Sar-1 gas tube

[shattered00]

I have an AK-47 SAR-1, and the gas tube is a tiny bit loose. The wooden upper is tightly secured to the gas block, so it has to be the gas block that is loose and not the upper.

First, is this a common problem(it was NIB when I bought it)?

Second, please help guide me through fixing this if it is possible.

There is that little switch on the side of the gun, right under the rear sight. I assume its correct position should be where the switch fits into that slight indention. When I want to remove the gas tube, do I flip the switch up or down?

I want to emphasize that the gas tube is only slightly loose, but it still poses an annoyance to me

 

[sdcromer]

Is the gas tube loose in between the front gas block and rear sight block?

If so you can pick up a gas tube tension spring from K-Var that will always take up the slack.

http://www.k-var.com/product.asp?0=216&1=264&3=735

These leaf springs fit between the gas tube and rear sight block and are standard on Bulgarian AK's.

I have on on my SAR-1.

 

[shattered00]

It isn't loose in terms of being able to be moved forward toward the end of hte barrel or backwards towards the rear sight.

It is loose when you try and rotate it left and right while holding the upper wood guard. So if you are holding the gun, and you move the gas tube in a direction perpendicular to the way the barrel is facing, the gas tube rotates a little bit. The wood guard is tightly secured, but it moves only b/c the entire gas tube moves. I hope I am making some sense.

 

[sdcromer]

Mine is tight from side to side. In fact, the only time I notice my gas tube being loose at all is when the rifle gets really hot and the barrel expands due to heat. The leaf spring takes care of that. Pick up another gas tube and see if it's tighter.

 

[Dionysusigma]

Heck, while you're at it, get an UltiMak. Goodness knows that they're solid.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

If you don't have optics on the front handguard and the looseness isn't affecting function, I don't think you need to worry about it. Fact is, just about everything is a little bit loose on an AK--that is part of why they run so well. If it bothers you that much you could try replacing the gas tube. KVAR and possibly Krebs should sell them as well as some other places if you shop around.

And yes if you want to remove the gas tube you must a) take off the receiver cover and remove the recoil spring and the bolt/bolt carrier group (because the gas piston is part of the bolt carrier and runs through the gas tube, the gas tube can't be moved if the bolt carrier is still in the weapon) and b) flip that latch upwards. You may have to fiddle with it to find out the exact position but when the latch is in the proper position, the rear end of the gas tube, nearest to the rear sight block, can be lifted straight up. When that end is clear of the sight block, the front end of the gas tube can be pulled away from the gas block.
The Kalashnikov isn't as picky as say, an AR, but you should spray something like Break Free or Gun Scrubber through the gas tube and run a 20 gauge bristle brush soaked with Hoppes bore cleaner through it every once in a while just to keep the deposits from getting ahead of you.

 

[Jrm5204]

I bought a ventilated handguard gas tube assembly from Copes Dist. and it was a little to big for my SAR1. I took a metel file to the end of the gas tube and the little lip on the other end and it's as tight as you can get. I think the ventilated upper handguard looks alot better than the wood anyway.

http://www.copesdist.com/ak47.htm

 

[Gewehr98]

You mean one of these?

Ick.

I'll stay with wood, thank you. It worked fine for the Russians, and works fine on my SAR-1...

 

[clange]

A couple of my AKs do that. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Jrm5204]

LOL, I took off all of my non matching wood. Maybe I'll refinish it and sell it to some wood junky. I prefer the polymer Bulgarian mags over the metal mags too.

 

[kennedy]

I loosened mine up to make sure it did not interfer with the barrel, has not caused a problem. I was having a problem with it stringing shots vertically as the barrel warmed up, turned out to be a bent cleaning rod, removed it, no more problems.