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Posted: 5/6/2008 9:12:50 PM EDT
i have about 20 5.45x39 mags. some are bulgarian, some are E.G., and a few polish. all of the mags function perfectly with my tantal but 6 don't like my bulgarian aks-74 and my bulgarian aks-74u. so i took all the mags loaded them with 5 rounds, inserted them one at a time into the bulgarians, pulled back the charging handle, let the charging handle go, i do not ride the charging handle forward, i know better, and the pictures show the results. what do you experts think the problem is? i should also note that i do not hold the mag while firing. also, note that it doesn't just happen while first chambering a round it also happens while firing. thank you for any help you can offer.   |
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Are those mags locking in place properly when you insert them? Are they tight and hard to get locked on insertion? Either the back of the mag is sitting low, or for some reason the rails in the receiver might be a little high, which would make the bolt ride a little high on it's way forward... But if that were the case, I'd imagine you'd notice binding at the trunion when the bolt is going closed. You say the mags work in the tantal, so I'm guessing it's not the followers or springs. I've seen some 74 mags that need to have the rear of the left mag lip shaved down in order to insert properly in some rifles due to tolerance issues. It must be a very common issue, 'cause if you look at a whole bunch of surplus mags you'll notice that many of them have that mod done to them to varying degrees. In cases where the lip needs to be shaved, the mag will sit low in the rear and in many cases will not lock into the rifle. Just some thoughts for you to think on. Hope this helps. edited to add: The more I think about it, you should check the bolt guide rails in the reciever very carefully. One or both of them could be angled slightly wrong, or bent a little, forcing the bolt to ride a little high at the point where it's going over the rear of the magazine. If that were the case, but the _front_ part of the rails is even with the front trunion, you might not see serious binding issues, but at the same time, the bolt could be high while it's to the rear. An alignment issue, in other words. |
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"Either the back of the mag is sitting low, or for some reason the rails in the receiver might be a little high" Great Analysis. A classic Bolt over base issue - generally caused by the rear of a mag not sitting high enough in the gun. If you strip this rifle, insert a problem mag with a dummy round (live round IF you have removed the Firing Pin), then ride JUST THE BOLT by hand up to the round... where is the bolt bullet pickup lug hitting? Barely catching the round? Soundly catching the round? Is the problem mag firmly seated - or can you pull on it & get it's butt up higher (check the problem mag's mag latch lug). Some photo's would help - as this issue occurs with a FEW mags, not ALL mags? I suspect you have a few with a thin mag latch lug. |
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Oh, I meant to say before... don't worry too much about going "too far" when shaving down the rear portion of the left mag lip, if you end up needing to do that. There's metal under the polymer (at least there is on the bulgy and russian ones... not sure about the german bakelite ones though). I have at least one each bulgy and russian that were already shaved all the way down to the metal at the rear when I got them (they taper up to "unshaved" at the front). Both of which work perfectly in both rifles. No issues whatsoever. - In general though, I'd suggest going a little at a time and test fitting as you go. No reason to take off more than you need to. Good luck with it. |
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