AK 75 round drum problem

[JohnnyK]

I have a Romanian 75 round drum for my AK and it is the one where you open the back and feed the rounds.... I took it to a 3-gun match figuring I'd have an advantage over people using 30 round mags.... yeah right... I wound it all the way so it would feed the rounds and after maybe a dozen or 2 rounds it lost all tension like the tension release button was pressed... but you have to remove the cover to access the button to release pressure and I didn't do that...
I got pissed as I came in last place cause you can't get points if you can't hit targets cause the drum won't feed... anyways I put the drum in a corner for a while... I took it to the range today and it did the same thing... after maybe 2 dozen shots it just died... anyone have any advice? this was just a cool toy but it's not so cool anymore... thanks, Johnny

 

[Positivity]

Have you looked at the mechanism which holds the tension in the drum? Perhaps a part is broken, or several parts are loose or out of place.

 

[JohnnyK]

it's a button that holds the tension... the button must be pressed pretty hard to release tension... but it seems to lose tension instantly... nothing looks broken... and it holds tension on its own... it's just when I'm shooting it...

 

[Positivity]

Do you think that the recoil might provide enough of a shove on the button when it shakes to release the tension?

 

[JohnnyK]

it's the only thing I can think of but it's not supposed to... anyone else has this issue?

 

[mortablunt]

I've never heard of that issue with drum mags before; I've always heard that the problem was that they would jam due to their higher complexity. Therefore, they were never popular with military forces. There's not all that much literature on your issue. My guess is that the magazines are old and worn out.

 

[CSestp]

I had the same problem, then I followed these instructions and it worked flawlessly.

http://cheaperthandirt.com/blog/?p=173

 

[briansmithwins]

How much are you winding it up? Too much tension will damage the drum and too little will cause FTFeed as the rounds won't snap up into position to be loaded.

That you can still use it tells me that the spring is ok. Have you cleaned it? Lubricated?

I can take pictures of how to disassemble the drum. But I won't be able to do that for. Few days.

BSW

 

[JohnnyK]

@Csestp which instructions are you talking about that fixed the issue?... I loaded it up to spec and after maybe 24 round it just lost tension completly.... what did you do to fix it? thanks

@Briansmithwins... you can't wind it up too much as it won't let you... it'll stop winding once you fully wind it... it's clean... I've only used it maybe 3 times... I did lube it with froglube... I don't want to disasaemble it...

 

[briansmithwins]

Yes, they can be over wound. I'm afraid that dissassembly is your best bet for figuring out what's actually going on.

Look on the bright side, the drum is worthless now, so it's not like you can do any more damage.

BSW

 

[CSestp]

Did you click on the link I posted?