Question about the AK-47

[Shadow Man]

If I were you, I would keep ANY gun pointed in a safe direction when chambering.

Machines break, and it is better that they be handled safely, rather than count on them always working the way they should.

I couldn't agree more sir, however, if a certain weapon or weapon type is more inclined to mechanical failure then I am less inclined to have it in my house at all, safe direction or not. I am not the only person who lives in my home, and curisoity being what it is, and the fact that I cannot be around my house 24/7 makes me desire a weapon that will not discharge when a fairly routine task is being performed. I know that I function check any weapon that I am handed, just to ensure that it really is unloaded. Then, of course, I proceed to distrust my eyes, and treat the weapon as if it were loaded anyway. Regardless of correct firearms handling, if the simple task of manually operating the charging handle can cause a ND, then I don't want that weapon anywhere around me. However, the good members of THR have convinced me otherwise, and I much appreciate their wisdom and expertise.

 

[justashooter in pa]

agreed that only the chinese AK have spring loaded firing pin, and not all of them. and yes, i have handled just about every kind.

 

[ny32182]

I'd consider the risk of such an event to be right on par with that of your ARs, which also have FF firing pins: the things that can cause a problem are:

-High primer
-Extremely dirty firing pin channel, to the point where the pin is not "floating", but could be stuck in the forward position.

My VEPR had a spring loaded pin; all of the other AK's I've examined to date have not. However, I don't really notice a big difference between spring loaded and not: Ejected rounds from my VEPR (spring loaded) and my buddy's Arsenal (not spring loaded) would feature virtually idential marks on the primer.

Likewise, as we all know, ARs (not spring loaded) put a dent in the primer. My two FALs (spring loaded) also put a dent in the primer. I've actually never owned any semiauto rifle that does not do this.

In a new rifle, I just make sure to check during the initial cleaning that the firing pin is moving as it should, spring loaded or not.

I actually chambered the same round in an AR about 20 times at the range once in order to try to induce a slam fire, and was not successful. Not a representative scientific sample, but enough to personally convince me that the risk with in-spec ammo is virtually nill.

I did have one slam fire in thousands of rounds in one of my old AR's one time, but was never able to figure out exactly which case it was for examination. I suspect a high primer or other ammo abnormality to be the cause.

 

[benEzra]

benEzra: So Wolf ammo should be fine? It sells fairly cheap, and I am not made of money, especially not these days...

Yes. I am partial to Wolf Military Classic 124gr JHP, myself, but shoot a lot of regular Wolf black-box also, with no problems whatsoever.

 

[TehK1w1]

Free-floating firing pins are actually fairly common in mil-surp or military pattern guns. IIRC, the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, M16/AR15, SKS, AK47, Makarov, etc all have floating pins. The SKS is the only one that seems to sometimes have problems(although mine has never slam-fired)
I've shot about 200 rounds of wolf black box through my SKS with no trouble.

 

[nalioth]

Spring loaded firing pins are the "lawyer lock" of the military style rifle world.

They're unnecessary and only there due to lawyers.

<--- same thing is behind this utter stupidity.

 

[mljdeckard]

I disagree. Like I said, my SKS has had light strikes on unfired cartridges. It's a rifle that puts economy over all else. I don't want to find out the hard way how many rounds I can fire before it has a slam-fire. This is why I plan on getting the Tapco bolt with the sprung pin. It will also allow me to remove a magazine with the bolt forward.

 

[benEzra]

Spring loaded firing pins are the "lawyer lock" of the military style rifle world.

They're unnecessary and only there due to lawyers.

Well, the SKS was originally designed with one, in a decidedly lawyer-free environment, but it was omitted to save manufacturing time and effort.

Most of the SKS's potential for slamfire comes from the fact that both the firing pin and the hole are tapered, meaning it is possible for the pin to jam in the forward position under certain circumstances, particularly if dirty. The AK and most other rifles with floating pins do not share that trait.

 

[femoralis]

Century had a recall on their golani rifles to install a firing pin spring:

http://www.centuryarms.com/notice/cia-golani-aug07.pdf

I wonder if they had problems with slam fires?

 

[stchman]

I have read this about SKS rifles. This is the first I have heard about this with an AK or a variant of.

Free floating firing pins have the possibility of slam firing when dirty, but if you keep your weapon claned and lubed the probability is very low.

 

[nalioth]

Century had a recall on their golani rifles to install a firing pin spring:

http://www.centuryarms.com/notice/cia-golani-aug07.pdf

I wonder if they had problems with slam fires?

Since they didn't modify anything that has anything to do with a slam fire, I think they had a "lawyer problem" in the form of a pre-emptive fix to prevent Joe Snuffy from having a slam fire after not cleaning his Galil and suing Century.