An AKM with problems... what?!

Howard Law

Leshaire

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So I have done a lot of research on the best AKMs for the money, and even posted a buyers guide on here a while back http://www.southeasttraders.com/threads/ak-buyers-guide-help-thread.7243/ that praised the "Mighty WASR" because of the price point for a chrome-lined, cold-hammer forged barrel, and a rifle that is made in a factory that has been making military AKMs for decades for military and civilian use. So what did I do, I stood by what I posted here and snagged a WASR 10/63 to see what I thought of it.

So a few hundred flawless rounds later, I racked a fresh mag and BOOM... a stoppage. I assume I rode the bolt carrier back and it was self inflicted. Then it happened again, and again... It wasn't me. This was with all magazines and ammo, including fmjs, hollow points, pmags, eastern bloc mags, bakelites etc.

As many of you know the 10/63 is imported by Century Arms as a single stack 762x39 rifle. Century mills out the mag well and supports it with some added metal pieces to combat the inevitable mag wobble.

So I did some research and found that there are a few reasons this could happen, the first and most likely is the fact that the feed ramp and chamber were made to accept a round coming perfectly straight in, since it was manufactured a single stack gun. The common fix is to dremel a smoother edge of the ramp and widen the ramp going into the chamber. I did that and it didn't fix it. Here is a pic. Bonus points if you can catch another non related issue with this gun lol.

38xkI5n.jpg

Someone also mentioned trying a double stack bolt in the gun since the single stack bolt is smaller where it picks up a round out of the magazine. I tried one out of an arsenal slr I have and it yielded the same results. So no go there. See the WASR on the left with the smaller bottom piece.

VSpLm9J.jpg

The next most common issue is the mag not sitting high enough in the magwell, which can be an issue with the rear locking lug of the magazines or the mag release. Sure enough, if I pull up/back on the magazine and rack it, it feeds perfectly 100% of the time. Since all magazines have the same issue, I'm not concerned with the rear locking lug. So now im dealing with trying to figure out exactly what to replace, but will likely start with an oversized mag release and dremeling it to the right size. Just have to find one... Anyone had this issue before or know of a place that sells AKM mag releases in store so that I don't have to wait on shipping?

PS: It cycles 100% while shooting, this is ONLY while manually cycling the gun by hand, aka putting in a new mag and trying to load OITC.
 

oio

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That's unusual.
I've had several of these and never a problem. Not my favorite but very good for the $.
It's usually the US AKs that are shitty, and I gave up on those (made in USA has not yet meant high quality when it comes to AKs, maybe one day)
 

boss_hawg

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Not really a fix but you could always try a magpul or crapco magazine which usually has a thicker engagement tab.

I had a wasr that didn't like certain magazines (had the same issues as yours) and I used a micrometer to measure that tab. The narrower tabbed mags caused the issue - mostly well-used surplus mags. So...tolerance stacking, right? The rail was slightly out of tolerance and the mag was too. Together they equaled a failure.

Also, make sure that you're not resting on the mag like a makeshift bipod while shooting.
 
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Leshaire

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That's unusual.
I've had several of these and never a problem. Not my favorite but very good for the $.
It's usually the US AKs that are shitty, and I gave up on those (made in USA has not yet meant high quality when it comes to AKs, maybe one day)
Yeah well it's still shitty century that's importing these and milling them out for double stack magazines. Century is good for about nothing other than getting AKs here.


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Leshaire

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Not really a fix but you could always try a magpul or crapco magazine which usually has a thicker engagement tab.

I had a wasr that didn't like certain magazines (had the same issues as yours) and I used a micrometer to measure that tab. The narrower tabbed mags caused the issue - mostly well-used surplus mags. So...tolerance stacking, right? The rail was slightly out of tolerance and the mag was too. Together they equaled a failure.

Also, make sure that you're not resting on the mag like a makeshift bipod while shooting.
Yeah my magpul mags work pretty much fine. Same with bakelites. It's mostly these eastern blocs.

Makes sense though since the thicker the rear lug the higher it's forced to sit.


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Strider12

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I always used surplus mags with my WASRs and never had an issue. Sounds isolated.
 

boss_hawg

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I always used surplus mags with my WASRs and never had an issue. Sounds isolated.
Because of the lack of QC and accuracy of their process, the Century converted rifles are probably like snowflakes where no two are identical.

It's also why buyers usually ask about mag wobble when inquiring.
 
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Leshaire

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So I ordered the M+M MRL as recommended by a few guys on reddit and it showed up last night. Basically its a new mag release assembly that the top that touches the rear locking lug on the magazine is slanted up and back, causing the lever to touch and push any size rear locking lug up towards the receiver. It was easy as hell to install and came with the correct size drill bit to drill the head off the existing rivet. In under 5 mins it was on and....... the gun works flawlessly! (I love threads with resolution lol)

 
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