Saiga Problems (first time out) FTF, FTE, etc

[conndoor 0]

I had my Saiga out for the first time today and had some problems. I sold an AR a while back to migrate to the 'reliable' AK platform and now I'm having my doubts. Anyway - following are my experiences. Any advice would be greatly appreciated:

 

1) Received gun and gave it a good cleaning. I used CLP, and wiped everything down after cleaning.

 

2) Installed the Tapco stock/pistol grip that doesn't require any other modifications, and received two surefire magazines and two master molder magazines.

 

3) Purchased 500 rounds of Wolf HP

 

4) Went shooting this morning:

 

Shot (1) 30 round Surefire magazine no problems - loving the gun at this point.

Shot one of the Master Molder mags and experienced a double feed. I had to pull the mag and rack the slide to clear.

This is where things get a little fuzzy, but I experienced at least one more double feed, one major FTE where the case went really far back into the action.

I had failures on both of the master molder mags, and one of the surefire mags. The stock 10 rounder was fine, as well as the first surefire magazine.

130 rounds total - and at least four major failures with three different mags.

 

At this point I'm thinking it's ammo, but I was under the impression that you could feed AKs most anything and they would run. (kinda like glock?) Is this common? Is there some sort of break in period that I'm looking at?

 

I like the gun, but was really hoping for something I can count on.

thx-c

[jamesavery22 54]

It doesn't sound like its the ammo since you said the stock mag was fine. Regardless of what the malfunction was, you already said you only had problems with the MM mags, and the one surefire. So naturally it sounds like its a problem with those 3 mags.

 

Can you be a little more specific on the double feed? Did you fire, the extractor failed some how and when the bolt came back it tried to feed a live round into the chamber that currently has an empty shell in it? Or was there a live round in the chamber? Are you sure you had a double feed?

Edited March 20, 2008 by jamesavery22

[conndoor 0]

It doesn't sound like its the ammo since you said the stock mag was fine. Regardless of what the malfunction was, you already said you only had problems with the MM mags, and the one surefire. So naturally it sounds like its a problem with those 3 mags.

 

Can you be a little more specific on the double feed? Did you fire, the extractor failed some how and when the bolt came back it tried to feed a live round into the chamber that currently has an empty shell in it? Or was there a live round in the chamber? Are you sure you had a double feed?

 

I may have misused the term double feed. It ejected the spent casing fine, but it's like it tried to strip two rounds at the same time. I had two rounds that were both trying to go into the chamber.

 

As for the mags - I thought it was just the master molder mags causing probs too, but I had a failure with my second surefire mag as well.

 

I'll get it cleaned up, get all my mags marked, and try it again here in the next week or so and take my camera.

[oldandslow 3]

Measure the front of you Molder magazine from the latch to the top. I have had problems with the front of the magazine being higher than my "Saiga" magazines. This would cause the round to be directed higher than it should be. Remember, there is no "bullet guide" in this gun.

[cscharlie 107]

If it runs good with the factory mag then I would do a pistol grip conversion and install a feed ramp. Possably from KVAR. Then use actual steel AK47 mags. IMO this is the normal/regular way to go. Going this route, has not failed me yet. Not once. Remember to have several AK steel mags for comparison on lock up. You may need to file the mag catch a little for them. Remove material slow and check fit often.

 

Using MM or Surefire mags is an attempt to use a short cut, even though it may work OK.

[cscharlie 107]

To add to above post. It's not unheard of for an AK to dislike a specific bullet, or type of ammo. Hollow points seem to be a most likely bullet to have feeding problem. Followed by soft point ammo. Each rifle is diffrent to some degree. I still recomend the conversion. Also, especialy if the rifle was brand new, I would use a stronger cleaning agent than CLP, paying special attention to the gas port, and bolt assembly.

[taurussvt 0]

If it runs good with the factory mag then I would do a pistol grip conversion and install a feed ramp. Possably from KVAR. Then use actual steel AK47 mags. IMO this is the normal/regular way to go. Going this route, has not failed me yet. Not once. Remember to have several AK steel mags for comparison on lock up. You may need to file the mag catch a little for them. Remove material slow and check fit often.

 

Using MM or Surefire mags is an attempt to use a short cut, even though it may work OK.

There is something to be said for a magazine that works whether or not you have a bullet guide. I know that after you install a bullet guide the factory magazines lip is too high and has to be ground down. I have a bullet guide in my rifle and have tried a mastermolder and it fit just fine. I think that maybe the lip on the front of the mastermolder is JUST good enough to feed the bullet without a guide but I wouldn't rely on it forever.