fraserfab 0 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Hey guys, this will be my first post here. I have been lurking for a while, and used your recommendations for buying a MD arms 20 round drum for my Saiga 12. Unfortunately this drum does not work for me. It fails to feed everything from bulk pack to slugs. The gun works great with my 12 round stick mags, and cycles bulk pack shells very well. I am wondering if anyone else has had feeding issues with their drum and maybe someone has a fix for it. I have tried contacting MD Arms with no reply. I have had my eye on the Tac 47 magwell, but haven't pulled the trigger on it because I love the idea of this drum. Anybody have any ideas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shifty_85 20 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 did you do the final fitting to get the drum to lock in?? took me a good 25-30 mines of filing that little part but because of the final fitment the MD arms drum is the tightest locking mag i own for my S-12 all my AGP, Surefire, even the factory 5 rounder moves a little bit the MD arms drum is SOILD and feeds everything so far. What kind of fail to feeds are you getting? what is happening? Maybe take a picture or video for us? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I think I got lucky with my drum it needed very little fitting. It locked in right away but was a little tight so I filed it a little bit for ease of insertion, but it locked in on first try. As far as the type of FTF I am not sure, the first round fires and ejects just fine but the bolt closes about half way on top of the next round, it does not even start to feed. It is like the drum is binding or something causing the bolt to close faster that the drum can feed. I will try to get out to the range tomorrow and will take some video and pics Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) I had the exact issue as you're having. stick mags feed drum won't feed the fix is you have to play around with the spring tension in it. I had to experiment, until I found the right number of revolutions in the spring so that it would feed consistently, mine ending up being 2 revolutions. in order to adjust the tension you need to hold onto the inner drum, take out the follower, and slowly unwind the drum so you have zero spring tension . then start with 1 revolution, put the follower in, load and try it. if that doesn't work, add in another revolution. etc.. if you're still unsure how to do that, there probably is a YOUTUBE video on it. they have a YOUTUBE video on everything else. Edited June 16, 2013 by Matthew Hopkins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 yeah, you can forget about MD helping you out. I had the exact issue as you're having. the fix is you have to play around with the spring tension in it. I had to experiment, until I found the right number of revolutions in the spring so that it would feed consistently. in order to do that you need to hold onto the inner drum, take out the follower, and slowly unwind the drum so you have zero spring tension . then start by putting in 1 complete revolutions, put the follower in, and try it. if that doesn't work, repeat the same procedure and add in another revolution, try again. etc..... Thank you for that. Can you tell me how many revolutions yours needed to run reliably? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) 2 Edited June 16, 2013 by Matthew Hopkins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 2 Thanks. When I removed follower, I counted revolutions to unwind completely. It was just over 2. So I added 1 revolution and will try to make it to the range tomorrow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 (edited) 2 Thanks. When I removed follower, I counted revolutions to unwind completely. It was just over 2. So I added 1 revolution and will try to make it to the range tomorrow. let us know how it works out for you Edited June 17, 2013 by Matthew Hopkins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 (edited) Just got home from the range, and am pleased to say that the drum worked perfectly! Thanks to Mr. Hopkins for the repair advice. Unfortunately my S12 does not eject since installing my new Chaos titan rail. These sure are never ending, but fun project guns! Edited June 19, 2013 by fraserfab Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nephilim7 107 Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 With the ejection problems you won't be able to test right now, but when it is sorted out there is one more thing to check. When the gun runs smoothly, try really fast rapid fire with the drum. It is the problem that may arise from reducing spring tension. The drum may not be able to feed fast enough when set this way. May work just fine. Check it out and see. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 With the ejection problems you won't be able to test right now, but when it is sorted out there is one more thing to check. When the gun runs smoothly, try really fast rapid fire with the drum. It is the problem that may arise from reducing spring tension. The drum may not be able to feed fast enough when set this way. May work just fine. Check it out and see. Ejection problem is fixed, removed chaos rail and fired 100 rounds of Winchester bulk pack. 60 of them through the drum. No problems, fed and ejected all 100 without a hiccup. The barrel does get awful hot without a hand guard. Luckily I had some gloves. I am not sure I want to keep the Chaos titan rail so if anybody wants it, make me an offer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I did not reduced spring tension, I INCREASED it by one rotation. This fixed my problem of not feeding fast enough. I rapid fired as fast as I could while staying on target. I will try some bump firing this weekend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nephilim7 107 Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Great job. Increased spring tension may increase drag on the gun's cycling stroke. Keep an eye on that. Also, that CHAOS rail is no junk. The weight is my only concern with them. Lots of people have had this cycling issue with rails of all kinds but especially the UTG rail. Do some google searching of the forum and be patient. From what I understand, this cycling thing can be easily fixed. If you are good with the weight of the rail, stick with it. Let us know how it goes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fraserfab 0 Posted June 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Great job. Increased spring tension may increase drag on the gun's cycling stroke. Keep an eye on that. Also, that CHAOS rail is no junk. The weight is my only concern with them. Lots of people have had this cycling issue with rails of all kinds but especially the UTG rail. Do some google searching of the forum and be patient. From what I understand, this cycling thing can be easily fixed. If you are good with the weight of the rail, stick with it. Let us know how it goes. Lets face it, these guns are not exactly light weight. So the little extra weight does not bother me. The fact that it doesn't cycle because of it is what bothers me. I just got it cycling and put the rail on and no go. It's a little frustrating. I have not reinstalled the rail to see if it is obstructing the gas exhaust port. That is what I have found so far on the forum as far as the cause of their fte's. The lower also does not line up right. It is angled down significantly towards the front, causing the 2 pieces to not line up, making it pretty much impossible to sight in for slugs. So that will need to be addressed as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unclejake 428 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 (edited) I LOVE my MD drums! Had to get another one awhile back and glad I did. No more fun than running 20 rounds through as fast as can! Gets the neighbors over to the house quick too! LOL Better than a dinner bell. Had to do a whole lot more fitting on the first one, second didn't take but a few file strokes and it was in like Flint. Mine also took 2 revolutions for them to run flawlessly. Edited June 21, 2013 by unclejake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Since the drum creates more friction than the stick mags, many people find that guns that Just work with stick mags are spotty with drums. It sounds to me like that is where you are. Probably a bit of friction reduction work to the bolt and/or a bit more gas would go a long way to getting you that 1000% reliability we all demand. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jared3390 7 Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 i have the same issue as fraserfab, but i do not know how to disassemble the drum, can someone make a video and put it on youtube? because there is not one, it would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 (edited) you don't need YOUTUBE for that, on the instruction sheet it spells out how to do that, under DISASSEMBLY you just need to do steps 1-5. then after you have zero spring tension, set the new spring tension Edited July 28, 2013 by Matthew Hopkins 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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