Arsenal SLR106CR failing to eject

Do you have any other magazines to test? The rifle may be short cycling fro. Lack of gas at the piston, the bolt may be rubbing the mag, recoil spring could be bad. It is very hard to diagnose from twopictures without being able to handle the rifle.

I believe Larry Vickers said that 5.56 AKs are much more prone to malfunction than 7.62 and 5.45.

Looks like either the bolt is losing control of the case or you're rifle is short stroking.

Silly things first: Got a buffer in there? What muzzle device are you using? Chopped barrel and no booster? What ammo are you using?

1) Extractor: Strip the bolt and clean it and the parts. Examine the extractor for chips or dull edge. Look for a broken extractor or extractor axle.

2) Ejector: Remove the dust cover and recoil spring. The ejector should be straight and the forward edge should be sharp and not peened. Slowly pull back on the bolt carrier and look at the ejector as is moves thru the slot in the bolt face. The ejector should fill the slot.

3) Receiver: Move the bolt carrier slowely back and forth. The bolt carrier should move smoothly back and for. Some resistance as you move the bolt carrier over the hammer is ordanary.

BSW

AE 223 is on the weak side of .223 but your AK should work with it.

Before you start modifying parts do the 3 steps I outlined above.

I'd be awfully surprised if your hammer was the problem, unless it had part broken off and was stopping the action.

If you can, when you have everything apart, take some pics. There may be some detail you've missed that's relevant.

BSW

I had the same problem with mine. I was shooting reloads. They worked fine in my AR, but they were on the light side for the AK. I think I was under gassing it. I shot some LC 5.56 M855 green tip and didn't have a problem with the rifle for 100 rounds. I am waiting for .223 bullets to work up a load that is a little heavier using Reloader 15.

Edit. I just got my range book out and realized there is more information. Something I forgot to mention. I was loading on the low end for the powder and projectile I was using. My reloads didn't dent as badly as the Milsurp ammo I was using and recoil was increased with the M855. Also, I only experience my first malfunction with the reloads after 70 rounds. I am really thinking that the bolt carrier just requires more oomph.

I'd try using different mags and see how that works for you. I don't know how the bullet guide works on the 5.56 arsenals (or if there is one), but I'd take a look at that.

There is a bullet guide in the 556 Arsenal rifles. It guides the cartridges into the chamber and has the bolt closing cam on it.

Nothing to do with extraction and ejection.

BSW

Send it to Arsenal if under warranty. You said... time doesn't permit you to test it yourself for awhile. May as well let them solve the problem for free.

5.56 AKs are kind of an oddball thing anyway. The original design was made for cartridges with a more pronounced bottle neck which can make a difference. (The flip-side is 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 AR-15s can have issues too.)

Circle 10 magazines are great AK mags (in Soviet calibers) but I have never used one in 5.56 NATO. I would assume they are of the same high quality though. The newer Polish Beryl magazines are supposed to be okay. Maybe try them. However, a magazine issue usually causes FTF rather than FTE in my experience.

Best guess is that you need ammo with a little more power and maybe try steel case.

ol' scratch said:

I had the same problem with mine. I was shooting reloads. They worked fine in my AR, but they were on the light side for the AK. I think I was under gassing it. I shot some LC 5.56 M855 green tip and didn't have a problem with the rifle for 100 rounds. I am waiting for .223 bullets to work up a load that is a little heavier using Reloader 15.

Edit. I just got my range book out and realized there is more information. Something I forgot to mention. I was loading on the low end for the powder and projectile I was using. My reloads didn't dent as badly as the Milsurp ammo I was using and recoil was increased with the M855. Also, I only experience my first malfunction with the reloads after 70 rounds. I am really thinking that the bolt carrier just requires more oomph.

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I just took mine to the range again today. I tried a different batch of my reloads that were loaded hotter for longer range. They worked very well and the rifle ran like a top. I sent about 100 rounds down range without a single malfunction. I even got cocky and pulled the top cover off and threw a bunch of dirt in the action and then dumped it out. It still ran like clock work. I have to shave some metal off the top cover because it is dinging the heck out of my brass, but I am happy with the results.

That doesn't look right to me.

How much clearance does it have with respect to the bolt?

BSW

Looks like you're headed in the right direction. I'd also check the mags. The only time I've ever has a single malfunction in any of my 106s was with Gen1 ((10)) mags. With the gen 2 ((10))s or Beryl mags they've been as reliable as any other AKs I have.

The bolt to ejector clearance shouldn't be that large. Less than 1mm (more like .25 to .5mm if my memory is correct) for sure.

Can you remove the recoil spring (so you're not fighting it) and take a pic of the bolt face just as the ejector passes thru it?

BSW

OP, I see nothing in your pictures of your ejector that is any different than mine.

For perspective, here is the ejector on my Arsenal SLR 106FR 5.56. I used the Macro setting on my camera to get close up shots. I hope it helps.

Mine has about 750 rounds thru it with no malfunctions. Brass and steel.

ETA: I have only used (4) 30 round Circle 10 mags with this rifle.



View from below/bottom:

I'm late to this thread and my only experience with a stovepiping AK was with 7.62x39 in a CAI Romanian bullpup, but check if the bolt has side-to-side play when the ejector tip is flush with the bolt face.

On mine, the receiver wasn't bent quite right and the bolt could some times move to the side enough to have the ejector just barely nick the empty case causing very weak ejection. The failure was erratic and it mostly worked, about 3 or 4 stovepipes per hundred, didn't matter what mags were used.

My solution was to squeeze the receiver to where it probably should have been using a large vice to take out enough of the side play so the ejector always hit the case solidly.

With a premium priced gun of supposedly higher quality I'd send it back for repair if you have this side play in yours.

My "proof" was to remove the top cover and recoil spring put an empty under the extractor in front of the ejector and slowly move the bolt carrier back while pressing on the bolt head from left to right with a screwdriver and when I saw the ejector miss the case I knew exactly what the problem was. Hasn't failed since the "fix".

so the SLR's actually do have curvy ejectors?

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I suspect its to help be sure they hit the 5.56x45 cases as opposed to the 7.62 or 5.45 x 39 Russian case heads.

Look at tmoore912's 4th photo. If you mentally follow the arc of the bolt face across the ejector gap, you can see from the ejector wear that only about half of it is hitting the case to eject it. Won't take much side play of the bolt to cause ejection problems.

I'm pretty sure the rib stamped into the ejector is there to stiffen it.

BSW

I'm pretty sure the rib stamped into the ejector is there to stiffen it.

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The photo sure looks like the ejector tip tilts upward after the bend. Do Arsenal's in 5.45 and 7.62 also have ejectors with the stamped rib? No other 5.45 or 7.62 AK ejectors seem to need stiffening.