I picked up a PTR-91 a couple of months ago without doing any research beforehand. I bought four boxes of 308 Winchester Federal Power-Shok 150 Grain Soft Point ammo to try it out with initially. I sighted in the rifle within 20 rounds and put another 40 rounds through it without a hitch. Cleaning the rifle wasn’t a big deal except for putting the bolthead back on the bolthead carrier properly. I found the following HK G3 Disassembly instructions on www.MG-42.net. The information made putting the rifle back together a lot easier. If you have had any issues putting the bolthead back on the carrier then I recommend this bolt assembly tool. After cleaning the rifle I thought I would not have any issues with it for a long time and then…..
I bought a case of PMC Bronze 308 / 7.62 Nato for the rifle and that’s when my firing issues started. My PTR-91 did not like the PMC ammo even though it was brand new and commercialy produced . It would fire one round, the rifle would cycle the next round and then fail to fire the following round. I tried about a dozen times and it would do this for every round that the rifle cycled. The only time it worked was when I manually worked the action. I thought that this was strange and cleaned the rifle and put it off to the side until I could call PTR.
I called PTR and they asked what kind of ammo I was using and they said that the PMC Bronze would be fine. The PTR rep sent me a new firing pin and spring. After installing the new firing pin and spring the firing issue was not fixed. At this point I went online and quickly realized that a lot of people were having problems with their PTR rifles. I came across forum posts about the PTR being picky about certain types of ammo. Here is the list that I’ve seen online.
- South Africa
- Winchester white boxes marked 7.62
- Venezuela Cavim
- Austrian (Hirtenberger)
- Some lots of German
- British (under powered) will not cycle action
- Indian (Over powered)
I also checked the headspace on my rifle with this feeler gauge from Amazon.com and it was within the recommended tolerance of .004-.020 at .017. I had all sorts of issues trying to figure out how to measure the head space on the PTR-91 until I found the following instructions to check the head space on a PTR-91.
- Let the bolt and carriers snap forward on an empty chamber
- Set the weapon to fire
- Pull the trigger
- Measure the gap between the bolt head and the bolt carrier should be .004-.020
Since my ammo was not on the list but it was sold as 7.62 / 308 winchester I thought it might not be to 308 spec so I switched back to the expensive Federal 308 ammo and the rifle worked like a champ. I then tried my friends PRVI 308 military surplus ammo and it went through it with no issues. I also used Winchester 308 hunting ammo and it went through it all up except for one misfire. For the final test I loaded a mix of all three types of ammo in a 20 round magazine with 19 rounds and fired the whole thing off without any issues. I’m going to test the rifle some more this weekend a write up my final opinion on the ptr-91 next week.
I know this does not solve the problem but save all the ammo that did not fire and reload 10-20 rounds and chances are they will all fire the second time– mine did this is why i thought the firing spring was to weak?
Thank you for the suggestion. I took all the rounds that did not fire and they fired the second time around as long as they were the first round in the magazine after cycling the action manually.
Everyone bashes the PTR 91 that begins with (AW####), just call them and ask them what ammo was your particular weapon was tested with and use it. Any mil spec ammo whether it be Winchester white box or whatever IS going to hang up.
My rifle was tested with American Eagle 150gr, since making that call I have never had an issue. The rifle is designed for a tight spec match grade ammo not a go out and blast a thousand rounds in two minutes, I doubt if you use what they tested your rifle with that you will find a more accurate rifle for the money. Mine will put ten rounds inside of a quarter at 300yards all day long.
Now if someone wishes to bash it because it doesn’t take cheap ammo then have fun and go buy a 22 or a bob gun to play with.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that my PTR-91 loved match grade ammo. I didn’t do any research before buying this rifle and I learned an expensive lesson. My rifle, like yours, is very accurate but it’s a prima donna when it comes to ammo. When I bought the rifle I thought I was getting a battle rifle that could handle anything but now I know better. For anyone considering buying this rifle just do your research first.