HD Tactical

AK project off to bad start

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  • Red

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    So I gambled and bought a Waffen Werks AK74 from a forum member. Just took it to the range using nothing but bulgarian and russian magazines. 7 different total and could not get thru a single mag without multiple malfunctions. And I mean dead man malfunctions where somehow the spent shell traveled to the other side of the dust cover and I had to remove the dust cover and shell in order to cycle the gun again where it would fire maybe 3 times with a very erratic ejection pattern and jam up again. Stove pipe, failure to extract, bolt over ride etc. I have shot A LOT of AKs in my day and none and I mean none have been a big a piece of crap as this Waffen Werks I just shelled out 560 for.
    If there are any experts out there I would love some input. Seems something is def out of spec here. It looked great when I checked it out, but man oh man I would not trust this gun to put down a lame dog. I could not in good conscious sell it the way it runs, I would rather use it as fire wood. Man how disappointing spending hard earned money on something that does not work as advertised.
     

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    Red

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    Yeah, there were some stoppages that I have never seen before, and I thought I have seen a lot. I am comparing it to my Arsenal 104 in 545 and with the naked eye it looks the same. I am working on the gun right now and one very noticeable difference is dry cycle extraction is much smoother on the the Arsenal and a little sticky on the waffen werks. Also riding the bolt home is smooth on the Arsenal but wont go into battery on the waffen. So I am doing a deep clean of the chamber and see if that helps. I will be able to try to run a couple of mags before dark to see if it helped. Extractor looks good and had good spring pressure, Ejector looks the same shape as my Arsenal, so does the bullet guide. I am hoping this is just a sticky chamber situation.
     

    Red

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    looks like it is not a simple as a dirty or sticky chamber. Seems it may be a headspace issue. tried my Arsenal bolt just for kicks and it pretty much screamed at me to get me out of that piece of crap. Did not want to even come close to closing on the chamber. Bummer folks what do I do?? Advice would be greatly appreciated.
     

    DSPLCD1

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    I've heard that 2012 and 2013 models had receiver issues, check location holes for the pins on the safety selector and trigger that they are not misaligned. But first call out the seller for selling you a POS rifle and get your loot back that way no one will get ripped off from him.
     

    Fear21

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    A lot of the 2012 / 2013 WW rifles had issues with their rails being out of spec (the ones the bolt carrier rides on). Is the receiver marked Nodak or WW branded? If it's a WW receiver, you'll also be looking at spotty heat treating. I hate to say it, but they blew these receivers out at $30 a piece after WW shut down, sold "as is."
     

    Red

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    Yeah its a WW receiver. I did a lot of research on them and heard the horror stories, unfortunately I took the word of the guy I bought it from as only having mag issues due to cheap tapco mags so I used my good mags and man I have not ever in my life seen an AK fail like this one. Truly embarrassing
     

    Red

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    Matter of fact Fear21, you did a lil review on him now that I look at it lol.
     

    Red

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    Back on the subject of the gun. The carrier rides nice and smooth on the rails. There seems to be an issue with the bolt somehow and I am thinking it can be narrowed down to the extractor. I can dry cycle fine then you can tell when there is going to be a jam, the sound is different and it does not seem the ejector engages correctly. I am about to tear down the bolt again and see hopefully there is something stuck in there or maybe just lube it.
     

    Fear21

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    Now that you mention it, that reminds me. The ejectors were horribly formed on the WW receivers. Tear your bolt down and check it, but honestly man I'm almost 100% confident in saying the receiver is your problem. The gun is built on a Bulgarian kit, right? They make some of the best AKs outside of Russia, perhaps arguably better.

    Yeah, I've encountered him in the past. Didn't go so well. Sorry man.
     

    Red

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    Yep looks like it is an ejector issue. I have been working on it and it seems that sometimes the extracted round is missing the ejector entirely causing a double feed or weak and erratic extraction. I bent it up a bit and it seems to have helped cycling but I still have to tweak it some more. I read that welding on some material and filing it down fixes it entirely. Unfortunately I do not have a welder to tac on some material. I am hoping aligning it a bit better will remedy, but I am sure I am going to dump some money in this gun somewhere to get it to run reliably.
    Oh and yeah bulgy parts kit. Great parts, very little and even looking wear on all parts, probably cause previous shooters could not get that many rounds out of it lol. Seems like the ejector is the culprit, I knew of those problems going in so I compared it to my Arsenal and to the naked eye it looks the same, gotta be ever so slightly out of tolerance.
     

    Red

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    Ejector without a doubt confirmed. No way was this ever a mag issue and it's lack of reliability would have been present since the gun was built. Def something not disclosed to future owners and I am the sucker on this one. I'll figure out how to fix it and move on with life. Lesson learned, and absolutely checking buyer/seller reviews before dealing with folks again.
     

    Fear21

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    Please be aware of the heat treatment on these receivers as well. They spot treated it instead of a full heat treat. Best of luck, man.
     

    JoeCorrado

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    I hate to read about this. I had a similar experience with a rifle a few years back. Got a deal and it ended up spending nearly 1.5 years at different gunsmiths getting properly fixed. I'm upside down in it so I'll never sell but at least it will run reliably. Lesson learned, the hard way. Good luck with this one. Once I hear something bad about a company, I tend to steer clear of them after what I went through.
     

    Dan1612

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    That parts kit deserves better than that POS receiver.
    Send it to Jim fuller for a rebuild on a good one.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    Red

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    Thanks fellas, I just wish the previous owner disclosed how unreliable this rifle is. Last time I do business with bbyrd130. There is no way and I mean no way that there were sporatic failures due to tapco mags. This gun was a POS from the moment it was built and the bugger was flicked till it landed on me. I would have paid a little less for the parts alone but to have a gun mis represented is another story. I will get this thing going, either finding a way to fix this extractor or getting a whole new receiver. Either way I will be way more into this thing than what it is worth and that is annoying. If I sold a gun that wasnt reliable I would be up front about it. If by some miracle it turned into a turd on the same day that the person bought it, I would either refund the money or offer to pay for the gunsmith work. Thats just my thoughts on it, but hope my hard earned 560 goes a long way to fund bbyrd130s new project. What a shame.
     

    Red

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    Update, still cranking on this thing. Taking a lil tip I learned from JJ on the forum. The bolt while cycling has a bit of lateral play in it enough to where it causes the ejector to miss the extracted case. If you ride the bolt left there is enough meat to catch the extracted shell and eject it. If you ride the bolt right there is not enough of the ejector present and it misses it entirely even though the bolt is still riding the groove. This causes the shell casing to stay hung up on the extractor paw until jarred loose into the action by the cycling causing a malfunction. Explains the weird backwards and wandering cases, and on the few times that it successfully ejects a case, it falls at my feet instead of flying out to hwy 85.
    So..taking a tip from a visit with JJ a while ago, it dawned on me that I maybe just maybe, be able to peen out a bit of material of the ejector. Just a lil bit so that it can reliably smack the round out of the action. Fingers crossed this works fellas. I know it is not the best course of action but the receiver is garbage anyway so I rather take the chance that it will run till it breaks and built on a better receiver or ya never know it may just hold up. I wanted an Afghan clone and guess I am getting my wish starting with Afghan gunsmithing. I'll keep y'all posted.
     

    Dan1612

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    I trust that most people on the forum would refund your money.

    Not that there's any kind of warranty, implied or otherwise, but it's the right thing to do...
    If not, it's a shame indeed.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    Red

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    I for sure would, especially if the issue came up on the same day the purchase was made. Then there is no doubt of buyers remorse or spending the money etc. The best bbyrd130 said to me, if DDI still offers to work on WW guns then I will cover your shipping. After he already told me he was using the money to fund another project. But hey to each his own I guess, I hope to turn this into a learning experience both in dealing with buyers with previous bad reviews and hope to learn more and more about the AK platform. Hoping this bandaid will work and it will run for a while till I can get deep in the weeds and put these awesome bulgy parts on a quality receiver.
     

    Red

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    Great thing is that other than a crap receiver, the parts kit is in immaculate condition. I mean really nice. I have more wear on my Arsenal. I guess that means that the previous owners did not shoot it much..hmm...wonder why.
     
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