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Posted: 4/19/2009 12:40:00 PM EDT
| Went out today for a little desert shooting and had the impossible happen... My AK jammed! the bolt carrier is about a half inch from being all the way forward and will not move forward or back. I did not want to try using to much force for fear of dammaging something. To make matters worse, I'm not sure if there is a live round in it or not, as I was not the one shooting it at the time and was not told of the jam until the next shooter tried to load a new mag. What do you guys recommend I do? Should I take it to a gunsmith or is there a safe way to clear the jam myself? Thanks in advance for your help. |
| Remove the magazine and see what the problem is. You probably will have to press on the charging handle with your foot to open the action. Sounds like some rapid fire was being attempted, possibly 'bump-fire', and a double feed ensued, jamming the action. Make sure the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction while working on the gun. One way to force the action is to catch the charging handle on a soft wood table or bench edge with the muzzle toward the ground and putting your weight behind it. |
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Remove the mag, make sure that you are in a safe position (should be out where you are shooting, not in a house or neighborhood. Slam the buttstock into the ground (make sure no body parts are near the end of the barrel), the bolt carrier should move rearward enough to eject the round or spent casing and the gun can now be cleared.
You can also use a boot heel to do this. I find the easiest way though is to use a large headed rubber mallet. I had this happen a bit while I was installing a dinzag bullet guide into some Saiga rifles and they were jamming. Turned out the bullet guides were a bad lot that the manufacturer for dinzag had milled incorrectly. They sat up too high and the bolt would jam on them when it went into battery with rounds from the magazine but would not do so on an empty chamber. |
| I've read that the Soviet procedure for this scenario is to point the muzzle in a safe direction, usually upwards, then stomp on the charging handle to force it back. Sounds dangerous to me though, if I was you I'd try the rubber mallet method, and do it very far away from anyone else if possible. |
| Ditto on the rubber mallet method. I seriously doubt the gun will fire when you clear it, even if it is a live round, which it may not be. But I would go ahead and assume it's a live round and will go off for safety's sake. Point the rifle in a safe direction and use a rubber mallet. I know myself all too well: I would have been kicking the shit out of the chargine handle to break the bolt loose right then and there. However, I would never do that with my AR. Unfortantely, I'm still too cheap to pay over $0.40-$0.50 per round of brass cased ammo in .223 so I keep buying 1,000-round lots of Russian steel-cased ammo so having cases stuck in my chamber are a very frequent occurence in my AR. I usually use a cleaning rod or there's a technique where you can break rifle down and use a flathead screwdriver to pull the bolt assembly out. But with an AK, seriously, you can use a boot or a rubber mallet. That's your best bet and it's practically guaranteed to work. A Russian soldier in the field would have booted it without giving it another thought. I hear they're actually told to do just that. |
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Quoted:
Tried that, but then remembered that I may have a live round in the weapon and decided it would be best to keep the cover on. there are videos of ak-47's firing without the cover on. i think this is one of them (work is blocking youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sNDTdKQNVU |
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Quoted:
Remove the magazine and see what the problem is. You probably will have to press on the charging handle with your foot to open the action. Sounds like some rapid fire was being attempted, possibly 'bump-fire', and a double feed ensued, jamming the action. Make sure the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction while working on the gun. One way to force the action is to catch the charging handle on a soft wood table or bench edge with the muzzle toward the ground and putting your weight behind it. This, you wont "break" your AK... |
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