When the M10X came out, I REALLY wanted one, but after the pricing debacle and the VERY mixed experiences people had with them, I decided against it.
Then, in the fall of 2021, I stumbled onto a REALLY good deal (ie, a reasonable price) on a new-production short-handguard rifle, which from my readings around the interwebs seemed to suck a bit less than the earlier long-handguard version. So, I figured what the heck.
I tried it shortly after, in the fall of 2021, with a pmag (the polymer mag it came with seemed, well, kind of crappy). It fed, fired, and ejected just fine, but had numerous light primer strikes (probably eight or ten amongst the 50 or so rounds I put through it that day).
...Back to the online labyrinth to look for more info...
Several people noted that the firing pin spring was too strong, and that removing a couple of coils from it eliminated the light-strike issue. So, with my ongoing what-the-heck attitude when it comes to this rifle, I snipped three coils off the firing pin spring and reinstalled it.
----- Which takes us to today... -----
I brought 300 rounds of Norinco copper washed non-corrosive ammo, a 40/5 metal RPK mag, a 30/5 steel Russian mag, a pmag, moderately low expectations, and the crappy polymer mag it came with to the range. I quickly discovered that the rifle fed, fired, and ejected 100% with the pmag, but only very sporadically with the metal mags or the other polymer mag - it would often load, fire, and eject the first or maybe first couple of rounds fine, but then not strip the next round out of the mag.
At that point I was reasonably happy with the rifle when combined with pmags, but I had pretty much decided to sell all of my steel AK mags and use the money to buy MORE pmags. Out of the blue, another guy at the range who had been asking about the gun suggested that I adjust the gas to the 'adverse' setting.
"How in the hell would that help?", I asked myself, but sure, what the heck, I tried it anyway.
Much to my surprise, the adverse gas setting didn't seem to affect recoil noticeably, but completely eliminated the feeding issues - from there on, the rifle ran through my remaining 200 or so rounds with absolutely no problems whatsoever.
Actually, that's not quite true - my buddy tried the gun toward the end and managed to fail to get it completely into battery. I cleared the gun and watched him reload, and saw that he was riding the charging handle a bit and, sure enough, he had the same problem... the bolt went ALMOST all the way forward, but not quite all the way. When the charging handle was used properly... no problems.
So, the takeaway seems to be that this rifle likes it rough - give it lots of gas, and smack that charging handle with authority, and the gun runs 100%.
I'll provide an update when I have more rounds downrange. Total round count is about 350 now.
Then, in the fall of 2021, I stumbled onto a REALLY good deal (ie, a reasonable price) on a new-production short-handguard rifle, which from my readings around the interwebs seemed to suck a bit less than the earlier long-handguard version. So, I figured what the heck.
I tried it shortly after, in the fall of 2021, with a pmag (the polymer mag it came with seemed, well, kind of crappy). It fed, fired, and ejected just fine, but had numerous light primer strikes (probably eight or ten amongst the 50 or so rounds I put through it that day).
...Back to the online labyrinth to look for more info...
Several people noted that the firing pin spring was too strong, and that removing a couple of coils from it eliminated the light-strike issue. So, with my ongoing what-the-heck attitude when it comes to this rifle, I snipped three coils off the firing pin spring and reinstalled it.
----- Which takes us to today... -----
I brought 300 rounds of Norinco copper washed non-corrosive ammo, a 40/5 metal RPK mag, a 30/5 steel Russian mag, a pmag, moderately low expectations, and the crappy polymer mag it came with to the range. I quickly discovered that the rifle fed, fired, and ejected 100% with the pmag, but only very sporadically with the metal mags or the other polymer mag - it would often load, fire, and eject the first or maybe first couple of rounds fine, but then not strip the next round out of the mag.
At that point I was reasonably happy with the rifle when combined with pmags, but I had pretty much decided to sell all of my steel AK mags and use the money to buy MORE pmags. Out of the blue, another guy at the range who had been asking about the gun suggested that I adjust the gas to the 'adverse' setting.
"How in the hell would that help?", I asked myself, but sure, what the heck, I tried it anyway.
Much to my surprise, the adverse gas setting didn't seem to affect recoil noticeably, but completely eliminated the feeding issues - from there on, the rifle ran through my remaining 200 or so rounds with absolutely no problems whatsoever.
Actually, that's not quite true - my buddy tried the gun toward the end and managed to fail to get it completely into battery. I cleared the gun and watched him reload, and saw that he was riding the charging handle a bit and, sure enough, he had the same problem... the bolt went ALMOST all the way forward, but not quite all the way. When the charging handle was used properly... no problems.
So, the takeaway seems to be that this rifle likes it rough - give it lots of gas, and smack that charging handle with authority, and the gun runs 100%.
I'll provide an update when I have more rounds downrange. Total round count is about 350 now.
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