Fine tuning MD Vplug?

[Long Shot 1,287]

Saiga- gurus,

 

Looking for some advice here.

 

I ran about 200 rounds of centurion single ball through my S-12 yesterday. With the MD Vplug on setting (2) it would FTE about one out of six shots. The ones that did ejaculate only dribbled about one or two feet from the receiver. On setting (3) it's popping the empty out about 8' to10' with no cycling issues but it seems like that's a pretty violent ejaculation of the empty. There is a some evidence of contact with the rear trunnion block, not really mushroom kinda contact but it's leaving a mark.

 

It's converted with Pauly's glass bolt work done. Three holes opened up to .093" Gas block opened up to clear the holes. I can run low base cheapo target loads on setting five perfectly.

 

What I'm wondering is,

Should I,

 

(1) Not be concerned?

(2) remove a little metal at setting two position to fine tune the Vplug?

(3) Just buy an auto plug?

 

Thank you for your response.

[gunfun 3,931]

That is an intelligently posed question.

 

I would say #2 and #3, maybe #1 if you don't shoot 3" often. Mine was close to what you describe.

 

or #1 and #3 with a blackjack buffer. (Unleash the tide of flames.- There are many this works for. There is no harm in them using it, and it is insuranc, For those that have problems with buffers, don't use them.)

 

No doubt others will have other valid opinions.

Edited April 9, 2012 by GunFun

[Long Shot 1,287]

GunFun,

Thanks. I didn't think about the buffer. Seems like there is a lot of negative opinions about them for the S-12's. I'll pick one up.

 

The thing I'm more concerned about is the carrier stem. Pauly told me that is the weak link in these things and to watch for hull ejection.

Ideal is about four feet from what I understand.

 

Is the Tac47 Autoplug the one to have?

[gunfun 3,931]

I like my autoplug. I just got a buffer for my 109, because I am tuning it run very light stuff with an autoplug, and figure that in an emergency 3" is less likely to cause problems with the buffer.

 

I tested this today with ok results (it worked fine.) Makc (the owner of this forum) Cobra and others use them. The other thing that occurs to me about the autoplug is that you are in control of your ammo. The stuff you were shooting isn't all that hot, but if you think that 3" is beating up your gun, you can always put your factory or V-plug in for the 3".

 

The problem people can have with buffers is that they can shorten your bolt's stroke. If your gun is way too hot, it can bounce back faster leading to the bolt being forward before the next cartridge has popped up in the mag. Or if the gun is really weak and barely running, it can stop the bolt early and not give it enough spring compression to sling shot forward with full force. Also some buffer brands are hard plastic, and some are thicker than others. Likely more of the problems are with the very thick buffers. (And there are a lot of people who object merely for dogmatic resistance to altering St. Kalashnikov's perfect and holy design, despite the fact that He and his company has modified it a ton over the years.)

 

The rebound issue is a bigger problem with magazines that feed more sluggishly, such as drums. This can happen with over gassed guns even without the buffer. For this reason MD started shipping Gunfixer's plug with their drums a few years ago, and was Gunfixer's main seller (it has Off, High ,Medium and low.). Then MD made a copy of GunFixer's plug with more settings (5), and you bought that copy. DPH decided to add one more setting (6) with the DPH Mach 6 Fusion plug!!!!

 

Turning the autoplug upside down is about the same concept as the off setting on a Gunfixer clone like the v-plug. So, I have tested running 3" ammo with the autoplug upside down... with winchester full power 3" 15 pellet ooB, it kicked the shells out 2'-3'. With the same thing in remmington, FTE about 50%. Running those same shells with the buffer and an autoplug set normally ran fine and did not seem to be abusive. Some people who ran an autoplug with the 3" ammo and no buffer reported the problem with the bolt rebounding off of the trunion and coming forward too fast for the magazine to feed reliably.

 

You don't need to buy any more stuff, but I do like the autoplug because it does what it promises. A gun that works well without it will work well with it and there is one less mistake you can make. This matters for defense and range play. Many times I have taken my gun to the range and a freind will pick it up and shove in a mag and start blazing without thinking about what setting it is on. Usually this means it is on #1 because that is how I left it at home for HD. So the gun FTEs and munches a shell, and I have to take it away from the fumbling newbie and safely clear the jam and correct the setting. Reversing this risks damage. Since I got the autoplug none of those issues matter. With a buffer, even if someone grabs 3" ammo, nothing will be damaged, and the worst problem is a potential rebound jam (which hasn't happened yet in my limited testing.).

[Long Shot 1,287]

Nobody else got any input on this?

[gunfun 3,931]

There are a million and ten old threads,and which-is-better polls out there.

[Long Shot 1,287]

Thanks for the input.

 

I try the search before posting a redundant question but couldn't find anything on fine tuning a manual adjust plug. I am a computer retard so mabe I just didn't get the magic words in there.

 

I did make a small radius at the #2 position with a chainsaw file. Ran a hundred rounds today with one FTE . The hulls are kicking out about 2' to 3' . I'm pretty happy with it but I'm going to take a couple more strokes with the file and test it again.

 

The way the threads line up on my gun in relation to the Vplug I can turn it in to achieve another setting two on the untouched side of the plug so I'm not losing anything with this minor modification.

 

I'll go ahead and buy the Autoplug and a buffer too just for convenience. It sounds like a good addition.

 

Again I appreciate your help.