In early 2013, I purchased a new Waffen Werks AK-74. For a variety of reasons, mostly financial, I never shot the rifle...until last week. I experienced a variety of malfunctions, including double feeds, a few FTE, and a spent casing that was stuck in the bore so firmly that I had to disassemble the rifle and use a cleaning rod, mallet, and a set of pliers to remove it. I also experienced some keyholing. This was with Silver Bear FMJ ammo out of Tapco mags.*
Some online research revealed that these problems were common in the Waffen Werks offerings of the time. A quick email to DDI (who bought out the Waffen Werks brand and has since turned them around admirably) confirmed that a defective receiver and out of spec barrel were the probable cause, as they have fixed many of the Waffen Werks rifles under warranty.
I now would like to seek some recommendations from the INGO collective. I don't want to sell the rifle to someone else, as it just would pass the problem on to another person. Per DDI, they will not honor any warranties from a Waffen Werks purchase from that long ago, so my options, best I can tell, are as follows:
1. Treat it like an expensive parts kit, buy another receiver and barrel, and have a new rifle built up from that.
2. Sell it, with full disclosure, to another INGO member who feels comfortable dealing with the problem.
3. Test it with another, better, magazine, such as Circle 10/20, etc, and see if that could be the issue (probably won't do anything for the keyholing or stuck case issues).
4. ?????????
Before I do any of the above, I'm going to give it a thorough clean/lube session, and see if that helps at all, but I've never had this many problems out of an AK before. Having to do all of this kind of takes away one of the major perceived advantages of the AK platform....reliability.
Any help/recommendations offered is greatly appreciated. Also, any leads to AK builders in Indiana is welcome as well.*
Some online research revealed that these problems were common in the Waffen Werks offerings of the time. A quick email to DDI (who bought out the Waffen Werks brand and has since turned them around admirably) confirmed that a defective receiver and out of spec barrel were the probable cause, as they have fixed many of the Waffen Werks rifles under warranty.
I now would like to seek some recommendations from the INGO collective. I don't want to sell the rifle to someone else, as it just would pass the problem on to another person. Per DDI, they will not honor any warranties from a Waffen Werks purchase from that long ago, so my options, best I can tell, are as follows:
1. Treat it like an expensive parts kit, buy another receiver and barrel, and have a new rifle built up from that.
2. Sell it, with full disclosure, to another INGO member who feels comfortable dealing with the problem.
3. Test it with another, better, magazine, such as Circle 10/20, etc, and see if that could be the issue (probably won't do anything for the keyholing or stuck case issues).
4. ?????????
Before I do any of the above, I'm going to give it a thorough clean/lube session, and see if that helps at all, but I've never had this many problems out of an AK before. Having to do all of this kind of takes away one of the major perceived advantages of the AK platform....reliability.
Any help/recommendations offered is greatly appreciated. Also, any leads to AK builders in Indiana is welcome as well.*