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Old November 15, 2012, 04:10 PM   #1
shredder4286
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AK gas tube not going back on

I took my gas tube off while disassembling/field stripping my AK earlier, and now it doesn't want to go back on. Whether I use absolute finesse, or brute strength, it continues to laugh at me. I've watched several videos on youtube, and their AK's go back together with ease. What am I doin wrong?!
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Old November 15, 2012, 09:05 PM   #2
Mike38
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Is it new, or fairly new? If so, and if it’s like my Saiga, you have to use a pair of pliers to turn the lever down into the lock position. I’ve had mine apart 10 or 12 times and it still requires some force with pliers. As I understand it, they are tight like this for the first dozen or so field strips.
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Old November 15, 2012, 09:09 PM   #3
Mrgunsngear
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From the picture you need to bring the lever more to the vertical position.
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Old November 15, 2012, 09:34 PM   #4
shredder4286
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Quote:
Is it new, or fairly new? If so, and if it’s like my Saiga, you have to use a pair of pliers to turn the lever down into the lock position. I’ve had mine apart 10 or 12 times and it still requires some force with pliers. As I understand it, they are tight like this for the first dozen or so field strips.
Yeah, still pretty new. I finally just banged on the lower 1/2 of the handguard and got the top gas tube part to go in.

Problem is, NOW I can't get the stupid cleaning rod back in! I did a little research, and sound like since I have the aftermarket stock, it doesn't feed the rod into the hole that it's supposed to go into. What a pain!
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Old November 17, 2012, 09:01 AM   #5
AK103K
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Quote:
From the picture you need to bring the lever more to the vertical position.
Yup, thats it.

If you look at the pic, you can see a "flat" on the locking lever. If you watch it as you move it, youll see it line up parallel with the face of the rear of the upper hand guard (yours is sloping rearward in the pic, and needs to roll forward). When it does, the hand guard should drop right in place. New or old, its usually a pretty close fit when in the right position.

As far as the lower handguard and the cleaning rod, if the new hand guard doesnt have the access point, youre going to have to duplicate it or leave the rod off. Even with the hole, sometimes, you just have to turn and/or wiggle the rod as it goes in. If the hole is there, give that a try first.
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Old November 17, 2012, 11:21 AM   #6
shredder4286
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Quote:
If you look at the pic, you can see a "flat" on the locking lever. If you watch it as you move it, youll see it line up parallel with the face of the rear of the upper hand guard (yours is sloping rearward in the pic, and needs to roll forward). When it does, the hand guard should drop right in place. New or old, its usually a pretty close fit when in the right position.
The problem was that the aftermarket stock was just a tiny bit of a loose fit, and it had some play in how it fitted onto the barrel. The lower handguard was just riding a little high, so once I banged on it a little, the lever swung closed and locked the gas tube into place.

The cleaning rod, on the other hand, was a different story. I had to completely remove the lower handguard to see where the rod was hitting. The frame of the AK has a couple little metal notches that stick up right where the rod has to clear at the last 1/4" to go all the way in. I stuck a thin piece of cardboard in there to act as a ramp, and it went right in.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. From now on, that cleaning rod is staying put.
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