Marco Vorobiev was a member of the elite Soviet Spetsnaz in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He’s a U.S. citizen now and conducts training courses that draw on his special forces training. He’ll have a new installment every Wednesday.

When I started this project, I understood that it would be nearly impossible to replicate everything on the new AK-12, including the actual appearance. However, I also knew that my main goal was to replicate the gun’s functionality.

So, the first thing was the stock. The AK-12′s folding stock is a completely new design. It will be sometime before some company will come up with something similar in respect to the stock’s appearance, features and functionality. Therefore I concentrated on the latter. There are three main features on the AK-12′s buttstock: It is telescopic, it has an adjustable cheekpiece and it folds to the right. I was confident that at least two main features could be replicated using the numerous aftermarket accessories that are available on the market.

The telescopic feature was actually harder to solve than the folding part. There are plenty of folding options available. To come up with a telescopic folder suggested looking into an AR-type buttstock. A solution came in the way of the FAB Defense Galil Style M4AK folding tube and Magpul CTR stock provided by the good folks at Brownells.

The reason I went with these options is simple. The Mako Group’s tube was made of metal with a metal hinge that folds to the right, and it only required an Allen wrench to install with out removing a rear tang. The Magpul’s CTR is simple, clean and slim designed stock that does not add much weight and most importantly width.

Using a Phillips head screwdriver, I removed the original Russian plum stock with a tap or two with a rubber mallet, inserted Mako’s M4AK tube, tightened an Allen head screw with a wrench and slid the CTR stock on the tube. Just like that, the stock conversion was done. I’ve checked my new setup for functionality and liked it.

You may have noticed that I had to forgo an adjustable cheekpiece. I did it for a reason that I’ll explain later.

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AK-12's right-folding stock

The AK-12's right-folding stock is a departure from the AK-74's left-side folder. It folds to the right; is telescopic and has an adjustable cheekpiece.