AK Jamming

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Mosin Bubba

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I just bought a brand new Century GP-1975 AK. So far, this gun has jammed like none other, and the problems are coming from a failure to extract spent cases. The very first shot I fired from it, the gun failed to eject the casing, and it locked up so hard that I had to take it home. After prodding and beating on it for half an hour, I got the bolt to clear and eject the spent round. So I put a bit of oil in the action, left it for the night, and took it back out today. Shooting with the magazines that came with it and Wally World Tula Ammo, the gun jammed on at least every second shot. After about a dozen rounds fired like that, the gun seized up on me again, same way as before

There's two things I have noticed about this. One is that when it freezes up, the handle doesn't come fully forward to the front of the receiver. It does not close about the last quarter inch of the way. Picture attached to help show you what I mean. The other clue is from a round that the gun wouldn't fire today. Don't know what caused it, but the bullet has a pretty good sized indent in it.

To add insult to injury, from the rounds it actually fired, it looks like the sights are off too. I'm a pretty poor shot, and have never used AK style sights before, but this gun was shooting a foot over a milk jug at fifty yards. I don't care if it's surplus - if I'm spending $500 for a new rifle, it should at least be sighted in.

I'm really ticked off about this; AKs are supposed to be very reliable guns. Any way I could get this POS working again? Or should I try to get a warranty from Century, and give their famous drunk monkeys another try at it?
 

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I'd go the drunk monkey path.

Maybe you will get lucky and get a sober monkey?

Doing anything at all too it on your own will void the drunk monkey warranty.


BTW: it isn't surplus. It had to be assembled out of used parts in the USA.

If it was truly a surplus AK, it would be full-auto capable, and it would work.

rc
 
I have recently had a few come in that were all slightly short chambered. That is what it sounds like to me. It needs to go to a gunsmith or back to the manufacturer to have the headspace set correctly.
 
Is that 5.45x 39 or 7.62x39? I had a Polish Tantal that was doing the same stuff with 5.45 Tula ammo. Once I switch to the surplus ammo it functioned perfectly. I also noticed the surplus ammo felt hotter. I've since sold it to a friend of mine that's shot Barnaul Silver Bear and Red Army ammo through it with no issues. I'm no fan of Tula ammo. Try something else.
 
Any AK should be able to digest Tula.

I don't know the propper term for the piece I'll be referring to but when you open the receiver cover, pull the spring/bolt, look towards the middle and there is a hook shaped piece that goes up and down. This piece can be locked in place to make the trigger charged and is under tension. You can try filling that piece down because I noticed it makes the bolt have a smoother transition.This piece usually has edges and you would file it to be a smooth suface. Over time shooting this usually happens but for AK's with issue that would be a great place to start.

Skip all the people who tell you to lube the rifle because we run them dry almost 500 rounds before their first lube just to make sure things are ok.

I learned this from Rifle Dynamics class. PSSST: AK's are very reliable and the monkeys were kicked out of CAI.
 
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I don't know the propper term for the piece I'll be referring to but when you open the receiver cover, pull the spring/bolt, look towards the middle and there is a hook shaped piece that goes up and down.
Click to expand...
The hook is the trigger. (Can be one hook or two hooks on semi-auto AK trigger groups. A two-hook trigger is in this pic.)

p_100002494_1.jpg

This piece can be locked in place to make the trigger charged and is under tension.
Click to expand...
But that sounds like you're actually talking about the hammer itself, which is retained in the cocked position by the hook of the trigger.

You can try filling that piece down because I noticed it makes the bolt have a smoother transition.This piece usually has edges and you would file it to be a smooth suface. Over time shooting this usually happens but for AK's with issue that would be a great place to start.
Click to expand...
Filing or smoothing the back of the hammer is often done to help reduce the effort needed to cycle the action (by hand), as in semi-auto actions the hammer puts a lot of upward pressure on the bolt carrier as it moves back and sometimes it can even help push the carrier up out of the frame rails when cycling the action slowly.

But that won't have anything at all to do with sticking cases in the chamber. He's got other problems to deal with.
 
Thanks Sam for the pic and yes the top of the trigger group was the piece I was referring too. I just thought it was help the rifle cycle smoother but IMHO opinion, I would contact the CAI and see if they could help. They are usually very nice people.

I totally feel your pain because there is nothing like buying a new firearm and having issues right out the box. I had a Glock that went back to them twice and I was hott. They finally replaced it. I'm interested to hear others feedback.
 
Ok, but the top of the trigger hook(s) doesn't touch the bolt carrier. The face of the hammer does. That's the part that gets smoothed sometimes.
 
Send it back before you put any bubba marks on and void the warranty. It sounds like a short chamber to me too.
 
So, question #1 that needs to be asked.... You did clean all of Centurys shipping grease/axle grease/ cosmoline/fat rendering out of the gun right? I mean, take if completely apart and scrub it clean and reassemble every little bit including the gas tube.
 
I'm not sure that is a century AK...WASR. It has indents for the mag. well and a grip fore-end, most common on "G" kits. Are you sure that was a factory built gun, or is it a Kit someone assembled?

I would do the following:
1. Clean, get all the cosmoline out, if there is any. Clean the chamber.
2. Check fit and function. Pull rear cover, manually operate the bolt & look for things that rub (Gas piston on rear trunion, Hammer & Bolt carrier, guide rails, etc.)
3. Oil, lubricate all things that move.

If you did buy it new, dont do anything further if you find something. Return and either get it fixed or replaced. I've had to do minor tweaking things on some AK rifles, but nothing just to get them to shoot. THat is definately not normal.

Again, I'm wondering if you have a kit, assembled by someone, due to the features I see in the picture.
 
The very first thing I try on any AK having issues is to lubricate the hell out of it. Surprising how often that works. Get ya some grease.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I called Century Arms customer service twice today to start the warranty process, and got sent straight to voicemail both times. It looks like the monkeys are out for happy hour.

To answer some questions:

I have to admit that I'm at blame for the problem with the sights. When I was shooting the AK, I set the the sights to the rear-most setting, which was marked with a P. I thought that would set the sights for point blank. After Googling it today, I found this was the the default "battle" setting, which sets the range for 300 yards. Yep, that'll put a bullet a foot over a fifty yard target. I can't say for sure if it's sighted in or not, but what do you know, I bet setting the sights for the right range would clear up that issue.

I haven't cleaned the AK since I bought it. After reading Click's post, I took it apart and checked the receiver and the gas tube. Looks clean to me.

Yeah, the bolt carrier does tend to hang on the trigger, and at the very back of the receiver. However, I don't see how that would cause the rifle to jam right after a round is fired.
 
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I have a Century Draco and I have to say I have had no problems. It's only had steel cased ammo, atleast 4 different brands.
I do suggest you clean the gun well. It might have some gunk somewhere. I grease mine up as well. If that doesn't work, keep trying with the manufacture. If your warranty is up, maybe the dealer can help you out. If he won't, safe to say you're dealing with a crook anyways.
 
Does the first round feed properly?
If it feeds properly and fails to eject or feed the next round properly you might have to look at the gas system.
Is the front sight post canted? If so it could be restricting the gas port in the barrel.
You can make a dummy round and get a rough idea of the head space by manually feeding the into the chamber with the bolt. It's not a substitute for the proper gauge but it will tell if your rounds will feed or not.
 
Remove the recoil spring and bolt carrier. Look down at the hammer and trigger (don't file/grind anything), are they sitting straight in the receiver? Check to make sure that the hammer and trigger pins are inserted all the way and the wire retainer is in the grooves in those pins. Cock the hammer with your hand, moves OK? Install the bolt and carrier without the recoil spring and move it forward and back to check for interference. Are the magazines you are using genuine ComBloc or former ComBloc issue?
 
An update on the gun.

I'll admit that I am not a patient guy. So after going a week or so without hearing back from Century, I took the rifle to a local gun shop to see if their gunsmith could fix it. I got his opinion on it today. His diagnosis was, if I heard him right, that the trunnion was welded on crooked, and the piston is bent too. When I asked him about my options, he said "Nothing I can do! It's busted beyond repair. You'll have to talk about it with Century."

:cuss:

So now a Century replacement is my only option. I called them today; they apologized for the delay and they are sending me a return authorization form. Let's see if they can make this right. If not, it looks like I may be out 500 bucks.
 
Sounds like you're about to go down the Century Arms "rabbit hole". As stated above, take photos to back up your observations. Document the dates of shipping. Pay extra for delivery confirmation. Insure against "loss". Good luck.

Unlikely with them but absolutely take a refund if offered and start over again with someone else.

From your problem, you haven't even begun to cope with magazine acceptability with this one.
 
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Sounds like you're about to go down the Century Arms "rabbit hole". As stated above, take photos to back up your observations. Document the dates of shipping. Pay extra for delivery confirmation. Insure against "loss". Good luck.

Unlikely with them but absolutely take a refund if offered and start over again with someone else.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice - I never thought about doing that. I will take all the precautions listed, and also attach a copy of my receipt from the gunsmith detailing his inspection of the gun.

Century's customer service rep did offer a refund, but the problem is that I bought the gun online. Going through Century, Bud's, and whoever Buds' distributor was to try and get my money back would be a huge mess. At the end of it, I don't think the odds of getting cash in hand would be any higher than getting a new, working rifle.

Any other advice or experience in working with Century would be appreciated. When I get this rifle sent off, things are going to get interesting.
 
To add insult to injury, from the rounds it actually fired, it looks like the sights are off too. I'm a pretty poor shot, and have never used AK style sights before, but this gun was shooting a foot over a milk jug at fifty yards. I don't care if it's surplus - if I'm spending $500 for a new rifle, it should at least be sighted in.
Click to expand...

It's good for windage, then? I'd call that a huge victory. Cranking the front sight post up or down a bit is too much to ask?

No rifle I've ever bought has been truly "sighted in" upon purchase. My Vepr actually still shoots slightly left because I ran out of room drifting the front sight over (its a type 2 or whatever with integrated sights). My WW 74 is the same... both of them run perfectly, however.

The fact that yours won't cycle properly is another issue, and I'd send it back.
 
KF7LCE said:
Century's customer service rep did offer a refund, but the problem is that I bought the gun online. Going through Century, Bud's, and whoever Buds' distributor was to try and get my money back would be a huge mess.
Click to expand...
They offered a refund? Take it, IMO.
 
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