New AK problem.

I've shot a bunch of Tula in 7.62x39 and in some other pistol calibers. I've never had one fail to go off.

As far as your AK - Tula's primers are tough, but Soviet surplus is tougher. Never heard of an AK that failed to ignite them.

IO rifles do not have a good reputation. They are commonly considered the worst AK's made. Could be a spring, could be the firing pin, could be the hammer, could be the bolt.

I've shot thousands of rounds of tula and never had a failure to fire with 7.62x39. I did have some failures with wolf .45acp ammo but that was a case length issue in that the gun was not going into battery. The issue may be the hammer thing you noticed or the rounds may not be chambering correctly

Did you compare the spent case primers to the no-fire cartridges? If you see a difference, proly the first thing I would do is pull the firing pin clean both the pin and the pin channel, then reinsert the pin WITHOUT lubrication.

It is kind of angled, making contact at the top but not the bottom. Is this correct??

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The hammer should rest against the tail sticking out at the rear of the bolt.

Not to pile on.... but here's Another vote for the problem being your rifle, I've shot A LOT of tula, brown bear, wolf, chinese, yugo.... 7.62x39 and it all went bang in any of the rifles I own in that caliber.

Heres a link for a video that shows the system working but may give you some ideas for what to look for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad_4whlPGzU

Changed, better video... On my WASR the bolt / firing pin are rear of the carrier as shown. If your hammer is hitting the tail on the bolt, somethings off by a-lot.

Its always possible to get a bad lot of ammo, a few years ago everyone was raving about Golden Tiger 7.62x39, I had the issue the OP describes in long proven guns with it. Try a different brand (or at least different lot number) before panicking.

Cleaning the firing pin and its channel is also worthwhile.

Comparing the firing pin dimples between the ones that fired and the ones that didn't should let you rule out a bad firing pin, but FOD in the firing pin could soften the blow (the dimple happens over a longer period of time crushing the primer instead of detonating it despite a good dimple. But it could just be a bad lot of ammo.

Jogar, do you know the difference between an AK and an AR? You must be firing your AR, because they never work right.

Everyone on the internet (and Outdoor Channel TV shows) knows that AKs will work every time, they never ever fail.

What is the possibility that the primers are being pushed deeper by the firing pin?

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With factory ammo about nil, with reloads, it happens sometimes, my experience is when it does they pretty much always fire with a second strike.

Part (most) of what you see is the fired primers get pushed back a bit from firing while the duds don't.

I have a Polytech 5.56 AK that had a lot of misfires until I cleaned some crud out of the firing pin channel.

I hate to say it, but the problem is most likely with the rifle, not the ammo. I have a few AK's and have never had a light primer strike with any of them. If your rifle has an aftermarket hammer, it may be out of spec (too long or wrong shape) and that is what is causing it to strike high on the end of the bolt.

I just finished a batch of Tula I purchased last year. About 20% out of 500 rds would have a hang fire (about a half second delay). Got real irritating but all rds fired.

Check if bolt is fully closed in battery. I had a RPK did that and I found it was the bolt not fully closed. There was a machining defect on the bolt carrier rubbing energy off and causing intermittent bolt not closed. When hammer strikes, bolt closed but not enough energy to fire the primer. Push the bolt handle before you pull the trigger to check. I had a 7.62x39 AR did the same thing and I put a heavier buffer and buffer spring to fix. Make sure the bolt/carrier/rails are lubed well also.

straight-shooter said:

I just finished a batch of Tula I purchased last year. About 20% out of 500 rds would have a hang fire (about a half second delay). Got real irritating but all rds fired.

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Not my experience!

I'm not an AK expert, but I owned one for a while.
Shot a good bit of Tula x39 (and other Russian ammo) through the AK, a Mini 30 and two ARs.
No problems with any of them.

jogar80 said:

Well that sucks!!! The rounds that didnt fire all had dimpled primers. Reloaded them and they still would not fire...

Dont know anything about AKs, but looking at mine, the hammer does not rest squarely on the back of the bolt. It is kind of angled, making contact at the top but not the bottom. Is this correct??

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It's not just the "dimple" but rather how firm and hard the firing pin strikes the primer. The sudden force of the strike is what makes the primer go bang. Soviet primers, as mentioned, are tough and require a good firm hard strike. The fact the primers show a dimple really doesn't tell the whole story.

Good luck with the rifle.

Ron

The problem is that the AK you bought is an IO which is also known by three other letters.....POS. Sell your rifle and buy a com bloc foreign made AK. Cut your losses before that thing blows up in your face.

Watch Rob Ski's review of the IO he tested and see what could happen. Do some other research on how poorly those are made.

The problem is that the AK you bought is an IO which is also known by three other letters.....POS. Sell your rifle and buy a com bloc foreign made AK. Cut your losses before that thing blows up in your face.

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I hate to be a jerk, but I agree.

IO AKs are not known for quality, many cast parts just like several other US made AKs, it is cheaper than other AKs but I still would not buy one at $500! Light primer strike is not a problem that IO AK is known for. Don't sell a gun to others with known issue without telling the buyer and never sell a gun to others that maybe unsafe. Light primer strike is known on some bolt guns and ARs firing steel case 7.62x39, but not AK and SKS that are designed to digest the 7.62x39 steel case ammo. It is not a difficult trouble shooting. Check if the bolt close fully, measure the firing pin protrusion. My 7.62x39 RPK (AES-10B) has 0.055" protrusion, my 7.62x39 AR has 0.046" protrusion. Did you bend the hammer spring? Some AK owners bend the hammer spring to reduce trigger pull. I did that too when I had my AKs and no light primer strike issue. I shoot 7.62x39 Tula/Wolf a lot. How is the hammer hitting the firing pin? When bolt not fully closed, it will hit the bolt first and lose energy when hits the firing pin. When you remove the recoil spring and cycle the bolt/carrier, you should feel smooth and little resistance. The RPK gave me problem is actually a 308 RPK and it was jerky when closing the bolt. I dealt with IO before, and their CS is OK, they took my rifle back and exchanged. If it is under warranty, return it to IO. Hey I will take your IO AK if you want to sell it cheap!

The IO AK is not an amazing quality collector piece but is also not nearly as bad as many will tell you.

For the record, I've had issues with Tula in several AK's and an SKS. I've got a thread going on the Hi Point forum and at least 4-5 people say they've had the same issues I have had, which are completely dead primers and case head seperations.

This isn't your dad's Tula. I used to shoot that stuff by the case with zero issues. Last time I went out and fired it I had to throw away a couple of rounds that had dead primers. Before we had to smack the casings out of a Mak-90 with a metal rod and a hammer because the head ripped off and left the case body stuck in the gun...twice.

Any other gun people would say check ammo first. With an IO, instead of being helpful, you get 20 posts from guys who have never had one telling you to just toss it in the garbage.

Sounds like the drunk monkeys that used to make Century CETME's are now making IO AK's.......

From your description, the hammer axis pin is too far back. See your gunsmith for possible correction.