AK bolt carrier question?

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Grim Peeper

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I have a saiga 7.62 and was was wondering somthing. I was charging the action without a round of the rifle before going to the range the other day and notice that it was hanging up a little. I took the dust cover off and looked at it closer and realized that as the bolt carrier moves it interacts a little bit with the hammer depressing it slightly each time it goes over it. My question is is it normal and will this eventually wear the hammer out?
 
Totally normal. Almost all semi-auto AKs will hang a bit as the bolt runs over the hammer, if you're easing it back or forward by hand. As parts wear in more, it becomes a lot less noticeable. Just don't baby it. Slingshot that charging handle and let the bolt fly.

***I've read that this is an artifact of the change to the semi-auto fire control parts and the original parts don't do this. Supposedly the semi-auto FCG parts sit a little differently on their axis pins so the hammer puts a little more pressure up on the bolt. I've not fooled with full-auto AKs enough to know that for sure. Love to see some pictures or drawings of the difference, though, if anyone has something like that.
 
Sure it could wear the hammer out if you lived long enough and had access to enough ammo. Of course you will have shot the barrel out first. Totally normal. Good place for a little grease.
 
I had an older Romak991 that had this issue as well. From being well used, the hammer had formed a burr on the part that strikes the firing pin. The end result was if I eased the bolt forward, it would hang on this bur and provide a sort of bolt-hold-open. A gentle-to-modest bump on the charging handle would send it home, and it never caused any malfunctions in the rifle when running normally. Food for thought.....
 
The end result was if I eased the bolt forward, it would hang on this bur and provide a sort of bolt-hold-open. A gentle-to-modest bump on the charging handle would send it home
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I can do this with all my AKs Chinese, Romanian, Yugo, Saiga, Bulgarian, Egyptian, & US made Arsenal. No "burr" required.
 
They all do it... if you want it to go away shoot, shoot, shoot. It'll soften up quite a bit and eventually you won't notice it at all. Just don't baby it. Nothing about an AK yells, "be gentle"
 
Supposedly the semi-auto FCG parts sit a little differently on their axis pins so the hammer puts a little more pressure up on the bolt.
Click to expand...

The FCG parts between the two are (mostly, slight differences for legal reasons) the same, it's the lack of an automatic sear that makes the hammer interfere with the bolt carrier. In the military configuration the automatic sear holds the hammer in a lower position until the bolt is in battery, then it releases the hammer into the FCG.
 
Ah, ha. Of course. I knew it was something like that but it has been a long time since I've looked into a FA FCG assembled in a rifle.

Thanks!

ETA: HERE is a great video explaining the whole mechanism. Makes it all pretty clear.
 
Not wanting to steal your thread, but I have a question about the AK's. I looked at a Romainian WASR-10 and noticed the bolt would not lock in open position. I have never had any interest in the AK before and really don't know if it suppose to lock open on empty or not.
 
"Not wanting to steal your thread, but I have a question about the AK's. I looked at a Romainian WASR-10 and noticed the bolt would not lock in open position"

AKs have no bolt hold open. There is a last round hold open with Yugo mags but it will close upon removal of mag.
 
Saigas also have a manual activation bolt hold open. They are often removed during a conversion as its not really very useful and can rub on the trigger finger when shooting depending on your grip and finger thickness once the trigger is restored to its rightful location.

There are also aftermarket safety levers with a bolt hold open notch cut in them or you can do it yourself to the stock lever if you feel it is useful to have. This engages the cocking handle on the carrier externally, not the bolt proper.
 
The yugoslavian M64 series rifles came with a factory bolt hold open mechanism, but also required a slightly modified magazine in order for it to properly work. Basically, it was a standard AK mag with a small window cutout that allowed the follower to activate the BHO lever when empty. Those mags are exceedingly rare. Even more rare seems to be the actual lever itself, as most were destroyed when the kits were demilled, and only a few handfuls actually got packaged in with the kits once here in the US.


None of mine ever came with one. And I've never seen one in person.


Later variants of the Yugoslavian-made AKs dropped the BHO mechanism and proprietary magazine, in favor of the BHO mag follower. I have a few of those, and they do work, but like said, they release the bolt once removed from the rifle.
 
I have several of the yugo mags with the BHO follower. I don't like them as they make the mag more difficult to remove and you have to rack the bolt again anyway when you put in a fresh mag. I did the safety lever cutout on my converted saigas and it works fine for range duty when you need to lock the action open to show clear.
As already stated it's normal for the bolt to hang up a little over the hammer and it's just the way they were made. I've actually used that as a makeshift bolt hold open a few times but I wouldn't rely on it as a jolt will send the bolt slamming home.
 
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