AK 47/74 Gunsmith

[Captain1160]

I am looking for an AK platform gunsmith in the south Willamette Valley or central Oregon coast area.

Thank you

Read More

 

[eganx]

It might help if you specified what you wanted done........I for example would't call my self a gunsmith but I can do anything to an AK. So, I guess I'm saying you might have more luck finding someone with the skills your requiring if you specified the job.

 

[civilian75]

+1 - it might end up you can do it yourself, if you are so inclined, with a little help from your online friends.

 

[eganx]

+1 - it might end up you can do it yourself, if you are so inclined, with a little help from your online friends.

Good call civilian75, it could be something that we can help talk you through if your so inclined

 

[Captain1160]

I have a Vector Arms AK 47 that I purchased used but in very good condition from a reliable member of Northwest Firearms. Initial test firing went without a problem but I was only able to fire 30 or so rounds. I replaced the upper and lower forward handguards with FAB Defense Line products and I replaced the dust cover with a Texas Weapons Systems product. None of these changes is causing the stove pipe ejection issue I am having. I put all of the original equipment back on and still have the problem. I am attaching a picture I found on another web site that is exactly what I am experiencing. The research I have conducted points to the extractor or the ejector. The ejector looks and functions exactly as it should. I also have a WASR 10 and comparing how the extractor looks and functions it also appears to be working as it should. I have cleaned and lubed the rifle; I also looked for burs or some other chamber issue and found nothing. Both live rounds and spent cases fall out of or require very little help out of the chamber. I know due to headspace I can’t trade out the bolt from my WARS 10 and completely eliminate the extractor as the culprit.

How difficult is it to remove the extractor, extractor pin and spring for a more in depth examination and/or replacement? This seems to be what others are pointing to. What do you suggest or recommend for my next step. I have examined all of the components I can by field stripping the gun and everything appears to be OK. Also the case mouth becomes damaged during ejection. This damage is very consistent and occurs even when the stove pipe does not. The stove pipe occurs randomly with an average or one jam per 6 to 8 shots fired.

I do have a little mechanical experience, I work as a Firefighter/EMT and prior to that I worked in a sawmill as a skilled machine operator and Millwright assistant. So I probably just know enough to really get myself in trouble!

I think the pictures attached we shall see.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Captain1160]

Here is an example of the jam.

 

[humdrum]

Clean the recoil spring and guide. Clean and inspect the bolt carrier channel that houses recoil spring. Last, I would apply an intoxicating amount of brake cleaner/ Hoppe's into the upper handguard tube and gasblock to clean away any excess carbon build up and "free up" the gasworks. If that doesn't fix it, my main culprit would be an under-powered or worn-out recoil spring. Have fun and good luck!

 

[eganx]

I agree with humdrum.....I would clean and inspect the gas system, bolt and carrier, upper and lower guide rails, recoil spring and guide rod. Look for anything that could be creating extra friction on moving parts. I have fixed a similar problem, which was the bolt carrier rubbing the rear sight block. The drag created was just enough to let the gun extract the case, eject it, but after ejection the bolt would begin to return to battery and catch the case.

These guns are very simple, and if you can take the time to evaluate the problem and possible causes, the solutions are usually something you can do in your garage with a file, punch and hammer.

 

[Captain1160]

While preparing to begin the big cleaning I noticed a shiny spot on the dust cover at the rear lower point of the ejection port. Not only was it shiny there was some brass color as well. I have some 7.62 X 39 ammo from Double Tap that is brass cased. I used a file and a Dremel tool to remove a little material opening up the ejection port and now all is well. Fired cases are not damaged and they are landing 10 to 12 feet from where I stand.

Once I fired a bunch of ammo I came in and did a thorough cleaning and then went back out and shot some more with 100% reliability. I wish to thank those of you who took the time to help me with my AK's problem. It is good to know there is a vast amount of knowledge and people willing to share it that are just a few key strokes away.

Thanks again

 

[eganx]

Did you notch the top cover? One remedy might be to "tune" the ejector. I use the word tune very loosely. I would weld a small amount of metal in the tip of the ejector and file it down to fit in the slot of the bolt. The thought being ejecting the earlier during the bolt/carriers rearward travel might keep the spent case away from the cover. I have played with this before when repairing an AK that someone ground down the ejector on for whatever reason.....worked out well.

Another thing to look for is the location of lower guide rail. Is the front of the rail butted up against the front trunnion? If there is a gap that would put the ejector farther back giving the spent case a late ejection.

 

[Smarshy74]

I am having the same problem Captain was explaining
I bought the gun a week ago: Allied Armament, AK47, model NDS-3 (Polish) Brand New. The first 30 rounds went by smooth then I started to get a jam every 3-4 rounds consistently. Huge Buzz Kill! I took it home and cleaned it well, read this forum post and did the same thing Captain did to fix his... buffered down the ejection port. I will have cash for rounds next weekend and we will see if it fixed the problem for me also.
I am getting 8-12 feet of distance for each shell ejected... if it makes it out of the chamber. I am getting a combination of double feed, casings getting stuck in the dust cover to the left of the piston... if you can believe that, Also just a lot of casings getting chopped and jammed in several different ways in side. Here are some pictures of places I thought to be important. These were taken before I did the shaving of the ejection port.


I can not weld so that is out of the question for me. But what ever I need to do to fix this I want to get done ASAP I really love this platform.

 

[Captain1160]

I am having the same problem Captain was explaining
I bought the gun a week ago: Allied Armament, AK47, model NDS-3 (Polish) Brand New. The first 30 rounds went by smooth then I started to get a jam every 3-4 rounds consistently. Huge Buzz Kill! I took it home and cleaned it well, read this forum post and did the same thing Captain did to fix his... buffered down the ejection port. I will have cash for rounds next weekend and we will see if it fixed the problem for me also.
I am getting 8-12 feet of distance for each shell ejected... if it makes it out of the chamber. I am getting a combination of double feed, casings getting stuck in the dust cover to the left of the piston... if you can believe that, Also just a lot of casings getting chopped and jammed in several different ways in side. Here are some pictures of places I thought to be important. These were taken before I did the shaving of the ejection port.


I can not weld so that is out of the question for me. But what ever I need to do to fix this I want to get done ASAP I really love this platform.

Smarshy74

My problem was an aftermarket dust cover with a top rail. The ejection port appeared to be the same but was not. I followed suggestions from other members and enlarged the ejection port with no change. I still had jams. When I put the factory dustcover back on the problem stopped. When I placed the aftermarket dust cover on an inexpensive AK I have I couldn't believe it NO PROBLEMS it fed and ejected perfectly. My permanent solution-Leave the inexpensive factory dustcover on the Vector and leave the very expensive aftermarket dustcover on the cheap WASR 10.

All is well, both AK’s function as they should. Good luck! The other members are a great resource use them, they love to help.

 

[Smarshy74]

Smarshy74

My problem was an aftermarket dust cover with a top rail. The ejection port appeared to be the same but was not. I followed suggestions from other members and enlarged the ejection port with no change. I still had jams. When I put the factory dustcover back on the problem stopped. When I placed the aftermarket dust cover on an inexpensive AK I have I couldn't believe it NO PROBLEMS it fed and ejected perfectly. My permanent solution-Leave the inexpensive factory dustcover on the Vector and leave the very expensive aftermarket dustcover on the cheap WASR 10.

All is well, both AK’s function as they should. Good luck! The other members are a great resource use them, they love to help.

I am bummed that I read your fix post wroung... Its all good though the AK is saposed to be all beat up so I am not worried about aesthetics. The grinding I did is a small amount so no worries.

I am going to go out this weekend after the gun show and see if the problems persist. If they do, I plan on taking pictures and inspecting more so I can get some detailed help from NWFA.

 

[teflon6string]

I might as well weigh in here with my problem too, and see what we come up with. Thanks in advance for looking.

My entire front sight is canted a bit left on the barrel (from the shooter's perspective), so the front sightpost windage must be adjusted way to the right like this (__i) to shoot straight. Not the end of the world, but irritating. I'd like to adjust the whole assembly clockwise a bit, so a re-zeroed front sightpost would look more like this (_i_).

Some folks recommend bending the whole sight piece with a mallet (of course exercizing due care to protect the weapon). But my front sight has that Yugoslav flip up tritium night sight thing, and it might not flip properly if the front sight assembly is bent.

Others say to tap out the pin(s), rotate the front sight 2 degrees, re-drill a larger pin hole and tap in a bigger one, or use set screws. I would lose an eye and 2-3 fingers trying a job like that myself, and mess up the rifle too. So I'm happy to pay a pro.

Other ideas? Resources in/near Portland?

 

[Smarshy74]

An Update to my previous post.

After the gun show I went out to the range again with a new mag and three different brands of older mags. Third shoot... stove pipe. I cleared it, 2 more shots stove pipe, cleared it a third time and only more stove pipes. I removed the dust cover and shoot another 100 rounds without one stoppage. So what do you guys think? Buy a new dust cover for a Polish AK? The company that built the AK (Allied Armament) is out of business, imagine that.

I already used a buffing wheel to open up the ejection port about an 8th of an inch... should I knock off more of the opening? Is this a combination of things wrong or just the dust cover. I compared my cover to my buddies Yugo and his is much longer in overall length of the cover, so I can not use his to try it out on my Polish.

Any help would rock you guys! Thank you ahead of time.

 

[eganx]

I got a spare cover....don't know the country of origin though. If you pay shipping, $5, I'll send it to you and you can try it out and see of it fixes your problem. It will fit a polish AKM.

 

[Norm0931]

I'm in some AK trouble of my own. I bought a 7.62 Saiga a couple months ago and I've been converting it myself. I installed a Venom Tactical Bolton gas block and first test round launched the unit off the barrel about five feet. I have since re-installed it but, I'd feel more comfortable if someone more knowledgeable took a look at it. In addition, I installed a Texas AK Triggers double hook trigger group and it appears to work fine but, I'm having issues with the hammer not being low enough to allow the bolt to pass over with some "Umph" to it. Is this normal? I'm in the Hillsboro area, not sure if someone around here has a decent amount of experience with AKs and could take a look at it and give me some advice or someone knows a reasonable gunsmith in the area that could get it running for a fair price. Thanks.

 

[Stomper]

I might as well weigh in here with my problem too, and see what we come up with. Thanks in advance for looking.

My entire front sight is canted a bit left on the barrel (from the shooter's perspective), so the front sightpost windage must be adjusted way to the right like this (__i) to shoot straight. Not the end of the world, but irritating. I'd like to adjust the whole assembly clockwise a bit, so a re-zeroed front sightpost would look more like this (_i_).

Some folks recommend bending the whole sight piece with a mallet (of course exercizing due care to protect the weapon). But my front sight has that Yugoslav flip up tritium night sight thing, and it might not flip properly if the front sight assembly is bent.

Others say to tap out the pin(s), rotate the front sight 2 degrees, re-drill a larger pin hole and tap in a bigger one, or use set screws. I would lose an eye and 2-3 fingers trying a job like that myself, and mess up the rifle too. So I'm happy to pay a pro.

Other ideas? Resources in/near Portland?

I obtained a beater WASR-10 a while back that had a canted front sight like you describe. It was quite easy to give it a couple good smacks on the side of the sight with a rubber mallet to get it into alignment. You don't actually "bend" the sight, you are merely rotating it on the barrel. This shouldn't affect that Yugo flip-up grenade launcher sight mounted to the front gas-block as you would only be wacking on the front sight, now if the gas block is canted on the barrel as well then that would be a different matter... Hope that helps.