nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Ok guys first time poster, long time reader. First time I saw an Akdal was a few weeks ago, my sister's boyfriend showed one to me. Then i started doing the research on them and reading the reviews. Judging from everyone's reviews and evaluations I went ahead and purchased one last weekend. Needless to say my experience was not the normal. I took the gun out of the box and proceeded to put two boxes of 3" high brass through the gun. This was not a success for the gun. Out of the 50 rounds there had to of been at least 10 failed to ejects. During this time i also had the bolt go home as i inserted several magazines. After a bit it did start to reliably fire the high brass. I then switched to the low brass wal mart target load and lets say out of 120 rounds it fired maybe 10 sequentially. By this i mean it would fail to eject then do it again and again. Every once in a while it would do two or three rounds in a row. So at that i called it a day and went home. I also had several occasions where the bolt would not go all the way home. I then got home and dismantled the gun and found that the gas nut was way loose. So i chalked all the miss fires excetera up to this. I cleaned the gun teflon taped the threads and reassmbled it. I did find one concerning thing during my cleaning. That is that the upper reciever where the bolt comes back was already quite worn. By this i am comparing it to the same area of my used Mossberg 500. It may be just due to the break in area. But i am including it for your responses. So the next day I took the gun back to the range. I loaded up 10 wal mart target loads and it failed misserably. i loaded up 10 slugs and it performed flawlessly. At this time i tryed some low brass home loads from my uncle. It fired 10 out of 12 of these. He was using low brass five shot with green dot powder. I assume that this load is just slightly heaver than the wal mart loads. I then burnt up some older ammo in hopes of getting it to fire. This was to no avail. So out of two days i fired about 230 rounds through it and am not impressed. I do have hope for the gun and already have ordered the Tromix gas bushing. It should be hear friday. Feel free to give me advice ect. I am former Navy and do have some gun experience but as I see it I am still a novice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
saiga545 47 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Damn, you might need to send it in. Mine took about 150 shells (high and low) before it cycled with 100% reliability (without bushing). The recoil spring is really tight. It helped soften mine by leaving the guns action locked open over night. And I use channel locks to tighten the gas and handguard nuts. They seem to hold up. Also, can you post pics of the wear in the receiver? I can compare it to mine to see if it's normal. Sorry about your troubles that sucks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pikapp168 17 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 You're scaring man lol. Mine comes in on Friday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I can post pics tonite after work. I also left the bolt open last nite. I read ur other post. lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ShadowFire 220 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 The thing is from everything I read, they seem to be better quality per batch than S12s. However from what I've read, like every other firearm, because it is made by humans, it's not perfect. You may need to tweek it but from what I've read, it's less troublesome to do so. Don't lose faith in your new shotgun, just gather knowledge and get'er working like a finely tuned machine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james lambert 3,059 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 In some guns the bolt latch has a rather sharp leading edge, this will bite into the upper receiver scraping away the anodize as well as some aluminum. Using a deburring wheel very slightly radius the sharp edge This will greatly reduce friction in the cycle, and should stop the wear as well Jim 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 thanks for the advice jim i thought about trying this but didnt know if it was "allowable" in the firearm waiting for some opionions on the damage before i file anything Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james lambert 3,059 Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Its just superficial, just clean up the bolt lock, and use some lube in that area Jim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
saiga545 47 Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Mine is the exact same way in my receiver. I have 200-300 shells through mine. I don't feel or see any burrs on my bolt's locking lug. See pics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted February 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 well that is definitely good to hear Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted February 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Hey guys and gals. Took the Akdal out today after I installed the Tromix Gas Bushing. It did make the gun show some improvement on the Wal Mart federal rounds. It still absolutely hates the Wal Mart Remington rounds. As for my uncles home loads it loves those now. I shot about 15 Federal rounds and 5 had failures. I shot 15 Remington rounds and 10 had failures. My uncles home loads shot 25 without a single hiccup. I did buy a Mec model 150 relaoder its a little on the older side but for what i paid for it i really cant complain. I plan on duplicating the loads my uncle makes. He says it will cost me about 3 to 4 bucks a box to load them at home. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Strawdawg 1 Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 sounds like you must have received an "improved" spring. Hopefully, it will do better with a few more rounds thru it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BuggedOut 2 Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 (edited) The first post included this little tidbit of information "During this time i also had the bolt go home as i inserted several magazines". I experienced this as well. I'm wondering is this a problem? How big of a problem? When I'm jammin mags in and I'm hot on the range, sending lead downrange, is the automatic (seems like) release of the bolt after seating a mag unsafe? I guess it is.. I hate to send my shiny new AR-12 off to have warranty work done so soon but it looks like it may be a common problem. Anyone else care to weigh in on this? Edited April 3, 2012 by BuggedOut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 mine kinda stopped sending the bolt home after a while or maybe its just that it hasnt done it for a bit now Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zombiehunter762 376 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 I was wondering about the reliability iissues that I read in the above post. If I got one, it would defiantly have to be a 14" SBS By TROMIX. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HDDP 18 Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 I then switched to the low brass wal mart target load and lets say out of 120 rounds it fired maybe 10 sequentially. By this i mean it would fail to eject then do it again and again. Every once in a while it would do two or three rounds in a row. So at that i called it a day and went home. I also had several occasions where the bolt would not go all the way home. I then got home and dismantled the gun and found that the gas nut was way loose. So i chalked all the miss fires excetera up to this. I cleaned the gun teflon taped the threads and reassmbled it. I did find one concerning thing during my cleaning. That is that the upper reciever where the bolt comes back was already quite worn. By this i am comparing it to the same area of my used Mossberg 500. It may be just due to the break in area. But i am including it for your responses. Hope your MKA is running better since the original post. I have also found mine not to like cycling low brass, they get hung-up on the base of the receiver and barrel junction. It appears the upward angle of the shell is not quite enough to clear the lower edge and slide into the chamber like the high brass shells. Once I noticed where and why it was hanging, I found a cheesy work-around which works 100% for mine now. After loading the mag with low brass shells, lightly tap the receiver end of the mag on a hard surface, to increase the upward angle of the shells in the mag. You'll notice the fronts of the shells move slightly while the brass stays put, then just insert your mag as usual. They all should cycle now. For a bit more permanent fix, you need to alter the angle of the mag feed insert so it points the front of the shells upward more. I tested with a small wedge and it worked fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted April 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 well mine isnt a feed issue mine feeds no problem once the old shell gets out lol getting the old shell out seems to be the problem lol. but i am going to order tonys reduced spring to see if that fixes the problem then i shall be good to go but as for now i got set up relaoding and my reloads run excellent thanks to green dot powder lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BuggedOut 2 Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I live less than a dozen miles as the crow flies, from a shooting range I belong to. It's open at some really odd times. Closed Monday and Wednesday, Open Tuesday 10 till 4. Thursday, Friday 12 to 7. And Sat and Sunday 10 til 5. So it seems that many of my club brothers forget this ridiculous schedule and the range sits unused for rather long lengths of time, especially Thursday night. So tonight I ran home after work put on my assault grubbies, grabbed my Akdal, a 1911 and a few boxes of lead. I also snagged a plastic 5 gallon bucket and kitchen trash can. Making it up as I drove along the country roads I unlocked the 2 gates and stated unloading gear. I had the range all to myself! Among the target stands and shredded cardboard was a steel pipe about 5 feet tall welded to 10 by 12 inch foot. That'll work! I took the pipe stand out about 25 feet and tossed the wastebasket upside down over it. Then I stapled a decade old FBI style silhouette target to the can. Back at the firing line I loaded a couple of 5 round mags with #4 buck, aimed center mass and boom! It fell right over. I turned the stand with the long side of the foot to the back and whacked it again. This time it stayed up and spun the can now riddeled with holes. That was fun! As I blasted the can over and over a few chunks flew off of it but mostly it remained intact. My Akdal is still sending the bolt forward when I shove a fresh mag in and wiggle it. I had one failure to fire with a light primer strike but all in all it was a blast . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nathanwerneburg3 1 Posted May 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 i cant wait for the reduced power spring to come out for mine lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BobAsh 582 Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 Hey guys and gals. Took the Akdal out today after I installed the Tromix Gas Bushing. It did make the gun show some improvement on the Wal Mart federal rounds. It still absolutely hates the Wal Mart Remington rounds. Nathan, One of the things about gas-operated shotguns is that they tend to be picky about ammo. The reason is the extremely broad range of powder charges and projectile weights affecting the internal pressure. Conversely, rifle ammo pressures are no where near as wide ranging which is why the are more able to accept many types of ammo. Through trial and error (and of course, observing this fine forum), you'll learn which ones work in your gun, whether it be Akdal or Saiga. Good luck and welcome. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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