AK47 bolt position in the receiver?????

[colreed]

Mine looks a little off.
When fully assembled, the bolt lug on the left side does not ride in what looks like a little channel for it to travel in. It is rotated several degrees clockwise (looking at it from the rear) so that the left lug is riding on the small (top) rail inside of the receiver housing.
Should it be riding fully in the little channel in the left inside of the receiver?
Don't know how else to describe it. The bottom rail of the little channel sticks out a little more that the top rail. It appears that the bottom surface of the left lug is supposed to ride on the bottom rail, and the top surface of the left lug is supposed to be under the top rail.
Might be able to get a pic if need be.

Thanks for any advice.

Information

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[jmoore]

Does it work otherwise? When looking through the mag well, when the bolt assembly closes, does the bolt head turn into the locking recesses? If so, you're fine. (I don't have one at hand, so your description isn't "checkable" right now.)

[colreed]

Can't be sure. AK is new to me. Fired it first time Saturday, functioned OK except for last round in each of 3 mags which failed to feed.
Field stripped per instructions, cleaned and lubed, and reassembled. That is when I noticed the apparent bolt slight offset.
I will check closing bolt and see if it turns into locking resesses.
Will also insert mag with rounds and see if it feeds/ejects mannually.
Will report later.
Thanks
Reed

[jmoore]

If you are referring to the bolt carrier riding on the top of the guide rail on a sheet metal receiver, that's normal, it top guide is the bent in receiver lip itself. The inserted rails are usually of an unequal leg length "C" section to increase the assembly's rigidity.

FTF in AKs is unusual except in the formerly single stack Romanian AKs converted to double stack (regular old AK) mags. On these, the forward mag retaining lip in the receiver is a bit low. Not much that can be done to these that's worth the trouble...
If the edges of the mag well are bare metal, rather than blued, beware!

[colreed]

JMoore,
Got pulled out of town. Just now getting back to this. AK manual function seems to be OK. Bolt rotates at end of closure. I loaded 4 rounds in mag and manually fed/ejected. All OK.
In you last replay, you said:

"FTF in AKs is unusual except in the formerly single stack Romanian AKs converted to double stack (regular old AK) mags. On these, the forward mag retaining lip in the receiver is a bit low. Not much that can be done to these that's worth the trouble...
If the edges of the mag well are bare metal, rather than blued, beware!"

Am not sure what all that means, so I took a few pictures of my Romanian AK for you to look at. Hoping you could tell me if all looks as it should be.

Thanks for your help.

Reed

[jmoore]

If the edges of the receiver cutout for the mag. are not blued, then its converted. Can't tell if this is the case from the pics.

[colreed]

Will take a look in the AM. thanks

[Adolf Galland]

I wish I could have that problem up here.

[jmoore]

Different computer today- It looks like a single stack conversion based on that one picture. If so, the easiest remedy, aside from changing to another AK variant (my choice, sorry), is trying different mags (swapping off those that don't work), and sticking to FMJ ammo. A real fix if your failure to feed persists may not be financially prudent. There may be someone out there that specializes in this particular quirk, but I haven't heard of anyone, yet!

A desperation trick that comes to mind would be to cut a little from the bottom of the mag catch protrusion on the mags themselves to tip the cartridge upwards a skosh, or trimming down the top of the mag catch itself. (I think we did that once for a fellow, but never got any long term feedback- he may have gotten rid of it). The danger, if you cut too much, is the bolt will no longer strip the rounds from the mag at all! Not a happy situation...

[colreed]

I took a close look this AM and the edges of the mag well cutout are bare metal, not blued. RATS!
Will first switch to FMJ. If continue to FTF, will try adjusting mag catch protrusion a skosh as suggested.
Will probably be a while before I take to the range again.
Thanks for all your good help and advice.