Recommendations for a good AK gunsmith near Milford, MA

cyspawn

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Just got a WASR from a guy but somehow he lost the bolt...already got a replacement but it needs some fitting work and a headspace check.

Anyone know of a good AK guy in the Milford, MA area?
 
The bolt carrier closes fine without the bolt in the rifle but with the bolt installed it seems to stop about 1/2 inch from completely closing.
 
did you install the bolt correctly? an AK is so loose you don't need to worry about "fitting" usually. just get a headspace gauge off apex/etc. and check it yourself. if there's a problem THEN take it to a shop.

not at home, so no pics of my rifles, but you want the bolt in the carrier like this:

100_0966.jpg
 
I don't think this rifle was ever fired due to the amount of grease I found when I cleaned it so nothing is probably broken in...just received a call back from Santuri in North Attleboro...he will have a look at it for me. Thanks for the quick replies.
 
you cleaned it? it's an AK, dude. grease? that ain't no thang. AKs can fire when straight up loaded with twinkies. look:

[video=youtube_share;kIuni6_K_RQ]http://youtu.be/kIuni6_K_RQ[/video]

i'm just saying there are a lot of dudes who know a lot about AKs on here, and we could help you fix this for free. however if you're not paying to have someone else look at it, and you're not comfortable enough with the gun yourself and you need someone else to--that's cool, i get it, but i'm just trying to save you a few bucks.

i sold an AK to a friend and told him: "in the interest of full disclosure, this hasn't been cleaned." he asked "since...?" i responded "no, it hasn't been cleaned. ever."

another time the handguard was loose on one of my rifles, the retainer was a tiny bit too far forward and so the handguard would slide back into the receiver a little. i simply caved in the receiver a bit with a hammer and phillips head screwdriver.

that's how you "work" on an AK, especially just a WASR? go to town, dude. you won't regret it.
 
I don't think this rifle was ever fired due to the amount of grease I found when I cleaned it so nothing is probably broken in...just received a call back from Santuri in North Attleboro...he will have a look at it for me. Thanks for the quick replies.

Break in is not an issue here. The bolt stopping about 1/2" short sounds like it's getting hung up entering the trunnion.
 
1776 Gunsmithing in Walpole.

Take the back roads through Medway and Norfolk.

Good folks to deal with.
 
Are you certain it's the correct bolt and not for an AK74 or something else?
I thought of that too, but since the 74 ejector is longer, it would have to be the other way around. ie a 47 bolt in a 74. Plus it would be hung up a lot further back than 1/2"
 
Def post pics .
Like a Atillia said there's enough of us on this site that it could be some thing stupid your over looking .
Me personally have help build 4 or 5 others Ak's .
 
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Thanks for all the great info guys and the twinkie video was awesome...I am new to AKs but have other rifles including a SKS and something definitely seems like it needs to be looked at by a gunsmith to be safe. Look forward to future chatter with you guys once I start tearing up the range with this bad boy.
 
So the prior owner says he "lost" the bolt? I find that suspiscious. You may want to feel inside the lugs of the barrel to see if there is anything in there preventing the bolt from closing. It could have been "lost" after a piece broke off inside if thats possible, could have been broken when trying to force closed or something like that.

Have you tried to lock the bolt to the barrel by hand without the carrier?
 
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I am not an "AK" guy per se, but I never had any issues with my WASR. I am around if you want me to take a look at it.
I may be shooting at Hopedale tomorrow.
 
Thanks for all the posts guys...rifle is at the gunsmith getting looked at...will update with what he finds so you guys can let me know if I made a dumb decision taking it to a gunsmith.
Rifle was found in a storage container by a friend of a friend in Florida...the guy (who is not very smart) decided to disassemble the rifle to clean/inspect it before selling...he left it disassembled while moving the container contents and misplaced the bolt.
The rifle was shipped up thru a dealer in FL to Northeast Trading and they inspected it and said it looked like it had never been fired.
 
I'm at work so I don't have anything to compare it with at the moment, but something looks off in that pic. I can't put my finger on it, but the ejector slot doesn't look right to me. I'll grab one when I get home and compare the two.

Is that a galil bolt? I did a google search and it looks like it.
 
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