Yeah, the firing pin does look worn down. I’ll purchase a new one and see if it helps. Thanks.
The FP hole in your bolt face looks a bit ovaled. You might want to get that guaged.
Rough firing pins cause pierced primers.
Horry sheet!
That bolt was either bad from the factory or there was some serious issue causing the firing pin hole to erode.
I definitely want to know how this turns out.
I hope to know soon… As soon as Arsenal gets my check for the new bolt, the rifle should be boxed up and on its back to sweet home Alabama, along with the detailed work order.
I agree that something was likely wrong with the bolt to begin with. Make sure that you ask them to send back the defective bolt. First, you don’t want it to end up in some other poor guys rifle. Second, perhaps the hole can be welded up and redrilled?
Serious issue like pierced primers letting gas flow thru the firing pin orifice and enlarging it?
H
The firing pin tip was rough, this caused pierced primers. Gas erosion from the pierced primers ovaled the firing pin hole.
Actually my firing pin was pretty smooth. Not perfect, but no glaring imperfections or rough spots.
The picture I saw of his firing pin did not indicate to me any sign of a broken or sharp FP, which would be the classic cause of pierced primers and could well have led to the enlargement of the FP hole.
EDIT:
Didn’t know that about rough firing pins. I’ve never seen one “rough,” only broken with jagged tips.
Sometines you can’t see it but it’s there. It is still the profile of the firing pin that is tearing the primer cups.
In the interest of education, how would the minimum allowable roughness be described? Is it so slight that sandpaper might be used to correct it? Is it usually a manufacturing defect, caused by wear, or is it caused by something else?
I have a 7.62 WASR that would pop about one in 60 primers. I removed the pin and stoned the tip with a fine sharpening stone and then polished it with a dremel. This reduced it to about one in 200. I stoned and polished some more and now it works fine. The tip appeared smooth.
I could tell when it pierced the primer because a puff of somke would come out of the reciever.
Allowable roughness should be 2.5 baby asses within a ± .5 baby ass tolerance.
H
Any new updates on your SLR?
Mines been working well with certain brands of ammo, so I just avoid the brands I’ve been getting pierced primers with.
***I apologize for the lack of paragraphs, but my ENTER key has apparently taken the night off. Yes… I got the rifle and my old bolt back along with a new test target. I did NOT get the detailed list of repairs back as I had requested, but I wasn’t exactly holding my breath on that either. I ran about 300 rounds through it after I got it back, and the primers were still dimpled more than what I consider “normal”, but I couldn’t find a single one that was pierced. Considering that prior to sending it off, EVERY one was pierced, I concluded that the dimpling I was getting was the norm for that rifle and that ammo. But after all of that, I stumbled into a DD M4V7 at my local shop for a stupid good price, so I sold the AK off and bought the DD. As far as AK’s go, I guess “I came, I saw, I went.”
So you just traded yours. I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing since the rifle still looks brand new. I contacted Arsenal about it and all they did was get my serial number. They never got back to me since.
Yep. I was completely up front with the purchaser, and he was excessively happy with the rifle once he got it. Everyone was very happy in the end. Especially my soon to be 6 year old who is claiming the DD V7 as “his” new rifle.
I had a doubling issue with my stag m4. I opted to fix it myself for $40 of trigger parts rather then ship it and wait.
New ak bolts are not overly expensive, stripped bolts even cheaper. I’d have bought a stripped bolt plus new firing pin, checked the headspace, and been done with it.
I own 2 WASR, these are supposed to be so inferior to Arsenals…i haven’t had any problems after a couple thousand rounds.
I could’ve fixed it myself as well if it were an AR, but it wasn’t. Also, there were exactly ZERO 5.56 AK bolts for sale at the time, or I would’ve bought one. I searched to the end of the Internet and then back again.