First outing with an AK

[gaweidert]

AK47

What ammo are you using? Some people have reported problems with the Wolf HP and the Military Classic ammo.

 

[possum]

my advise, check and clean the gas piston, tube and such, and get rid og the buffer, i think the main point of the buffer, is to lessen the wear and tear on the weapon more than lessen recoil.

 

[bvchurch]

I have no knowledge as far as how often this occurs on the WASRs, thought it sounds common. However, from a consumer standpoint, my recommendation would be to either go back to the retailer and show them the problem, or call up the importer, who I can guess is Century in this case.

 

[imprezagm4]

My brother just bought a WASR a couple days ago... wow is it a blast to shoot! He had a couple problems similar to what you were describing, but when I shot it I had no issues whatsoever... could it possibly be technique in any way? We were at a loss why it never happened when I was shooting.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

just keep runnin rounds through it. also try a different mag. I had a friend who had a mag that was junk and needed to be filed down and bent back a little bit. Ive ran the cheapest ammo I can find anywhere through it and it eats it like candy including wolf,tiger, and anything else I can get a good deal on.

 

[MMcfpd]

Ammo was Federal American Eagle 124 gr. FMJ. I've got a case of Wolf 154 gr. steel case that I'll also try on the next outing. The gun is a Lancaster AKM with a Global Trades/Armory USA receiver. Outside of the problem discussed, it seems to be a nicely put together piece that shoots well... when it shoots.

 

[MMcfpd]

And yeah, I'm looking into another magazine right now.

 

[texlurch]

MMcfd, you're local to me. If you want to try some different mags or ammo, drop me a PM. I am pretty familiar with AK's and would be happy to look it over for you.

One problem I have seen regularly is the carrier dragging on the hammer, since the G2 has a slightly taller profile than stock. Usually a little filing and polish will take care of it. I am not a fan of buffers, and have seen them cause short stroking before.

And definatley check the gas port; a pipe cleaner works well for that.

Also, in your original post, you say it was failing to cock? Do this function check. Remove mag, and top cover. Cock, and dry fire, and keep the trigger pulled. Now cock again, and look to see if the hammer is caught by the disconnector. If so, release the trigger and the hammer should catch on the trigger. Do this a few times real fast, and note if the hammer follows at any point. If so, some tuning on the trigger is in order.

 

[MMcfpd]

Thanks, texlurch! I will try that test tomorrow evening.

 

[Toten Kopf]

Not to add fuel to the fire, but some of the kits that I have built showed heavy impact marks on the rear trunnion from the rear of the bolt head and carrier.

You could easily see the indentations from the rear of the bolt and carrier. I use BlackJack Buffers (green) in all my AK's (factory and builds) and have never had any problems.

As a side note, a seasoned AK builder had the rear rivets begin to shear from bolt/carrier impact. The rivets were faulty (weak/shearing) but it does show that impact does occurr, heavily at times.

As far as the problem that started this thread, I have no clue (without actually seeing it).

 

[MMcfpd]

Well, it's now one clean AK. I didn't find much of any deburring to be done; it's an Armory USA receiver and it's pretty clean, as are the parts. It passed the function test suggested by texlurch easily.

So, I'll take it out again in the morning and try again, still, for now, retaining the factory buffer. I do have some Wolf I'll use, as well as a couple of steel mags I picked up at a gun show today.

I'm hoping it's a break-in thing at this point. I have had a couple of other guns change somewhat after they had a few hundred rounds through'em. We'll see.

 

[amprecon]

After taking my AK out for the first or second time half-way through a mag the trigger froze up, I mean it would not budge, it was stuck in the forward position. Puzzled, I removed the cover and spring and piston assembly and looked down onto the trigger assembly and to my surprise found a small piece of machining metal stuck between the bottom of the receiver and the back of the trigger where it passes through the bottom blocking any and all movement of the trigger rearward. Upon removing the metallic debris this rifle has functioned flawlessly ever since and is just a plain hoot to shoot.
I am a K.I.S.S. type of person and these guns are the epitome of that indeed, along with Glocks.

 

[texlurch]

MMcfpd, what's the verdict?

 

[MMcfpd]

This morning I put about 150 rounds through it, and I think the failure to cock problem went away. I did have one odd failure using Remington in the factory magazine - a fresh round chambered, and there was another loose in the gun(?). Other than that, though, it went well. Using Wolf in the factory mag and in the two steel surplus mags I got at a gun show yesterday worked fine, and I tried a mag load of Remington in one of the surplus mags without a problem.

Breaking in, perhaps? Or something wasn't sitting quite right and just stripping and reassembling put it right?

One way or another, I think I'm starting to like this gun.

 

[Prince Yamato]

It's probably just excess bits of metal inside the gun. I couldn't "see" anything inside my ak-74, but after the gunsmith did a quick deburring, everything worked fine. Aparently, the chief fault lay im that little talon like piece of metal that directs ejected brass. The smith said that it was actually cutting into the bullets and holding them in place. He sanded it. Gun works fine. You probably corrected the problem on your own by "sanding" the ejector down by firing enough brass through it.

As far as ammo goes, these guns could fire a turd if it had a primer attached to it. The whole, "it doesn't like wolf ammo... so I fired silver bear through it..." All the Russian ammo comes out of the same factories, they just slap a different animal (or insect in the case of Monarch) on it. I could never tell a damn bit of difference between the ammo when I fired it.

 

[AK103K]

All the Russian ammo comes out of the same factories, they just slap a different animal (or insect in the case of Monarch) on it. I could never tell a damn bit of difference between the ammo when I fired it.

There is a difference in the ammo, its not all made at the same place. I believe most come from the Russian Cartridge Plants Association-JSC, who are made up of the Barnaul Machine Tool Building Plant, the Novosibirsk Low Voltage Plant, and the Ulyanovsk Machine Tool Plant.

Barnaul is the maker that I've always found to be the most consistent, hotter, and usually the most accurate, especially the SP's. If it says Barnaul on the box, your probably better off. If you can find the old "Barnaul" labeled ammo, even better, as it was always good stuff.

Wolf, is generally not the better of them, although the last lot of 154 grain SP's I got has been very good. In general though, its very inconsistent between lots, and its the only Russian ammo I've shot that has had misfires.

For general short range blasting, as long as you get no misfires, or hang ups with HP, its all good. If you shoot a little farther out, I'd stick with the Barnaul, or try a coule of boxes of the heavier 154 grain Wolf.