I ordered a AK from a well known manufacturer from an online company. Picked it up at my gunshop and took it home. I took it out of the box at the shop to verify the serial number, model, and to check the front sight base and other barrel components. Everything looked good.
I drove home, inserted an empty Polish AKM magazine, racked the charging handle for the first time and … it locked back. I switched magazines thinking I might have accidentally bought a bolt-hold-open model. So I inserted another of a different make and it did it again. I pushed forward and down and it slammed home. Racked it again with another mag and it did the same thing. etc, etc.
This is what it looks like.
I pulled the dust cover off to see what was happening and saw that as the bolt carrier gets to the end of it’s travel, it moves up (actually it looks like it rides the slant of the rear trunnion upwards) and catches the rail on the receiver. If I ever so slightly nudge it upwards, it will actually jump the rail and attempt to travel home. I sent an email to the company and hope to hear from them soon.
But, what should I do in the meantime? I did some research and this does seem to happen, but should this happen on a new rifle when I’m just manually racking the bolt? Some have recommended recoil buffers, is this a legitimate solution?
If the problem is that the bolt carrier is hanging up on the hammer, it’s not a real problem.
If the problem is that the bolt carrier is jumping the upper rail of the receiver when it’s fully back, now that’s a real problem. Generally cursed by the receiver to rear trunnion not being correctly fitted.
That problem can be masked by a buffer but the real fix is to move the rear trunnion forward. Which is also going to require the dust cover to be refit too. Not something I’d want to do with limited tools.
does the bolt get somewhat twisted and get hung up on the ejector rail on the left side?
Mine had an issue with that, the bolt would somewhat twist and the ejector rail wouldn’t slide into the groove and it would get hung up.
does it seem as if the rails are misaligned or perhaps too far apart?
I’d say if they don’t get back to you… I’d maybe try to put the receiver in a bench vice and try to squeeze it just ever so slightly, to bring the rails back into spec… but only if they looked to be too far apart
No, it isn’t the hammer. The hammer does apply upward pressure, but that isn’t what is hanging it up, it’s definitely the rails, or something around there.
I will wait to hear what they say before I do anything else.
From what I can tell the ejector isn’t a factor. (I’m not an AK expert, this was to be my learner rifle)
I don’t know what the sides of an AK receiver are to feel like (I assume straight all the way back), but when I have it stripped down I feel a slight bulge/bow outward immediately after the rail section, where the cut outs are to remove the carrier. Then the bow, then it is flat over where the rear trunnion is. I did think about putting it in a vice, but I’ll let that up to the manufacturer.
From what it seems to me, it looks like a case of good old overtravel. The carrier has too much room to go rearward, beyond the control of the rail section, and the pressure from the hammer forces the carrier up, out and over. But it only happens on the right side of the carrier (ejection port side).
I don’t know too much about ak’s but it does seem that the rear trunnion is allowing the carrier to move too far rearward. also the sides of the rear trunnion, immediately under the rail cutouts for removal of the carrier, seem to be slanted upwards. When I push the carrier down and pull it back, with the recoil spring, it almost seems to “ride” the trunnion up (I don’t know if that makes sense or if you can visualize it).
Having worked on and handled thousands of AK’s in my lifetime, something is wrong. My guess is that there may be an issue with the actually rails or the receiver.
In any case I think I would contact said builder and tell them it needs to be checked.
Agreed. I just have very little clue about AKs and wasn’t sure if this was to be expected. I’ve read about the carrier being hung up on the hammer, but that is not what is occurring here.
It’s a combination of the upward pressure of the hammer, combined with the shape of the right rails on the receiver and the shape of the corresponding areas of the bolt carrier. The front lower edge of the bolt carrier should have an angle put into it (it looks like yours does, I can see the telltale triangle on the part of the bolt carrier just above the rail). The left side should have the same angled notch.
You may need to smooth out this area some more if it’s not angled enough or otherwise rough. You probably also need to smooth out the back edge of the rails. My dad had this issue on a kit of his I helped him build. The American receiver had rails that curved 90° inward, looking down at them from above. My Saiga’s rails have more of a 45° curve. This gives the bolt carrier more room to slide back into the receiver. The issue isn’t the popping out, the issue is it can’t slide back in because it’s getting stuck. It can pop out a thousand times in a row, but if it slides smoothly back into place, there will be no issue.
Personally, I would just do some gentle smoothing with a file to reshape things to get them to play nice. Did that to my dad’s rifle, and he’s had zero issues. Then again, I did the entire transformation from a bone-stock Saiga to a 103 with folding stock. If you aren’t that comfortable working on your own rifle, may be better to just pay the shipping charges
As was said earlier, buffers are never a good solution for anything, ever.
Thanks, that is a lot of good info. I’m pretty ambitious, but I don’t want to do anything more than rack the rifle till I hear back from the manufacturer.
In all honesty I’m pretty pissed about this. I mean how bad can the quality control be if I pull the rifle out of the box, rack the carrier and it gets stuck. THE FIRST TIME!
I would have assumed them to at least rack the system…:suicide:
I had this situation occur with an East German AKM carrier. It was machined in such a way that caused it to jump the rails of the receiver when at the most rearward position. I would send it back. Without having it in front of me it’s too hard to diagnose, but pretty clearly either the receiver or the carrier isn’t right. Was it a kit gun, or a conversion from a sporter gun (Saiga)?
It was a factory conversion. I’ve been doing a fair bit of research and seems there are a number of things that could do this:
problem with rear trunnion.
problem with receiver
bolt carrier
recoil spring guide rod assembly
hammer assembly
From what I’ve read each of those (or a combination) could cause the carrier to get hung up on/jump the rail.
One thing is for sure though, I bought this rifle to learn the AK. I thought I would be learning on the range, but I’m learning more and more sitting on my ass.
I received an email from the company this afternoon, they only told me they would get back to me before the end of the day. But nothing. I called twice and got the answering machine.
It pisses me off that I caught this the first time I charged the action. You would assume the QC staff would have at least done that.
His situation soulds like a problem I had with a WASR 10/63 a couple years back.
I managed to bugger up the receiver by throwing the weapon into my trunk, stored in a soft case. The weight of the ammo boxes, tools, camping gear, etc. wound up bending the receiver inwards towards the front trunion and bowed it out at the rear of the receiver.
The result was a weapon that would hang up occasionaly and/or jump rails. Warranty was not an option for me, so I carefully beat the receiver back into spec with a wooden block and a mallet.
I imagine if I sent it back to Century, they would have done the same. :sarcastic:
I did not read through all the replies so my apologies if this was already posted.
What reciever is it built on because apparently CNC Warrior messed up a small number of receivers. The guide rod sits too high at the rear and will lift the carrier out of the rails as it goes aft. A buffer will stop the carrier from going all the way aft to where the rails open up. Normally the guide rod holds the carrier down in place. But if it is too high, it jumps the tracks. Try a buffer to see if it solves your problem, they are only a few $. I would still send it back for a properly built one but at least youll know or rule one possibility out.
Im not sure if you have stated what type of rifle that is but based on looking at the pics it looks like a Saiga Slg-21. I have the Slg-31, pretty much same rifle but chambered in 5.45
When you pull the carrier all the way back and get that small gap (picture #2) can you push the carrier down with your thumb to close that exposed gap or is it locked up like that without the possibility of any downward movement?
I am able to push it down and the bolt will slam home. I agree with Arik, it does seem like the carrier is being “lifted” (or maybe “guided” up.)
But either way, this is a premium rifle and it shouldn’t need a buffer to run correctly.
