Ak-74 FTE problem

Glock23gp · Feb 28, 2013

I recently got a Romanian CIA Ak74 on trade that looks new on the outside and the guy I got it from is a good friends brother in law. He told me he traded it to his brother and has 500rds through it.

I just took it out and fired 60 rds through it and all but 5 or so I had fte problems. I did some research online and saw most guys having ejector problems but i have had several people look at my ejector and found no problems with it or the spring.

Plastic mags have 1/8 in play so I was thinking of that but assume that would cause more of a ftf vs fte...?

I have been staring at it for 3hrs or so and saw some minor machining problems and some burs i filed flat.

I was just getting ready to put it back together and noticed the bolt appears bent where the steel threads in to the piston part.

Wondering if anyone is familiar with these and/or this sounds like a possible culprit. There appears to be some possibly "more than normal" wear on where the steel threads into the piston rod possibly from rubbing on the front receiver.

Pics show the gap in the middle and rotated 180° in 2nd pic with big gap on the piston side.

deen_ad · Feb 28, 2013

Looks like you've hit on a problem and I agree: it looks bent and there is excess wear too. Not sure if that's enough to cause problems though. Any AK is hard to keep from working.

ma96782 · Mar 1, 2013

ASSUMING that you've properly lubed your weapon.

Failure to extract is usually caused by:

Under powered ammo.
Rough or Dirty chamber.
Broken/worn extractor.

A little more difficult to track down are:

Wrong sized gas port.
Or other mechanical issues (out of spec parts, worn parts, tight fitting parts, bent parts, burrs, etc....).

As for how your piston is attached to the OP rod. Well, the piston on one of my AKs (a Saiga) is not attached tightly to the OP rod, allowing for a little movement (side to side and up and down). Then, I have 3 other AKs that have the piston part attached tightly. And, I always assumed that they were straight. But anyway, they all work wonderfully straight out of the box.

A bent Op rod or an incorrectly attached gas piston to OP rod? Yes, it could happen.

So, do you know how to detach the gas piston from the OP rod? Or, will you send it to a Gun Smith?

Aloha, Mark

PS.........BTW, is this a NEW PROBLEM? What did the previous owner say?

Glock23gp · Mar 1, 2013

Thanx for the feedback. I asked my friend to ask his brother about it and hasn't got back to me yet. To his knowledge there were no previous problems. I am gonna lube it up and try it again when i can in a couple days. I noticed when i took it apart there was a bunch of grease where the extractor pivots on the bolt. Not sure if that is normal or what. I know very little about this rifle so I still need to do some research on it.

The rod is tight and no I don't know how to unscrew it. Guessing a vice with padding and channel locks with soft padding?

As for gunsmiths there are none in the area. Trying to get by on common sense and some experienced input. I like to tinker and figure stuff out myself. I know these weapons are built with loose tolerances to fire and function in sand, dirt and every other element so i find it strange to have this problem with this firearm. Anyone know a good place to find proper reassembly oiling points and what to use especially since i saw grease on the bolt and not sure if it was supposed to be there...

Busboy · Mar 2, 2013

A little bit of wiggle in your magazines and gas piston is totally acceptable and shouldn't affect the function of your rifle. Another thing to check would be to make sure your gas port is clean and unobstructed. You can buy a special gas port cleaning tool for a few dollars but I've read about people just using a pipe cleaner.