New to the AK world so please excuse the lack of knowledge.
On my new rifle, I’ve been having an issue where the bolt carrier tends to get “stuck” or locks back. I believe my recoil spring is binding inside the bold carrier when I pull the charging handle all the way to the rear. When I manually pull the carrier all the way back (past the trigger “friction”), it sounds a little gritty in the last 3/8" of travel and then sticks. A tap on the charging handle sends the carrier home. I only have 30 rounds through it but the gun would only cycle 2 or 3 rounds before getting stuck open. It seemed worse while running the last 10 rounds suppressed. In both cases of live fire, I would have to give a more convincing rap on the charging handle to send it home. I just installed an ALG recoil spring thinking it would help with the extra power and potentially being “smoother” than the OEM one. It seemed to help during manual operation a little bit, but not a definite fix. I cleaned and lightly oiled the rifle which seemed to help as well. The bolt carrier still gets stuck when pulled all the way back.
My question to the community is, is this normal and I should just shoot it more? Or should I go use a ball hone or brush in the bolt carrier bore to polish/clean up the surface?
I had used the Lucas extreme gun oil before, should I use their grease? Or just use more/different oil? The ammo was Norma 124gr FMJ out of a Gen 3 Pmag.
@GuitarGuy is right. I had the same thing happen with that spring on a different platform though. Although in my experience if I lifted the (railed) dust cover it didn’t bind. It sorted itself out with use and while watching tv or what not, I just kept cycling it. Interestingly, no wear marks on the underside of the dust cover.
It’s actually not the recoil spring but the bolt sticking on the hammer. Normal for new mass produced AK . Do not file on it because of heat treatment. You wouldn’t have this issue with a nice AK example, Kalashnikov USA or arsenal.
Let us know with an update, I have a GF3 that does this as well. I havent taken it out to shoot yet. Seems like it only sticks back if your pulling the handle back slowly. Never does it with a quick normal cycle. Should never assume but I did and just thought I probably need to shoot it and break it in a bit. Is this the case? Or is there something else to it?
Shoot the thing. You guys havent broken them in . End of story. It will work itself in. I have built AK for over 24 years. Sometimes its just too much paint on the rails. And yes AK’s drag over passing the hammer. Normal stuff here.
No need to oil it up. No need to clean them really . I run a couple drops of CLP on a boresnake. I will give them a better clean.occosionally .
I ended up putting another 1k rounds through it (70/30 suppressed/unsuppressed). The sticking got a little better but not great. Tore the whole rifle down, cleaned everything looking for wear. I noticed some on the underside of the recoil spring guide “button”. The part is just cast so it was pretty rough. I used a sharpie on the rear of the bolt carrier where the spring enters and on the “button” to see where the parts were rubbing. Most of the contact happens when that button starts to enter the carrier at the very end of the stroke. I used small needle files and dremel polishing wheels until it cycled smoothly by just chasing down the high spots lightly. Once it ran smooth, I cold blued the bare spots, oiled it and ran it for another 500 without issue. I can take pictures tonight if anyone is interested.
It’s definitely hearing safe, I don’t have the equipment to quantify that for you. I do have a video of my brother shooting it. Note the “last round bolt hold open”… this was prior to my file and polish job.
