Range Report for Waffen Works FPK AK Carbine

Didn't add to the existing FPK AK thread to give folks maximum exposure to this experience I had to today with my new friend.

Range Report for the Waffen Works FPK AK in 7.62x54:

- First off, remember that I don't work for Guns and Ammo, so don't expect things like correct grammar, fluff, or anything resembling a coherent, organized report. having said that....

Magazines - Rifle came with two mags which locked up great. I tried the other 8 I have that lock up in my full size FPK and none of them locked up. It appears that Waffen Works did a little fitting to get the two to lock up by filing or grinding a little off the back tab of the mags. If I did that to my other mags they should work fine I believe. Or i could just grind a wee bit off the rifle where the tabs meet the rifle and all then should work on this gun.

Range test - started out with Czech surplus ammo. First shot fired, but bolt wouldn't pick up second round and put a good scrape in the second round in the mag. Tried again, same thing happened. Third time both rounds fired fine. Did it once more with first mag.

I swapped magazines with the second one that came with the rifle. Shot two rounds no issues. Shot three rounds no issues. Shot five rounds no issues, then a full mag without hitch.

Went back to the original mag and didn't have the issue again. First mag worked fine. Didn't see this issue again.

At this point I've put 50 rounds through it and twice I had the trigger not reset. It chambered the round fine but did not cock the trigger. Remedy = rack the slide, eject the live round and release the bolt to chamber the next one.

Additional ammo types - I went on to try recent olympic mil-spec ammo, Bulgarian surplus, 7N1 Sniper ammo, Yugo M30 ammo, and back to more Czech ammo. After 130 more rounds of the various types, here is the summary:

- Failure to strip rounds out of the magazine - only one mag in the first few rounds, then problem never reappeared.

- Failure to reset the trigger - 6 times total out of about 180 rounds.

- Although the trigger was a tapco G2, I started to feel a little trigger slap on my finger after about 80 rounds. not enough that I didn't go another 100 after that though.

- Recoil wasn't too bad, no more than a FAL, HK91, AR10 or any other semi-auto 308. Given I put 180 rounds through it, my shoulder feels fine. My jaw is slightly worse for the wear though and that's where I seemed to feel it the most. Not like getting hit by an MMA wrestler, just lightly b*tch slapped like when you get too fresh with a stripper. The 7N1 ammo seemed to have less recoil, possibly because it was specifically made for the fullsize platform.

- Concussion = Holy mother of god. Double ear protection next time. Covered range enclosure probably didn't help the issue. Sorry to the guy next to me shooting the 22 target pistol on a lovely Sunday morning. I owe you a beer.

- Fireball = Holy mother of god's grandmother. Please get dark soon so I can do some night shooting and witness what a mini-nuke looks like up close.

- Accuracy - was confined to 50 yards. Group size ranged from 1.5" to 6" depending on ammo, but I wasn't really doing my best to get groups, just to put some rounds down range.

- Overall the rifle performed well. Not sure what is causing the trigger not to reset every so often. The initial failure to strip off the magazine seem to solve itself.

Next Steps - Thoroughly clean and re-shoot again in the near future. After owning and working with more than 50 AK platforms, I've learned that some AKs work out the bugs themselves after a few hundred rounds and a few really good cleanings.

-Might try putting the 6X PSOP scope from my full size FPK on this and see what she does with an optic.

Fun gun. I think I will keep it.

Since this thread is only marginally useful without pics, enclosed is a picture of the FPK AK carbine next to a standard Romanian AK for comparison.

Good report. I had one in the shop for problems and it blew casings repeatedly. It went back to Waffen. I have it again to check out but I havent had time to get into it.

Sounds like Waffen needs to tune these a bit more, but overall your weapon seems to be one of the good ones.

If you put a RSA trigger in it will improve the groups and certainly remove the trigger slap.

Is it possible the "failure to cock" was actually a failure to remain cocked? Did you check for light primer dents on the live rounds you ejected?

I had an issue with my AK with the G2 trigger group. I was getting hammer follow (no doubling) because the disconnector wasn't holding onto the hammer with the trigger depressed just enough to fire.

In other words, when I slowly pressed the trigger for a clean break, the gap between the trigger hook and the disconnector ( are my terms right, chad?) allowed the hammer to slip through when jarred by recoil.

The problem was fixed with a replacement of the hammer. The sear face was too small.

RobMoore said:

Is it possible the "failure to cock" was actually a failure to remain cocked? Did you check for light primer dents on the live rounds you ejected?

I had an issue with my AK with the G2 trigger group. I was getting hammer follow (no doubling) because the disconnector wasn't holding onto the hammer with the trigger depressed just enough to fire.

In other words, when I slowly pressed the trigger for a clean break, the gap between the sear and the disconnector ( are my terms right, chad?) allowed the hammer to slip through when jarred by recoil.

The problem was fixed with a replacement of the two out of spec trigger parts.

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That sounds spot on Rob, I agree with your diagnosis. SOunds like a hammer follow than failure to cock.

HappyCamper said:

- Recoil wasn't too bad, no more than a FAL, HK91, AR10 or any other semi-auto 308. Given I put 180 rounds through it, my shoulder feels fine. My jaw is slightly worse for the wear though and that's where I seemed to feel it the most. Not like getting hit by an MMA wrestler, just lightly b*tch slapped like when you get too fresh with a stripper. The 7N1 ammo seemed to have less recoil, possibly because it was specifically made for the fullsize platform.

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You should not have any jaw pain. The pain should surely be in your shoulder and not in your jaw. I too have fired a FAL and G3 (firing several hundred rounds out of both) yet never experienced pain in my jaw ever. Chances are Waffen Works did not install your butt-stock correctly or the receiver has been warped in some fashion. The same thing happened to me with a TGI AK-74, you should not be feeling any jaw pain with essentially a .22 round!!

I would get that butt-stock checked out ASAP. Also since you are using a stamped receiver I would not fire any Olympic or modern commercial 7.62x54r out of it (unless it is Wolf ammo below 150 gr.). The pressure on the commercial ammo is far higher than on surplus ammo. If you continue to use new ammo your gun will eventually break apart or go KABOOM from using too powerful ammo. Stick with surplus ammo only.

Hope this helps.

that is a SWEET SWEET pair of rifles!!

RobMoore said:

Is it possible the "failure to cock" was actually a failure to remain cocked? Did you check for light primer dents on the live rounds you ejected?

I had an issue with my AK with the G2 trigger group. I was getting hammer follow (no doubling) because the disconnector wasn't holding onto the hammer with the trigger depressed just enough to fire.

In other words, when I slowly pressed the trigger for a clean break, the gap between the trigger hook and the disconnector ( are my terms right, chad?) allowed the hammer to slip through when jarred by recoil.

The problem was fixed with a replacement of the hammer. The sear face was too small.

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I think you are on to something. The rounds that were left in the chamber had light primer hits on them. I will take it apart and compare it to my other ones and see if I can notice any differences. I think I have a spare G2 trigger around here somewhere too.

Scott7891 said:

You should not have any jaw pain. The pain should surely be in your shoulder and not in your jaw. I too have fired a FAL and G3 (firing several hundred rounds out of both) yet never experienced pain in my jaw ever. Chances are Waffen Works did not install your butt-stock correctly or the receiver has been warped in some fashion. The same thing happened to me with a TGI AK-74, you should not be feeling any jaw pain with essentially a .22 round!!

I would get that butt-stock checked out ASAP. Also since you are using a stamped receiver I would not fire any Olympic or modern commercial 7.62x54r out of it (unless it is Wolf ammo below 150 gr.). The pressure on the commercial ammo is far higher than on surplus ammo. If you continue to use new ammo your gun will eventually break apart or go KABOOM from using too powerful ammo. Stick with surplus ammo only.

Hope this helps.

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Good to know about the commercial ammo, i will stay away from it. I do have a good amount of the 148g Wolf I will give that a go as it has shot very well through my full size FPK.

I think the jaw jarring is from a few things playing together. First I weld my cheek probably a bit to firmly on the stock, second my jaw is temperamental due to a previous injury. Still, it does seem to jar it more than my FAL, 91 or AR10, but seems to have the same felt recoil on the shoulder. The stock seems to be installed well with no warping or weird angles going on, and the receiver fits flush to the square I line up with it.

Probably I'm just getting old and frail.

The feedback is much appreciated!

HappyCamper said:

I think you are on to something. The rounds that were left in the chamber had light primer hits on them. I will take it apart and compare it to my other ones and see if I can notice any differences. I think I have a spare G2 trigger around here somewhere too.



Good to know about the commercial ammo, i will stay away from it. I do have a good amount of the 148g Wolf I will give that a go as it has shot very well through my full size FPK.

I think the jaw jarring is from a few things playing together. First I weld my cheek probably a bit to firmly on the stock, second my jaw is temperamental due to a previous injury. Still, it does seem to jar it more than my FAL, 91 or AR10, but seems to have the same felt recoil on the shoulder. The stock seems to be installed well with no warping or weird angles going on, and the receiver fits flush to the square I line up with it.

Probably I'm just getting old and frail.

The feedback is much appreciated!

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You are welcome. Also be sure to treat the Wolf ammo as corrosive even though it says it is not. Some guy did a test comparing different types of 7.62x54r and the Wolf ammo was more corrosive than most surplus ammo!!

Scott7891 said:

You are welcome. Also be sure to treat the Wolf ammo as corrosive even though it says it is not. Some guy did a test comparing different types of 7.62x54r and the Wolf ammo was more corrosive than most surplus ammo!!

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Thanks for the heads up. Do you have a link to the test? I would be very surprised if Wolf turned out to be using corrosive primers. I've shot quite a bit of it through my FPK and PSL. I've always cleaned for corrosive ammo because I'm usually shooting some surplus 7N1, Bulg, Czech or something else through it right along side the wolf when I do.

Granted this is a different caliber I'm talking about now (7.62x39) but maybe the same primers, but I've got an AK that I don't clean much after shooting and it doesn't have the signs that corrosive ammo was used. I've shot only wolf, brown and silver bear and golden tiger through it and have not noticed anything that would lead me to believe any of the ammo was corrosive.

Not sure if Wold Gold is corrosive, since I never did a corrosion test, but it never rusted my PSL's, and Im a freak about cleaning corrosive ammo.

I tested PRIVI primers on a steel plate and its Non Corrosive.
Norma 7.62x54r is also Non Corrosive.

Not sure is those guys on 54r. are blowing smoke but their info is definately off.

clandestine said:

Not sure if Wold Gold is corrosive, since I never did a corrosion test, but it never rusted my PSL's, and Im a freak about cleaning corrosive ammo.

I tested PRIVI primers on a steel plate and its Non Corrosive.
Norma 7.62x54r is also Non Corrosive.

Not sure is those guys on 54r. are blowing smoke but their info is definately off.

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I think they were talking about the black boxed steel cased Wolf. I swear there was a test conducted and put up on the interwebs that compared the normal Wolf black box against the milsurp ammo and the Wolf was just as corrosive if not worse than surplus.

Scott7891 said:

I think they were talking about the black boxed steel cased Wolf. I swear there was a test conducted and put up on the interwebs that compared the normal Wolf black box against the milsurp ammo and the Wolf was just as corrosive if not worse than surplus.

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I remember that test too, your not imagining it.

clandestine said:

I remember that test too, your not imagining it.

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Yay im not crazy!

If only the OP had a link though.

Any more info on your Waffen Werks 54r? I emailed Atlantic and they are out of stock and don't have any specific answers for me in turn directing me to contact Waffen. I emailed AND called Waffen and just got voice mail with no returns regarding the rifle. Have you had any contact with them? Any more range reports on it?

Sirex said:

Any more info on your Waffen Werks 54r? I emailed Atlantic and they are out of stock and don't have any specific answers for me in turn directing me to contact Waffen. I emailed AND called Waffen and just got voice mail with no returns regarding the rifle. Have you had any contact with them? Any more range reports on it?

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Do you have a problem rifle or are you looking to buy one? I have one at Scotts Gunsmithing on consignment that a MDS member owns and is selling.

Never saw the magazine on one of these, but make sure your case rims are stacked in the mag one in front of the other, not behind each other. This may have caused the rims to lock and not strip off the mag properly.

Again, I have never seen this particular magazine. So take it for what it's worth.

ETA: just saw how old this thread was.

clandestine said:

Do you have a problem rifle or are you looking to buy one? I have one at Scotts Gunsmithing on consignment that a MDS member owns and is selling.

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I was possibly interested in buying one. Atlantic was selling them, but is out of stock and doesn't know if they will even get anymore. I tried contacting Waffen Werks with questions about the rifle via email and voice mail with no replies. Mainly I want to know if they are still in business, still building the rifles, have they worked the bugs out yet, and if they take standard PSL mags, etc. I am on the fence about buying one given all the negative web chatter, but thought I'd give it a chance if they backed up their work, but they won't even respond to a potential buyer.I have 2 Mosins and a couple tins of 54r, so I figured this would be an economical semi auto to run. Not saying it's bad, but why is he selling his Waffen 54r? Is it ok?

The low magazine capacity is keeping this gun perpetually off the top of my "next" list.

A carbine should carry at least 20.

Sirex said:

I was possibly interested in buying one. Atlantic was selling them, but is out of stock and doesn't know if they will even get anymore. I tried contacting Waffen Werks with questions about the rifle via email and voice mail with no replies. Mainly I want to know if they are still in business, still building the rifles, have they worked the bugs out yet, and if they take standard PSL mags, etc. I am on the fence about buying one given all the negative web chatter, but thought I'd give it a chance if they backed up their work, but they won't even respond to a potential buyer.I have 2 Mosins and a couple tins of 54r, so I figured this would be an economical semi auto to run. Not saying it's bad, but why is he selling his Waffen 54r? Is it ok?

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They take std PSL mags.

There were problems with the first runs of them, I worked on several, one actually blew up on me.

The one on consignment was a first run that Waffen reworked. I havent tested that one since its first time in my hands. I have seen several that work after I did some minor tuning to them.

I cant opine if they are still in busines though, but the guns were well built, just needed more refinement IMHO

RobMoore said:

The low magazine capacity is keeping this gun perpetually off the top of my "next" list.

A carbine should carry at least 20.

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Theres a 20 round mag in the works, I have seen one in person. If they go into production they should be nice.