In regards to the tail on the bolt carrier tail mushrooming,, I am curious what fire control group or specifically hammer do you have in your rifle? I know that the Tapco G2 hammers seem to be causing mushrooming of the bolt carrier tail because the Hammers are very hard and also they have a flat profile where the carrier tail hits them. I have the G2 trigger in two of my rifles and I ground and polished the hammer face to a rounded profile like most of the calm block style hammers are and that pretty much took care of any mushrooming of the carrier tails
This one has the Century RAK1 fire control group in it. It's what I had on hand when I got the build kit. I prefer them to the tapco, they have more of a 2 stage trigger feel to them.
Don't worry, it will probably be fine. You have to keep in mind that my carrier didn't NEED to be sent back, it functioned fine, but PSA had made a marketing claim that the build kits would have no cast parts in them and when I got my kit it had a cast carrier. I'm pretty sure my gen 1 had a cast carrier and it is still functioning fine. I just wanted the forged carrier because that's what I ordered. It's still holding up well and I'll be putting out an accuracy video soon on this rifle so stay tuned.
I do want to get one. I think I will wait awhile. After watching a lot of videos on it, it sounds like they sill have a few bugs to work out. I will probably get one though because you can't beat that price.
I definitely get that. It's hard to recommend it with the issues that have been reported. I can only go with my experience and I'd say it is kind of the roll of the dice. I will give kudos to PSA though, they took care of the issues I had and in a timely manner. They paid shipping both ways and shipped it right back to my house too. Overall I'm happy, but I do agree they have some bugs to work out.
Darink300zx, I just received mine back and it is as you described. The only thing I noticed was the carrier does not seat flush when closed all the way. There is a very small gap. Did yours have this as well? Do you think it should be fine? I am a little worried and frustrated seeing how ordering this rifle has been a nightmare. Still waiting on palmetto to send me a grip screw and the rear tang that they kept when I sent it back.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but mine has no discernible gap when the carrier/bolt is chambered. Are you pulling back the carrier and hand cycling it or letting the spring pressure send it home? If I hand cycle it I do have to nudge mine to get it to seat. Overall, this has been a lot of hassle, but I'm pleased with mine now. Planning on taking it out again this week.
darink300zx, I am letting the spring pressure take it home. I noticed the gap where the bolt rests up against the trunnion, however with the dust cover off, i noticed the bolt carrier is resting against the trunnion on the other side of the charging handle.
Ron Swanson I think I know what you mean now. Mine doesn't do that, I just looked at it. I don't know if that's an issue or not, but they are supposed to test fire these once assembled, so it must not have effected function. I don't know you may want to take some pics and contact customer service to be on the safe side.
The sticking has nothing to do with the carrier. It's has to do with the hammer. The shape of most us ak fcg like tapco have a hammer that isn't the same shape as a milspec hammer. Mushrooming on the carrier tail also comes from the us hammer. A quick reprofiling and polishing of the hammer face will stop any sticking and stop the deformation of the tail. But honestly carrier tail deformation is over hyped on a semi auto ak. The tail could be practically ground off and the hammer would still engage the trigger hook(s) or sear when cycled. Piston wobble isn't a bad thing or an issue even if it's not excessive. It will actually help reliability by keeping the piston from jamming up if the gas block or rear sight block are slightly canted and allow it to float into place. Also, from the video your headspace looks like it's too tight. I've got an old waffen werks that was that way.
Civiliansoldier762 It wasn't the hammer causing the issue it was sticking at the locking lugs or something. I know this is a fairly common issue with AKs, especially those with the TAPCO G2 fcg, but in this case it wasn't sticking when the carrier tail came in contact with the hammer as you suggest. If you review the video you can see it was resisting prior to this even happening. What was occurring, and i tried to show this on video, but it is hard to see it and obviously you can't feel what I was feeling, but it was as the carrier went to it's final lock up position at the front trunnion. I didn't get video of this, but it was even tight with the bolt removed from the carrier. It wasn't this tight with the original carrier if I remember right, so I think it had everything to do with the new carrier they sent me. I do think the headspace was too tight though, I do agree there. I no longer have this rifle, I'll stick with my Serbian/yugo aks and wasrs.
Chuck Pierce well, here are my thoughts on it. If you are looking for an authentically built, tough, long lasting AK, I would recommend paying a bit more and getting a comm-bloc made AK. As of now, late summer 2018, cugir built WASRs are hard to beat for the price. The zastava, Serbian built Npap aren’t bad either and are similarly priced to the PSA aks. If you are looking for a well built all American ak, the PSA ak is really your only choice. As far as I know, there haven’t been any reports of the PSA aks having severe wear patterns, chipped trunions, and other issues that some other all American made aks have shown. I’ve had two of the PSA aks, a gen 1 and gen 2, and neither had any issues other than the initial issues I had when assembling them. PSA was very good at fixing any issues I had as well. Neither showed any excessive wear or anything that would give me cause for alarm. Due to this I have a hard time not picking up another when I see their complete rifles on sale for 450 and free shipping. Both of the ones I purchased were their ak kits where you assemble them at home, I wouldn’t recommend them, but the factory built ones when they are on sale are hard to beat.
I like my WASRs and Zastavas, like you I prefer the imports, but as far as US made AKs on the market, PSA is really the only contender at the moment. They still aren't there, but they'll get there I think.
Okay, I'll bite, would you care to explain what you mean? I watched the video you linked above and have no clue what you are referring to. Unlike the guy in the video this rifle runs with no issues. The only issue I had with this rifle was the cast carrier and PSA fixed that, so I'm confused as to what you mean.
He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. There's nothing wrong with the receiver. Only issue I could see is possibly headspace to tight. Which 2 things can be done. If it's not so tight that it impedes cycling/function. Shoot it and wear the parts in. Or, very slightly lap or polish the face of the locking lugs on the bolt where it engages the face of the lugs on the trunion. Just make Sure not to remove material to where the headspace is bad on a no go gauge.
