Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Cracked bolt carrier+ help ID'ing replacement carrier

  1. #1
    Junior Member sti2relaxxin's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    27

    Cracked bolt carrier+ help ID'ing replacement carrier

    UPDATE- It is a Polish carrier; see closeup photo at the bottom of this post.

    Has anyone ever seen a bolt carrier crack here before? The crack runs from the hole where the gas piston rivet is supposed to be, up towards the gas piston. This is the bolt carrier that came with my 2003 SAR-1 and maybe has seen 200 rounds.


    Also; can anyone help me ID the below bolt carrier? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! (It's Polish!)



    After posting this closeup photo on another forum, members were quickly able to identify it as a Polish bolt carrier:


    Here's an interesting tid-bit as well:
    "Polish WW2 proof marks were adaptations of the old Hanseatic league guild markings, IIRC"
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by sti2relaxxin; 03-27-2013 at 09:53 AM.
    2003 SAR-1

  2. #2
    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    East of Atlanta GA
    Posts
    15,035
    SAR-1 rifles are Romanian. Most of those had welded in gas pistons instead of pinned. If it was mine, I'd drill and rivet the piston and forget about it. There's plenty of beef around the piston threads, I would not expect it to propgate, get any worse.

  3. #3
    Administrator imanaknut's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Indiana, a state that is trying to remain free.
    Posts
    12,280
    I agree, don't worry about it. The hole in the carrier should stop the crack from continuing further into the carrier, and there is plenty of thread behind the hole to hold the gas piston in place.

    It was unfortunate that to make the rifle legal in the land of shall not be infringed, a law was written mandating that imported rifles that don't meet the sporting purpose clause of the new ATF second amendment can have no more than 10 imported parts. The SAR-1 was imported with 100% imported parts, and as imported was not importable under the sporting purpose clause, but ATF overlooked it by accident for about 5 years.

    Because of the parts count, Century replaced a fairly good trigger group with cheap parts, and replaced the gas piston, but instead of doing it correctly, which was to thread it in until snug, then back it out one quarter to one half a turn, then pin in place, they just threaded them in and welded them in place. It they were in straight, no problem, but if they were welded in at an angle they could drag on the gas block and cause feed issues. The gas piston on an AK/AKM/AK-74 is supposed to be slightly loose, not rigid.

    Again, I would keep an eye on your rifle just to make sure the crack doesn't continue on the other side of the hole but I doubt it. It really is strange to see yours with a crack after only 200 rounds, because my SAR-1 has well over 13,000 rounds and still looks "new".

    Not sure where the other carrier is from, but it should function in your SAR-1 if absolutely necessary.

  4. #4
    Junior Member sti2relaxxin's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    27
    Thanks for the feedback everyone.
    Yes I am aware that my SAR-1 is Romanian, and that the parts had to be swapped out to be 922r compliant. I have been using the carrier in the bottom pictures that I was asking help from the forum to help identify, as it is much better quality than the Romanian one (Not to mention it's not cracked). I should have been more specific; the cracked bolt carrier in the top photo came with my rifle and was only used for a short while before I replaced it with the carrier in the bottom two photos.

    I won't be using the Romanian carrier with the crack no matter what, since I have the much better quality carrier I need help identifying.
    Last edited by sti2relaxxin; 03-27-2013 at 09:33 AM.
    2003 SAR-1

  5. #5
    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    3,581
    imo, if it works, why worry about it?

    as long as if fits in the gun, why does it matter where its from?

  6. #6
    Junior Member sti2relaxxin's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    27
    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    imo, if it works, why worry about it?

    as long as if fits in the gun, why does it matter where its from?
    I'm just curious about where the carrier is from, and I just wanted to call attention to the cracked Romanian carrier I have. It probably happened because there is no play where the gas piston meets the carrier due to it being screwed in all the way and welded.
    2003 SAR-1

  7. #7
    Junior Member sti2relaxxin's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    27
    Thread bump! EDIT: Answer found : )
    Last edited by sti2relaxxin; 03-27-2013 at 09:34 AM.
    2003 SAR-1

  8. #8
    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    3,581
    im not sure if they are really discernible, however, if they are, nut will know the answer.

  9. #9
    Administrator imanaknut's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Indiana, a state that is trying to remain free.
    Posts
    12,280
    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    im not sure if they are really discernible, however, if they are, nut will know the answer.
    Actually I don't know any way to tell where a carrier was made. Unless they have a specific serial number stamping that is only found in one country, location of that number, or doing a metallurgical analysis, I have no idea how to tell one carrier from another. Some of the Chinese that were unfinished might be able to be singled out, but other than that, sorry, can't help.

  10. #10
    Junior Member sti2relaxxin's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    27
    Okay well I appreciate everyone's feedback. I know I found some information earlier about how to tell if a bolt carrier is Bulgarian (?) (Area behind the charging handle is smooth the whole way back; not stepped like mine), and a few other traits that help you tell if it's Russian which escape me now.

    I edited all my posts asking for help ID'ing the carrier just to avoid confusion. I have found various other threads on the web from people trying to ID their various bolt carriers, so hopefully this thread will help someone out in the future. Thanks again for all your feedback everyone!
    Last edited by sti2relaxxin; 03-27-2013 at 09:38 AM.
    2003 SAR-1

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •