[ This guest post was written by Doug from Iowa ]

Twelve years ago, I bought a MAK-90 with a thumbhole stock. I enjoyed the rifle as did my friends, but as time moved along so did my gun collection. The MAK-90 sat in the safe for longer and longer periods of time. Recently, I’ve begun to take interest in the 7.62×39 cartridge. I noticed a lot of aftermarket parts being offered to update the AK style rifles so I began to look into dressing up my MAK-90 to wear a standard pistol grip and stock. I also looked into what else I wanted to outfit it with to make it a good home defense weapon, since I live in a rural area. I would have to exchange five parts to U.S. manufacture to be 922 compliant.

One of the features I wanted my rifle to have was a modified safety. I wanted to modify it in a way that would hold the bolt open to the rear and allow my trigger finger to manipulate the safety. Much the way this would work:

Although I’ve never heard anything bad about Kreb Custom’s products, I knew that $65 was much more than I could afford. Being on a public servant’s salary does not lend one’s self to dropping loads of money on one’s hobby. I knew I would have to modify my existing piece and I really didn’t want to mess up, but spending $24 on a replacement standard safety lever was much more affordable.

After measuring where the cutout should go, I got out the dremel tool and went to work cutting the safety. The cut doesn’t look the most professionally done, but I works. I may go back later and make the lines a little straighter.

The next part I was worried would be a little more difficult. Finding the correct spare part laying round and affixing it could be a challenge. I grabbed some extra brackets I had lying about and started bending them with pliers to find the right fit. I settled on some shelving brackets that seemed to bend right into the perfect shape. After bending the piece, I cut it to a more ascetically pleasing sight, and also so it wouldn’t get caught on things. Once I had it the way I wanted, I mixed up some JB Weld and put the extension in the best placement for my trigger finger to reach.

After spray painting a flat finish on the modified safety, the result is a very functional safety lever that allows my trigger hand to stay on the grip.