uladz 0 Posted December 6, 2013 Report Share Posted December 6, 2013 Guys, I've got Vep-12 from LegionUSA recently and put through about 200 rounds with at least 50% FTE no matter what I load in it. So far I've tried: 1. Federal 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1200 fps - 3/10 FTE 2. Remington 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1255 fps - 4/10 FTE 3. Winchester 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1200 fps - 8/10 FTE 4. RIO 3 dram, 1 oz, 7.5 shot, 1280 fps - 10/10 FTE 5. RIO 3 dram, 1 oz, 8 shot, 1280 fps - 10/10 FTE What's your experience with Vepr-12? Does it feed anything or is it picky? I hear that it suppose to eat any type of ammo due to self-regulating gas system but guys at Legion USA tells me that it will not function on anything lower than 7 1/2 birdshot 1200fps and I'd better use only 00 buckshot or slugs. I'm getting confused and frustrated here, after spending $$$ I can use it reliably. Please advise on your experience. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DresNightfire 39 Posted December 6, 2013 Report Share Posted December 6, 2013 Guys, I've got Vep-12 from LegionUSA recently and put through about 200 rounds with at least 50% FTE no matter what I load in it. So far I've tried: 1. Federal 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1200 fps - 3/10 FTE 2. Remington 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1255 fps - 4/10 FTE 3. Winchester 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, 1200 fps - 8/10 FTE 4. RIO 3 dram, 1 oz, 7.5 shot, 1280 fps - 10/10 FTE 5. RIO 3 dram, 1 oz, 8 shot, 1280 fps - 10/10 FTE What's your experience with Vepr-12? Does it feed anything or is it picky? I hear that it suppose to eat any type of ammo due to self-regulating gas system but guys at Legion USA tells me that it will not function on anything lower than 7 1/2 birdshot 1200fps and I'd better use only 00 buckshot or slugs. I'm getting confused and frustrated here, after spending $$$ I can use it reliably. Please advise on your experience. Thanks! Important: VEPR 12's prefer 1290 fps or higher with stock internal components. Follow these steps to get your stock VEPR 12 to cycle lower powered 12 gauge ammo: 1. Ensure no optics are located directly above or in front of the ejection port. Optics should sit behind the ejection port. (this caused mine to have FTE's and to pop open the dust cover). 2. Ensure stock is positioned firmly against body when shooting (lean forward) to ensure there is no loss of energy for bolt cycling. 3. Remove and wipe off any factory cosmoline/grease, and polish the bolt carrier and trigger contact points. Polishing the bolt carrier and trigger contact points (hammer face) is the most important to improve cycling without having to replace any parts. Oil/lubrication is not required as you need to ensure it cycles WITHOUT oil/lubrication first, that is the beauty of the AK design. Polishing the bolt carrier and hammer face is very similar to Saiga 12's and not uncommon practice to improve cycling of lower powered ammo. Good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ec4321 113 Posted December 7, 2013 Report Share Posted December 7, 2013 What magazines you running there? Try factory mags to eliminate that variable. Like Saigas, there are huge variances from unit to unit. Some run perfect, others not so much. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DresNightfire 39 Posted December 7, 2013 Report Share Posted December 7, 2013 What magazines you running there? Try factory mags to eliminate that variable. Like Saigas, there are huge variances from unit to unit. Some run perfect, others not so much. Very true. That's very important as well and it should be priority number one. I apologize for leaving that out. Please use the factory magazine during first use as 3rd party magazines may require possible fitment modifications to the magazine itself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
b_r 2 Posted December 7, 2013 Report Share Posted December 7, 2013 One of the common causes are allowing your body to "absorb" the recoil - as has been mentioned, try to moniter your technique to eliminate this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aries144 10 Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 I had to work on the FCG in my Vepr12 and use a lighter recoil spring to get it to reliably run 1 1/8oz 1200 FPS birdshot and 1oz slugs. It runs like a top now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 Mine runs cheap Federal but don't like the cheap Winchester as much. I have started having failures every now and then with it. Mine is stock. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Krtismo 1 Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Just took my Classic purchased Vepr 12 folder out for the first time yesterday and had about 35% FTE rate with walmart federal. I'm pretty bummed about it. I have a SGL12 that I had to redrill the ports and profile the BC and FCG and install a Tac47 auto plug in order to get proper function with cheap ammo. I was fine with that because expectations were low. However, a lot of places are advertising full reliability right out of the box from the Vepr 12 and I had high hopes for that to be true. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Just took my Classic purchased Vepr 12 folder out for the first time yesterday and had about 35% FTE rate with walmart federal. I'm pretty bummed about it. I have a SGL12 that I had to redrill the ports and profile the BC and FCG and install a Tac47 auto plug in order to get proper function with cheap ammo. I was fine with that because expectations were low. However, a lot of places are advertising full reliability right out of the box from the Vepr 12 and I had high hopes for that to be true. Thats odd. Mine was the opposite with the Federal. I wouldnt let it disappoint you just yet. Mine took a bit of breaking in to smooth out the rough surfaces on the internals left from the factory. After a brief period, its been flawless with all types of shit ammo I ran through it until recently. Im getting about 3-5% failures per 100 rd. shit pack. Im going to blame mine on the ammo, and its likely lack of consistency. Id run it with some full power loads and then just give it a bit of time. It should smooth out with some use. If this doesnt help, then it may be time to polish the internal contact areas and go from there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ec4321 113 Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 This is an amazing platform. I am thinking about having another Vepr customized now. I have a number of shotguns. M4s, 870, Witness Protection. Firebird, KSG. This platform is insane. It really could use some refinement, others like the grittyness of the AKs as it is a machine. I do like the Vepr,. Alot. But it is not perfect, there is quite a bit of variance from gun to gun. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Krtismo 1 Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Just took my Classic purchased Vepr 12 folder out for the first time yesterday and had about 35% FTE rate with walmart federal. I'm pretty bummed about it. I have a SGL12 that I had to redrill the ports and profile the BC and FCG and install a Tac47 auto plug in order to get proper function with cheap ammo. I was fine with that because expectations were low. However, a lot of places are advertising full reliability right out of the box from the Vepr 12 and I had high hopes for that to be true. Id run it with some full power loads and then just give it a bit of time. It should smooth out with some use. If this doesnt help, then it may be time to polish the internal contact areas and go from there. I don't mind a little polishing, I'm just hoping I don't have to redrill the ports. Have there been any reports of issues with the gas ports being undersized? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Just took my Classic purchased Vepr 12 folder out for the first time yesterday and had about 35% FTE rate with walmart federal. I'm pretty bummed about it. I have a SGL12 that I had to redrill the ports and profile the BC and FCG and install a Tac47 auto plug in order to get proper function with cheap ammo. I was fine with that because expectations were low. However, a lot of places are advertising full reliability right out of the box from the Vepr 12 and I had high hopes for that to be true. Id run it with some full power loads and then just give it a bit of time. It should smooth out with some use. If this doesnt help, then it may be time to polish the internal contact areas and go from there. I don't mind a little polishing, I'm just hoping I don't have to redrill the ports. Have there been any reports of issues with the gas ports being undersized? Not that I'm aware of. If anything, it should be over gassed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DresNightfire 39 Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Just took my Classic purchased Vepr 12 folder out for the first time yesterday and had about 35% FTE rate with walmart federal. I'm pretty bummed about it. I have a SGL12 that I had to redrill the ports and profile the BC and FCG and install a Tac47 auto plug in order to get proper function with cheap ammo. I was fine with that because expectations were low. However, a lot of places are advertising full reliability right out of the box from the Vepr 12 and I had high hopes for that to be true. Id run it with some full power loads and then just give it a bit of time. It should smooth out with some use. If this doesnt help, then it may be time to polish the internal contact areas and go from there. I don't mind a little polishing, I'm just hoping I don't have to redrill the ports. Have there been any reports of issues with the gas ports being undersized? Not that I'm aware of. If anything, it should be over gassed. Redrilling ports is not a common necessity for the VEPR 12 to run lower power loads (unlike the Saiga 12 I use to own). Even if you take a look at Jim Fuller's AK building class, they HIGHLY recommend and ALWAYS mod (file, sand and polish) the face of the hammer to increase reliability of bolt cycling. The factory VEPR 12 trigger proved to be unreliable for me (hence the easy Tapco G2 upgrade). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tcfirearms 0 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 So a customer of mine spoke with the owner of Wolf on the phone and said if having issues with ejection. Check the rivet closest to rear sight on the inside of dust cover and see if it is too long and hitting the push rod... Then take a dremel and get it down flush like the other rivets are and that should fix it... The makers changed rivets for some odd reason... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 I don't think I would wanna experiment with that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ec4321 113 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Just a warning, if you pull up the dust cover and tie it in such a position and fire, you can check this before you go dremeling. It may fix the FTE, but you may also find that the bolt hold open is not as effective. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 I think a slight polish may be a better bet prior to removing rivets. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tcfirearms 0 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 I was told you don't have to completely remove the rivet... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hdskumm 39 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 that rivet is longer by design. Whoever told you that is misinformed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tcfirearms 0 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 I'm pretty sure it's not designed to score the push rod... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ec4321 113 Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 I'm pretty sure it's not designed to score the push rod... That's a side effect of it's design which is to hold the bolt carrier down. It cannot do so without contacting it. Unless it were to use magnets. Which would be cool. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aeromat209 24 Posted December 14, 2013 Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 My Vepr ran pretty good out of the box as I broke it in with running 200-250 slug and buckshot at the higher velocity. I then converted it from original stock for 922 compliance . I switched out the hand guards ,gas puck ,folding stock , pistol grip and added a big /long Russian copy of the GK-01 muzzle brake. With this configuration I even had a recoil reducing spring in the buttstock and the gun continued to run great! I did not do any polishing other than running froglube as my lubricant . I am sure the hi- velocity break- in has smoothed out the burrs. I always had my optics mounted way to rear on the dustcover to avoid the ejection issue with forward mounted optics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted December 14, 2013 Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 I'm pretty sure it's not designed to score the push rod... The longer rivet is not an accident. It was put there for a reason. Theres a lot of info here on the forum if your in doubt. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DresNightfire 39 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 So a customer of mine spoke with the owner of Wolf on the phone and said if having issues with ejection. Check the rivet closest to rear sight on the inside of dust cover and see if it is too long and hitting the push rod... Then take a dremel and get it down flush like the other rivets are and that should fix it... The makers changed rivets for some odd reason... I wrote this and forgot to hit 'Post' last Friday: That's interesting because I always thought that would be a resolution as well, BUT Molot purposely designed the first rivet to be longer than the others to minimize cycling failures in the long run. We highly recommend only polishing the first long rivet. Here are pics of when I suspected the rivet was the cause of adding friction to the bolt carrier (because my Saiga 12 didn't have it, then why in the hell would the VEPR 12 have it, right?... but we have confirmed with Papa Zorro (VEPR 12 expert from Russia who had a Molot make him a custom VEPR 12 right at the factory) this longer rivet has it's purpose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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