anyone with ak47 knowledge please help.
 

I have a ak47 (akm) that I got recently in a trade . It was brand new and has fired about 400 rounds flawlessly until the other day. All of a sudden I let a friends wife shoot it and it acted like it jammed. I took it from her and the bolt carrier was locked completely back. I pulled back on the charging handle and it released and came forward and fired completely fine for about another 30 rounds and then it did it once again. I took a look even closer to see exactly what it was doing and discovered something I have never seen before. Somehow the bolt was rotating in the rear position and catching on the lower rail. This happened about 3 times that day out of 100 rounds. The bolt has some play in the bolt carrier but from what I have read that is normal. I was wondering if anyone has heard of this and knows how to fix it. It seems a recoil buffer might work because it literally happens with in the full rearward part of the action. I could only get it to repeat this by pulling the carrier all the way back and pushing the bolt with a screwdriver and letting it slide forward and rotate. I really like this rifle and want it to be 100% reliable like ak47's are suppose to be.

Get a recoil buffer that will stop some of the rearward travel of the bolt should cure the problem, the are cheap like five bucks

First thing. Field strip it, oil it, try it again.

:cool:

AKs never jam, unlike those crappy plastic AR15s!

I cleaned it pretty good. weird thing was the day before this happened i put 100 flawless rounds through it but i didn't clean it knowing i was going out again the next day when this started happening. But could carbon build up really cause something like this?

Probably not. Something else is going on there. If the buffer helps--great. If not, check for unusual wear marks. Usually guns will tell you what's wrong with them.

It'd help if we knew which AKM model it is, and who imported or built it. Something along the lines of Century Arms WASR from Cugir Romania, Norinco MAK-90, Interarms Polish, etc...???? Might give us an idea if it's a kit build or a factory rifle.

And no, carbon and oil isn't going to fix your problem. Likely the recoil spring is bad, or your bolt or carrier has an issue, or the rear trunnion is sitting too far back, etc...

I know they have a bad rep but it is a I.O inc. sporter akm

I almost bought an IO at one point... Like the look of them but as you mentioned, I read some less than stellar reviews...

Hope you get it sorted out... Maybe give IO a call ... At least since its a domestic item, maybe they can give you an idea or warranty it?

Very true. I was happy I was getting a American made AK but i bought it blind and never knew that they were not very good reviewed firearms. I like the gun and it has really impressed me until this happened. I also love to diagnose and fix my guns myself. it keeps me more intune to how they function so I hope I can figure this out myself. I have searched high and low on the internet and cant find anyone describing a problem like this. I have thought of a few ways im sure would fix it but I cant grasp what is actually causing the problem in the first place. I will try a few things and if they dont work I might have to swallow my pride and call I.O up. like I also mentioned it resets its self very easily when this happens by just pulling the charging handle back and letting it go and it back into business. could it be the looseness of the bolt in the carrier? also it rotates while in contact with the hammer so could the surface of that throw it off and let it unlock and rotate?

Maybe you're still under warranty. Call them and find out. They might be able to help you fix it over the phone

http://www.royaltigerimports.com/return/warranty.html

If it's an IO I'd take a very close look at your receiver. I've seen two IO AKs that had rivets that were coming out and on one of them the receiver was 'crooked' for lack of a better term. The stock and handguard didn't fit properly since it was so out of spec.

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