My new AK makes a great....

[Skullz]

bludgeoning tool.

I picked up a Yugo AK a few weeks ago and today was my first opportunity to get some range time with it.

When I first started buying battle rifles, I intended to stick to the AR platform, but with the big questions about November and what may or may not happen in as far as a possible AWB, I figured if I was going to ever get an AK, now is the time. I've always heard the AK was as reliable as they come... so far, my experience has been anything but.

It's the standard Century Arms Yugo import with decent wood and a crappy plastic pistol grip. It came with 2 magazines, one that was refinished and one that needed refinishing. I stripped all the blue off that one, sanded it down, and polished it until it gleamed, then I blued it.

Went to the range with about 200 rounds of 7.62X39 Wolf Military Classic (I know, some people hate Wolf, but I've shot 5000 rounds of the stuff through my ARs with no problems - so an AK ought to eat it with no issues).

Function check - 1 round in a mag, insert mag, charge it, fire - no problem (What a cool sound... K-thwump!).

Secondary check - 2 rounds in the other mag, insert mag, charge it, fire - FTF

Secondary check again - 2 rounds in mag number 2, insert mag, charge it, fire - FTE and the second round gets jambed at a 45 degree angle.

Clear the weapon, disassemble, inspect everything I can, lube up the bolt and carrier, reassemble.

Secondary check AGAIN - 2 rounds in mag number 2, insert mag, charge it, fire, seems to feed, engage safety, check, disengage saftey, fire, bolt holds open. OK - good.

Sight in time. 4 rounds in mag 2, insert mag, charge it, aim, fire - FTF. Can't drop the mag without holding the bolt open. Pull the bolt back, hold it, drop the mag, clear the weapon. Insert mag, charge it - and now it feeds a round, but the bolt doesn't go into battery. I can see the round is fully seated in the chamber, but the bolt is stuck about an inch back from battery. Drop the mag, the bolt closes - cycle it manually and it ejects the round. Mag problem?

4 rounds in mag 1. insert mag, charge it, aim, fire - stove pipe. Manually cycle it - double feed. Clear the weapon and test it without a mag. Everything seems fine.

FTE, FTF, stovepipe, failure to go into battery, one or the the other or a combination over and over....

Drop the mag, clear the weapon, pack up and go home.

[rant] Some people call this an offensive weapon? Yeah, I'd agree - right now, I'm pretty offended by it's failure to actually work. Lots of other enthusiasts rave about their experiences with the AK - "it just works, it's simple, it never jams, etc, etc, etc". [/rant]

I realize that it's a used gun, and it may have it's issues. So, where do I go from here? While I'm mechanically inclined, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I was thinking about getting some snap caps for it and trying to reproduce the problem at my bench, but after looking at some of the rounds that got jambed at the 45degree angle going into the chamber, I'm pretty sure I'll destroy the snap caps before I figure out the problem.

Anyone in the Lehigh Valley area an AK master?

Skullz

[Longshot]

I am not a AK expert at all, however I do have a Yugo AK that if all else failed and you couldn't find someone to look at it, you could campare it with mine. Not sure if that will help at all, but its all I can do.

Did you pic it up at a shop? If so you should be able to take it back and have them look at it.

[Willie D]

How much does your bullet guide stick out from the trunnion? Is the mag wobbling/fully in? If you slowly feed a round or dummy round with the dust cover off does it more or less feed ok or does it go high or low?

[Skullz]

Thanks Longshot. I may take you up on that offer. I did pick it up at a shop and I know I could bring it back for help... but I'd figure I'd try here with some members first.

[Skullz]

Willie.. I'll try feeding a dummy round with the dust cover off. I just have to get some dummy rounds in 7.62 :-) I don't keep ANY live ammo near my bench, so I'll have to see if I can get some dummys tomorrow.

The mag wobbles the tiniest bit when seated... but just barely. I inserted the mag at the front first and the rolled it in to seat it. I tried this maybe 20 times with no difference in how the mag was seating.

[dc dalton]

hmm, I think you may want to take it back to the shop and have them look at it. I have 3 Yugos and have not had once ounce of problems with any of them but then again I bought all mine new.

I'm wondering if the previous owner screwed around with it or abused it badly (they say they love abuse but who knows what some jerk can do to a weapon)

If you can't get together with the other member that offered you can give me a yell and compare parts and set ups with any of my three (even though 2 are under folders)

Hope you get it worked out, they really are fun to shoot.

[wlptpd3]

bludgeoning tool.

I picked up a Yugo AK a few weeks ago and today was my first opportunity to get some range time with it.

When I first started buying battle rifles, I intended to stick to the AR platform, but with the big questions about November and what may or may not happen in as far as a possible AWB, I figured if I was going to ever get an AK, now is the time. I've always heard the AK was as reliable as they come... so far, my experience has been anything but.

It's the standard Century Arms Yugo import with decent wood and a crappy plastic pistol grip. It came with 2 magazines, one that was refinished and one that needed refinishing. I stripped all the blue off that one, sanded it down, and polished it until it gleamed, then I blued it.

Went to the range with about 200 rounds of 7.62X39 Wolf Military Classic (I know, some people hate Wolf, but I've shot 5000 rounds of the stuff through my ARs with no problems - so an AK ought to eat it with no issues).

Function check - 1 round in a mag, insert mag, charge it, fire - no problem (What a cool sound... K-thwump!).

Secondary check - 2 rounds in the other mag, insert mag, charge it, fire - FTF

Secondary check again - 2 rounds in mag number 2, insert mag, charge it, fire - FTE and the second round gets jambed at a 45 degree angle.

Clear the weapon, disassemble, inspect everything I can, lube up the bolt and carrier, reassemble.

Secondary check AGAIN - 2 rounds in mag number 2, insert mag, charge it, fire, seems to feed, engage safety, check, disengage saftey, fire, bolt holds open. OK - good.

Sight in time. 4 rounds in mag 2, insert mag, charge it, aim, fire - FTF. Can't drop the mag without holding the bolt open. Pull the bolt back, hold it, drop the mag, clear the weapon. Insert mag, charge it - and now it feeds a round, but the bolt doesn't go into battery. I can see the round is fully seated in the chamber, but the bolt is stuck about an inch back from battery. Drop the mag, the bolt closes - cycle it manually and it ejects the round. Mag problem?

4 rounds in mag 1. insert mag, charge it, aim, fire - stove pipe. Manually cycle it - double feed. Clear the weapon and test it without a mag. Everything seems fine.

FTE, FTF, stovepipe, failure to go into battery, one or the the other or a combination over and over....

Drop the mag, clear the weapon, pack up and go home.

[rant] Some people call this an offensive weapon? Yeah, I'd agree - right now, I'm pretty offended by it's failure to actually work. Lots of other enthusiasts rave about their experiences with the AK - "it just works, it's simple, it never jams, etc, etc, etc". [/rant]

I realize that it's a used gun, and it may have it's issues. So, where do I go from here? While I'm mechanically inclined, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I was thinking about getting some snap caps for it and trying to reproduce the problem at my bench, but after looking at some of the rounds that got jambed at the 45degree angle going into the chamber, I'm pretty sure I'll destroy the snap caps before I figure out the problem.

Anyone in the Lehigh Valley area an AK master?

Skullz

Skullz,

If you can contact Precision Armaments located outside of Slatington, Pa. on Rt. 873, Charlie the owner builds AK's. I am sure he could point you in the right direction or fix you up. His number is 610 767-9046.

[Stack]

Have to agree with above poster. Charlie @ Precision is the man to help you.

[GunsRfun]

you can contact century arms and have them fix it, they built it. (be warned they have a bad rep with rifle building, 1st time i have heard of any problems with a yugo ak, people seem to say its the rifle they have done right)
customer service department at 1-800-527-1252

Also wolf ammo is not the problem. the Military Classic IS. its not made by them they just slap there name on it.the ammo has been known to cause pierced primers in guns. mostly the yugo sks. stick to wolf black box.

The round not chambering could be a brakein issue. i have had this problem with 2 wasr 10's went away after awile. dry cycling the crap out if it helped too.

[Skullz]

OK.. update.

I took a look at everything last night and found that the locking lug on the left of the bolt was contacting the receiver when the bolt was closing. Both the lug and the receiver were peened (is that the right term?) over a little bit. I could reproduce the failure to go into battery every few manual cycles.

Before I just started grinding, I PM'd Rich at American Sport Shooting (where I bought it) to see if he was going to be open today and to see if he would take a look at it the gun.

Rich was more than willing and helpful as usual. After inspection he agreed that the surface needed to be ground down a little bit and brought the bolt into his workshop and gave it a good dremelling (is that a word?).

Rich was also nice enough to loan me a third magazine to try out if the other two still caused problems. I didn't get a chance to get back to the range today, but I'm going to try to get back this week. I'll report back on the outcome. At a minimum, I can no longer reproduce the failure to go into battery.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and insight. And a big thanks to Rich for taking the time to go ov er the weapon and make some recommendations / modifications.

Skullz