AK-47 hang fire issues?

[bm11]

Today I had my new (to me) Arsenal SAM-7 at the range for the first time, and found it to be a very smooth shooter. However, out of the 125 rounds I fired, I had two hang fires where the hammer dropped and there was a quarter second or so delay before the round fired. Is this ammo related or the gun? My own trouble shooting leads me to believe that it is ammo, as the round did fire, only with a delay. However, I have fired 440 rounds out of this case of ammo in my Zastava PAP M92, and haven't come across this issue in that rifle.

Basically making this post to trouble shoot. The ammo in question is Tula. On hand I have this lot as well as a different lot of Tula, a case of Brown Bear, a half case of Silver Bear, and a sealed spam can of unknown make. I intend to bring different ammo to the range the next time I go. Should I order a hammer spring too? Or maybe something else?

 

[alpine44]

Today I had my new (to me) Arsenal SAM-7 at the range for the first time, and found it to be a very smooth shooter. However, out of the 125 rounds I fired, I had two hang fires where the hammer dropped and there was a quarter second or so delay before the round fired. Is this ammo related or the gun? My own trouble shooting leads me to believe that it is ammo, as the round did fire, only with a delay. However, I have fired 440 rounds out of this case of ammo in my Zastava PAP M92, and haven't come across this issue in that rifle.

Basically making this post to trouble shoot. The ammo in question is Tula. On hand I have this lot as well as a different lot of Tula, a case of Brown Bear, a half case of Silver Bear, and a sealed spam can of unknown make. I intend to bring different ammo to the range the next time I go. Should I order a hammer spring too? Or maybe something else?

Hangfires are typically ammo related but I read somewhere that the intensity of the primer will suffer when you have a light strike or the primer is not seated against the anvil.

Can you pull the bullet out of one of the case that gave trouble (by holding the bullet in a vise and gently (!) rocking the case around), discard the powder and fire the empty case in the gun. Then post a picture of the case head here and we will be able to tell whether light primer strikes are the problem.

If you live close to the NH border, PM me and we can got to the range together.

 

[bm11]

Hangfires are typically ammo related but I read somewhere that the intensity of the primer will suffer when you have a light strike or the primer is not seated against the anvil.

Can you pull the bullet out of one of the case that gave trouble (by holding the bullet in a vise and gently (!) rocking the case around), discard the powder and fire the empty case in the gun. Then post a picture of the case head here and we will be able to tell whether light primer strikes are the problem.

If you live close to the NH border, PM me and we can got to the range together.

No, I can't pull the bullet because the round did fire and the case did eject on both occasions, after only a slight delay. The empty cases on those two occasions were lost among the other fired cases on the ground. I didn't have any failure to fires, only the 2 out of 125 hang fires.

 

[alpine44]

No, I can't pull the bullet because the round did fire and the case did eject on both occasions, after only a slight delay. The empty cases on those two occasions were lost among the other fired cases on the ground. I didn't have any failure to fires, only the 2 out of 125 hang fires.

I meant to suggest pulling a bullet out of a fresh case from the same lot. But since you did not have any failures to fire and only 2 hangfires out of 125 rounds I would suspect the ammo to be the culprit.

Seeing the primer indentation on a primed but otherwise empty case would still be useful to rule out any problems on the gun. After I built a gun or changed anything on the firing mechanism (springs, hammer, striker bushing, firing pins, etc.) , I always fire and check a couple primed cases to avoid unpleasant surprises later on.

 

[Metal Gear]

I would think this is an ammo issue. I have never seen this happen before. Did you get this rifle new or used?

 

[bm11]

I would think this is an ammo issue. I have never seen this happen before. Did you get this rifle new or used?

Bought this rifle with reportedly 500 rounds on it.

 

[Metal Gear]

Does this rifle have a Tapco trigger control unit? The reason I ask is that I have seen people reprofile the hell out of the hammer on these units because of its design to achieve a smoother feeling action, it works, however when too much is taken off it can cause a bad engagement with the firing pin and cause weaker primer hits. I would still think this is an ammo related issue and not the hardware, but perhaps you are not getting as strong of primer hits as you should be. I'm no gunsmith by any means, but I do have years of AK experience with several rifles and I am just trying to think of anything it could be besides an ammo issue.

 

[AvsFan]

As already stated above...sounds like an ammo issue. However, Arsenal AK's have spring loaded firing pins - check to make sure yours isn't broken or, binding as, this could be the culprit as well.

AvsFan

 

[Armed Ferret]

unless you're using some nice brass-cased american-made ammo (i.e. you're using any of the typical wolf lines, the "bear" lines, golden tiger, red army, or even yugo brass-cased surplus), hangfires can and do happen.

just the nature of the less-expensive ammo.

don't read into it too much. enjoy the pew pew pew.

that said............pics of AK?

 

[jbell]

unless you're using some nice brass-cased american-made ammo (i.e. you're using any of the typical wolf lines, the "bear" lines, golden tiger, red army, or even yugo brass-cased surplus), hangfires can and do happen.

just the nature of the less-expensive ammo.

don't read into it too much. enjoy the pew pew pew.

that said............pics of AK?

Yep it didn't happen with out pics... Lets see it damn it!

 

[bm11]

 

[Metal Gear]

Try different ammo or a different lot of the same ammo and let us know if this continues to happen. With well over 10k rounds fired of various imported flavors of 7.62x39 I have never experienced a hang fire. Only ammo that sometimes gave me issues was the Ulyanovsk brand, in which there were a few duds.

 

[bm11]

140 rounds today, Brown Bear, Silver Bear, and a different lot of Tula. No issues of any sort. Not a definitive conclusion, but certainly points toward a good rifle and a bad lot of ammo.

 

[Armed Ferret]

sounds like it. glad to hear it worked well today.