New mfg Iraqi Tabuk folder AKM

[lowprone]

New Iraqi Tabuk folder AKM
I just got my new production Iraqi bulged receiver, folding stock Tabuk 7.62x39 AKM by Two
Rivers Arms. This is a very limited production semi- auto only recreation of the one rifle
every Iraqi war vet wanted to bring home.
It is manufactured on a new, matching number parts kit, with original new non chrome lined
barrel, Nodak Spud made a limited run of 1.5mm RPK style bulged barrel trunions, serial
numbered to match the parts kit.
Two Rivers engraved the left side of the rear sight block with the Lion of Babylon set against
a pyramid w/arabic script, the right side of rear sight block is engraved Tabuk Cal.7.62mm
in english as were the original rifles. Three selector notch's were milled on receiver and
engraved with Arabic selector markings.
Rifle has folding grenade launching sight w/cutoff, folding luminous front and rear auxillary
night sights. They manufactured the original Yugoslavian style pistol grip, Ironwood Designs
manufactured the beechwood handguards.
Rifle was hot blued as were the originals, I bought the original sling, grenade launching spigot, bayonet, and got a reprinted Arabic operators manual. There were only 20 new all
matching kits w/original barrels manufactured into rifles. I got serial # 6 which was the
1st rifle offered to the public, and says so on the receipt. A very rare and interesting AK
variation in perfect new unfired condition, will make a great display. You can see multiple
color pictures of these rifles on Two Rivers Arms website.

[AndyC]

Please post pics if you can so we can drool

looks like a Yugo variant - here's a link to the website in the meantime: http://www.tworiversarms.com/Tabuk.htm

After importing thousands of AK-47 rifles from many countries, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in the late 1970s to pursue a domestically produced copy of the AKM rifle to replace worn out rifles for Iraqi troops in the continuing war with Iran.

Capitalizing on the favorable relationship with Yugoslavia, Iraqi technicians secured cooperation with The Zastava Arms Factory in Kragujevac, near Belgrade. By 1980, Iraq purchased tooling and machinery to establish its own factory near Baghdad under license from Zastava with aid from Yugoslavian workers and technicians. The main factory opened east of Bi'r Musammad, Babil, Iraq. The result was the introduction of AK-type rifles of excellent quality in a country not previously known for superior domestically produced weapons. The Iraqi produced AKM copies of the Yugoslavian M70B1 and M70AB2 rifles became known as the 'Tabuk.'

[Brian in MN]

...so they're Yugo parts kits with Tabuk engraving???

[blackmatt]

Originally posted by Brian in MN
...so they're Yugo parts kits with Tabuk engraving???

Essentially, although I believe alot of effort went in to making these very good clones. I've been tracking the progress over on the AKforum.net board.

I beleive this is as close as you can get short of smuggling a real Tabuk home inside an Army water buffalo (as was tried).

[lowprone]

No they are Iraqi Tabuk part kits, the Tabuk is essentially a very high
quality ( for the middle east ) copy of the Yugoslavian AKM.

[Brian in MN]

Where do they make that claim?


Their site plainly states they they added the Tabuk markings. "Two Rivers Arms uses advanced engraving techniques to replicate the Iraqi sight block markings in every detail."

[lowprone]

Call them, I'm not trying to sell the damn thing

[airground]

Originally posted by lowprone
Call them, I'm not trying to sell the damn thing

They are not Iraqi kits...they are Yugo modified to look like Tabuks...and a good copy too..but they are NOT Iraqi.

[IRONWORKER]

Originally posted by Brian in MN
Where do they make that claim?


Their site plainly states they they added the Tabuk markings. "Two Rivers Arms uses advanced engraving techniques to replicate the Iraqi sight block markings in every detail."

+1 - They are built using Yugo parts NOT Iraqi made parts......... Doesn't really matter IMO, the parts are identical for all practical proposes & truth be told the Yugo parts are probably higher quality anyway - I would LOVE to have one of the fixed stock models!!!

[Brian in MN]

Originally posted by lowprone
Call them, I'm not trying to sell the damn thing

Could have fooled me. Your original post looks very much like an advertisement or did you really write all that yourself? Your subsequent posts look very much like misrepresentation of the rifles in question.

[bykerhd]

Turkey is selling all kinds of guns to the U.S. via various importers.
You would think some entrepreneur would be offering new Iraqi made guns here by now.

Help them and help us ?

Of course there is the issue of how many other guns would go out the back door of the factory to different bad guy groups.

[gunplumber]

I built one using parts from Two River and some Engraving by Angela. The two river parts were absolute garbage. The welding up of the FSB to make it a "round hole" was primitive with gaping holes and slag all over it.


Edited to add - see below, TR claims to have not sold those parts.


Not an AKM either, BTW.

[IRONWORKER]

Originally posted by gunplumber
I built one using parts from Two River and some Engraving by Angela. The two river parts were absolute garbage. The welding up of the FSB to make it a "round hole" was primitive with gaping holes and slag all over it.

Not an AKM either, BTW.

WOW!! - Thanks for the info Mark, i was considering buying one!!! - Lemme ask ya' this..... What do you think the best way is to go about getting a "Tabuk" clone? - Start with a virgin Yugo kit & have it engraved? - Scrub the markings from a used kit then engrave?

Thanks!!

[gunplumber]

even the ones with the paragraph on the RSB are shallow enough to remove

Angela does a fine a job, but n the rear sight she did for my customer, it started with grinding off the original This made the rear sight thinner and loose on the elevation guide. I don't have an answer for this. Maybe some skillful tig welding in of the original markings instead of grinding them off? I don't know how that will affect the hardness for engraving, it is probably a strain on my welding ability but there are some welders a lot better than me.

The round FSB I woulnd't bother with as I have a large collection of Tabuk FSBs in both round and oval. If one were to insist on round, I think it could still be welded in, but by someone with skill and a tig, not a buzzbox.

[Two Rivers Arms]

To the members here, I am sorry that this is our first post but I felt it necessary to clear up some very bad info in some of the comments above.

Mr. Gresham, aka Gunplumber. We have never done business with you. You have either mistaken us for someone else (which a simple apology would probably clear us up) or are given to fantasy or fabrication of the truth. We neither produce nor offer the front sight blocks of which you speak. Slag? Holes? Are you serious?

I am continually amazed at keyboard commandoes that wish nothing more than to trash a legitimate business making fine products when they have neither seen, used or purchased that product. By your commentary, which was rude, you already swayed one malleable soul to dismiss our rifles outright. You also demonstrated a lack of knowledge when speaking about Tabuk rifles only being snipers and Arabic numbers on the sight leafs of the sniper version of the Tabuk. Tabuks (all versions--AKM, AKMS, and DMR) used the Yugo style numbers.

To the other members, sorry for the outburst but a lot of craftsmanship goes into our work and I needed to defend it. The gentleman who started this thread, from the Dakotas and not Oklahoma where we make the rifles was very satisfied with our product. He gets attacked as some front man for our company. Amazing. Then we get attacked for producing 'Garbage.'

I am attaching some pictures below so you can see our 'Garbage.' Again, my apologies for this being my first post. But if your company were insulted before even having a chance to clear it up, you would feel the same. We are a new business trying to make outstanding rifles and forums like this can be a great way to expose the product or undeservedly trash a reputation by making false statements. We are new to the FAL Forum but hopefully we will be a little better received than this.

Now, with that said, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about our rifles or company (including you Mr. Gresham, offering to give you a mistaken identity as the benefit of the doubt). Steve

[IRONWORKER]

Beautiful!!!!!

[gunplumber]

must have been a different company with the same name, also selling tabuk parts and engraving them in the same manner.







The RSB was fine, although this mystery company using the same name as you, and selling the same parts as you, despite their "advanced engraving techniques", didn't engrave this one nearly as deep as the one in your photograph.



And dude, learn to resize your images. Sheez!

As for lowprone being a spokesman for your company? He posted word for word the same ad copy . . . ooops, I mean "review" . .. . on M14 forum. Remarkably similar to your "business test" posts on AK Files.

In guerrilla marketing, it is better to change the wording so as to not look like it was cut and pasted from a sales brochure. Just sayin'

Nice rifle, btw.

[Two Rivers Arms]

First off Mr. Gresham, I am not 'dude.' The name is Steve. You would have known that had we actually ever done business together. I will work on the resize of pics but I wanted you to see our 'garbage' up front and close.

Second, I have no record of any sales to you---EVER. Produce a receipt or back off this fantasy story.

Third, we do not do custom sight blocks for customers as our parts are needed for production of our rifles. In the meantime, I would appreciate a little consideration on our company rather than sticking to this fantasy of us making some crappy parts. If it is about competition, we are not even trying to compete with you or anyone else. You make fine rifles. So do we. But inventing some story about parts we do not sell is more than a little bit irritating.

To members, again, sorry for the defense of our product and company but it is unfortunately necessary. Mr. Gresham, rather than admitting he made a mistake and giving us a simple, "Hey, very sorry. I was mistaken." would rather defend his poor position about our company. Sometimes, a little courtesy and manners can go a long way. Steve

[gunplumber]

Dude - Are you declaring that you did not do the engraving on that RSB? That it is purely coincidental that it is an exact duplicate of the type of engraving you do on these Yugo AKs? That someone else not only chose the exact type, but made it exactly the same size (there are, as you know, several versions of RSB markings). And that my customers lied to me when they said "Here's my parts with FSB and RSB from Two Rivers"?

I report what I see, and have been doing so since before this website was founded. Even those who don't particularly care for me acknowledge my reviews are objective and fair.

That this FSB is crap is not in dispute. Only your claim that it is not yours and that you have never, ever, sold any parts, only complete rifles. I just want to make sure that is your assertion before continuing.

If I am mistaken, and my customers lied to me, or was cheated by someone else claiming to be two rivers who sold these parts and matched your engraving perfectly, then of course I want to sort this out.

[Dirt1042]

Steve, your attention to detail is lacking. Look at Gunplumber's last name again.

Your new rifles are very nice looking, are they Yugo kits made to look like Tabuks or real Tabuk kits scrubbed and re marked by your company?

[Two Rivers Arms]

@ Dirt1042,

Our rifles are made with both new and used Yugo or Serbian parts. Some of the rifles were from demilled kits from Slovenia and others where we could find them. We also have new parts that we have been able to acquire through wholesalers with Centerfire Systems being our biggest supplier to date for both used and new. We also get some hard to find parts from Apex. Thanks for the name correction on Graham.

@ Mr. Graham aka Gunplumber. (Sorry for calling you Gresham--still better than dude).

To date, we have only provided a single solitary engraved RSB to a customer not on a rifle. He lived in Minnesota. We do not let our engraved products go because our focus is not gunsmithing, custom work, etc but rather building a line of Tabuk rifles. If you obtained that block prior to July, then it could not even be from us anyway.

As to the front sight block, we use these parts for our rifles. I can guarantee you we did not do that welding and we have never produced round FSBs anyway as they are not needed. If someone purported to offer you these parts saying we did that work, they are mistaken and consequently, so are you. I stand by our work, rifles and reputation. It is clear that you are already working the issue second hand if 'someone' provided those parts to you. Produce a receipt from us. I, too want to 'sort this out' as I am sure we have more in common that fantasy disputes. Thanks, Steve

[Two Rivers Arms]

A note on that RSB. It cannot be ours due to the hook on the Arabic word 'Tabuk.' The hook on the last Arabic letter is round on ours and square on the example shown on the DMR above. Compare carefully the engraving and you can see the differences. Also, if the man under the lion has no belt line, it is not ours either. Steve

[gunplumber]

That's good enough for me, dude*. I sincerely apologize for stating that it was from you, as indicated by the customer for whom I did that build. Since I can think of no reason for him to lie, I can only assume he was mistaken and I passed on bad info.

Once again, I'm sorry.


*dude = guy, fellow, person. While having its origin as a greenhorn ranch hand, it became a standard greeting in the 1980s California Beach/Surfer community. Intonation can bring a variety of meaning shades from a summons (Dude - over here!) to consolation (Duuuuuude . . . that sucks!) to admiration (Gnarly Dude!).

[Two Rivers Arms]

No harm done Dude (Just kidding). Thanks for checking it out. With respect, Steve

PS - Be happy to answer any other questions about the Iraqi rifles or our clones of them. Thanks.

[phillyray]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude

[2 clicks low]

Really nice looking rifle. I would buy one.

[lowprone]

Well that WAS INTERESTING !!!!!