Have a new-to-me AK that is giving me problems. Today was my first time out with it and the first 10 rounds fired flawlessly, then every second or third round thereafter would fail to fire. The trigger would reset and a new round would chamber, and the ejection of the prior round was 15+ feet. After giving the rounds time to "cool down" after failing to fire they were ejected and carefully shot again, they worked without issue their second time through. I know this probably is not recommended, but every single round fired within two tries, so it wasn't just bad primers.

I noticed a few things though... depending on whether I pulled the trigger and held it back, or if I pulled the trigger and got my finger off of it as soon as possible, sometimes I could get off a few more rounds before having a ftf.

When letting the bolt carrier fly, it does not bind up, but if you let the bolt carrier ride slowly, it has the potential to bind (right around the hammer area).

The ammo worked fine otherwise.

The firing pin did not seem to rattle, but it was free to reciprocate in and out of the bolt. I added some oil and cleaned it and made sure to empty it of fluids, but I didn't have any punches to remove and examine it. The tip of the firing pin was not sharp, it did not have appear to have sheared off. I may buy another one to try that.

This is a Tula build (beautiful, not a joe schmoe build) but I did get it on a trade. It's on a Nodak receiver.

Any suggestions or first suggestions?

These are just some of the rounds ejected by hand.



Here's the bolt binding on the FCG area:



Here's an individual round.

Probably just bad ammo.


Completely normal.


Were you able to try the same ammo in another rifle?  It sounds like bad ammunition.


More likely its a weak hammer spring.  You might want to try that too if nothing else fixes it first.  (e.g. could be bad ammo)


Tula didn't actually build it though, someone else did on a Nodak receiver.  It could still be schmoe'd, but not likely.
Not sure if I mentioned it, but it could be bad ammo.  Try a different manufacturer first and/or try the failing ammo in another rifle first.

I had the same issue with a new, all matching Bulgarian kit rifle.
The problem was that somewhere along the line the hammer spring "legs" were bent up a little too far and reduced hammer strike.

I simply removed the spring and put more of a downward curve to the legs to increase the hammer power.
Problem fixed and no mis-fires since.

Several others have suggested trying different ammo. I'm going to go with that route first, thanks for the input!

I'll have to consider the spring if that doesn't work next.  I think I have a few lying around from other builds and changes I've made.

As for the "Tula build", I know  Should have said "Tula kit built on a Nodak receiver that is way too beautiful to have been a joe schmoe build." Been on TAKF since 08.

Those look like Tula rounds & Tula has been know for the lowest qiality of any ammo manufacturers  for a long time.
I also will say change your ammo & see what happens.
Then  if you have other AKs change your bolt out after checking the head space, to eliminate the question of bolt problems.