I was teaching a friend to shoot an AK yesterday and had an odd jam, thought I would get some input.   We were shooting a little Maadi, and he was standing on the left side of a pole shooting right handed.  The breach of the rifle was about 4" from the pole.  He shot about half a mag, and the gun jammed..........funny, first time I have ever had an AK jam.  He handed it to me (he is new to guns and was afraid to touch it), and the round had fired and ejected about half way.  It was locked up tight, wouldn't go forward, wouldn't go back.  

Kept it pointed down range, and was finally able to bump the action a bit forward.  Then heard a rattle in the receiver, and was able to eject the empty.   I removed the mag, and an entire spent shell fell out from behind the bolt!!  What the heck??   You could see where the shell had jammed between the back of the bolt and the receiver.

Is there any way an entire spent shell would end up behind the bolt??  Best I can figure is that somehow, it must have bounced off the pole (since he was standing very close to it) and bounced right into it??

Reloaded with fresh mags and she ran like a kitten for several hundred more rounds.

Any input appreciated.

Doc

Quoted: Any input appreciated. Doc

Hmmm, maybe try NOT shooting with the action being obstructed by a pole ...

Quoted: I've seen that happen on rifles with ejectors that weren't properly shaped, and the case flipped up and behind the bolt carrier. It's very rare, but it happens.

+1 on that.

The first AK74 I made had that problem.  I had filed the ejector down too far (74's are really picky) and was getting cases behind the action interfering with the FCG.  Since the ejector is too short, it allows the spent round to sneak back and drop into the action.

Since it's the first malf, just watch it.  Don't go screwing with the ejector yet.  If you are convinced after a while that you need to lengthen the ejector, it's a pretty easy thing to do with a TIG welder or the like.