I have a new Vector that I can't seem to get to feed consistently, the bolt does not always return fully forward (stops between 1" and appearing to be fully forward, but won't fire).  It happens much more on a full mag than when just a few are left. I have just over 500 rounds through it, and was kind of hoping it would clear up as things got broken in, but they aren't.  I have cleaned and lubed everything several times, and tried different mags.

This is my first AK, and I'm not really sure what to try next, any suggestions?


Thanks!

How often does it do it.  Everytime you have a full mag, or just every so often?  Does it do it on just 1 or 2 rounds when it does happen?

My SAR1 needed about 1K rounds to be properly broken in.  What kind of lube are you using?  I like to use Break Free CLP on mine.

Check the top of the hammer and bottome of the bolt carrier for roughness, perhaps it is catching a little.  This will break in.

Just guessing here.

Quoted: How often does it do it.  Everytime you have a full mag, or just every so often?  Does it do it on just 1 or 2 rounds when it does happen? My SAR1 needed about 1K rounds to be properly broken in.  What kind of lube are you using?  I like to use Break Free CLP on mine. Check the top of the hammer and bottome of the bolt carrier for roughness, perhaps it is catching a little.  This will break in. Just guessing here.

Happens maybe 5 times in a 30 round mag.  I've been using RemOil, I think I have some CLP around somewhere I can try.

The bottom of the carrier and the top of the hammer look good, and I don't see thing that makes me think the bolt carrier is contacting the magazine feed lips.

I'm starting to wonder if I have a weak recoil spring or something.  When firing should the carrier travel all the way back and hit the stop?  It feels to me like it is when I shoot it (but being my first AK, I'm not sure if this is normal).

Could be a weak spring.  I am not sure how far the bolt carrier travels back when shooting, as I have never shot it with the cover off.  Could be the carrier dragging on the rails I suppose.  When  you have it unloaded and stripped, how easily does the carrier travel on the rails?

I like the Brake Free over regular oil.  Put a little on the rails to see if it helps.

Funny story:  I was out at the range with my SAR1 and pulled the bolt out to see how much crap was building up on the bolt face.  I took out my spray can of Brake free and gave the bolt a shot.  After I did, the firing pin retaining pin fell out of the bolt.

The pin  was held in by a little crud (I must have not gotten it seated in deeply enough the last time I re-assembled it) and the lube let it slide out.  I have been a fan of the stuff ever after.

Similar problem on my GP WASR-10 (stops short of 0.5" to 1" left). Tested with hollow-point rounds, on 3 different magazines. They FEED (there's a nice ramp cut into the chamber by the previous owner), and the bolt locks, but not completely - you have to push the bolt handle forward manually, and it's often just as hard to manually eject the "difficult" round. When guiding the bolt manually, with no round to feed, when the bolt guide passes the place where it tends to get stuck you can feel a little bump.

After manually loading and ejecting the same round in the chamber several times without firing (3-4 times on the average), the problem disappeared - until I tried to chamber another round. Combine that with a shiny, new, perfectly good bolt from one of my part kits refusing to lock at ALL, even when not feeding anything but empty air, and I would say that the problem was out of spec parts or shoddy construction. I'll try to pick up some FMJ's or SP's, and see if that makes any difference - but there's definitely something with this gun that needs some of that Dremel touch...

Quoted: Similar problem on my GP WASR-10 (stops short of 0.5" to 1" left). Tested with hollow-point rounds, on 3 different magazines. They FEED (there's a nice ramp cut into the chamber by the previous owner), and the bolt locks, but not completely - you have to push the bolt handle forward manually, and it's often just as hard to manually eject the "difficult" round. When guiding the bolt manually, with no round to feed, when the bolt guide passes the place where it tends to get stuck you can feel a little bump. After manually loading and ejecting the same round in the chamber several times without firing (3-4 times on the average), the problem disappeared - until I tried to chamber another round. Combine that with a shiny, new, perfectly good bolt from one of my part kits refusing to lock at ALL, even when not feeding anything but empty air, and I would say that the problem was out of spec parts or shoddy construction. I'll try to pick up some FMJ's or SP's, and see if that makes any difference - but there's definitely something with this gun that needs some of that Dremel touch...

I've since replaced the recoil spring, to no effect.  After reading you post and checking mine, I also feel the "little bump" you speak of (being new to AK's, I guess it didn't strike me as odd before).  It's obviously hanging up on something, even without a mag in, but I can't figure out what.

I replaced the old bolt guide with a brand new one from one of my "good" kits. The bump has all but disappeared, and the locking became much more reliable (which is a good sign that I'm on the right track), although still not perfect. I think the problem was with the bolt turning sideway due to mis-aligned chamber, and locking it in the channel of the bolt guide. There's quite some wear visible in that area of my old guide...

So, I'm taking this thing to the range later this week and putting some ammo through it. If the problem won't correct itself completely, a channel expansion is in order.

I've widened and slightly expanded the feed ramp with the dremel, to make it less steep.

The problem disappeared, so I left the bolt guide alone. No more double-feeds or incomplete locking.

Remember to wash off the metal dust afterwards.

Any chance you can post pictures of what you did?  I have the exact same problem with my WASR-10.  I have to manually close the last inch of the feeding for the gun.  

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6467/feedramp3bc.jpg

I tried to keep the feed ramp angle as close to the 45 degrees as possible. The picture is out of scale, so don't think that the new feed ramp is as big and nasty as it looks like.

Hope it will work for you.