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Weird FTE problem


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Had a guy bring his Saiga 12 in to the shop due to the usual "wont run walmart bulk pack stuff". The gun has the low brass reliability kit, 4 open properly sized gas ports etc. I reprofiled the hammer face and smoother out the carrier and took it to the range today.

 

Had a buddy watching the bolt carrier cycle for me and it turns out the damned recoil spring guard was somehow binding things up and not letting the carrier cycle back all the way. I took it off and the thing spits federal bulk pack shells about 8 feet straight left even single time.

 

The problem is, I can't see where the hell it's catching at and can't feel it while hand cycling the gun. There are no wear marks on the spring guard. Anyone had this be the culprit before? I could probably fix it if I just knew what was catching where. I hate to strip the paint off and slather the thing with prussian blue.

 

 

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Yeah, I have some. It just wont spot well on a black surface. It's either that or the spring guard is a hair too long and the shell casing is wedging against it when the ejector picks it up somehow. It ran flawlessly with it removed but stove piped every round with it installed.

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I wonder if the cover is putting a side torque or vertical on the spring guide so that the spring guide rod is interfering with the bolt carrier. I believe this is part of the reason for the JTE spring guide kit.

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oneobliv - Obviously, I don't know your customer's preference on the matter but, for me, that cover served no useful purpose... no children that could get their little fingers inside the mechanism have access to my Saiga, no low-flying birds (or small aircraft) have ever entered there by mistake or on purpose, and because mine never gets dragged through mud, swamps, Jello, or mashed potatoes, I removed it.

 

Then, I found two things: I could now control the release of spring presure when wanting to store the Saiga uncocked on an empty chamber. And the other thing is that many 3-gun competitors also remove it from their gun, I imagine to reduce the number of parts that could go wrong, but don't really know why.

 

Removing it would also reduce the mass of the moving parts the gas is acting upon.

 

I do have the JTE spring guide kit and I like it. Whether this helps or not, I don't know, but it may give you an additional option to consider in behalf of your customer.

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Thanks guys, I did end up just telling him to leave it off. either permanently or when shooting low brass. I tried lipstick and cound't find any source of real binding when hand cycling. Shooting it may have showed something but he was in a hurry to get it back.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm having the same problem. it looks like the bolt hits the hammer in the last inch of recoil,seems to depress it harder than the carrier.The force lifts the carrier as it departs it's rail forcing the spring tube up binding the spring.If Iremove more from the tube I'm afraid the carrier will come off the rail.I'm considering grinding part of the bolt down.Should it ride the hammer THAT hard?Tolerances so loose the operating rod totally off to the right.Does not bind when bolt removed.The bolt rides the hammer right on a serial number.Should I flatten that part of bolt out?

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