Help with AK74

[wolfenstien]

New to AK's but I picked one up today cause I had over 1000 rounds of ammo that I picked up on the way sometime. The problem is it jams all the time. Every 2-3 shots!!! The shell always pulls out of the chamber, but it doesn't eject away from the gun and gets stuck in the action keeping the next round from getting pushed all the way into the chamber. Any guesses would be great. Thanks.

[Icopy1]

Who makes the firearm? If it's a Century build, the failure don't surprise me. Have you tried different magazines? Have you cleaned it before firing it? Is your ejector bent?

[KLRANGL]

Is the spent round staying on the bolt face? IE extracts from the chamber but doesn't eject? Might want to make sure the ejector isn't broken...
Bad mags will give you fail to feed, but rarely fail to eject...

Also, the bolt might not be recoiling enough to hit the ejector with enough force. Bad ammo or clogged gas port?

[wolfenstien]

Not sure who made it. The receiver had to be modified to fit high cap mags. IT says it is romanian made on one side of the receiver, the other side says it is a ROMAK 99.2.

The shell does eject from the chamber just fine, in fact it never gets stuck in the chamber, but every 2-3 shots the shell casing doesn't make it out of the gun and get caught one the bolt. It get caught in different spots, sometimes jamming the bolt all the way open, sometime it get jammed half way open. Will clean the gas chamber and try again. IF that isn't it I would guess the extractor has issues, but I would know what they were or how to figure that out. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[wolfenstien]

***** UPDATE ******

I tried just cycling through a clip by just pulling th bolt back manually. The ejector grabbed the shel just fine, but it almost never let go. Not that it was tight at all I could pull it out with my finger really easy. Instead what I believe is the problem is the bolt is touching the top of the next shell in the clip below it thereby lifting the bolt just enough that the metal slide that hits the spent casing causing it to fly out never makes contact with the shell. How do I fix this?

Two possibilities I had thought of was to add some material to the metal slide to make it longer, or to bend it slightly upward following the path of the bolt when it kicks back. Any suggestions? Thanks

[KLRANGL]

I'm not sure I exactly follow. The bolt shouldn't be able to be lifted up much if at all. How much upward movement are you seeing on the bolt?
Either way, we've narrowed the problem down to failure to eject. So either the ejector is bad, or the mag is preventing the bolt from reaching all the way to the rear.
So try this: Get a snap cap or an empty shell, put it in the chamber, and release the bolt onto the shell so that it is fully in battery. Remove the magazine, and pull the bolt all the way back and see if the round is ejected. If it ejects, you have mag interference problems. If it doesn't eject, your ejector could be worn/broken.

This is of course discounting the possibility that the bolt is "short stroking" due to bad ammo or a dirty piston.

[wolfenstien]

If I look into the receiver as I pull back the bolt with no mag in the ejector rail fits into the ejector slot on the bolt perfectly. When the mag is in the bolt comes back touching the top of the highest bullet leaving a little scrape on the bullet in the mag this lifts the bolt just enough for the ejector rail to miss the shell that is still in the bolt.

This gun was a single stack and was reworked to accommodate high cap mags. maybe I just need to do some more filing in the mag well. Will give it a shot. Any other comments welcome.

[chuwee81]

sounds like an issue i had before with a WASR-2. Exactly the way you described it. Solution: i sold it. Sure, there may be some fixes available but i sold it and got a yugo 7.62x39 AK and have been problem free since.

[Dave R]

the ejector rail to miss the shell that is still in the bolt. Sounds like you have diagnosed the problem. Now you just have to figure out why the mag is riding so high. Could it be related to the mag release catch?

[Icopy1]

Send it back to Century and they will fix it for you. Maybe not for free, but they're usually pretty good about it.

[wolfenstien]

I heated up the ejector rail and used a cresent wrench to bend the end up toward the bolt just a tad. It cycle when manually pulling the bolt now. I will have to see what happens when it is actually used while firing. Will update later. Thanks

[KLRANGL]

What kind of mags are you using?

[GONIF]

most folks do not buy Century monkey assembled weapons twice. for a Little more you could have got a Arsenal Bulgy or a Saiga. Century rifles are a crap shoot ,you never know what you will get . they are cheap,but you get what you pay for . send it back and make them fix it .:barf:

[wolfenstien]

I didn't buy it from century. I am the third owner. Last two bought and couldn't afford (babies) + couldn't get it to work right. So I got it for $300. I think I got a good deal.

I bent the ejector rail and she is running good now. No jams so far. Will have to see how long that lasts. Thanks all. How do I know if this is century or not? Thanks

[Icopy1]

If it has C.A.I stamped on the receiver, it was imported by Century Arms International as a single stack gun. It was modified by Century to accept the double stack mags plus the compliance parts were added as well. If it is a Century import, the quality is hit or miss. Glad you got it working.