Ok, need some help from you AK gurus. I just installed an ultimak on my newly acquired SLR-107F and as I was working the bolt carrier in and out of the ultimak to make sure it wasn’t hanging up on anything, I could feel it rubbing a bit on the inside. It appears that it is rubbing on the upper right side of the inside of the rear sight block, though, not on the inside of the ultimak. Is this kinda of contact and wear normal?
Right Side
Top
The rubbing does not appear to be impeding movement of the bolt carrier too much since if I tip the AK up or down, the bolt carrier and piston will slide either all the way in to the gas block or back out to the hammer as a result of gravity alone. But I haven’t fired the weapon yet and wanted to double-check beforehand.
As an FYI, I am not concerned in any way with the “appearance” of my bolt carrier, I just want to check if this was normal and if there were any steps I should be taking to avoid damage to the firearm.
I’m joking, of course, but here are two of my rifles for comparison:
First, my new Bulgarian AKS-74 (numbers matching, though I had to use a different barrel, so the barrel isn’t original to the rifle, but it was a surplus barrel, so this isn’t something I drilled myself)
This is after, I’d estimate, 250 rds or less.
Next, my Saiga, which I DID drill myself, so maybe I just can’t align anything, but still no issues with function Note that the wear on the rear half, from the charging handle back, is due to the top cover being put back on (it rubs against the bolt carrier as you try to stick it into the proper slot).
Both of these rifles also have dry firing and manipulations practice in addition to the actual round count (charging the bolt handle could add wear).
So, while neither of these is with an Ultimak, I would say the wear, in and of itself, is no issue. It could mean something is misaligned, but if you aren’t having any issues, I’d say it’s unimportant. I’ve seen the same wear on other rifles, too. I think it’s common.
Quite normal wear, and part of the reason the carrier is tapered where the piston screws in.
It helps guide the assembly into proper alignment through the trunion block as the receiver rails alone are nowhere near a precision enough fit, nor really even have adiquate leverage even if they did to accomplish it on thier own.
