Safety lever - need to reduce force required to move it

[ammohawg 4]

Just recently took my new S12 for a range trip.

 

I like it, lots of fun to shoot, and I was lucky enough to have it cycle low brass properly right out of the box.

 

The safety lever travel is good, but it requires an inordinate amout of force to switch it to the off position.

 

I've seen the pawn shop vid where the fellow smacks the safety lever rivet with a hammer (held in a vise), and I'm OK with that, but he mentions in the vid it's easy enough to make it tighter if you go a little too far.

 

Before I start beating on the rivet, can someone enlighten me on exactly how to make it tighter if I go too far ?

 

Logic dictates just bang it the other direction, but that would involve beating on the tang and I'm a little leery of that without seeking counsel from someone more knowledgeable before doing so.

 

How does one properly adjust the tension required to move the safety lever (in either direction) without screwing it up ?

[S12KS-K 40]

Take it out, put the section that goes into the receiver in a vice. Pull the lever outward as if you're pulling it away from the receiver. You'll bend it about 1 mm away from the receiver.

 

Or you can take a mallet and give the circular face a good wack while it's in the vice loosely.

 

Fk it, I'll make a video when I have time since the lever is tight on my new s12..

 

I've seen the pawn shop vid where the fellow smacks the safety lever rivet with a hammer (held in a vise), and I'm OK with that, but he mentions in the vid it's easy enough to make it tighter if you go a little too far.

 

Before I start beating on the rivet, can someone enlighten me on exactly how to make it tighter if I go too far ?

 

Would that be iraqveteran8888's vid?

 

I usually just pull the lever with my hand.

[ammohawg 4]

That's the vid.

 

Looks like he has done more than a few S12's.

 

Great camera work and excellent narrative

[bigandrich44 0]

Take fishing line, slip it underneath the selector, and pull out. It'll bend it out slightly

[lbsrdi 1,078]

That's the vid.

 

Looks like he has done more than a few S12's.

 

Great camera work and excellent narrative

Isn't he the guy who drills the ports through the front sight hole at a 90 degree angle?

[pedal2alloy 206]

There are 2 friction points. The obvious one is at the end of the safety where it makes the scratch on the receiver, and you can bend that out obviously. But that's probably not the culprit, and you need that friction there for it to click into the safe and fire detents.

 

More friction occurs at the pivot point. The sheet metal of the safety has a cupped shape that is rubbing on the outside of the receiver, and the inside of that pivot point has a dog-leg that pinches the receiver metal. The "whacking" trick will un-cup the sheet metal a little bit, and maybe loosen it up.

 

Or you can leave it alone and oil it, because it will loosen with normal wear.

[gunfun 3,931]

No need to use the vise. also, that guy has some really bad advise in that video series about saiga 12 conversion. Don't give him any more hits on it. That just steers more unsuspecting traffic towards screwing up their guns.

 

All you need to do is rotate your safety down, lift it past the safety stop and rotate it to roughly straight down. Now sit on the gun and pull up on the safety about 2x as hard as feels like a bad idea. Rotate it back up and test it. Rinse and repeat until you get the desired level of tension.

 

Bonus round. Get a punch and hammer. Note where the dimple on the safety stops at the bottom of the stroke, and at a point a bit above half way where you cannot operate the trigger, but can cycle the bolt. (Only works if the hammer is already set) punch a dimple in the safety scratch at each point. Take a 1/8" drill bit and drill into the punch mark until the raised ring the punch made is gone. You now have a tactile click at each location with nice positive feed back.

 

Like so: [the picture is poor, but you should be able to see a dimple catching light below the safety about 1/4" and another just above my JTE extended safety stop]

http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?/gallery/image/7147-0719121450/

 

Also note, the location of your bottom detente dimple will vary depending on where your safety stop is. On my '108, the dimple on the safety just clears the radius at the bottom of the receiver so no additional dimple is needed.

 

Extra points: Do this http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?/gallery/album/1114-safety-mod/