differently. Notice in the parts list above that I spec'ed that I purchased a double arm trigger, to replace my single arm trigger. To install the new trigger, the rifle receiver needs to be modified slightly. Simply make a new cutout to accomodate the arm in the receiver, mirror image to where the single trigger arm fits into the receiver. I accomplished this by simply drilling a hole there, and using a needle file to smooth out the metal. You may wish to approach this in a different way, but using a drill worked well for me. Be sure to clean out the metal fragments from your receiver. :) You may now continue by installing your new hammer. Work the new hammer into the spring assembly and carefully place that back into the receiver. Put the hammer pin back in and then hook the pin retainer back into place. Fit your new trigger into its place. To install the disconnector, I turned the rifle sideways, stuck the disconnector spring into the disconnector, then slide the piece into the trigger. Make sure the little spring lines up with the proper detent in the trigger. Then, I placed the trigger retaining pin back into the receiver, but only enough to hold the trigger and disconnector into place while I massaged the wire-wound spring arms back onto the trigger fingers (the spring tension allows the trigger to pivot back to the normal resting position). Once that is done, you may finish installing the trigger retaining pin. However, note that you must get the pin retaining spring to fit over the ridge on the pin - depress the spring with an object (say, a flat head screwdriver) while you drive the pin inward. The AK sporter pins are relatively easy-going. You should be able to push them in with your fingers (at least, I could). Finally, check function. The safety should work as normal, the disconnector should retain the hammer during the cycling of the bolt, etc. Be sure the parts function well together. I had to shave some metal of my hammer, otherwise it would stop the bolt from traveling forward. 7) Congratulations, you are done! As my own opinion and commentary, the Ace LTD stock set and parts kit I bought is an excellent buy. For the price I paid and the results I received, my money was very well spent. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same price that I did, but I would say anywhere from $150-$190 is the ballpark for what you should be paying for your kit. At first, I thought that the rifle would look silly with a skeleton stock. However, after I installed everything, I must admit that it looks great and has a good feel to it. The all-black furniture really dresses up the look of the rifle and keeps the (non-existent) ergonomic feel close to that of the origial AK. Here is a listing of the "10 or less" rule, taken from a poster on www.ak-47.net --- for your reference only. I am not a lawyer. A rifle assembled or configured to have 10 or less of the imported parts listed in sec.178.39(c)is not subject to the provisionsof sec.922(r), total imported banned parts must be less than 10. Imported parts from sec.178.39(C) are as follows: 1.)Receivers * 2.)Barrels 3.)Barrel extensions(n/a: ak) 4.)Mounting Blocks(trunnions) 5.)Muzzle attachments(n/a: ak unless welded)* 6.)Bolts 7.)Bolt carrier 8.)Operating rods (n/a: ak) 9.)Gas piston * 10.)Trigger housings(n/a: ak) 11.) Triggers * 12.)Hammers * 13.)Sears (n/a: ak) 14.)Disconnectors * 15.)Buttstocks * 16.)Pistol grips * 17.)Forearms/handguards(counted as 1 item) * 18.)Magazine bodies 19.)Followers * 20.)Floorplates * -All items marked with ( * ) can be purchased from Hesse Arms or other US parts distributers such as Ace, Soupbowl etc. -All items marked ( n/a ) do not count as parts of AK's. -As long as you have 10 or less of the parts that do count for AK's in import form, you're O.K. Thanks for reading, folks - enjoy, be careful out there, and support our 2nd Amendment. I am getting zero compensation for this review. I am just a satisfied customer! Turbinator