Does my AK have a soft, substandard hammer?

Picked up a true pre 89 Polytech milled receiver AK a couple of weeks ago in a trade, and preparing to take it out to the range I noticed that the face of the hammer has developed an uneven dimple from the firing pin. The gun clearly has seen almost very little use as the receiver rails show almost no blueing loss. Its clearly a machined and heat treated Chinese hammer with a purplish color, not a cast TAPCO or FSE one.

Is this normal? Maybe from some jerkweed dry firing it too much? Or do I have a soft hammer? I'd heard the Polytech M-14s had some soft parts but I always thought their AKs were supposed to be top shelf.

Hard to tell. I guess you could do a hardness test but it would be meaningless unless you had the specs. If it was me, I'd shoot it untill I had problems, then replace the hammer.

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Originally Posted by joem

Hard to tell. I guess you could do a hardness test but it would be meaningless unless you had the specs. If it was me, I'd shoot it untill I had problems, then replace the hammer.

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+1 to joem's post. Chinese metallurgy is usually excellent. Hammers for these weapons aren't real expensive. Pick up a spare and if there is a problem you're ready.

the Chinese M14 clones had some problems with soft steel, but this is the 1st hint even I've heard of a maybe problem with their AK's