volfandan 1 Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) I had a little bit of frustration yesterday at the range. I put two boxes of wal-mart Federal value pack thru my Saiga, and several times the bolt didn't want to close all the way on a full mag. I was using a fully loaded 10 round AGP gen 2 mag, and haven't had this problem with the Remington walmart value pack that I ran last week. The Federal seemed to run very well, with only 1 or 2 stovepipes out of 50 rounds. I just don't see why the carrier bolt/carrier didn't want to close on the first shot of a loaded mag???? Just to clear up....my problem was failure to feed, I assume that's what you'd call it....NOT failure to fire. Edited March 21, 2009 by volfandan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mscottrogers 56 Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 I had a little bit of frustration yesterday at the range. I put two boxes of wal-mart Federal value pack thru my Saiga, and several times the bolt didn't want to close all the way on a full mag. I was using a fully loaded 10 round AGP gen 2 mag, and haven't had this problem with the Remington walmart value pack that I ran last week. The Federal seemed to run very well, with only 1 or 2 stovepipes out of 50 rounds. I just don't see why the carrier bolt/carrier didn't want to close on the first shot of a loaded mag???? Just to clear up....my problem was failure to feed, I assume that's what you'd call it....NOT failure to fire. Go back to the remington and see of the problem goes away, your gun may not like your ammo. unfortunately they can be picky. Have you tried the federal in a stock five rounder? Have you cleaned it between sessions,... maybe a spring slipped while you were cleaning it and is causing a problem? whenever I develope a problem after changing something I go back to when it last worked and start from there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sacsucks 3 Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 (edited) Couple of things. You may need to break in the gun a bit with slugs to smooth out surfaces. They like powerful russian ammo like Wolf out of the box. You may have your mag full and that can cause too much backpressure. Try it 90% loaded and see if you have the same thing. It could be the mag itself too. Or you may have some work to do on the gun as well. Check out my article that pulls together all the topics around vodka specials into a single place. http://earthseaphoto.com/SagaofMySaiga.htm Edited March 22, 2009 by sacsucks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bigjimcalhoun 0 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 I had a similar problem that I admit was user error. I was riding the bolt back with my hand after loading the mag instead of letting it snap back from the very end of its open position. In slowing it down with my hand, it did not have enough pressure to fully close. This was my issue, may not be yours though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce12 407 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 I had a similar problem that I admit was user error. I was riding the bolt back with my hand after loading the mag instead of letting it snap back from the very end of its open position. In slowing it down with my hand, it did not have enough pressure to fully close. This was my issue, may not be yours though. This was my first guess. You can't treat these things with kid gloves. They like it rough with everything except trigger control. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
volfandan 1 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Well, I was just releasing the bolt handle completely....not at all coddling it along, so that can't be it. I took it to my smith to have him give it a "fluff & buff".....and he's going to polish the hammer and bolt and adjust the hammer spring. It (the bolt) did seem to really have (what I thought, anyway) a LOT of trouble riding back over the cocked hammer. My smith said that adjusting the hammer spring should solve this. So, hopefully late this week I'll know something. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll let you guys know what I find out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kmoore 3 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 ... They like powerful russian ammo like Wolf out of the box. .. Last I checked, wolf shotgun ammo was made in europe, might have been Germany. And it's definitely on the softer side of power (slugs and buck at least). You may have your mag full and that can cause too much backpressure. Try it 90% loaded and see if you have the same thing. This is my guess, the fullest mag has the most upward pressure from the shotshell on the bottom of the bolt while cycling. If I understand you, you are loading a full mag on a closed bolt, then hand cycling the first round home? Try this, load the full mag, with the bolt forward on a live round. See it the gun is having problems feeding off a full mag when fired, that will prove or disprove your "envolvement" in the problem. No matter how much we try to give a clean release to the bolt, it's hard to make it as clean and "violent" as a gun during normal firing. So that you and all others don't sue me, YMMV, IMHO, IIRC etc. And watch your muzzle and trigger while doing this reload! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
volfandan 1 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 If I understand you, you are loading a full mag on a closed bolt, then hand cycling the first round home? Not on a closed bolt. I had the BHO engaged, as I have always done on mag changes. I just put in the mag, and then pulled the bolt handle to the rear and let her rip. I will try a 90% mag with one in the chamber, though. Hopefully my smith will just have it all taken care of Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hobbyshooter 59 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 So it wouldn't feed when you racked it or it wouldn't feed following the first chambered shot? Both situations can be improved with bolt polishing (obviously), but I'd like to point out that several AGP mags have a very tight fitting follower that drags in the body. If the body is tight, and the federal shells are slightly larger in diameter, your feed issue could be that there is a lot of bind in the mag working against the spring (if it's an FTF on the follow up shot). Take the floorplate & spring out of the mag and try to just let the follower fall from the top to the bottom driven by gravity. If it catches anywhere peak through the mag body against a back light to see what part of the follower is catching. Sand that part of the follower and test fit. Repeat until it flows smooth, then polish the contact surfaces of the follower with 600 grit or finer sand paper. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
volfandan 1 Posted March 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 Well, I picked up my Saiga from my smith today, and she seems fine. He polished my hammer and bolt, and "tweeked" the hammer spring. I took it to the range this afternoon and loaded up an AGP with 10 rounds of Federal 7 1/2 shot bulk pack wally world ammo. Wow....like a Swiss watch! 10 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger! Now, I still hadn't cleaned her from the last trip....as I just sent her straight to my smith. So, if she's running this well dirty, I bet she's good to go! Damn, sounds like I'm talking about a stripper or something Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raidersfan_5544 57 Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 good to hear shes running well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.