AA 1919A4 range report and problem

[mrbieler]

Finally got my 1919A4 to the range today. Headed up to Angeles at 9AM with the gun, tools, and 250 rounds of South African .308.

The first 50~60 rounds had me debating if I should take the gun and wrap it around a tree. It wasn't pulling rounds out of the links, it wouldn't feed properly, it wouldn't go click every time I pulled the trigger.

Then I reminded myself why I only brought one gun to the range today. I was going to work out the kinks and make this gun work.

After fighting through the first 100 round belt, I tore it down on the bench and made sure all was as it should be. I reassembled it and picked up the 50 round belt. Now it would feed fine. No issues at all. However, it still wouldn't fire every time I pulled the trigger. The trigger was very heavy and you could feel it grab and slip on the sear. I took it apart again, moved bits around, checked for damage, and reassembled.

I could dry fire and cycle the gun manually and the trigger felt fine.

I re-einserted the last of the 50 round belt and discovered that when the trigger didn't work I could jiggle it and it would reset/catch on the sear and I could fire the gun. I finished the belt like this and again took the gun back the bench to tear down.

The trigger and sear look OK and don't feel like they are catching on anything. When I dry fire, it's smooth. Not light, but not as heavy as when I have ammo in the gun.

I loaded the last 100 round belt into the 1919A6 adapter can and went back to work. I fired the belt, but just about every round after the first I had to jiggle the trigger for it to catch. The trigger pull was also excessively heavy.

Are my trigger and sear screwed up? Any thing else that I'm missing that could cause this?

No feeding issues. the A6 adapter worked well. The gun functioned properly as side from the trigger issue, which is a rather big problem as it makes firing the gun a PITA!

I have a feeling it's going to be an easy fix and once it's sorted, the gun will be great. Just need some thoughts on what to look for/at.

[mrbieler]

Just finished putting it back together after cleaning it. Apparently I was mistaken. The problem is also there when I dry fire the gun. I have to jiggle the trigger to get it to engage the sear and release the firing pin.

How much front to back slop should the sear have? I'm going to tear it apart again and take some photos

[Kali Komrade]

There shouldn't be any play in the sear slot... The sear should move freely tear down the bolt... Clean it be very careful around the captured recoil rod and spring as it can take an eye out and see if theres any slag or burrs in the sear slot...

Also...Did you check the head space??? Sometimes you have to open it up to that forth click out to make the gun run well if your shooting the .308 / 7.62x51... Try a few rounds that way...
Also another thing that sucks about that trigger setup... I know because I have the original which is a knock off of yours is the disconnector spring on the trigger gets week does the disconnector on the trigger have enough spring pressure that its not loose on the trigger... Often times what happens is When leaving the gun headspaced that spring becomes compressed while in contact with the sear and becomes weak... Kinda like leaving a mag fully loaded all the time... Those would be my first guess... And if your having feed issues still try another belt pawl spring sometimes they are too stiff and you need a weaker one...

[mrbieler]

No issues feeding at all. That went away after the first 30 or so rounds. It cycles the ammo nicely. My issue now is solely with the trigger.

The sear moves freely up and down with no drag. However, it does seem to have a fair bit of slop front to back which you can see in the pics below (the 3rd pic). The "feet" on the trigger got my attention as they seem pretty rough.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/mrbieler/trigger_1.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/mrbieler/sear_1.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/mrbieler/sear_2.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/mrbieler/sear_3.jpg

[Kali Komrade]

Wow... Honestly thats the sloppiest job I've ever seen those boys turn out... Does the back of the sear extend past where the buffer hits on the back of the bolt... Sure enough thats looks like a bit too much play...

[mrbieler]

Not, it's flush when the sear is against the rear of the slot.

I'm leaning towards sloppy machining.

[Kali Komrade]

yeah I agree... You wanna fix it permanetely let me pm you some info

[mrbieler]

I took a file and stone to the trigger feet and sear to clean things up. Big difference in the trigger.

Traded some emails with James today. He thought the trigger disconnect spring may be my issue. James asked me to look at it and sure enough, the disconnect was rough going back and forth.

I took the trigger apart and the poor little spring looked like it a slinky a two year old had tied in knots. James is said he could pop a new one in the mail. I'll swap that out and we should be in business.

Looking forward to another range trip next week. http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Kali Komrade]

Thats the spring I was talking about that has the issues with all these triggers make sure you get plenty of spares...:green:

[mrbieler]

I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw...:beer:

I asked him to send me a few. Worst case, he sends me one and I take it to the hobby / hardware store and make extras myself. The one I have in there now is too torn up to copy.

[Kali Komrade]

During the beltfed shoot before the last one I had to disassemble mine on the firingline and stretch it out got me through the day but man what a flawed design... Were going to hear about this happening on a ton of the Allied Armament guns... The best way to keep the pressure off that spring is to put the gun into uncomplete lock up or locking it with the bolt open but that again will cause another spring to become weakened...

[mrbieler]

Been trading some emails with Brian Penley who is going to be machining my spare parts and installing a KMP trigger and sear. From what I have heard/read, he had done a lot of machining for guys and has cleaned up a fair number of guns built by the makers out there, etc.

The AA set (or apparently this version as they have evidently used other styles before) is just like the Wise Lite design. There doesn't appear to be any significant issues with the design itself, but they are rough and need to be cleaned up.

I'm wondering if the rough machining which caused the parts to hang up and allowed the spring to get cocked/twisted and mangled.

James is putting some replacement springs in the mail to me today so I should see them by Saturday. With the new spring and the parts deburred, corners cut, etc. I will get a better idea on how it works.

For all the forum venom about AA in a few places, I really haven't had any issues. They took care of my calls and questions when the group buy started, they responded to all my inquiries when the group buy got delayed, and James has quickly responded to my issues here.

The gun itself seems well built and it's aesthetically well finished. I'm not going to cry over a mangled spring. Have had and seen far far worse out of the factory from major gun manufacturers.

Time will tell, but I'm optimistic. I just need to work out so I can lug this heavy bitch around. :shock: