Strange AK issue

[Archer]

So I bought a WASR 10/63 about a month ago. I finally took it out to shoot last week and experienced a strange problem. I loaded up 30 rounds in each of my two magazines and inserted the first one. The first four shots were fine. Then when I squeezed the trigger, the bolt would eject the spent casing, but would stop about an inch short of going fully back into battery. I tried again, still no joy. I then removed the first mag and tried the other one. The same problem ensued. I ended up having to chamber each round by hand. After about 15 rounds with hand chambering, I removed the mag and cleared the weapon and took off the slant muzzle brake that came installed on (still not sure what made me do this). When I reinserted the mag, which at this point had about 8-10 rounds in it, the rifle functioned perfectly. At this point it was beginning to get dark, so I had to wrap up my session. I loaded another 10 or 12 rounds into the mag and they cycled fine too. Does anyone have an idea or an opinion as to what caused this? When I get some free time I'll take it out again and try to troubleshoot it. The weirdest part is that it started working once I took of the slant compensator (which, by the way, didnt control recoil at all). Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Booya]

I know one things that seems to happen pretty commonly that would stop the bolt about an inch shy. There is a lip on the bolt face that when moving forward catches a second portion of the action (receiver?) causing it to rotate correctly (may be off with some terms here). When the portion of the bolt slams home so many times it occasionally begins to flatten out, not allowing it to rotate as it should and stopping it short. Usually, working the bolt will temporarily solve this, but once it starts it has to be fixed or it will just get worse. This shouldn't have anything to do with the break, but I know I've seen this on my AK and several others. Usually, it's only a problem for FA AK's, but like I said I've seen it on several.

 

[jason765]

AK refuses to function AND be 922r compliant at the same time? I dont think the brake had anything to do with it, maybe more of a fluke that it functioned when you removed the brake. Check and smooth out your contact points inside the receiver.

 

[Mr.JAG]

Brake had nothing to do with it.

I'd start trouble shooting with the magazines considered it ran fine when they were less than half full.

 

[Archer]

AK refuses to function AND be 922r compliant at the same time? I dont think the brake had anything to do with it, maybe more of a fluke that it functioned when you removed the brake. Check and smooth out your contact points inside the receiver.

What do you mean by contact points? Sorry, I'm new to semi-auto rifles, the only ones I've owned so far have been my Mosin's and a Springfield '03.

 

[vitamink]

If you remove your bolt carrier you'll notice the bottom looks like a trapezoid, You can round the edges for a smoother transition.

polished

not polished

yes they are two different bolts (ak/saiga 12) but the carrier underside profile is the same.
You can make your ak run like buttah just by polishing the carrier and the rails. Another thing to check is if you are using promag or tapco magazines...if you are, trash them and get some quality circle 10's, steel, or us palm mags.

 

[IndyGunner]

This (from what ive read) is a rare problem for wasr's (along with canted sights, mag wobble, bold stick, etc.). Ive never had this happen to me, but that obviously doesnt mean you wont. I would try to polish and lube it, see if that fixes the problem. If not you need to contact century arms and have it fixed.


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[louielouie]

Archer,
Does your AK have a bullet guide? It will be just in front of the chamber.

Remove the dust cover bolt and bolt carrier. Now put a full magazine in.
Gently push a round off the magazine, and see if it is guided into the chamber. If it stops just before the chamber it could be you need to polish the bullet guide.

If you don't have a bullet guide you may need one.

louielouie

 

[jason765]

What do you mean by contact points? Sorry, I'm new to semi-auto rifles, the only ones I've owned so far have been my Mosin's and a Springfield '03.

Anywhere metal rides on metal. Common contact points on WASR's are bolt carrier VS dust cover, sometimes the cut on the charging handle side of the dust cover is a little rough and you can fix this by sanding the lip on the dust cover. Bolt VS hammer. Pull the charging handle back and ride it forward. If it wants to hang up half way, you have contact between the bolt and hammer. Polish the bolt and hammer or lightly sand for a more fluid action. Bolt carrier VS Rails. The bolt carrier rides on rails, polish the rails and shoot with a little grease. And top of Bolt carrier (just behind gas piston) VS Gas tube. Lightly sand or polish the front of the bolt carrier just behind the gas piston. Also make sure that you blow all excess metal dust and any foreign materials from the receiver before any lubrication is added and/or before you reassemble the weapon.

 

[Cannon]

If it worked fine when the mag was only half full, it might even just be the mag. Check the feed lips of the mag and make sure they are smooth. If they are bent inwards too much they might not let a bullet "slide" out freely or the carrier could be rubbing againist the lips of the mag. Any place that you see gouges and not light rubbing would be where I'd start.

 

[MattCFII]

Were you using hollow points? WASRs a lot of times will not feed hollow points, but they will if you bevel the bottom of chamber.

WASR10s (and other AKs) don't have or necessarily need bullet guides.

AK refuses to function AND be 922r compliant at the same time?

FWIW when you remove a part like a muzzle brake, it no longer counts againist you anymore.

 

[Archer]

First off, thanks to all of you for the help. I've sanded the lip on the dust cover. Both mags had burrs under the lips, so I'm working on that as well as polishing the bolt. I was using FMJs btw. I'll try to get out as soon as I can when I'm done with all the work and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[BlueEagle]

Mine had the opposite problem when I got it from the factory; I would fire, and the bolt would stop on its way OUT of battery, about an inch from closed. I'd have to almost kick the bolt open to get the spent casing out.

Turned out that the bolt/carrier assembly was improperly installed. Some monkey at Century mixed something up. I sent it back to them, and they fixed. Works fine now.

 

[Cherryspringer]

Ak jams

I had the exact same problem with my ak and my Russian sks. I cleaned and lubed each one. Didn't fix it. I polished everything. Didn't fix it. I bought some tapco mags. Haven't had one jam since. I'm not saying that tapcos are the answer, but they have gotten two of my rifles to run really well.

 

[Mordred]

Im a total AK nut and have dealt with just about every problem under the sun when it comes to aks. If your Ak is new, check your gas piston chamber and run a long pipe cleaner down into the gas block to make sure that hole is not obstructed in anyway. Many aks come with packing grease that gets down in there. The gun starts off fine for about the first 100 shots then heats up that grease...then clogs it. Happens more on the Yugo models because they have the rotating bolt through the gas block that comes loose. Then also do everything Vitamink said too. I use breakfree on my receiver rails.