[AR mag adapter with a bullet guide]

Sorry to necro but I had forgotten about this thread and figured I should update it for future users. The addition of the bullet guide seemed to alleviate all misfeed problems in both USGI aluminum mags and Pmags. I notched the front of the mag adapter to accommodate the bullet guide and haven't had any problems since, about 150-200 rounds later.

[AR mag adapter with a bullet guide]

The first pics you have of the mag looks like your locking lugs hits the corner of the mag like mine does, I guess the Renegade Buck catch isn't strong enough to hold the pmags in when the lugs slams shut on the polymer, instead it just shakes it loose after a few rounds. I'll have to look at my GI mags to see if they have marks like that.

 

Let us know how the bullet guide works because I'd really like to get this thing as reliable as possible in case I even need it.

 

It does hit and makes a little tiny gouge on the aluminum mags. What do you mean when the lug slams shut on the polymer, when the bolt hits the locking lug? or when the bolt hilts the follower on the p-mags?

 

And I definitely will update as soon as i install it, dinzag says shipping times is 1-2 weeks so hopefully soon.

[AR mag adapter with a bullet guide]

Judging by your photos, the MSA adapter already has a kind of bullet guide, the front part of the adapter sticking up into the receiver acting also as the front lip (working in tandem with the rear locking tab securing it into the receiver) like a standard Kalashnikov magazine. I don't think there's enough room for an additional bullet guide without either cutting back the bullet guide, or worse, cutting one part of the adapter which seems to be locking it into the weapon.

 

Also, the strike marks on the adapter, are those from the case mouth of the round? If so I don't know if adding a second guide will add enough rise to prevent the case mouth from striking the adapter.

 

Could it be an alignment issue with the installation of the adapter, where the 'right' set of tolerance stacking exhibits this behavior with magazines other than p-mags?

 

Just my two cents, hopefully someone else can give you a better answer.

 

I guess it is kind of currently working as one. I just ordered a Danzig arms bullet guide. I do expect to possibly have to trim it back / modify it. I might also have to maybe put a little bevel on that edge of the magazine adapter. Raider929 sounds like he has the same mag adapter as me (I assume) (Texas AK Designs was once MSA). I was thinking it was the bullet making the marks but it may be the case head. I just put a USGI magazine in to illustrate the problem better. It almost seems if the magazines locked up higher into the adapter it would alleviate the problem (although impossible as that is what the adapter sets the magazine depth at). I milled out enough to have the mags ever so slightly a loose fit. I did an initial round of milling and some of my mags would not go high enough and lock in. I went a little deeper on the depth, maybe another 1/32" to compensate. As the picture shows, when I pull the magazine backwards at the bottom of the magazines (this causes the mag to tilt foward at the top) when in the rifle, the top lip of both magazines (pmag and USGI) sit flush with the magazine adapter. This is the position the magazine is in when it is being pushed forward by the force of the bolt loading a round. This would make sense that the casehead is scraping / getting caught possibly on the magazine adapter. Could tilting followers be a possible issue in the USGI Mags? These have the factory followers (not anti-tilt ones). A thought on the Pmags might be the case is simply skimming across the polymer material and not getting caught like they do on the USGI's aluminum for the "catching on magazine" issue I have encountered. Hope the picture helps and my descriptions are understandable.

 

[AR mag adapter with a bullet guide]

Kind of adding to this thread (found it in a search). I have found that I have 2 different feeding issues with my MSA AR-15 Adapter'd Saiga .223. I had 2 or 3 FTF's today using both P-Mags and USGI's. One of the issues I've had in the past is the bullet gets caught on the front of the USGI mags (does not happen on the p-mags and a few of my USGI's have these marks, others have light marks and others have zero). See Picture below. And one is the rounds get caught on the bottom edge of the barrel, before entering. I am thinking a bullet guide is going to solve this? Opinions? Also, I've noticed marks on the adapter itself very much like the USGI Mags. I am thinking of switching and just running P-mags because I've never had any mag-related feed problems from them. I too have that mark at the front right of the mag someone mentioned.

 

[brand new saiga .223 with crooked rear sight block]

I also had this problem with a EAA Imported Saiga .223. It turned out the receiver was bent unevenly that transferred the crookedness to the trunion, rear sight block, and finally rear sight leaf. Went through hell with EAA and finally got it replaced with a new rifle. Beats putting a band-aid on the problem putting a rpk sight leaf on or moving your front sight way over to one side or the other. Just something else to check, it seems to be a rare problem and I was just unlucky.

[Saiga .223 parts interchangeability?]

Try APEX GUN PARTS. They usually have that kind of stuff.

 

No luck on Apex, seems the saiga 223 firing pin is going to be difficult to find.

[Saiga .223 parts interchangeability?]

Does anybody have a list going of what parts on a Saiga .223 are interchangeable with on regular AK-47 pattern rifles or ak-74s or even other caliber saigas for that matter. My main question is where can I find a new spring loaded firing pin for my Saiga .223? The ak-74 ones look similar in some ways and appear to be spring loaded as well. but I don't have any solid data or measurements. Not sure what other .223 AKs have interchangeable parts to saiga either. If you have anything to add that is confirmed, I'd like to make a list If we can. Thanks!

 

I bought a spare bolt from K-Var.

 

Looks like they are out of stock, wonder if anywhere else sells just firing pins?

[Saiga .223 parts interchangeability?]

Does anybody have a list going of what parts on a Saiga .223 are interchangeable with on regular AK-47 pattern rifles or ak-74s or even other caliber saigas for that matter. My main question is where can I find a new spring loaded firing pin for my Saiga .223? The ak-74 ones look similar in some ways and appear to be spring loaded as well. but I don't have any solid data or measurements. Not sure what other .223 AKs have interchangeable parts to saiga either. If you have anything to add that is confirmed, I'd like to make a list If we can. Thanks!

[Is MSA MIA?]

@ Ozzie - Keep in mind not all USGI spec mags are the same. Which is why we use Magpul and recommend them as we list them in the documentation provided. There are manufacturing tolerances from mag maker to maker in the AR world. More than likely this is what you're seeing. The adapter was designed to be fitted to your personal needs. Meaning you can trim and adjust accordingly. PM me your order info. I have a batch in anodize this week I am waiting on. We made 50 so I'll get you an RMA out of that batch and put in a weaker spring rate for you.

 

@MolonLabe - yes just knock the punch pin out and polish as you please. This is the Saiga platform.... modifying and adapting is what we do.

 

The USGI mag fits the adapter, it just doesn't slide in without reefing on it or pressing in the mag release button. If you could exchange this one for a properly anodized one with an action that moves smoothly and more easily and excepts a magazine without problems, I'd appreciate it. PM Sent.

[Is MSA MIA?]

Anodize isn't paint. It's a reaction process of electrical charge and chemicals. I wonder if some chemical reaction happened from residue introduced on the last batch. White isn't even a color to anodize that I'm aware of. Blue, red and gold yes.... But white I am at a loss. Does it rub off? The adapter can still be painted to match the rifle.... most DIYers use grill paint to do so. But I'm still wondering about this white residue... hadn't seen it before. I wonder if there was something on the fingers of the shop workers. I'm calling the anodize shop tomorrow to figure it out.

 

The bodies are shot blasted to allow for a matt finish. The gritty action is a product of that, but that smoothers out after use.. A coil can be taken out of the spring to reduce the spring rate. Some like it stiff some don't so I leave an extra coil just for this.

 

How and when can I get it replaced? It won't accept a magazine without pressing the mag release. The finish acts just like matte black spraypaint, whether it is or isn't. It doesn't wipe off.

[Is MSA MIA?]

Well guys, got my MSA AR-15 magazine adapter Friday. FINALLY. Came with a very poorly done spotty matte black spraypaint job on the body of the adapter. The levers look to be a smooth glossy finish which is showed on the entire unit per the picture on MSA's website.

In addition to that, I'm pretty sure it doesn't function properly. The right sight mag release lever is difficult to push in and the action of it is very gritty (I assume due to the paintjob) and the magazine won't go into the adapter without pressing the mag release. Kind of defeats one of the advantages of quick mag changes if you have to press the mag release button to insert the magazine. The magazine used was a standard USGI General Stamping 30 rounder. I decided to post this on the forum as my email was never returned before and you seem to respond to here. Hopefully I can get it replaced with what I paid for. You would think after waiting 1 month and 3 weeks I would have received a BETTER than advertised product rather than a $79 mess. Here is a picture of what I received, shows the awful paintjob pretty well.

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

Awesome. Got it back today. 3 weeks from the day they received it. They sent me the same screwed up POS rifle back! THEY DIDN'T FIX A THING! On the "Repair Order" sheet they sent with it it says under Repair/Action Taken: "Checked out. Test Fired Ok, Meets Factory Specs." My god, how bad do these rifles have to be to not meet factory specs, the sight block being 90 degrees off???! I'm furious. What kind of company (importer or not) won't own up to their mistakes. I can understand that they get a lemon in once and a while and yea, they probably aren't going to pay somebody to look at each one to make sure its alright but man, what kind of company won't make it right. What kind of service/gunsmith guy can't look at the rifle, shoulder it and not realize that the rear sight block is canted to the right? I'm not a gunsmith, I'm a welder, and I can tell its off by a bit very easily. I can always take more pictures to show you guys but man, its VERY noticeable in person. I'm not some crazy OCD, has to be perfect, irrational person. Frankly, being an AK-pattern rifle, I don't need it to be perfect but man, this is ridiculous, my last WASR was better than this and it had a front canted sight which I could actually repair myself. Theres no fixing this receiver. I plan to call Monday and make something happen because this is insane. I can't even put a tech sight on or I will be staring at part of the rear sight base ear (for rear sight leaf) or a TSA Rail which connects to the rear sight block because it will come down crooked. Sure, I might be able to sight it in with factory sights but why can't I have a rifle that will accept the mods that I want to do to it. Thats not right. Some people have said sell it, cut your losses but I don't think I'll get near what I paid due to the problem it has with it and I'm certainly not going to sell it without mentioning it.

 

Sorry for the rant but I needed to vent somewhere and let these happenings be known. Hopefully I can speak to a manager or something. I'd be happy to post more pics if anybody is interested. I will update as things happen. All I want is a straight Saiga .223 rifle. Hopefully that is not too much to ask.

[Is MSA MIA?]

Sure hope I get mine next week, I ordered mine February 19 and still nothing or any responses to an email.

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

The importer name really doesn't mean beans. They all come from the Izsmash factory in Russia.

 

The oblong of the stamped reciever should have no affect on the site. Every AK reviecer that is stamped is not truely square. Just the nature of bent metal.

 

Look at the side of the rear site. Are the pins on bith sides sitting the same in the sight mounting holes on both sides? It could be one side is not fully seated up into it's mounting holes.

 

Try to remove the rear sight, and re-install it.

 

To remove you use a screw driver by pushing the spring down. Push the sight down and cock it a little to remove. Reverse the order to put back on.

 

Good pics of the sight might help to diagnose the issue better if my suggestion does not work out.

 

ALL RIGHTY THEN.

 

Nope, never had the problem.

You did mention in the original post that there are no returns and USSG customer service sucks. . . Since you have no interest in trying to figure it out your self and don't want any help I'd say you are

 

USSG customer service does suck. USSG/EAA is the importer, not the dealer I purchased the rifle from, as mentioned in the first post. I bought the rifle from a dealer and their policy is a no return policy on firearms. USSG/EAA offers a one year from day of purchase manufacturer defect, workmanship, blah blah warranty and they will replace/repair the rifle if there is an issue. Its already boxed up and ready to be shipped out tomorrow. If it isn't already painfully obvious, I have figured out the issue for MYSELF, and stated it in the first post. For this reason I never asked for ANY help regarding the rifle's issues but to simply ask if anyone had ever dealt with USSG before on a warranty and that if anyone else has experienced this specific problem on a rifle. I just don't see the logic in me spending my money on completely tearing the receiver apart and rebuilding the rifle when I could have it replaced. And that is what it would take because the receiver is crooked. If you can't understand that explanation, I really don't know what else there is to do. Unless you are trolling, then you totally win.

 

 

The importer name really doesn't mean beans. They all come from the Izsmash factory in Russia.

 

The oblong of the stamped reciever should have no affect on the site. Every AK reviecer that is stamped is not truely square. Just the nature of bent metal.

 

Look at the side of the rear site. Are the pins on bith sides sitting the same in the sight mounting holes on both sides? It could be one side is not fully seated up into it's mounting holes.

 

Try to remove the rear sight, and re-install it.

 

To remove you use a screw driver by pushing the spring down. Push the sight down and cock it a little to remove. Reverse the order to put back on.

 

Good pics of the sight might help to diagnose the issue better if my suggestion does not work out.

 

I'm not sure if you read my first post but....I'm stating facts about my rifle and what is wrong with it, not asking for a diagnosis. The receiver bends have EVERYTHING to do with the trunnion placement and because the trunnion is angled, the rear sight block is angled, and due to the rear sight block being angled, the rear sight leaf is of course, angled. I was just asking if anyone else had a rifle with this issue and if anyone has ever dealt with EAA/USSG Inc. on this issue specifically. Thanks.

 

to be honest, the rifle is not going to be a problem unless it cant be zeroed. and from the pics, the reciever doesnt look bent. it looks as if the trunion is sitting in the reciever crooked, or was milled crooked and now gives the appearence of a crooked reciever, but good luck with your quest.

Thanks, I am not new to AKM type rifles so I know what they are supposed to look like, It is VERY crooked. It may not be as visible in the picture but when you actually pick it up, shoulder it, look at it in person, its pretty bad. Its not even worth the time cranking the front sight post all the way over to one side just to get it to work because I won't be happy with it in the end with a janky rifle. I'd like to get what I paid for and get a straight rifle.

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

The importer name really doesn't mean beans. They all come from the Izsmash factory in Russia.

 

The oblong of the stamped reciever should have no affect on the site. Every AK reviecer that is stamped is not truely square. Just the nature of bent metal.

 

Look at the side of the rear site. Are the pins on bith sides sitting the same in the sight mounting holes on both sides? It could be one side is not fully seated up into it's mounting holes.

 

Try to remove the rear sight, and re-install it.

 

To remove you use a screw driver by pushing the spring down. Push the sight down and cock it a little to remove. Reverse the order to put back on.

 

Good pics of the sight might help to diagnose the issue better if my suggestion does not work out.

 

I'm not sure if you read my first post but....I'm stating facts about my rifle and what is wrong with it, not asking for a diagnosis. The receiver bends have EVERYTHING to do with the trunnion placement and because the trunnion is angled, the rear sight block is angled, and due to the rear sight block being angled, the rear sight leaf is of course, angled. I was just asking if anyone else had a rifle with this issue and if anyone has ever dealt with EAA/USSG Inc. on this issue specifically. Thanks.

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I got 3 saiga rifles, 2 SAR 2's, 1 norinco, a milled yugo M-70, a yugo M-92 and most of them are crooket or have a flaw in some way the only ones that are straight and perfect were built the the US from parts kits buy some skilled gunsmiths AK's are known for being slapped together that is part of there charm. The best I can say is enjoy the gun drift the front sight over to compansate and it will shoot straight hit the target and will never let you down and unless you point out the sights being drifted a little no one will know. Also if you did send it back odds are you would get a gun that something else wrong. So shoot it love it and one day it may save your life.

ALSO you would not need a new receiver a good gunsmith could remove the rivits elongate the holes and straighten everything out and rerivit it if is bothering you that much I do not think you will have that much luck with USSG. But good luck anyways.

 

I don't see how elongation of the holes would do anything. The receiver's top lips are bent (the bends that the bolt carrier slides on) slides into the groove of the trunnion and from what it looks like, helps located the trunnion which then locates the rear sight block, correct? And if I do end up putting tech sights on it like I was pondering the idea of, The sight block will be in the way. I don't mind a flaw that doesn't effect operation, but If I go that route, I'm screwed. I don't understand whats so hard about building an AK. I mean, this isn't a century build for god sakes! I'll enjoy the gun when the sights are at least straight.

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

shouldnt hurt ANYthing... its an AK after all...

 

 

 

It hurts my BRAINNNNNNNN

[Incorrectly bent USSG reciever??]

TLDR = I bought a 09' (I believe thats the year) USSG 16" saiga .233, receiver is bent wrong and that throws off the rear sight block/sights, anybody ever dealt with them before or think they will give me a different rifle? I doubt they would bother trying to fix it. Anybody ever had this problem with a USSG or other importer/ year rifle?

 

Well, much to my dismay, I received my brand new USSG imported 16" barrel .223 saiga from my FFL a couple days ago thinking I was getting a decent quality AK versus the last purchase of my now sold WASR-10/63 which had canted front sights which weren't too hard to fix. Anyways, I got the rifle out and put some rounds through it to test before I do an AK conversion and ar-15 mag MSA conversion. After shooting I noticed the rear sight leaf was cocked to the right. When I got home, I tore the rifle apart and guess what. The RECEIVER is bent oblong!! One of the vertical sides of the receiver is taller than the other and since the rear sight block has the pin connecting it through the trunion and the trunion is riveted to the receiver, the rear sight block is cocked to the right a bit. The front sight base and gas tube appear to be in line with each other but they are on a slightly different alignment, so they hang left more-so than the rear sight block. Of course the site where I bought it says absolutely no returns on firearms so now I have to go through USSG, which so far has been pretty poor customer service. I wonder if they are going to even be able to do anything for me because the rifle itself is screwed. You would have to replace the receiver. Hope this turns out ok. Anybody else had problems with USSG Saiga .223s? I think its an 09' rifle because it says that under a funny looking stamp with sideways opposite facing "M"s on the front right of the receiver. I understand AK's aren't precision builds by any means but this is unacceptable. Has anyone ever had this problem before with USSG or any of the other imports or importers? Here is a pic. AND BTW, I understand I might be able to adjust the sights way the heck over or get RPK sights or whatever but all I want is a straight AK rifle. Which is what I paid for.