Picked up a WASR-2 at cost to mess with, but instead its messing with me I bought it from a dealer who told me it was having problems and i thought i could figure it out, but i am baffled. Should'nt be really considering its from Century.

I've fired around 30-40 rounds thrugh it so far like a bolt action rifle. I can cylce the rounds by hand and everthing is smooth, but when firing they somethime eject by hand ok, and others require a good bit of elbow power. The bolt will come back about 1/4 -1/3 of the way. judging by the carbon on the piston, it is getting some gas. I ran a pipe cleaner and a bent paper clip and could see the clip protrude from the hole into the barrel, but i wonder if the hole is not properly aligned or right size? The bolt seems fine and i have tried three differnet lots of 5.45 (all wolf though) as well as using different mags. The rounds of course will expand after fired, but one of them cracked down the neck very cleanly. I dont know if happened while discharging or if it occured when the action tried to cylce but pushed it back into the chamber.



Eliminated:
-ammo
-mags

Possible problem:
-gas block
-head spacing
-gas piston

Variable:
-recoil spring
-bolt/extractor



I'm sure a gunsmith could fix it, but wanted to eliminate anything that might be simple. If its the head spacing, then im worried. The recoil spring does not feel to strong/weak compared to other recoil springs. The extractor in the bolt seems "fine" but im used to 7.62mm AK's.

Originally Posted By Mak: It was purchased from a dealer but I take it that it was not "new" but had been owned by someone before? If it was new I would return it to Century. Could get a new rifle if it has issues. Sounds like you cleaned the gas port but if you have a cleaning kit in the buttstock you should have a gas port reaming tool to clean out the gas port of any carbon build up. Then use a pipe cleaner with solvent to clean it completely. What about the gas tube? Any carbon or corrosion in there. Give it a good cleaning and light lube. If there was a previous owner they may have used the currently available corrosive ammo. Make sure there is no recoil buffer at the back of the recoil spring. If it doesn't fire then with proper cycling then I don't know what else to say. Someone else probably will have a better answer. If it does fire check the cases for any issues. I'd have the headspace checked. If it was a new rifle with these issues I'd lean toward sending it to Century but I don't know what they will do with a second hand rifle.

the rifle is used. The previous owner used 70grn wolf ammo. the gas tube is clean. It would be a "mechanical" problem. carbon build-up was mostly on the upper face of the gas piston instead of the whole front i normally see on my other AK's. The piston is straight, but i wonder if it is correct size? AKM/AK-74 use the same? should it be tight/loose? My Vector piston is a little loose. All spent casings seem ok, except the one that split at the neck.