AK Sponsor
Posted: 3/15/2005 6:48:00 AM EDT
|
Anyone ever heard of a lawsuit / lawsuits in the early 90's involving MAK-90's that started firing on their own? Reason I ask is, there is a small gunshop I frequent when I take the family camping. Last time we were there, the shop gunsmith and myself started talking about AK's and he told me this story: He was with a customer at the range to adjust the sights in a then new MAK-90. The MAK starting firing on its own in FULL AUTO, jumped off the range table and shot the gunsmith in the hip. The Gunsmith required lots of surgery and missed around 6 months of work. He joined a group lawsuit against SOG and Chinasports. Supposedly the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit had similar incidents / injury with MAK-90's from SOG. He got some money out of SOG, but Chinasports never paid. He explained that the investigation found out a group of MAK's were imported with defective parts, etc. This particular group of MAK-90's was distributed by SOG. He couldn't remember if the MAK-90's were stamped or milled. |
|
Wow, so there really are evil assault weapons that start wantonly mowing down people all by themselves. Guess it's a good thing one of my MAKs was imported by B-West and the other by KSI. Truth be told, the original Chinese hammer, trigger, and disconnector were much smoother and better than their US made replacements. |
In other words, it was slam fireing. My question is, Why would a trained gunsmith lay a fully loaded weapon on a table with the bolt pulled back? 
|
|
100% TRUE ! EXCEPT................it was Chinese SKS's and Navy Arms. The firing pins were improperly installed (upside down) making them protrude from the bolt face , causing the aforementioned full auto firing ( actually a slam fire ) . The victim in question loaded the 10rd SKS , chambered a round (while holding the rifle loosely ) and it slam fired eventually recoiling around and fatally shooting the victim in the head. I believe the case was settled for $2-3 million . |
|
Quoted: 100% TRUE ! EXCEPT................it was Chinese SKS's and Navy Arms. The firing pins were improperly installed (upside down) making them protrude from the bolt face , causing the aforementioned full auto firing ( actually a slam fire ) . quote] How in the hell do you put a SKS firing pin in upside down?? |
|
The SKS has an inertial firing pin - that is , it does not have a spring to keep it away from the primer until the hammer strikes the firing pin.It is basically a turned piece of steel with flat spots milled out , IIRC there are two flat cuts on the top and one on the bottom , at least on the Chinese version. It is possible to place it in the bolt upside down and hammer the retaining pin in , leaving the firing pin tip protuding. BANG , BANG..........BAD ! Uncontrolled firing. Dried old gummed up cosmoline can also allow the FP to protrude , as well as soft (non military) primers , and a simple burr can cause a semi - any semi - to slam fire. This is why you should always keep a tight grip on the weapon when chambering a round and test fire ANY semi auto new to you , or newly repaired ( really after each cleaning a function test should be conducted ) . New to you semi test : EMPTY WEAPON cycle action / pull trigger / hold trigger / pull bolt back / with the bolt all the way back - is the FP protruding ? If no , close bolt / release trigger / was the hammer caught by the disconnector ? If yes weapon is good to live fire. Load ONE round IN THE MAGAZINE chamber round follow above procedure after firing round. Everything worked right ? - load two rounds in magazine going through above procedure for each round. The weapon is functioning correctly / you can load a full magazine. If ANY of the steps show a problem UNLOAD THE WEAPON AND TAKE IT TO A GUNSMITH. I had a BRAND NEW Century MISR that had a FUBAR'd FCG that had I simply 'loaded and fired' would have gone FA had I not discovered the problem prior to shooting it. I replaced the faulty FCG and after function testing it passed and I have had no problems with it since. Guns CAN be DANGEROUS ! Be careful. |
|
I have no reason to dought Triangle-66. I believe what he said about the SKS deal. But it doesn't hold no water to the ORIGINAL poster question and statement. Here it is again. " He was with a customer at the range to adjust the sights in a then new MAK-90. The MAK starting firing on its own in FULL AUTO, jumped off the range table and shot the gunsmith in the hip. The Gunsmith required lots of surgery and missed around 6 months of work. He joined a group lawsuit against SOG and Chinasports. Supposedly the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit had similar incidents / injury with MAK-90's from SOG. He got some money out of SOG, but Chinasports never paid. He explained that the investigation found out a group of MAK's were imported with defective parts, etc. This particular group of MAK-90's was distributed by SOG. End Quote : The gunsmith siad he was with a customer and the rifle was laying on the table and just startyed to shoot on it's own. Claimed he was shot and sued for damages. I think he had an AD at his own fault and just needs a story to go with his wound. The gunsmith said MAK 90 . Not SKS. The only persons story I have a problem with is what the gunsmith said. like before the flag needs raised. WarDawg  |
Wouldn't it be great if we could fault the manufacturer and just shoot the weapon all day long!!! "No, I did not modify the weapon, it came like this out of the box and I'm trying to work the bugs out." WooooHooooo !!!!!!!!!! I remember in my younger days when I first started shooting weapons and would occasionally get double-fires. I was thinking "oh yeah! right on!!" KF |
ISTR that they (Navy Arms) also had a shipment of Russian SKS's come in that didn't have the spring installed for the safeties. When they came in, they were tight and it didn't matter. Once you'd fired off umpteen rounds, they loosened up and it was then evident that there was no spring. |
AK Sponsor