WASR Wont Work, Whats Wrong?

[Jackal]

OK, so heres my problem. I just got a hi cap WASR. The problem is, it wont cycle properly. When I charge the first round, it feeds just great, but upon firing that first round, the bolt ejects the case (correctly) and wont come back far enough to chamber the next round. The bolt comes back almost far enough but it stop about a 1/4" too short. Whats wrong with it? I have totally cleaned it, including the gas hole. I have de-burred the rails and soaked everything down in Break-Free. I have tried 2 different mags and every other trick I can think of. It just wont quite cycle far enough to chamber that next round...Grrr.... Anyone know whats wrong??? Please??? EDIT: I have put about 250 rounds through this rifle (manually), so it should have no break in period left. Sometimes the bolt will close, other times it will stay open about halfway back. Sometimes it will cock the hammer, other times it wont. I think it is gas related, but I dont know how. I have tried Wolf and Golden Tiger ammo. This short stroking is driving me nuts. Main spring too stiff/long? Maybe?

 

[Guitargod1985]

My WASR 10 did this intermittently for about the first 100 rounds or so. I frequently would have to push the bolt carrier forward the rest of the way manually. After about 100 rounds it was "broken in" just fine and now works like a charm.

 

[goon]

I'm not sure of what the problem is but maybe you can hand cycle with the reciever cover off and figure out where the binding is coming in.
I'd think it will be either on the rails somewhere or maybe on the FCG.

When the action works, does it come back and lock open at that point or does the bolt and carrier return forward only without a live round?

Also, did you try different ammo?
If it's short cycling it's possible that maybe you just got some ammo that isn't quite up to the normal Russian standard of quality control.

 

[SnakeEater]

Try this: Hold the rifle out if front of you and look down the centerline of the rifle over the top cover. If your WASR is like many (most?) out there, either the gas block or front sight base will be canted. If the gas block is canted it will interfere with the gas flow, causing problems. Let us know what you see.

 

[Jackal]

If the gas block is canted it will interfere with the gas flow, causing problems. Let us know what you see.

Gas block is not visibly canted. I tried some old Barnaul ammo and it will chamber the next round, but wont cock the hammer. Is the main spring too tight/long maybe?

 

[SnakeEater]

Well, I recommend you send it to Century for warranty repair.

 

[Prince Yamato]

The rails for the bolt carrier need to be deburred OR it's catching on the back of the hammer. My WASR-2 had that problem and the gun shop where I bought it just went over the parts that contacted the bolt carrier with a little sand paper.

 

[rbernie]

PY is on the right track. There are two common reasons for this that I have seen; misaligned gas pistons or malformed carrier rails.

Look at the joint between the carrier and the gas piston. The piston is riveted to the carrier, and the rivet head is then ground down. The maroons who built the WASRs didn't much pay attention to this area closely, and it's not uncommon for it to be badly misaligned and offset to one side or another. While this misalignment usually just causes a hiccup in the return-to-battery cycle, I have seen it bad enough that it delayed the bolt from cycling rearward and the rifle short-stroked. The symptom in that case also included failures to reliably eject occasionally, and a strong case of the hiccups in returning to battery.

The more likely scenario for short-stroking in a WASR is for the left rear rail to be malformed, right where the cutout is for the carrier to pop up. If the rearmost rail is higher than the rail in front of the cutout, the carrier will stop short. It's not hard to realign the rails using a brass punch and hammer, provided that you support under the rails to avoid stressing the spotwelds too much.

I haven't seen the hammer-related problem; does anyone have a picture of a malformed hammer? If you have a G2 trigger group in it (as the newer WASRs are configured), I would expect the FCG to be rock-solid.

Finally - make sure that somebody didn't install a buffer in the receiver; these can also cause short-stroking if too thick...

 

[jrfoxx]

The more likely scenario for short-stroking in a WASR is for the left rear rail to be malformed, right where the cutout is for the carrier to pop up. If the rearmost rail is higher than the rail in front of the cutout, the carrier will stop short. It's not hard to realign the rails using a brass punch and hammer, provided that you support under the rails to avoid stressing the spotwelds too much.

I think thats likely it right there.I've seen this same thing discussed more than a few times on the various AK forums, and the solution mentioned is what rbenie said.I gather the only real trick is getting good support like he mentions so you dont break the rails loose at the welds.Try these 2 forums, I'll bet one or both may have more detaild instructions on doing it.
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/
http://www.gunsnet.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77

 

[Jackal]

I'll try the rail thing. Without the main spring installed, the bolt/carrier glides very smoothly forth and back, all the way. (Except of course over the hammer)

 

[Jackal]

Well, I checked the rails and they are totally straight. It still fires the first round, then stays open, sitting atop the round it failed to strip. It still only sometimes cocks the hammer. Also, the gas rod has no rivet, it is just threaded into the bolt assembly. The odd thing is, when hand cycling the action, it all works perfectly. I am just about ready to say screw it, and just sell the darn thing. The only thing I can see that may help is to somehow increase the gas pressure to make it cycle fully. Is there anyway to increase the gas pressure?

 

[goon]

Did you buy it new?
Send it back to century.

 

[rbernie]

It still fires the first round, then stays open, sitting atop the round it failed to strip. It still only sometimes cocks the hammer.

Are you implying that you're having a bolt-over-base failure (cleverly named because the bolt rides over the base of the next round and comes to a stop midway up the case taper)? If so, that's mag and magwell-related...

 

[Jackal]

Did you buy it new?
Send it back to century.

I got it from a friend who just got it new about 2 months ago. The shop he got it from worked on it and polished the burs off. It still wont work. I dont have the original box or receipt.

 

[armoredman]

Gas leak?

 

[gpr]

ak

i had a simular issue with mine...at first i thought it was hagging up on the hammer, so i rounded and polished, to no avail...i took a black sharpe and covered all silver....i found the bolt was tight on the side rails, width wise...i took a piece of 2x4 and gave it wack to spread the receiver.....it didn't take much, it's 100% now....gpr

 

[goon]

Do you still get this failure if you chamber only one round and fire the rifle with an empty mag inserted?
If the action cycles and returns to battery under those conditions it might be magwell related.
Try firing while applying pressure FORWARD on the BOTTOM of an inserted mag. If it's mag well related it will begin to malfunction a lot.
Then try pulling BACK toward yourself on the bottom of the mag while firing. Again, if it's a mag well problem that will probably reduce your failures a lot.

I'm having this problem with FAL I just bought right now. Fortunately, I an probably get it fixed by having just a little weld added to the tip of the magazine catch to make it a hair longer.

During this whole thing, are your cartridges getting a nasty gouge taken out of the casing by the bottom of the bolt?