stoli 0 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Just took out my new rifle recently and noticed when I took it apart to clean it the sides of the gas piston seem to be discolored, almost like there was excessive heat that was applied to that portion of the piston. The area of the piston that is discolored is the bottom portion near were it starts to flare back towards the back of the rifle. Is that normal for shooting a couple hundred rounds with a brand new gun? There is also a build up of residue (kind of like little bumps) on the concave portion of the piston that I can not clean off with a nylon brush and solvent. Is it safe to use a brass brush to clean this portion of the piston? Does the rough concave portion of the piston have any negative affect on the rifle shooting properly? I am new to the rifles with gas systems, so forgive me if this is too basic of stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
echoside190 127 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'd have to see a picture of the discolored area to know what it might be, what color is it? Could be carbon buildup if it wasn't there before you fired it needing scraped off. As for the front of the piston that's just hard carbon buildup, haven't had any problems with it being on there but after about 500 rounds when I clean I use a brass carbon scraping tool or an old pocket knife to lightly scrape it off the face of my piston and the front of the barrel uner my muzzle brake where it accumulates and turns rock solid so using a metal bristle brush is fine for cleaning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
imarangemaster 315 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Absolutely normal. ALL AK pistons will look like that, it will not hurt a thing. The chrome plating is much tougher than the expanding gases of the propellent combustion. The Russians use VERY tough steel on their AKs. There is an old joke that the use the armor grade steel from melted down German tanks left behind from WW2. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chevyman097 2,579 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Its normal. The piston is exposed to lots of heat, its build to take it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stoli 0 Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Thanks for the info everyone. I was thinking that this was probably typical. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iarneau 44 Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 I wondered the same thing at first, but with my shells ejecting about twenty feet from a standing position it's running just fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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