as a longtime builder, I never had the yen to do one of these. I did shoot one once though, while visiting relatives up north. it was a 8mm rebuild, yep he had problems with it. turned out he was a fellow guild member
I just saw a thread on ar-15 about a build in 308. that sucker runs like a zipper, since he is a SOT. Yesterday I saw a ad for 7.62x39mm conversion using existing belts, conversion kit comes with top plate, barrel, etc
nice build, yep cerakote will work, Im a traditionalist I would go original finish. recent threads on buying 308 are MEM or malaysian, unless you reload
good luck