I'm new around here so feel free to yell at me if I'm not doing anything right. I wanted to make a post to share my experience and see if anyone else is having similar problems as well as document the issues.

I just got a new AK, never been an AK guy, but the $530 price tag and great reviews I've been seeing for the forged generation, I finally decided to just get one. After wiping down the ridiculous amount of oil on the gun, I picked up some Bulgarian 74 wood from Apex that I'm planning on refinishing and slapped it on in place of the magpul stuff.

The following weekend I went to the range. Sighting in went smoothly, but after maybe 10 rounds I pulled the trigger and get nothing but a click. When inspecting, I saw that the carrier was not all the way forward after cycling the last round. I cleared it out but it happened again. I realized this is a dangerous condition, as there is the possibility of an out-of-battery discharge. From then on I made sure to check after every round what was happening. I only have 3 mags (p-mag 30rd poly, Hungarian 30rd steel, and Korean 20rd steel) and this issue replicated within 3 or fewer rounds regardless of the magazine. Ammo was wolf - seems to be pretty hot and works great in my sks. I was able to capture a video of the malfunction happening as well as photos of the position the bolt stops at - where the carrier first contacts the barrel.

I've reached our to PSA and it looks like they're going to get me a service RMA to send it back. I'm really disappointed to have issues with a PSA product right out of the box. Everything I own of theirs has all been exceptional, my ARs and parts are great products, but a real bummer on the AK so far.

Edit: not sure why but I can't get the embedded youtube video to work...

You're already sending it back so it may not make a difference what is said here

My guess is either headspace is on the tight side, or one of the bolt camming surfaces is trying to start rotation of the bolt before it fully clears the locking lugs.

The latter is fairly common on AKs but usually doesn't lead to a failure to go into battery, the camming surfaces will just wear in until everything is running smoothly. If the bolt seems "sticky" for the last half inch or so of carrier travel before it rotates the bolt into battery, this could be the issue.

When the bolt stops with a chambered round can you press the carrier forward to being the bolt into battery?

If it were my rifle I would verify safe headspace and if it passed a GO (although some factory AKs are surprisingly tight and may not pass GO without some pressure) and did not pass a NO-GO I would continue shooting it until the problem goes away, as I suspect it would. However I doubt you have headspace gauges and the rifle is going back to PSA any way, so...

What city are you in? I’d be happy to look at it but if you’ve got an RMA already just send it in.

Send it in they will take care of you. Its disappointing to have issues out of the box but at least with PSA you know they will make it right.

Its a feed jam. Did you take it apart and clean/oil before use? During this process you might find some indication. As a guess, I'd say the case neck is stopping on the bullet guide. Maybe you're getting an 'inertia feed' where recoil from the previous shot makes the next round jump out of the mag before the bolt pushes it out. These rounds will usually jam.
Without ammo, does the bolt slam shut when you retract the bolt and let it go? In a safe place, point the muzzle in a safe direction. Put a loaded magazine in and manually load, extract, load as fast as you can, yanking the handle back and letting it fly. I bet the gun passes these tests, which would prove inertia feeding/jam.
Clean the magazines - they should not be lubricated. Try some military mags.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I've reached out to PSA and am waiting on a response for an RMA.

I don't think it's 'misfeed' or magazine because everything is lined up good, used various mags,  the round is properly set in the extractor/bolt and should go into place, its just like the bolt doesn't have enough force to push it into battery after cycling...

When I unboxed it, I disassembled and wiped down the whole firearm which was coated in greasy oil from the factory, but mostly exterior parts. How much oil does an AK need to feed reliably? I was under the impression that a little less oil is better than excessive oil and that the AK could run reliably with minimal oil. I believe this to be the case with the AR, but does an AK need to be more wet?

Sorry to hear about your issues.  Glad PSA is going to take care of you.  Just FYI more lube is always better than to little.  Especially with AR's.  David

'I don't think it's 'misfeed' or magazine because everything is lined up good, used various mags, the round is properly set in the extractor/bolt and should go into place, its just like the bolt doesn't have enough force to push it into battery after cycling...'

That's clearly not the case, else the bolt would have extracted the round when you racked it - the round was not being held by the bolt and dropped out of the mag well when the bolt got out of its way.
Do what I said to see if it loads when not firing - loading manually, but you have to let the bolt fly, not ride it home. That will prove to you that its not what you think.

I just did this test multiple times. Was able to replicate the malfunction doing this (pull bolt all the way back and let it go). One of the times the rim of the round appeared hooked into the extractor and something else was obstructing the bolt from going into battery. The other times the round was not inside the extractor so I don't know what to make of it.

Going to have to disagree on this. To much lube (depending on the type) just makes ARs function poorly, especially due to the DGI. The gasses will gum up with the lube especially bad in an AR, whereas dry carbon is actually a lubricant, so less is better IMO on ARs

Totally depends on the type of lube. TWSS....

I think your extractor is out of specs. Most likely psa will replace it....the EXACT same thing happened to another forum member last week and that's how they cured it

Could be the selector stop isn’t milled short enough to allow the bolt to properly strip a round. Meaning the rear of the mag is too low in the gun.

Can’t tell for sure but it may be that, or a mag catch that is too short. Either way can result in a similar malfunction. Basically, the magazine isn’t sitting high enough to allow the bolt to reliably strip that topmost round. One way to check is to insert a mag (with live rounds or snap caps), and very slowly ease the bolt carrier down from the rearward position. Does the bolt bottom make positive contact with the rear of the top carteidge as it sits in the mag? Try applying pressure on the magazine. Can you get it pushed in a way that causes the bolt to lose good contact as it travels forward?  In your case, it sounds like it might be close, which would result in intermittent function.

In other words, the carrier / bolt isn’t correctly stripping rounds from the mag, but is exerting enough friction to displace the top round without chambering it. Then that top cartridge falls out when you remove the mag. Worth a check.

I don't think this is it. The magazine fit is extremely tight, if anything, too tight. I really had to push the KCI mag in there to get it to lock in. The round is pushed partially into the barrel, just getting hung up on something. Round doesn't fall out until you pull the bolt back.

I'm trying to get this RMA pushed through, and I can let PSA do the diagnosis and repair. I still haven't heard back from the customer service... Now talking to Josiah through the forum to see if he can get me an RMA.

I'll try to keep everyone posted with what ends up happening

I bet they'll take care of you here in short order.  Good luck, and sorry the gun isn't performing to expectation.

Starting to sound like an extractor jam where its too tight and sometimes the rim doesn't get captured. Even if it does, the extractor is too thick or otherwise out of spec so as the round tries to deflect up into the chamber, the extractor won't allow it to deflect enough. This will stop the gun. I would check the spring tension on the extractor, and if its not too stiff, take the bolt apart and take a good look at that extractor. If it is too stiff, might just be the spring.

Just giving a final update for any of those interested. It turns out that it was, in fact, the extractor being out of spec. I received the following from PSA:

I haven't had the chance to test it out myself, but it appears to be completely reliable with manual cycling of the action.

c'mon, man.  Just put some earmuffs on and squeeze off a couple rounds into the floor.  Nobody's watching.

Thanks for the updates, good to hear PSA took care of ya, I have very seldom if ever heard of PSA giving anything but top-notch service.

As soon as the CHF models get enough out in the wild and fully tested, I may be buying one myself.

Maybe I'll regret not waiting, but I don't think I'll shoot it enough to really see the benefit of CHF. I think I'll regret not waiting for their 5.45 Krink. Maybe I'll just have to get that when it comes out.