wagdog

Man! That must be it. Yeah this is the ammo with the red sealer. Thanks for the tip on leaving the piston black. I wipe the piston off with a paper towel, but that doesn't usually get it completely shiny (which I'm not worried about). I don't do anything else to it. You just get the loose unburnt powder/carbon deposits and call it good? I wasn't taking a brush to the piston or anything. I just got the piston and piston arm doused with solvent and let it sit, then I wiped it. The top of the piston was still dark but the arm was shiny since the powder came off easier.

Nothing wrong with an SKS either. Atlantic Firearms just had some for 299.99 and I waited too long. I remember when I was in high school you could get an SKS for about 80 bucks. I thought they must have been junk for that price. Sure wish I would have bought one then...

Man! That must be it. Yeah this is the ammo with the red sealer. Thanks for the tip on leaving the piston black.

I've got a YARQ. I put a few rounds though my 5.45 this past Saturday afternoon. I didn't get to clean it until maybe two or three hours after shooting. I didn't think it would be a big deal since I live in the desert. However, when I removed the gas tube, I noticed a fine red powder sitting on top of the paint. I had to laugh a little because I had recently had a conversation with a buddy about corrosive primers. I told him I wasn't too worried because of where I lived, low humidity, etc, etc. Well the stuff dang near just fell out of the tube but I went a head and rinsed it with some water a

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Cool! Thanks yall. I need to order a brake and I'll hook all this up per the instructions posted. I just knew I had lost something...I guess it was only my mind.

After shooting a few hundred rounds and cleaning up my 5.45, I noticed a pin sticking out on the front sight block. Instead of pushing it back into place, I pulled it out. The retaining pin and spring came out as a result. I grabbed these as they rolled around on my floor: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15984945/IMG_20120130_213135.jpg I have a feeling I am missing something. I went to put it all back in but I realized that the thread protector is still in place and I can't seem to get the pin and spring back in with the protector in place. Now it looks like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/159849

I use the bore snake for 22 caliber and it works fine. I think it says it is for 22, 223, and 5.56 on the packaging.

That makes sense. I kept the parts just in case and now I am glad I did. So you don't weld or locktite the brake on?

I got mine from atlantic as well but mine has 4 small tack welds holding the protector on. Question for.those reading this thread. Is that little retaining pin necessary after you remove the thread protector and install a brake? I removed that pin and spring and then realized I couldnt.get it back on because my thread protector is still on.

Put a couple hundred rounds of milsurp ammo through my saiga yesterday. It functioned great. I can't get over the lack of recoil! It took me forever to clean all the carbon buildup afterwards though. Also, the gas piston had quite a bit of wobble. Is that normal? I could see the threads on it too. Not all of them. Just the first one. Kinda freaked me out but I am a newbie to the AK platform

I use Hydrashoks for 9mm, .40, and .45 as well. A buddy of mine did a simple experiment with wet phonebooks and used Speer Gold Dot, Federal Hydrashok, and Golden Sabre. Seems like he had another brand or two but I can't recall them now. All worked fine but he found the same to be true of the Hydrashoks: they didn't fragment much if at all.

Mine has 4 small welds holding it on. I'm worried about damaging the threads. Should I try to grind the welds down flatter or just cut through them?

Thanks for the info yall and especially for the reminder about 922r. This is a great forum.

Nice. Can't wait to see it!