.223 chambered VZ58, casings breaking in half and staying in the chamber

[polskadude]

I bought a Vz58 off a fellow CGNer a while ago. Took it out once before, no problems.
Yesterday I took it out and had some interesting issues.

The casing would break in half, the necked half would stay in the chamber, the next round would feed and jam. I only had Norinco .223 with me, I'll go back out with different ammo and try again unless someone knows what's going on.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.





Any ideas?

 

[Canada tail]

It looks like chamber is out of spec

 

[tiriaq]

Try headspace gauges.

 

[Suputin]

How many times did this happen? Did it happen with every round or was this a one time thing?

 

[polskadude]

2 out of 5, then I found the casings and stopped shooting it.

 

[platnumbob]

I take it different ammo last time out, or was it Norc then as well?

 

[polskadude]

Don't remember. Maybe PMC. I'll take PMC out next time I go.

 

[silver bullet]

I had the same problem and with Norc ammo as well.
Took the gun in for warranty work.
Was a gas system spec problem.
Works great now.
They suggested I not use Norc ammo anymore as well but functions fine in all my other guns.

 

[lawn gnome]

Was it a reload?

Did it happen more than once?
Was i the same ammo and batch?
Do the case separations appear to be identical in how they sheared?

Clean rifle and try with both same ammo and a differing ammo.

 

[polskadude]

Does anyone know who does warranty work for CSA rifles in Canada? How is the response time? Rifle warranty expires end of this year, so I want to clear this up asap.

 

[Redblack]

North Sylva does the warranty work, turn around time for me was about 4 weeks. They expect you to pay for shipping to the warranty depot and they will cover the return shipping.

From what I've read, a few vocal people have been successful on getting them to pay for shipping both ways.

 

[clickclickboom]

My guess is it's over-gassed. I've gone through a couple m-14s that did the same. Some hot norinco surplus could exasperate the problem.
Does it send the brass flying super far? "Extra" recoil?