[afghanvet]

I'm having a problem feeding rounds. The gun will shoot twice, then not pick up the third round. I did see one problem. I believe the feed pawl lever is jumping out of the groove on the bolt. So, I noticed two washers on the top cover where the feed pawl lever attaches to the top cover. Mine is different than on the tutorial. It is drilled out and the pin goes threw it and is held by a cotter pin. I placed one of the washers on the inside of the top cover pushing the feed pawl lever closer to the bolt. I also bent the feed pawl lever a bit to help it stay in the groove. It then fired four times and failed to pick up a round. I also noticed that the latch is not holding the top cover tightly. Do you file the latch or the top cover to tighten this up? Any other ideas???

Thanks for all the help 30cal!!!! I'm in the tweeking stage now.

 

[Lucky#13]

You should file the lug on the top cover. That is just normal fitting procedure, the new covers having that lug oversize, usually with the edge still square. It needs to be beveled until it slides all the way under the latch, the taper tending to keep it tight. Go carfully, removing a little material at a time.

On your feeding problem, make sure that the seating depth of the rounds is correct, and that the overall length of the rounds is good. I am assuming that you are shooting 308, as what you are describing is the lever pivot that the Israelis used, with the tapered head underneath and the cotter pin at the top. Your lever will have been modified to work with that, so you can't go to the other style without replacing the lever as well as the pivot assembly. Now I have never seen an instance where the lever was jumping out of the bolt track, so long as the cover was properly seated. It should not be necessary to have shimmed the lever as you did, but then I have not seen everything yet! I would look to the extractor cover spring, the belt holding pawl spring (may need a lighter one) and to the location of the rounds as they are fed into the feedway, which is usually a function of OAL and/or seathing depth. Always make one change at a time, so you know what "fix" actually accomplishes something. Good luck!

 

[jmann]

I have seen this problem on a few guns that have suffered a kaboom. Make sure the top cover is not bowed in the middle. If it is a rubber mallet will fix the problem. Also always make sure the lever is indexed with the groove before slamming the cover or beating on it.

 

[afghanvet]

Thanks for the advice lucky and jmann. I took it out again today after some filing. It did the exact same thing for about twenty rounds. Shot twice, then didnt feed the next round. I scratched my head, and moved the shims back their original spot. I noticed the top cover sliding up everytime it shot. Then, like a miracle, I rapid fired about twenty rounds without a hitch. Then again about twenty or so more times with no problems. Then I ran out of ammo. 250 rounds, that quick!!! I didnt get to try slow fire to see if the problem was still there, but its working fine rapid fire. So, is it normal for the SA 1919 to take about 200 or so rounds to start working good? It seems like it just kinda broke itself in after a few rounds went threw it.
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