I have a milled Arsenal SA M-7 that I purchased back in the day. It feeds FMJs like a champ, but has issues with HPs. It is my understanding that these rifles do not have a feed ramp milled into them, and that AKs are supposed to. Is there a combatant gunsmith that does this modification?
thanks;
Squiggy

Got a dremil?

I am not letting an idiot like me touch it.

Interesting I have a old sam 7 and never had a issue? ill have to look can you take a pic of the ramp area and ill do the same. I am curious now I thought they had the proper feed ramp?

Without looking at it or seeing a picture, I would think that particular AK would have the feed-ramp installed, whether milled into the receiver itself, or riveted on like the stamped receivers.

Also, I've learned that you cannot ride the bolt when feeding a round into the chamber. The tip of the bullet may hit the lower part of the breach face instead of going into the barrel chamber. However, if you pull the bolt back and let it fly on it's own accord, it will guide the bullet tip where it needs to go every time.

I know this is apples and oranges, (to an extent) but I have 3 Saiga AKs that I made and installed steel bullet guides for. I installed one bullet guide I bought from an online Saiga conversion parts dealer, and it was too short and the edge of the bullet guide would scrape the side of the bullet tip and causing it to scar and scratch the metal on the bullet. This in turn, can cause inconsistent grouping of shots because the tip of the bullet is now mutilated. Had the store-bought guide been a bit longer, with the sharp edges beveled to allow for smooth feeding, it would have worked like it was supposed to; so, I made my own and tempered the steel to make it hard.

Can you post pictures of the front trunion area near the barrel breach opening, where the bullet guide is supposed to be located?

Attached File

That looks like a pretty standard AK feed-ramp to me. Does the back side of the feed-ramp extend rearward enough to (barley) touch the front of the mags when installed? As someone else mentioned, you may need to add just a bit more of a beveled edge to the feed ramp, if the tip of the hollow points are hitting the front edge of the ramp.

When the HP round doesn't feed, where is it hanging up/catching? It could also be your mags...

On the flat spot just below the bbl.

Does it hang up when hand cycling the first round? If so, you may be riding the bolt a bit instead of letting it fly when released. If it hangs up all the time, your feed ramp may not be thick enough or long enough to feed the HP rounds adequately. It could still be your mags, or a combination of the mags and the feed-ramp when using the HPs?

You may have to contact a local gun smith who works on AKs. They are few and far between in my neck of the woods. Maybe a good AK mechanic will chime in and offer more advice. Or, just don't use the hollow point rounds... I've had the hollow points do that when cycling the first round if I ride the bolt carrier too much on the first round.

It is not when chambering the first round. The malfunctions happen randomly when shooting HPs. I number my magazines so I can track problems. The hollow point feeding problem is not unique to just on mag. I have been just buying FMJ rounds, but I kinda would like my AK to feed all types of military surplus ammo. Folks always talk about how reliable AKs are. I have owned 2 of them, and this has not been my experience. This one is more reliable than my old Romanian SAR, but I am not happy with it not feeding HP rounds.

Mine looks just like that and feeds everything.

As I've mentioned, I'm no gun smith, or any kind of authority on AKs. With that said, I have converted 3 Saigas and installed the bullet guides. I had some problems with a store-bought bullet guide, so I made my own. My bullet guides work like a charm, with FMJ and HP rounds. (The store-bought guide was too short and too thin)

In my view, you have a couple of options. One would be to use a dremel, as someone else has mentioned, and dremel a small bullet ramp into the lower part of the barrel/breach. Many AKs already have this ramp in the barrel, and some don't. The problem with doing this is that it would also remove the chrome lining where you dremel and polish the ramp. Probably something you would not want to do yourself.

The second option would be to try and adjust your mag fit so the rounds would be tilted a little more with the front/tip of the round pointing more upward toward the breach. Also, if your bullet guide is not extending rearward enough to be close to the front of the mag, that could be a problem. Not sure how one would extend the bullet guide, but it should be as close to the front of the mag (when installed) as possible, even if it is touching the mag just a hair.

Also, and I'm just throwing out ideas here, you might have someone with a mig-welder to build up the area near the rear edge of the bullet guide and add material to raise the edge a bit higher and then smooth it back down with a file/dermal.

Again, just a few thoughts and ideas. Also, I thought the older SARs were good to go? Maybe not.

Good luck.

I was hoping someone knew of a gunsmith who was an authority on AKs. Someone I could send my rifle to who has dealt with this problem before. Are all milled AKs like this, or is this some kind of a short cut that Arsenal did? What do the feed ramps look like on the old Poly-Tech Legend AKs?