First trip to range with 54r vepr; total failure

[Cryogaijin]

My extractor wasn't extracting. At all. The gun would strip a round out of the magazine, load it, and fire it just fine. But it would leave the spent case in the chamber of the barrel. Did this 15-20 times or so, with only one single successful extraction in the mix.






Does it with brass or steel cased, new or old manufacture.

Took everything apart and put it back together, and finger loaded a spent case, and let the bolt shut on it. The cart was then jammed into the chamber so tightly that I needed to tap the bolt handle with a rubber mallet to get it to release. This leads me to believe the chamber might be miscut. Any thoughts?

 

[brbdwyr]

Yup. Time to check the chamber. Or chuck up a .410 brass brush in your cordless and get in there with some oil and scrub away.

Extractor "looks" fine. How's the extractor spring? Will the rim OF A SPENT SHELL fit under the lip of the extractor?

 

[Jcinnb]

I am sorry to hear that. Got mine a year ago, that was built in June 2012. Had the terrible wood, but works to perfection. Hope you get yours going. Good Luck.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

When you ejected the round by hand, did you examine the bullet and cartridge closely? Also, any visual inspection of the chamber? Were there scratch marks or dents or other impressions on the case in any location? Rifling marks on the bullet? How is the spent brass?

A chamber cast and examining brass can tell you a lot, but any chamber work will probably warranty repair by the factory. Getting in touch with the distributor is a good idea. If it is a new rifle they will probably be very accomodating.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I hope the VEPR serves their original designers well if it comes to that and it looks like it will.

Mike

 

[Cryogaijin]

The Casing looks good, as does the chamber. I can get the extractor to grab onto spent shells all day, and it holds them reasonably strongly.

 

[ATCDoktor]

I have had this one for about a year and a half and have had no problems (about 3000 rounds of corrosive surplus both heavy and light ball)



That said, there is a forum dedicated to the VEPR line of firearms and the X54 subforum has a good deal of info on the platform.

I haven't seen any problems reported there that mimic yours but currently there's a 10 page thread on a broken extractor (mis labeled in the title as a broken ejector) that may shed some light on your concern.

http://vepr.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2107

 

[Cryogaijin]

Posted there first.

 

[db_tanker]

I know its just a pic but wow...there just doesn't look like enough clearance from the bolt face to the edge of the extractor.

and those dang x54 rounds have a THICK rim...

 

[carbine85]

I know its just a pic but wow...there just doesn't look like enough clearance from the bolt face to the edge of the extractor.

and those dang x54 rounds have a THICK rim...

I don't anything about these rifles but I know the round. I agree that there doesn't appear to be much clearance for the rim of the case.

 

[jakk280rem]

Is the VEPR a controlled round or push feed design? Does the rim slip under the extractor at the time it clears the magazine or does the extractor pop over the rim when the cartridge bottoms out in the chamber?

 

[123mustang]

I don't really want to offend anyone but in my humble opinion, i do not see anything special about this round that the 308 cannot do.
Also am not such a big fan of the vepr's. I think they are overbuilt aks. They will still not get the accuracy one can expect from bolt action rifles or comparable semi auto rifles like the sigs, ar15's or the m-14 or garand etc.
Just my opinion

 

[jbauch357]

sorry, never mind, finally read the whole thread and my comments had been covered.