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Posted: 8/15/2012 2:07:41 PM EDT
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I really can’t say anything negative about them as they are probably reading this and would come after me for liable if I made any false statements. I think my experience reported unbiased facts and speaks for itself and I just want to post a heads up for those considering and Interarms based on their lifetime warranty and quality. If anyone at Interarms/Hi-Standard who reads this has the authority to make things right and wishes to contact me my email is [email protected]
June 25 Letter sent to High Standard with AKM-47. Letter as Follows. High Standard Mfg 5151 Mitchelldale St Suite B-11 Houston TX 77092 Greetings – Dear Sirs, I am having ejection issues with Interarms AK SN#GP-XXXXXX (erroneously warranty registered under original soviet stamped serial number on side of receiver XXXXX) which I purchased in the fall of 2011. I have not had an opportunity to shoot it much as I have been shooting two others AKM's primarily. I took it to a range recently and fired one magazine of Golden Tiger 7.62x39 FMJ ammo and after that it would jam about every 3rd or 4th round. I took it home and cleaned it noticing a high amount of copper on the bottom of the bolt as I cleaned it off. I also cleaned the gas port using .50 cal muzzle loader pipe cleaners and used Break Free Powder Blast as my primary solvent and then lubed the moving part areas with Break Free CLP. While cleaning the bolt I noticed a lot of purple gummy residue as it was from the primer sealant the Golden Tiger uses on their ammunition. I also took a small amount of mothers polish on a chamber mop and gave a light touch to the chamber just in case there was any heavy residue causing the spent bullet casings to stick. After cleaning I figured I would test my magazines and various ammo to make sure the problem was gone. I brought with me a Century Arms WASR 10 and another Interarms AKM Under folder SN#XXXXXX (erroneously warranty registered under XXXXXX as original Soviet serial stamp on side receiver), in the event that the primer sealant from the Golden Tiger ammo wound up being a problem. I loaded up 15, 30rd magazines of the Golden Tiger ammo and brought 3 boxes of each of Wolf, Sellier & Belloit, Privi Partizen, Tula and Herters all FMJ to test out as I wanted to see which grouped best as well. First I decided to try and shoot a bit of the Golden Tiger loaded in 2 Pro Mag, 4 Steel ribbed eastern block, 9 new Tapco magazines. The first Tapco magazine went well with zero failure, I then went to the ProMag and had a failure to eject right away and three more followed. I then tried the Steel Mag with similar results. I then reloaded the first Tapco magazine that previously had zero failures with Privi Partizen brass cased ammo and nearly every cycle failed for the first 10 rounds. I emptied the rest and reloaded the same Tapco magazine with Tula ammo and had identical results. I then swapped the bolt with the bolt from my Interarms underfolder. Again tried to fire the Tula ammunition and still had the same results. I reloaded the magazine with Tula and fired the same magazine flawlessly through my under folder that was now using the bolt from the problem rifle. I tried swapping the entire gas piston assembly and it seemed to have slight improvement but then as I reloaded Herters ammo it quickly degraded to prior condition. I then wanted to see if the issue might be a combination of heat and ammo. I took the under folder and dumped 9 magazines of Golden Tiger through it without a single failure, thus eliminating both ammunition and the magazines as the problem. I then field stripped the problem rifle and sprayed down the internals and the gas tube with a half a can of Break Free Powder Blast. It seemed to improve only slightly with that as is quickly started to fail to eject the spent casing again. At this point I cant think of anything else I can do, I've shot nearly 800rds or more and hours at the range and workbench trying to figure this out. I look back and think of when it had the original wood and recall it was doing the same thing the one time I took it to the range but I simply shelved the problem at the time. I just went and cleaned the rifle again and tried once more after coating the bolt with Rig gun grease to make sure the Break Free wasn’t cooking off and simply running the rifle dry but results were the same. Typically when fired cold it will make it through one magazine before the problems start to show in the second magazine and by the 3rd or 4th magazine the problem occurs near every shot. Rounds will typically stove pipe or jam horizontally in the edge of the action, locking the bolt open. Possible source of the problem may be the size of the gas port hole as I cannot get my gas port cleaning tool through it. The only thing I can get through it is a large bobby pin. If this is the case I don’t think it is as simple as carbon buildup but think it is the size of the gas port hole drilled into the barrel. I understand the required size of the hole for 7.62 round is .177 (35/64) and can be safely drilled with a smaller 1/8th drill bit by many kit builders. I have tried to feed even smaller drill bits through the hole which I can do with my other AK’s and it will not pass through. I hope it is something that simple rather than being something in the receiver. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call me. I am available after 1pm Mon-Thursday and anytime Friday-Sun. XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX 7/3/12 Got a call from Interarms today and after a little phone tag spoke with a young guy said they fired 20rds through it and it fired fine and would not be covered under warranty as there seems to be no issue with it and tried to play it off on ammo. I advised him he should read my letter more closely and try dumping four full mags through it and call me back and let me know if there is a problem. Gave him the quick skinny and he advised would have an engineer/gunsmith call me back. He advised if they shoot more ammo through it, I would be billed. Buddy I shoved more than 800rds through it trying to diagnose, ammo, mag, rifle parts and fixes. What's another 120rds. 7/08/2012 Got a call from one of the actual smiths on Friday. Tried dismissing some of the ammo saying Golden Tiger tends to stick in the chamber, and others undercharged. Really? It's all new stuff and I have tried nearly every brand out there. Told the guy BS my other IA and WASR shoot them fine. If IA is finicky about the ammo to us then it's not an AK. He said one guy fired a mag through it and it still worked fine. Advised him just as in my letter to sit down and try to fire four magazines through it in one sitting. Told him everything I tried including cleaning the chamber and different lubricants and he pointed out again could be the RIG, advise only used that the last time out of desperation. I have spent days cleaning, polishing chamber, swapping ammo and mags and spent over 800rds trying to troubleshoot this. Basically hinted I'm not a dummy, your going to fix my rifle, your not pawning it off on some other companies fault. See if they figure it out in a couple days. 7/12/12 Had a phone message from Stan Chatman of Hi-Standard/Interams. Called back and spoke with June. Said they fired more than 60 rds through for a total of 4 mags. Said they cleaned the rig off the rifle, found it had the wrong bolt in it (which is probably out of my other interarms, checked the headspace and cleaned a layer of laquer buildup from bad ammo. They wanted to charge me $85 for a new bolt and $20 for ammo and return shipping but didn't charge me for labor. At first I told her to keep the bolt and send me my original but then the brakes hit me. According to them the issue is clear and the rifle is supposed to work as it is. If I swap bolts when it comes back I have no way of telling them BS. So, I paid the total bill and told them to send the original bolt back with it. Asked her if I go out and produce the same issue with wolf ammo and take it to a third party for repair if Interarms would compensate me. Nope, would have to send it back in. Left word to have Stan call me back when he gets in to find out exactly if they reproduced the results and what they did or if they basically wiped it's ass and called it good without test firing it again. I'm suspecting the later. Either way I'm recording the initial test when I get it back on video. I'm not going to threaten them with posting stuff online if it's not fixed. Should not have to do that with any company that is worth anything. I will simply report what is transpiring, my thoughts about the whole deal without slandering (Telling something untrue) and simply let the results speak for themselves so people can make a competent decision if they want to purchase. If it works fine when I get it back, maybe they were right all along about hitting a few bad rounds and I'm a dumb ass for not getting it cleaned out good enough. I suspect that I'm not though and we will wait to see the results. They said the bolt was not one of theirs. I only swapped between my Interarms. I never swapped with my WASR. I'm taking calipers to the bolt the first thing when it gets here though to measure the stem difference between the two bolts they are sending. Not going to be happy if they both have that infamous grey parkerized finish which would be tell tale that it definitely did not come from my WASR and that they are in fact both Interarms finish and came from them. 7/25/12 So, I get my rifle back today and guess what is not in the box....my original bolt. I take off the top cover and removed the bolt on the new one and it really stands out because it is black against the grey parkerized finish of all the other metal finishes of the rifle. I go look at my WASR, all black as it should be. Then look at my Interarms under folder and the bolt in there resembles all the other grey parkerized finish. Now, The people I talked to on the phone both told me that it was a bolt that Interarms did not carry in their inventory period. How much you want to bet that bolt is sitting on someones work station and has a grey parkerized finish? I want my friggin bolt back or a refund for my repair. Oh yeah, I have to go test fire four mags through it to see if it works. 7/29/12 The bolt was in fact the problem as I have now fired 120rds of Privi and another 400rds of mix (Wolf, Golden Tiger, Herters, S&B) All the same lots that I was shooting from before. I like the note they now throw in when they sent it back recommending only PPU ammo though. I need to get a shot of that and post it here. Had this note been disclosed up front I probably would have never purchased their brand. 7/30/12 Alright, here is the comparison of what I have now for the bolts and the letter I received back with instruction manual which was sent with my repaired rifle. First the repair bill. 
The carrier groups out of my three AK's. I had it suggested that I got the bolt mixed up with possibly the WASR 10. Front Is out of the problem unit, Middle out of my Interarms underfolder and the back one is out of my WASR 10. You can see the slight color difference on the bolt matching up in the front carrier as I stated the parkerized grey original carrier appears differently. 
And the letter. 
7/30/12 So what was swapped out was a grey parkerized bolt which was in fact an Interarms Bolt and I was told it was not an Interarms bolt. So, I get to pay the bill on it, don't get the original bolt back and I have to pay for the ammo and the freight used to troubleshoot. Mind you I used both a chamber brush and polished the chamber before the final test on sending it to Interarms and cleaned it several times but just left it after the final test of 90rds failed. I also did not put rig grease on anything until the final test in which it was primarily on the outside of the rifle and a light coat on the carrier. I should have cleaned it better before sending it to them, I know that know. As Mr. Chatum said they thought it was a combination of not the correct bolt, rig grease and the resin. The only resin comes from the Tiger Ammo which has the bullet sealed and the primer sealed but this has been done with Wolf ammo for years until recently. The varnish on the case, you cant remove with a blow torch. This started happening very early and since getting it back I have run close to 500rds of the same lot of Golden Tiger and the remaining other lots of ammo I had used trying to solve this. All now fire perfectly which tells me even with a fresh coat of the stuff GT leaves, it works fine. The problem had to have been the bolt. I called and left a message just 15min ago with High Standard. We'll see how long it takes to reach them about this. I want my repair refunded as I believe this is a manufacturing issue that should be covered under warranty. 7/30/12 Got called back by a woman from Hi-Standard asking me what was going on. Gave her the rundown of everything. She was more focused on finding the original bolt and finding my paperwork to send it to. Told her before sending it, take a look at this forum and told her I want my card credited back and they can keep the bolt. She said they would send it right out. F&^@#%! Does no one listen over there?? 8/14/12 So anyway sent off an email to find out where we are at. I get a response "I was just told that the bolt in question was ruined when we received it, so it was destroyed" June. No addressing of any kind of refund. I sent back a response "Not what I was told. I was told it was not the proper bolt by whoever the gentleman was that was working on it and Stan Chatman. That was an Interarms Grey Parkerized bolt. If it was not the proper bolt or it was ruined I want a refund as it should be a warranty issue that I am not responsible to pay for. " That was on the 9th. No response yet. Thinking of just filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and dispute the charges on my card. My response: Greetings, I have not heard back in some time and beginning to wonder if I need to take other actions. I have repeatedly requested a refund what I was billed for what warranty should have covered and/or property that you simply did not return to me as requested. Everyone I have spoken to simply dismisses the request and concentrates on finding the bolt. It is becoming more apparent that you are not wanting to honor your warranty on your product is what I am getting. I will once again attempt to settle this with you by asking for the refund of $128.00 billed on 7/13/2012 by 7/21/2012. Failure to do so will result in a report of this incident to BBB, charges disputed and overturned, pursuit of any other incurred charges and legal fees in small claims court. Please respond via email your intent or if you have any questions. Thank you again XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX 8/15/12 Their official stance. Email recieved: Hi XXXXX The owners position is that the work in question did not fall under the warranty. Sorry, June High Standard Mfg 1-800-272-7816 My response: Greetings, Someone over there needs to fess up to their mistake and the front office needs to look at these pictures. I am not satisfied with this resolution. I was told by three people that the bolt in that rifle was not an interarms bolt and that the wrong bolt was in the rifle. The carrier groups out of my three AK's. I had it suggested that I got the bolt mixed up with possibly the WASR 10 to a tech. Front Is out of the problem unit, Middle out of my Interarms underfolder and the back one is out of my CAI WASR 10. You can see the slight color difference on the bolt matching up in the front carrier as I stated the parkerized grey original carrier appears differently.
That bolt that went back was and Interarms bolt with a gray parkerized finish. That bolt was not returned either out of inconvenience or to cover their backside. Now they conveniently tell the people up front that it was damaged so it was destroyed. THAT WAS MY PROPERTY which you plainly agreed to return to me! Warranty or not you either lost or destroyed my property which you said you would return. Someone needs to make things right in sake of Interarms reputation. |
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FWIW, the Better Business Bureau is a joke. It's sort of like a country club for businesses to get their name out.....sort of like "Annie's List".
I have received many letters from them over the years at various businesses I have worked for and they ALWAYS take the customers side in an attempt to extort money to "join" their list of "preferred" businesses. Needless to say we always just deposited the letters into file 9. Unfortunately I think you have a huge uphill battle here. You didn't take photos prior to sending the bolt. I checked my (2) MAADI rifles and my (2) SA-85 rifles and they all have the serial # on the bolt. Even assuming you had a mismatched parts rifle, you still should have taken a photo of the bolt serial # or atleast checked for any other parts that have a matching serial as proof prior to sending. You have no evidence to prove one way or the other. You also admit to switching your bolt carriers. While unlikely it is still possible for your WASR bolt to have been sent in it's place. The first thing I would do is check the serial # on your WASR bolt and see if it matches anything on the WASR. You may find that it matches the rifle, bolt carrier, front trunnion, barrel, receiver cover, or any other part on the rifle that you may find a serial. WASRs are mismatched usually so it's a crap shoot, but you may get lucky. Now, you and I both realize that even if this were the case a WASR bolt should still function fine as both are Romanian AKM bolts. The reason I mention the above wall of text is because this is what a court is going to look at. Should Interarms take care of you?....yes, but you really don't have a lot to go on. If I were you, I would count my losses and move on with my now working AK. Most likely all you needed to begin with was a new extractor. You did not mention in detail of the malfunction you were experiencing. Was it a FTE or doublefeed? |
They lost me @ "Cleaned the build-up in the chamber from Tiger lacquer" 
FWIW- I had one of their AK models with a barrel that shot two feet to the left @25yrds  I returned it to them for service and they returned it back to me with a note that said it was fine.....they never even fired it  Needless to say it was NOT "fine". Atlantic Firearms stepped in and refunded my money in full.
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