jimdigriz 580 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) I'm trying to get to the bottom of an intermittent issue here. If you have experienced a light primer strike in any of your Saigas, please let me know what caliber it happened with, whether your hammer is modified to clear the BHO, and what kind of ammo you were using (if you remember). Just to clarify, a light primer strike is when the hammer falls, but the round does not fire, and there does not appear to be anything malformed or wrong about the primer itself that would cause the problem. (For instance, I had a Tula round with a misshapen primer that did not fire, and that does not count as a light primer strike). It may indeed fire if you rechamber it and try again. Thanks. Jim Edited May 2, 2012 by Nailbomb necrothread Link to post Share on other sites
1mile50 102 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I'm trying to get to the bottom of an intermittent issue here. If you have experienced a light primer strike in any of your Saigas, please let me know what caliber it happened with, whether your hammer is modified to clear the BHO, and what kind of ammo you were using (if you remember). Just to clarify, a light primer strike is when the hammer falls, but the round does not fire, and there does not appear to be anything malformed or wrong about the primer itself that would cause the problem. (For instance, I had a Tula round with a misshapen primer that did not fire, and that does not count as a light primer strike). It may indeed fire if you rechamber it and try again. Thanks. Jim My S-12 is an older model, USA Kalashnikov imported 3-holer with no BHO. I had some light strike issues with low brass after I converted it and shortened the barrel from 22" to 18.25". The cause was it was not locking into battery every time after firing, the bolt cycle being slightly shorter with the shorter barrel, less back pressure. I shaped and polished the bolt and hammer a little further, but the main issue was the extractor. It had a small burr-like ridge that prevented the extractor from sliding into the notch completely, when the bolt tried to returned to battery. I polished the extractor, very carefully. No more issues, now utterly reliable with Federal Bulk Pack and 2 3/4" Remington 00 Buck or slugs. Doesn't like Winchester, be it either high or low brass. Link to post Share on other sites
Klassy Kalashnikov 1,393 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I've had a .223, 5.45, two 7.62x39s and an S-12 and never had light primer strike issues. Link to post Share on other sites
jimdigriz 580 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I've had a .223, 5.45, two 7.62x39s and an S-12 and never had light primer strike issues. Classy, which of the Saigas have a spring-loaded firing pin? .223 and .308 do, and 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 don't. What about the shotguns? Link to post Share on other sites
beefcakeb99 572 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I have had one or two with 5.45, but it has hard primers such as most mil surp ammo has. Oh and no BHO here. Link to post Share on other sites
jimdigriz 580 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I have had one or two with 5.45, but it has hard primers such as most mil surp ammo has. Oh and no BHO here. Any other possible contributing factors? Do you have the factory mainspring or an aftermarket one? Link to post Share on other sites
Klassy Kalashnikov 1,393 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) I've had a .223, 5.45, two 7.62x39s and an S-12 and never had light primer strike issues. Classy, which of the Saigas have a spring-loaded firing pin? .223 and .308 do, and 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 don't. What about the shotguns? the S-12 had a spring loaded pin also I am guessing that the spring loaded pins would likely be the ones to have light strikes Edited January 15, 2011 by Classy Kalashnikov Link to post Share on other sites
beefcakeb99 572 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) I have had one or two with 5.45, but it has hard primers such as most mil surp ammo has. Oh and no BHO here. Any other possible contributing factors? Do you have the factory mainspring or an aftermarket one? Factory spring, none that I can think of, I am no smith...but upon a second strike they both went bang Honestly I chalked it up to mil surp ammo, which I have read, heard, and experienced myself. Is this not a true statement that surp ammo has harder primers? Edited January 15, 2011 by beefcakeb0 Link to post Share on other sites
Spartacus 1,619 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 I had a light strike (just one that I remember) on my S-12 with Walmart Federal target ammo. This was after I installed a Tromix firing pin and it's very stiff spring though. I cranked the round out manually, threw it in the next mag and it fired fine the second time around. The Tromix firing pin spring was so stiff that it caused noticeable drag on rotating the bolt by hand out of the gun. So I cut a half coil off the firing pin spring and that made a positive difference in the feel of the bolt rotation. Haven't had any range time since those last changes, hopefully between the spring change and more break-in of the gun I won't have any more light strikes. Link to post Share on other sites
corbin 621 Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Never had an issue, even back when I had a lighter main spring in the S-12. I've since changed it back to the original spring, but that was because I didn't see much difference with it, and not because of any light primer hits. Link to post Share on other sites
7N6Wolf 61 Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 I have not experienced any light primer strikes with my Saiga 5.45 (or any AK platform I own). Admittedly, it is the only Saiga I currently have, but it has not had any issues. I feed 7N6 surplus ammo through this Saiga. Link to post Share on other sites
SOPMOD 254 Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 It's safety feature to protect you from AD with soft US Commercial Primers. It sucks, it should never have existed on 5.45 and 7.62 guns at all and it's value on 308 is questionable as well.. Make sure your firing pin channel is clean and that no crud is between the coils of the spring and you will be alright.I have found an amazing amount of crud and metal flakes and other friday afternoon quitting time factory nonsense in there on a couple of occasions but once cleaned never had a problem again. Link to post Share on other sites
wtjosaas 72 Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 I have 1 - 7.62x39 and 2 - 5.45x39 and have not had any light strike problems at all. I do have a Mini 30 that gives me fail to fires with Wolf ammo about 1 in 25 so I don't use wolf in it any more. Link to post Share on other sites
ChileRelleno 7,071 Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 (edited) This thread is what, over a year dead? OMG!!! Zombie Thread, Run For Your Freaking Lives! Edited April 29, 2012 by ChileRelleno 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Dad2142Dad 6,559 Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites
dayofruin 425 Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Out of 223, 7.62x39, and 12, I've experienced light strikes from my 7.62x39 but only with brass cased yugo surplus as it seemed to have a harder primer. Link to post Share on other sites
dayofruin 425 Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Seriously??? Just looked at the dates... Yay for votes... Link to post Share on other sites
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