[Zachary14Mason]

Hi. I was hoping someone could help me diagnose a problem with my ak. I put about 120 rds through it one day, rapid fire, and on the last mag I had several cartridges that would not fire. I was able to extract them by pulling the charging handle. I noticed that with two rounds that ftf, the bullet had been pushed further back into the cartridge. There were also several rounds that ftf, with no bullet setback, that look to have small chunks gouged out of the case near the rear of the cartridge, long streaks of shaved off metal, and the nose of the bullets are deformed as if rammed into something. The squashed bullet nose sounds like a feed problem, but the gouged metal suggest extraction problems. Could it be both? Are the two problems related, or did two separate things go wrong at once? Does anyone know what caused this and how to fix the problem? It's a wasr gp 10/63 FYI. Ammo was wolf FMJ 123 gr. thanks. Oh ya I'm new to this forum.

 

[Indyarms]

magazine issue most likely... Either the spring is a little bit too weak, not allowing proper feeding at the last round or two... causing the bullets to jam up against the lower portion of the chamber before they finally get shoved up in there... or the follower is hanging up on something up near the top of its stroke... perhaps carbon fouling, or mild corrosion, or just old gunk... Take the magazine apart, and stretch the spring a bit longer. AND... while you got it apart to do that... clean the hell out of the insides of the magazine and the edges of the follower. see if any of that helps...

 

[Indyarms]

Also... quite often the bolt carrier will cause those gouges you noted as it strips the top round of and feeds it into the chamber... because the next round typically fires and ejects without issue, you never see that problem...

were the failure to fires on the LAST TWO OR THREE or were they interspersed?? regardless of when... see topic above... it applies still... weak spring or gunk causing it to hang up could happen even with a partial magazine.

 

[Will-M1A]

Also... quite often the bolt carrier will cause those gouges you noted as it strips the top round of and feeds it into the chamber... because the next round typically fires and ejects without issue, you never see that problem...

were the failure to fires on the LAST TWO OR THREE or were they interspersed?? regardless of when... see topic above... it applies still... weak spring or gunk causing it to hang up could happen even with a partial magazine.

I agree. I don't think it's the ammo. I'm thinking magazines. The only way to know for sure is to buy new ones or use magazines from someone who knows they work flawlessly.

 

[Zachary14Mason]

The failure to fires were the last three rounds of the 3rd mag. They are 30 rd tapco mags. After that problem I shut it down and didn't try another mag because I didn't want to take any chances. I've never had issues with these mags before. However, I've never disassembled them for a cleaning. Also, prior to the incident I kept them fully loaded, which I now understand may weaken the spring. I certainly hope you guys are right. I've notices the buttstock is canted to the right which tells me there's an issue with the trunnion. I've read that if those trunnions are off it can lead to headspace issues that become noticeable when the rifle heats up, leading to ftfire and fte issues. Since this was the first time I ever really put this rifle through rapid fire drills, I figured it was an issue with the extractor or a headspace issue. When it comes to firearms, I tend to assume the worst. I'm also relatively inexperienced with rifles. This is my first.

 

[Zachary14Mason]

Thank you both for the advice. I'll take them apart, stretch the springs and give the mag guts a thorough cleaning. If you have any thoughts on the trunnion and possible headspace issue I'd love to hear them. Also the bolt, extractor, and rails look fine. No rough edges and it all looks relatively straight. I'm just eyeballing it though.

 

[Indyarms]

Thank you both for the advice. I'll take them apart, stretch the springs and give the mag guts a thorough cleaning. If you have any thoughts on the trunnion and possible headspace issue I'd love to hear them. Also the bolt, extractor, and rails look fine. No rough edges and it all looks relatively straight. I'm just eyeballing it though.

it is VERY Unlikely your head-space thoughts are any real issues to be concerned about. Especially the REAR trunnion... that has very little to do with how the bolt locks into battery... in fact... almost ZERO.
thats implying that your entire receiver is crooked... I highly doubt it. the bolt carrier rides along the rails in the receiver. nothing to do with the rear trunnion which holds the stock in place for the most part and adds rigidity to the receiver.

Chances are your issue is the magazine and you are being extra paranoid.

If it worked well for a while BEFORE the issue started... your RIFLE is fine. and it almost proves GUNK and dirt and carbon fouling are the root causes... CLEAN EVERYTHING. I am willing to bet things will work fine again.

Also leaving a mag spring compressed over time WILL NOT weaken the spring unless it is GARBAGE from the beginning. REPEATED compression and extensions over *LONG* periods of time will cause a spring to wear out before leaving one compressed will... NO WORRIES.

 

[Zachary14Mason]

Ok thanks alot Indyarms. That sets my mind at ease. I'll be testing it out soon.