Several years ago I started to look for information on building a South African R-4 and R-5 clone. I found most of the information scattered and hard to find. This forum was a great help in finding the information I was looking for and the parts I needed. I have been meaning to post a consolidated list of parts needed for an accurate clone for a while now and I finaly put the work in and typed it up. This is a subject near and dear to me, as I just finished having an R-4 and R-5 clone made up. Doing research on the subject is hard, as the Republic of South Africa did not publish much regarding weapons and weapons development. Most of the information comes from period photographs or a few articles/books on the subject (Both Kalashnikov: The Arms and the Man by Ezell and AK-47 The Grim Reaper by Iannamico have some information).
Differences between the R-4 and Galil:
The South African R-4, 5, and 6 are based on the Israeli Galil from the late 1970s. This means they have the gas block without bayonet lug (for R-4) and bird cage flash hider (although I have seen a picture of a very different bird cage FH in use, still researching) and for the R-5 it means an early SAR type of gas block (at first, later a locally designed but very similar looking gas block was installed on the R-5s) and an early SAR flash hider. The first several thousand rifles in the very late 1970s came from Israel and were used in front line units until local production took over. Pictures from the very early 1980s show stock Israeli ARMs (including parkerized barrel and gas tube components) with the longer wood handguard. These rifles from Israel also had the scope mount on the left side of the receiver (SA made rifles had a second lightning cut instead of the scope mount). Below is a picture I pulled off of another forum of a member's wife shooting a SA R-4 with an Israeli made R-4 in the back ground (member's name was Ghostrider, if he's around).
The most notable are the handguard, gas tube, stock, and front sight hood/post.
The handguard was extended so that a lip placed on the gas tube would serve as a stop for the handguard retaining ring (so the handguard could not come off unless the gas tube is removed). At first this part was made of wood, and then it was made of plastic for the rest of the production run. My theory (backed by a few pictures but no hard evidence) is that the first several thousand R-4s were made by IMI (1979/80) and included standard stocks, gas tubes and wood handguards. All local production was plastic handguard (IMHO). Handguards compared (normal AR length on the bottom):
One thing to note is that the SA handguards are cut for the carry handle. The first several thousand Israeli made R-4s had carry handles, but they were removed and a new handguard retainer was adopted that did not have the provision to mount a carry handle.
The gas tube had a lip added to the front to prevent the handguard from coming off of the rifle unless the gas tube is removed. The following picture shows the ARM, R-4, and R-5 gas tubes.
Detail of the handguard on the weapon in relation to the gas tube:
The stock on the earliest versions was the standard Galil stock, but at some point during production a new stock was designed and put into production. The stock knuckle is also different (I don't have a good pic comparing the two, sorry)
The Front sight post is thinner and the front sight hood is larger. Because of this there is no "Z" spring under the front sight hood.
The rest of the design changes are harder to notice, and are not required for a basic clone. They are:
A plastic buffer inserted in the folding stock knuckle, serves to buffer the bolt carrier, held in by the stock pin.
Top cover is made of a thicker sheet metal, although not much thicker, stamping/spot welds look a little different, hard to notice (R-4 on the right):
Recoil spring guide rod's nub that retains the top cover is the longer type. Most of the kits that have come in recently have this longer nub (often marked with a "B"). There is supposed to be a difference in the collar that retains the spring at the front of the rod, but I have never seen a picture of a verified R-4 type.
Bolt carrier's cocking handle is machined in the vertical position instead of being heated and bent up. A lot of the kits I have seen come in also have this Machined handle.
Gas piston is slightly different, note lugs behind head of the piston (SA piston on top):
Bolt was modified fairly early in production (good information about this in Ezell's book) with a rubber "spring" to prevent slam firing. Bolt is marked with the "P in oval" proof mark (same as SA made R-1 bolts/carriers) on the left lug (at least on the two R-4 bolts I have).
Firing pin detail
Another good picture of the mark:
Separate hammer and trigger springs, and the hammer spring is of the braided wire type (some kits came in with this set up, perhaps a product improvement adopted by Israel as well).
SA disconnector is supposed to have a wider "tail", have never seen one personally.
The receiver as already mentioned has no scope mount on the left side, only a second lightning cut. The SA night vision scope mounted to a special top cover. Some aftermarket mounts are made with rails on the top cover as well. Selector markings are "S, A, R" and a proof mark (P in oval) is often placed near the ejection port on the examples I have seen close up pics of. Selector markings for the left side selector are the same "S, A, R" but in the IMI guns the selector position is marked by hash marks, in the SA guns they are marked by dots.
For the R-5/6:
Most of the part changes carry over to the R-5 and R-6. The R-5 was a SAR length rifle that borrowed heavily from early SAR parts (no bayonet lug on or behind the gas block, early flash hider, etc...) and had a few unique parts. The handguards on all examples I have seen pictures of were black plastic. They use a unique gas tube, handguard retainer and in later versions a unique gas block. The gas tube, gas block and FH:
Detail of the handguard retainer, made of all stamped steel, not machined or cast like the Israeli type:
For the R-6 the only major difference is a shorter barrel and a shorter gas tube (the bulge around the end is trimmed down to an R-4 style lip) and the gas piston is shorter.
Magazines: Steel magazines were made but were replaced by a unique plastic magazine. It was supposed to be disposable, but was tough enough to become the standard issue magazine. These magazines have no steel reinforcement, they are tough, but I do own a broken one.
Close up (note production date molded into magazine):
As for finish, the Israeli made rifles were finished in the standard paint over park for the receiver and gas tube, but had parkerized finish for barrel and gas block. SA made rifles have paint over park over everything. For a period of time in the 1980s/90s a brown paint was applied over most metal surfaces (DSA used to sell some brown magazines done in the same paint). This paint was either brown vehicle paint (if done in the field) or a brown gunkote like paint (if rebuilt). I think the standard color is back to black?
This is all information I have complied, others may have better info, I welcome any updates or further info anyone may have!
I hope this was helpful!
mrf2
PS: My two clones:
R-5 built by Tenngalil with muzzle device to bring barrel to 16"
R-4 Also built by Tenngalil
Differences between the R-4 and Galil:
The South African R-4, 5, and 6 are based on the Israeli Galil from the late 1970s. This means they have the gas block without bayonet lug (for R-4) and bird cage flash hider (although I have seen a picture of a very different bird cage FH in use, still researching) and for the R-5 it means an early SAR type of gas block (at first, later a locally designed but very similar looking gas block was installed on the R-5s) and an early SAR flash hider. The first several thousand rifles in the very late 1970s came from Israel and were used in front line units until local production took over. Pictures from the very early 1980s show stock Israeli ARMs (including parkerized barrel and gas tube components) with the longer wood handguard. These rifles from Israel also had the scope mount on the left side of the receiver (SA made rifles had a second lightning cut instead of the scope mount). Below is a picture I pulled off of another forum of a member's wife shooting a SA R-4 with an Israeli made R-4 in the back ground (member's name was Ghostrider, if he's around).
The most notable are the handguard, gas tube, stock, and front sight hood/post.
The handguard was extended so that a lip placed on the gas tube would serve as a stop for the handguard retaining ring (so the handguard could not come off unless the gas tube is removed). At first this part was made of wood, and then it was made of plastic for the rest of the production run. My theory (backed by a few pictures but no hard evidence) is that the first several thousand R-4s were made by IMI (1979/80) and included standard stocks, gas tubes and wood handguards. All local production was plastic handguard (IMHO). Handguards compared (normal AR length on the bottom):
One thing to note is that the SA handguards are cut for the carry handle. The first several thousand Israeli made R-4s had carry handles, but they were removed and a new handguard retainer was adopted that did not have the provision to mount a carry handle.
The gas tube had a lip added to the front to prevent the handguard from coming off of the rifle unless the gas tube is removed. The following picture shows the ARM, R-4, and R-5 gas tubes.
Detail of the handguard on the weapon in relation to the gas tube:
The stock on the earliest versions was the standard Galil stock, but at some point during production a new stock was designed and put into production. The stock knuckle is also different (I don't have a good pic comparing the two, sorry)
The Front sight post is thinner and the front sight hood is larger. Because of this there is no "Z" spring under the front sight hood.
The rest of the design changes are harder to notice, and are not required for a basic clone. They are:
A plastic buffer inserted in the folding stock knuckle, serves to buffer the bolt carrier, held in by the stock pin.
Top cover is made of a thicker sheet metal, although not much thicker, stamping/spot welds look a little different, hard to notice (R-4 on the right):
Recoil spring guide rod's nub that retains the top cover is the longer type. Most of the kits that have come in recently have this longer nub (often marked with a "B"). There is supposed to be a difference in the collar that retains the spring at the front of the rod, but I have never seen a picture of a verified R-4 type.
Bolt carrier's cocking handle is machined in the vertical position instead of being heated and bent up. A lot of the kits I have seen come in also have this Machined handle.
Gas piston is slightly different, note lugs behind head of the piston (SA piston on top):
Bolt was modified fairly early in production (good information about this in Ezell's book) with a rubber "spring" to prevent slam firing. Bolt is marked with the "P in oval" proof mark (same as SA made R-1 bolts/carriers) on the left lug (at least on the two R-4 bolts I have).
Firing pin detail
Another good picture of the mark:
Separate hammer and trigger springs, and the hammer spring is of the braided wire type (some kits came in with this set up, perhaps a product improvement adopted by Israel as well).
SA disconnector is supposed to have a wider "tail", have never seen one personally.
The receiver as already mentioned has no scope mount on the left side, only a second lightning cut. The SA night vision scope mounted to a special top cover. Some aftermarket mounts are made with rails on the top cover as well. Selector markings are "S, A, R" and a proof mark (P in oval) is often placed near the ejection port on the examples I have seen close up pics of. Selector markings for the left side selector are the same "S, A, R" but in the IMI guns the selector position is marked by hash marks, in the SA guns they are marked by dots.
For the R-5/6:
Most of the part changes carry over to the R-5 and R-6. The R-5 was a SAR length rifle that borrowed heavily from early SAR parts (no bayonet lug on or behind the gas block, early flash hider, etc...) and had a few unique parts. The handguards on all examples I have seen pictures of were black plastic. They use a unique gas tube, handguard retainer and in later versions a unique gas block. The gas tube, gas block and FH:
Detail of the handguard retainer, made of all stamped steel, not machined or cast like the Israeli type:
For the R-6 the only major difference is a shorter barrel and a shorter gas tube (the bulge around the end is trimmed down to an R-4 style lip) and the gas piston is shorter.
Magazines: Steel magazines were made but were replaced by a unique plastic magazine. It was supposed to be disposable, but was tough enough to become the standard issue magazine. These magazines have no steel reinforcement, they are tough, but I do own a broken one.
Close up (note production date molded into magazine):
As for finish, the Israeli made rifles were finished in the standard paint over park for the receiver and gas tube, but had parkerized finish for barrel and gas block. SA made rifles have paint over park over everything. For a period of time in the 1980s/90s a brown paint was applied over most metal surfaces (DSA used to sell some brown magazines done in the same paint). This paint was either brown vehicle paint (if done in the field) or a brown gunkote like paint (if rebuilt). I think the standard color is back to black?
This is all information I have complied, others may have better info, I welcome any updates or further info anyone may have!
I hope this was helpful!
mrf2
PS: My two clones:
R-5 built by Tenngalil with muzzle device to bring barrel to 16"
R-4 Also built by Tenngalil
