NRAJOE: got one. Had it since '92. First thing I did was to get a regular set of AK furniture and got rid of that horrible thumb hole stock and that incredibly fat handguard set-up. Now she is nice and trim. The barrel is threaded underneath the muzzle nut and you can install an AK flash hider or muzzle brake for both added looks and better accuracy - it helped with mine. Yes, good idea to get rid of the tripod assembly -it does nothing for accuracy.
Most often you may find the wood to be Chinese Maple - if you get a mismatched set of wood, the finish comes off easily and she will take a nice stain to make it consistent. Also, when you get your new wood you will find that the wood to metal fit is not all that great and some woodworking may be in order to get a nice fit.
Once you have dealth with your furniture you will find the NHM-91 to be a decent woods rifle. I prefer Sellier and Bellot soft points in mine - actually, the rifle prefers them and will group under 2" at 100 yds with that ammo. It also works well on whitetail and I have taken two at moderate ranges (under 100 yds) with that ammo.
Please don't bother with any scope mounts - they are just not stable on that stamped receiver and I can shoot and group better without one. HTH. Mikey.
