I’ve been shooting AK’s recreationally for the better part of ten years, and have owned rifles ranging from WASR’s to Galil to custom builds. I’d guess a combined 10,000 rounds (yeah I know thats not a staggering amount to some of you guys :p) of 5.45, 5.56, and 7.62, nary a malfunction.
I was checking zero on an AKUSA AK103k and had a spent casing stovepipe on the way out of the ejection port. Empty casing was halfway out of the port, live round was halfway into the chamber.
I have a feeling it was due to either the A) Wolf Hollowpoint ammo or B) the 5-rd US made Arsenal mag.
I know hollowpoints can cause trouble with AK’s, but it was all my local guy had at the moment. Could those rounds result in a stovepipe type jam? It’s gonna take a lot more than this to shake my confidence in the AK, just thought it was an interesting “first”
First of all anything is possible. It may well be that this one malfunction is a freak accident and you are not able to reproduce it.
If the problem is reproducable, I think it is one of the following:
ammunition problem
ejector problem
gassing problem
I do not believe (it might be, I just think it is pretty unlikely) to be a magazine based problem, as those manifest themselves as failures to feed (usually).
Remedial action: pull out the extractor retaining pin and clean the ejector and the cut on the bolt. Also check the ejector for cracks, missing chunks and for overall wear.
If your gun continues to have the problem, switch ammunition. If after that the problems exist, have a competent smith check the gun.
That’s a sweet AK. FWIW, I’ve had malfunctions with every AK I’ve had (MAK 90, Norinco preban, Maddi). I don’t find them all that more reliable than a solid AR.
