My favorite rifle craters every primer of every  round of ammo I feed it. I've tried new Wolf, old Wolf and Barnaul ammunition. I also had an empty case stuck in the chamber twice. RS mod person told me not to shoot it in the other forums but I still took it to the range anyway to try a box of Barnaul I got my hands on so I could rule out it being an ammo problem. I shot all the ammo I had, over 150 rounds and it didnt jam but it still cratered the primers.

What should I do? Im worried its a headspace problem or something because its a sighn of over pressure when the primers crater and empty shells get stuck in chamber. Should I contact Arsenal and have them look at it? Is there a warrantee?

Do you have pictures of the spent casings? By cratered do you mean the normal dent in a live primer when the round is chambered and extracted? (caused by the free floating firingpin) or nearly pressed out the the primerpocket of the casing?

In any case, if you suspect a headspace problem I would definitely stop shooting whatever ammo you have in your vault and have it checked first.

Can you be a bit more descriptive about "craters the primers"?

It is a new rifle so rounds getting stuck in the chamber are understandable, though uncommon.

I would imagine it's just due to a very strong hammer spring, along with a bit too much pin protrusion.  My SLR-105A1R does the exact same thing, although I've never had a stuck case.  By "cratered" I think you mean there is a raised ridge around the firing pin indentation, correct?  Anyway, I wouldn't worry about about it.  If it does bother you, you can file the BACK of the firing pin a little at a time until you have the correct pin protrusion (not sure about the spec though) and your problem should disappear.MBR

Im sorry it took so long for me to respond, I"ve been having trouble logging in. The primers look like the bottom of a soda can. It has a raised surface you can feel and see especially when you stand an empty case on a flat surface. This is on a spent case that has allready been fired.

I did a case inspection after I had an empty case stuck in the chamber and noticed that the primer didn"t look right. I had to tap it out with a cleaning rod the first time it got stuck. The second time I forced the bolt back manually and removed it. It was only stuck about halfway the second time so it was alot easier to remove.

So I did a google search and found some conflicting info. in another thread. It seems to be a normal thing for an SAR2 to have cratered primers but thats an SAR2 and they didn"t have their case stuck in the chamber. I found a reloading site with a good pic of a cratered primer so im sure thats what it is and they mentioned it being caused by over pressure. The RS mod guy said the same thing and also said the case is getting stuck because the gases were flowing back and seating the case.


Anyway, thanks for reponding to my post Im gonna give Arsenal a call see what they say and work from there.

My advice-sell it and get a 7.62.  Never a problem with those.  all kinds of trouble with 5.56 and 5.45

Excuse me, but that doesn't make sense...Russian forces have been using 5.45 weapons since the late seventies, Bulgaria since 1985(nice year to start production as the AK74 entered midproduction fase). Eastern Germany and Romania, Poland etc etc.....all weapons have functioned like a Kalashnikov type weapon should.....like the martini girl....anywhere anytime.

However, you can get a bad one in the batch...especially with kits. One would have to trust that the bolt coming with the barrel is matched for headspace. While the AK does have wide tolerances in this respect it is possible to have headspace problems.

Sent the rifle back to Arsenal, it will be taken care of. This is not kit built gun, it's supposed to be factory new.

And do get a 7,62 AK....you'll want both.

Hey Steve, what they said.