Hey guys, I occasionally have failures to feed out of my Weiger mags with the SAR-3.   The bolt simply slides right over the top of the bullet and picks up nothing.  Generally doesn't jam.  Sometimes, though a cartridge will hang up on the bullet guide, but that's really rare.  I don't know if its limited to a few mags, I only noticed them during a carbine course, and of course, I simply racked or reloaded and kept firing.

It only seemed to happen within the last 10 rounds in the mag or so, so I'm thinking it might be weak mag springs.  Is there any way to buy replacement mag springs for the SAR-3 weigers?  Will an AR-15 or Mini-14 spring work?  Does Wolff sell a replacement?

What other problems could cause a failure to feel like this?  Magazine too low?  Bolt geometry not quite right? I've never noticed it before, but I haven't ever fired the gun as much as I have during these past couple carbine courses.

-FGJ

C'mon guys...help a brother out!

Could be a weak spring or mag seating.........I never had a problem with mine, but I would try another mag to see if that solves the problem

SAR 3's are over gassed, and run real fast.  The bolt may well be getting to the mag before the next round is pushed to to the top. A buffer should slow it down, give that a try.

Ok, I tried wanking the mag around while hand cycling and couldn't get the thing NOT to feed.  Sounds like Ekie might be right.  After all, the 5.56x45 is hotter than the Russian cartridges, but the bolt travel and springs are all the same.  Also, the gun throws brass almost as far as it throws bullets.

Would a buffer really slow the cycle time though?  Wouldn't it speed it up by shortening the bolt travel?  I have a buffer in my Saiga-12 and it feels like the bolt travel is really short with it.    Maybe reducing the gas would be a better option.  Aren't there vented gas tubes out there?  How well do those work?  Would they melt a plastic handguard?

I think it would slow it down, put could be wrong.  I always ran a buffer in my SAR 3's, really helped.  With Bulgarian waffles the carrier would hit the rear of the receiver so hard a round would sometimes pop up out of the mag and really mess things up.  Buffer cleared that up.

Far as I know gas pressure in the bore has dropped to zero by the time the gas piston gets to the holes in the gas tube.

No, gas tube vents are not going to melt anything.

I just bought a WASR-3 from AIM. It was not feeding rounds either. It was very eratic.......Feed two.......then not the next. Well....I took the top cover off and cycled the action. It looked like the bottom of the bolt carrier was hanging up on the hammer (Tapco G-2 in WASR-3). So I removed the bolt and inspected the bolt carrier. The surface of the bolt carrier that first hits the hammer was almost flat. So I filed the bolt carrier where it first hits the hammer(both ends) and polished it a little. I also filed and polished the hammer where the two surfaces made contact (not where the hammer hits the firing pin !). Now it seems to be working fine. I have cycled several hollowpoints through it without a problem. Hope this helps........Mike

Thanks Mike, but I been there and done that.  My SAR-3's blot carrier and RSA hammer are polished to high heaven where they contact.   I isn't that it really needs to be polished per se....there was just too much material on the hammer.  I think its a result of the 5.56 hammer geometrey.


I'm gonna try the buffer out, but I'm waiting to accumulate a big order from BlackJack.  No sense in just ordering a teensy buffer and paying shipping.