Saiga-12 ran before conversion, now stovepipes every round

[ssgdigital 0]

Well I won a Saiga 12 at a 3 gun zombie match about 2 years ago and fell in love with it. I shot it several hundred times and never had a single issue. I couldn't believe how this thing ran out of the box. Well after finding out that since mine wasn't converted and I was using a 20 round drum, I was not compliant. I converted it I believe using the tromix trigger guard and a reliability kit from Carolina shooter supply. My puck says CSS and my gas knob has 6 positions.

 

I added a charging knob, a JTE mag guide and a few other goodies and now the damn thing won't cycle crap. It stove pipes just about everything, it's just like the thing doesn't get enough gas now and the bold doesn't go far enough to hit the ejector, I have messed with the gas knob, trying all settings and even added the old puck and knob and still can't get the thing to work.

 

I have 4 ports and they seem to be drilled fine and are not clogged. Any ideas?

[lbsrdi 1,078]

Try putting back in the OEM hammer and test it. If that solves it then that is your issue and you just need to reprofile. If that doesn't do the trick then try putting most of the OEM parts back and remove the charging knob to test and start from there. With all of the changes made it would be hard to diagnose with all of the different variables.

Also the best thing you can do is start reading this forum for similar threads from the past.

[Deadeye 325]

what hammer did you put in     I bet it needs to be profiled to match the factory hammer

[ssgdigital 0]

The hammer thing has me intrigued. I have a tapco. Exactly how could the hammer cause this problem? Since I don't believe it's a gas port issue, nor is it the puck or gas regulator and it worked great before the conversion, the hammer seems like a potential culprit, but I just don't understand how.

[lewie212 37]

The hammer could be creating excessive drag, on the bolt carrier assembly, causing cycling issues.

[ssgdigital 0]

I tried to search on here for hammer mods but really didn't come up anything, my search foo really sucks. Can anybody point me to a link?

 

Thanks,

 

Shawn

Also is there any way to check the hammer / bcg for we're to see if that's the problem?

[Nephilim7 107]

Put both hammers on a screw driver shank.  Then put the "ear" flats (where the trigger hooks retain the hammer) even with each other side by side.  The aftermarket hammer will probably have a section of its face that stands taller that the factory piece.

[soaoiogoao 3]

Try removing the charging knob, use the original puck and knob making sure it's screwed in all the way. Add some lube on the hammer face where it contacts the bolt carrier and see if it hand cycles smoother. If you run it with all the original parts ( except the FCG since you converted it) and it still won't cycle, then your trigger group is causing excessive drag on your bolt. Could be a stronger hammer spring, taller profile hammer slowing up your bolt causing it to fully cycle the next round.

Polish up your friction points and lube it till you're cycling rounds like before you converted it.

[kingjason 10]

Put both hammers on a screw driver shank.  Then put the "ear" flats (where the trigger hooks retain the hammer) even with each other side by side.  The aftermarket hammer will probably have a section of its face that stands taller that the factory piece.

 

This is most likely the culprit. Mine was dragging so bad it was not going back into battery before you would pull the trigger again.

[gunfun 3,931]

You can profile the Tapco hammer a little better than the factory hammer. The goal is to smooth out drag, leave enough meat to ensure positive engagement on the disconnector, with a bit extra, and allow for wear as the face gets peened. Further you want it to hit the firing pin squarely. It's been a while since I've seen an OEM hammer face installed, but as I recall both the OEM and Tapco hit at a slight angle. Careful profiling can be lower drag and hit square.

 

 

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