ID Help: AK 74 wire spring

[ilcop22]

Howdy,

I have a wire spring (hammer spring, retention spring, etc.) that came with a new Century Arms AK 74. I cannot find the name of it (bobby pin, L, etc.) nor installation instructions. I've attached a quick MS Paint drawing. Hopefully someone can help me ID this. Thanks.

[Storydude]

Retainer spring.

Working from safety, the hole goes through the safety selector. the bottom of the spring goes UNDER the trigger pin, and the end goes OVER the hammer pin.

you'll have to actually start from trigger, work it under that pin, OVER the hamemr pin, then rotate it up to fit selector through spring's hole.


EDIT: I usually toss those out, go to Powercustom.com, buy an AK-retaining plate, and slip it in.

takes 20 seconds.

[waksupi]

There should be "keeper" slots in the main pins, that these fit into to keep the pins in place. The only reason you may need it, is if you do a full disassembly of your rifle, and loose the original. Take off the dust cover, and look on the inside left of the reciever.
They can be a pain in the butt to install when you don't know how to do it. I've did several thousands, and have it down pretty well!

[ilcop22]

Thanks for the help, guys. I managed to re-assemble the rifle properly with this pain-in-the-rear spring. The firearm came with a Tapco fire control group. I had to take it all out, insert the trigger and retaining pin, slide the wire underneath it in the groove, then installed the hammer assembly before finally replacing the safety selector. This being my first AK, I can admire the simplicity but this wire's a pain. I'll take your advice and get a more modern one.

[NickSS]

Yes the wire is a pain and I have worked for a long time trying to install one and finally bought a power custom plate that droped right in and was no problem at all.

[waksupi]

I really see no reason to do a detail strip on the action. You can see everything with the dust cover removed. If things get gunked up, spray with carburator cleaner, give it a bit of oil, and shoot. There is very little that could ever break inside of one. The only thing I know that can go bad, is if the action takes a hard knock, and causes bolt drag. If you get that, a steel bar to drive the sides of the receiver out a bit in the drag spot cures this. The full maintainance kit for an AK consists of a hammer and some vice grips!

[wonderwolf]

I've used E Clips on about a dozen or so AK's I've helped build or built for myself. Lot less of a pain and if you use 2 per pin they will keep the pins from moving any side to side.

[Larry Gibson]

It's called a "shephards hook". I've reworked quite a few of them in Romainian AKs (50+) that we used for training. I bent the back part forward a little and hooked the front hook under the hammer pin in the retaining slot between the receiver side and the hammer spring. It was then put over the top of the trigger pin in th retaining slot. The end of the sellector shaft was in the round hole and should require a little force pushing down on the shepard's hook to insert the selector shaft into the receiver hole. Once installed correctly that way the hammer and/or trigger pins never worked out again.

Larry Gibson

[ilcop22]

I really see no reason to do a detail strip on the action. You can see everything with the dust cover removed. If things get gunked up, spray with carburator cleaner, give it a bit of oil, and shoot. There is very little that could ever break inside of one. The only thing I know that can go bad, is if the action takes a hard knock, and causes bolt drag. If you get that, a steel bar to drive the sides of the receiver out a bit in the drag spot cures this. The full maintainance kit for an AK consists of a hammer and some vice grips!

I'm a gunsmith, so my natural tendency is to dissect every firearm I can get my greasy hands on. :twisted: This one pickled my brain, but I figured her out with some T&E.