Sad day for my AK-47

[1970camaroRS]

After the North Fork gravel pit clean-up, my Inter Ordnance AK-47 failed, in a bad way. I thought I had a fail to feed, so I cleared the gun, charged a new round and....not even a click...a terrible thud sound! I cleared the gun, removed the mag and took the gun back to my buddy's truck. This is what I found when I removed the cover:

Note: the firing pin retainer is still in the bolt...

I have NO clue why the firing pin was hung and the hammer obviously bent the firing pin. New pin on the way, we will see if this happens again. Sad thing too because I was chasing a can across the gravel pit and having a heck of a fun time.

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[rdb241]

I have to admit, never seen that before......strange.

 

[candyman]

you should replace the pins also

 

[Trlsmn]

I would check to see if the bolt is hanging up somewhere.

 

[Silver Fox]

Wow. 100,000,000 AK's world wide and yours fail.

Keep us posted after the repair.

SF-

 

[Blitzkrieg]

That's wierd.. looks like a poor job of heat treating, bad metalurgy or something.. and is that pin corroded ?

 

[kaoboi503]

How many rounds have you had through it already? I was thinking about buying an I.O.

 

[raftman]

A lot of people will say "IO's have a bad reputation" without anything to substantiate that claim, but I guess here's something.

 

[Trlsmn]

A lot of people will say "IO's have a bad reputation" without anything to substantiate that claim, but I guess here's something.

IN IO's defense that part is all factory communist parts and has nothing to do with IO.

To the OP you need to figure out why this happened and fix the problem. It's pretty obvious the firing pin bent after it popped out of the bolt. You need to figure out why it popped out of the bolt.

BOLT DISASSEMBLE

First, locate the pin shown in the photo on the right. Using a punch, push the pin out from this direction

The pin should come out as shown.

When this pin is removed, the firing pin should fall right now.

 

[raftman]

What's odd, then, is IO decries "inferior foreign made parts" on their official website, at the same time, they use foreign parts in their guns?

 

[Trlsmn]

What's odd, then, is IO decries "inferior foreign made parts" on their official website, at the same time, they use foreign parts in their guns?

There are no American made bolts or bolt carriers for AK's. IO inc's guns are just demilled kit guns like 90% of the new AK's out there.

 

[onearmedswordsman]

What's odd, then, is IO decries "inferior foreign made parts" on their official website, at the same time, they use foreign parts in their guns?

For any US mfg AK rifle, typically, front trunnion, bolt, firing pin, bolt carrier, dust cover, gas block, magazine catch/trigger guard assy, safety, recoil spring assy, are pretty much guaranteed to be of foreign manufacture.

Thanks to import and other regs, we start seeing bbls, rear trunnions, stocks, grips, gas tube, gas piston, and of course, trigger groups and receivers, of US manufacture.

I am sure a few will chime in with exceptions I've never heard of.

 

[onearmedswordsman]

1970Camaro,

I think you also lost the pin Trlsmn is showing in the pics above. I can't see how the firing pin can be bent that bad any other way as Trlsmn described.

 

[pogi]

1970Camaro,

I think you also lost the pin Trlsmn is showing in the pics above. I can't see how the firing pin can be bent that bad any other way as Trlsmn described.

ditto, almost seems like that retaining pin is what failed initially causing the firing pin to become loose.

 

[4Freedom]

The unstoppable gun has been stopped.. Thats why I own an AR-15..

Sorry for your loss though, very sad.

 

[MountainBear]

I was waiting for the inevitable joke about the infallible AK failing. It's fair though, most threads with an AR failing have the AK guys chiming in with jokes.

Wish I had actual info to share with you, but my experience with AK's is limited and I would have to have the gun in hand to know anything. Good luck...

 

[1970camaroRS]

Thanks for all the info. The retaining pin is still in the bolt. I dont have a punch small enough at home, gotta grab one from work tonight. Looking closely at the pin, it looks like the portion that gets stopped by the retainer is deformed and it slipped past it.

The gun has less than 600 rounds through it, so it shouldnt be a wear issue.

 

[raftman]

.. Thats why I own an AR-15..

Because with an AR-15 a breakage is expected and thus doesn't come as a nasty surprise?

 

[GUNNY]

CHIME:

 

[pogi]

Thanks for all the info. The retaining pin is still in the bolt. I dont have a punch small enough at home, gotta grab one from work tonight. Looking closely at the pin, it looks like the portion that gets stopped by the retainer is deformed and it slipped past it.

The gun has less than 600 rounds through it, so it shouldnt be a wear issue.

If you have a cleaning kit in the buttstock, it has a punch for the bolt. Interesting that the retaining pin is still there.