Corriea/other VEPR experts...

[ny32182]

The new handguard for my VEPR K 7.62x39 should be getting here soon.

My old one melted through to the metal, and required a rubber mallet to remove. Is this common? Is there anything I can do about it? Put more washers in between the barrel and handguard? Thanks.

 

[Correia]

You melted THAT handguard???????

Holy crap. I've put a lot of rounds through a Vepr, and I've never had any sort of problem with the stock handguard.

How many rounds did you shoot through it, and how fast? I'm guessing that if you melted that big honking chunk of plastic, you have probably really damaged your barrel.

 

[ny32182]

150 rounds, rapid semi fire (not bump fired).

The guy at RA told me that he has never seen one melted, but I just find that hard to believe. It is plastic in contact with the barrel. I don't see any way to keep it from melting.

By "melted through to the metal", I mean, melted through to the metal plate inside the plastic handguard. The rifle was still perfectly functional; in fact I didn't know there was a problem until I got home to clean it and noticed the handguard wasn't straight anymore. At that time I tried to remove it, had to use the mallet to knock it off, and discovered the melting problem.

The original idea behind the 150rds was to see if the locktyte on the front sling stud would hold. It didn't. I have bought some sling swivels for it now, and plan to add a normal shoulder sling, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

When the new handguard gets here, I will take it with me on the next range trip and see if the groups have changed.

 

[Correia]

Ok, when you said melted through to the metal, I envision turning it into plastic glop and sticking it right to the barrel. That handguard is so thick and heavy I was thinking that you would have needed to turn your barrel red to do that.

150 fast probably didn't really harm your barrel. I've done about that many, probably at a quicker pace, and my barrels still hold good groups.

Honestly though, you are the first person I'm aware of that has damaged that handguard with heat.

 

[tomkatz]

Is your handguard like mine in the pic? I have rapid fired 200 rounds through this one with no ill effects.....I too have never heard of any vepr melting down like you described........tom

 

[Bullet]

tomkatz

Nice looking rifle.

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

they're pretty. im about to receive a few of them into inventory!

 

[ny32182]

Tomkatz, nice pic. Yes, it is the exact same handguard. I took some pics:

In this one, you can see the melting on the inside:



And in this one, taken from the bottom, you can see how the hole for the front sling swivel stud that holds the handguard on is no longer centered, which is why the hanguard was slightly "crooked" when I got home. I was never able to get this handguard on again:



Maybe mine just came from a bad batch or something with the wrong plastic that melts too easily (is that even possible)? I hope so, cause I'm out of ideas on how to keep it from happening again. I'll just keep the gun a lot cooler, I guess.

 

[Correia]

For those of you who haven't seen a Vepr, their handguard is huge.

And for the record, I sell lots of Veprs, and I'm friends with the guys at Robarms, and this is a new one on me. Those pictures blow me away. My best guess would be that you got a bad piece of plastic. Seriously dude, that is weird.

 

[Preacherman]

Perhaps you should insert a couple of deep-frozen washers immediately before your next range session?

 

[ny32182]

lol..

Hopefully it was just a bad peice of plastic then. I will check the new one for signs of melting after every range session.

 

[cslinger]

WOW

I have been known to, on occassion, possibly, sometimes....run a few fast strings COUGH 200 rounds or so COUGH very quickly through my VEPR and that has never happened to me and my handguards were hot, really hot.

I have never seen or heard of that happening with a VEPR.

Come on fess up......150 rounds WINK WINK, NUDGE NUDGE, you can tell us.

 

[ny32182]

I had been doing some slowfire before hand for groups at 100 yards (which were not as good as usual... but I had just switched to the polymer coated Wolf FMJ. Before, I was using the laquered HP... I don't know if it was that, or the fact that my front swivel stud was torqued in a little more firmly than usual, and locktyted in my effort to get it to stay put).

Anyhow, after the slowfire, I dumped five mags through about as fast as I could pull and change mags.

I did fire more than 150rds that day, but there is no way that the barrel was any hotter than "lukewarm" when I started. I remember checking to make sure I could grab the barrel with no discomfort prior to the 150rds.

At over $50 a pop for new handguards though, I don't know if I'll be inclined to find out if it was a bad peice of plastic or not.

Next range trip, I will have the new handguard and sling on there, and the sling stud will not be as tight as it was last time. If the groups don't go back to the way they were, I won't know whether to chalk it up to the ammo change, or the 150rd speed test...

 

[cslinger]

Ehhh stuff happens. I get upset when one of my firearms as a bit of a hiccup of some kind but on the whole I am amazed what these machines can take as far as abuse. I mean think about what they are designed to do in harnessing an explosion again and again with all the heat and force that goes with it. Chalk it up to bad plastic or a fluke.

Remember though there are very few rifles that are designed for sustained rapid fire.....they make Squad level weapons for those.

 

[ny32182]

Well after all, that is what the VEPR is, correct? Essentially a squad auto converted to semi?

 

[Bullet]

Quote - "At over $50 a pop for new handguards though, I don't know if I'll be inclined to find out if it was a bad peice of plastic or not."


Shouldn't your new handguard be paid for by a warranty or something?

 

[tomkatz]

We used two 75 round drums plus a couple 30 round mags to abuse mine and it is just as accurate as it was beforehand, but it definately got a little warm.....these guns should take most anything you can put em through in semi auto mode from what I've heard, that's why I bought one.....
hopefully it was just some bad plastic like you said.....let us know how it goes......tom

 

[ny32182]

RA offering to pay for it would have been very nice, but I suppose there is no way for them to know that it really was 150rds rather than a whole bump fired case that caused the problem. They have been very helpful on the phone in the two times that I have had to call them.

Honestly, I don't see how this doesn't happen all the time. Plastic is a material that melts at high temps, and barrels get hot when you give them a workout. How is this not a common occurance? I imagine it would have melted sooner had I used it for 3 gun last summer.

 

[LoadedDrum]

Another possible solution is that tri rail handguard from ultimak. Corriea, you wouldn't happen to know if it fits a Vepr would you?

 

[Correia]

I use mine for 3gun, and so do a couple of other guys in my club. Still haven't seen anything like this. Plus unless you at the Ironman, most 3gun rifle stages are only going to be a few magazines at the most. Beyond that it is too hard to design stages.

 

[ny32182]

The handguard came in today.

I ordered the standard handguard; they sent me the ventilated handguard for the cost of the standard. I thought that was a nice gesture, and a surprise, as they didn't mention it on the phone. It also has an extra sling swivel on the left side.

I got sling swivels for the front and rear studs, and added a sling.

I just have one question. What is the washer setup that will reduce the chances of melting this thing as much as possible? It came with the normal oblong black one, and a silver round one (standard washer). The imprint in the new handguard is for the round one. I think the old one was imprinted for the oblong one. Should I put the round one in first, and the black one on top of that? Round one only?

I'll post a quick pic here in a few min.

 

[ny32182]

Here are some new pics. Notice the sling swivel on the left side.