AK47 bolt supposed to stay open?

[Linstrum]

I bought a 1977-dated unissued Romanian AK47 in almost pristine condition (now that's REALLY saying something for an AK!) that I like a lot. It isn't too bad in the accuracy department, either, it runs somewhere around 4" at 100 yards with my hand loads using either of the Lee AK47 moulds and Ramshot's Tac powder.

Without the magazine installed, when the bolt is pulled all the way back and then let go slowly forward again under its own spring pressure, it will come to a stop on its own when it is about half-way closed and stay in that position until pushed on, then it will snap closed. If the bolt is drawn all the way back and released it will slam all the way closed. It only stays open in the approximately halfway closed/open position when it is allowed to move forward slowly. I was wondering if it is supposed to do that, or after I fire it more than the 50 times I have so far if it will wear in and quit doing that. It doesn't cause any trouble and I kind of like it for letting in some light so I can look down the bore. Thanks!


rl863

[NickSS]

What is happening is that the bolt and bolt carryer are hitting the hammer which as to be pushed out of the way. It will hand there if you are moving the bolt slowly due to friction. Any slight jar will cause it to slam closed. This happens on most AKs I have had or played with so I guess it is normal but it is not a real hold open device. And yes as the rifle wears in it probably will become a less possitive hold open device. I fuined a chamber flag on mine by putting a flag in and not lowing the bolt onto the flag. About half way through the cease fire the bolt slamed closed and cut off my flag. It cost me $2 for another one

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Mine just barely stays open too!

[Storydude]

More info needed. Is it a WASR? Century KitBuild? Individual KitBuild?

Short answer, hammer is riding higher in the receiver than it should, due to improper flat bending, or top rails too low, or crappy hammer/trigger group.

Remove dust cover, clear chamber, pull trigger. Mark hammer where Firingpin contacts hammer. Cycle action slowly. Note where hammer is catching on bolt or carrier and mark hammer.

Remove hammer from firearm, and increase the radius on the face of the hammer where you marked it hitting the bolt carrier. Do not touch where the FP mark is.

It's a 5-15 min fix with a file. Do not touch the sear ears, just the shiny part where it's contacting the carrier.

Cycle about 11ty billion times and see if it gets better. Under firing, it will never hang up.

[Larry Gibson]

Very common with all semi auto AKs. The reason is as NickSS states. I worked with, repaired and TI'd over 100 of the Romanians the last 3 years in my contract job. Robust but not indistructable as Myth would have us believe.

Larry Gibson

[Combat Diver]

I take it the OP is talking about a 1977 Romanian AK47 select fire. This is normal for the AK series wether select or semi only. There are several countries that produced magazines that has a square back follower to act as a bolt hold open on the last round. The removal of the mag will send the bolt forward. There is also a modification to your selector switch by cutting a notch in it to go around the bolt handle to act as a manual bolt hold open. A few years ago in Iraq I had a case of 1972 unissued Russian AKMs. Enjoy your rifle.

[Storydude]

Very common with all semi auto AKs. The reason is as NickSS states. I worked with, repaired and TI'd over 100 of the Romanians the last 3 years in my contract job. Robust but not indistructable as Myth would have us believe.

Larry Gibson


Very Uncommon in the parts builds I have made. Both Milled and stamped, flats and Nodak rec. Polish, Yugo, Romy and bulgy. 47's and 74's.

It's a simple fix that most "builders" don't bother with "fixing"

Really, all a hanging bolt carrier under slow hand cycling tells me is either the firearm has had less than 500 rounds through it.


Now if you rack it and it locks up, you have other issues. Usually due to improper build or cheap US receiver...There are a bunch on the market.

If it bothers you, erplace FCG with a TAPCO G2 group, or modify your existing FCG to look like a TAPCO.(tapered tail of hammer and leading edge of hammer)

http://www.bigsupplyshop.com/assets/images/tapcpicak0650.jpg
Notice the extreme bevel on the bottom right side of the hammer in that pic?
Make your hammer look like that.

[Larry Gibson]

Storydude

Obviously the 100+ Romanian AKs and all the others I've used in 45 years were not made by you;-) BTW; the 100+ had thousands of blanks and/or live rounds through them. Another cause was when the sheet metal bushings around the hammer and trigger pins wore out.

Larry Gibson

[Storydude]

Storydude

Obviously the 100+ Romanian AKs and all the others I've used in 45 years were not made by you;-) BTW; the 100+ had thousands of blanks and/or live rounds through them. Another cause was when the sheet metal bushings around the hammer and trigger pins wore out.

Larry Gibson

On a well used AK suffering from this, usually a replacement of the recoil spring eliminates the problem.

:castmine:

[Linstrum]

Hey, guys, thanks for the information on the cause of AK47 bolt drag. For now I don't plan on doing anything to it because it reliably does what I expect from it.


rl866