broken shell extractor usage

[sealer]

just bought a pair of broken shell extractors (1 for m16 and 1 for ak-47 ). on each one, the extractor rim is threaded and the extractor/head will screw up and down the shaft. my question is where do i set the extractor rim/length to use the extractor ?
thanks,dennis

[sealer]

anybody ???

[John Fettes]

I bought one for my range kit, but haven't read the directions yet. Keep in mind, I'm making up the following answer. I suspect that you screw it together, insert it into the damaged case, extract the broken case, then unscrew it to get it off of the broken case. Make sense?

John

[Ross]

I've used one a couple of times on my AK-74 that I need to reheadspace.

What you do is have the stem screwed all the way in, so that it isn't spreading the "fingers" at all.

The whole assembly goes in through the back of the portion of the case that remains in the chamber.

You then screw the stem in the direction that will bring it back towards you, and pulls the head into the device to spread the "fingers".

The "fingers" spread out to catch the front edge of the case. You can then try to use the extraction grove on the device with your bolt or knock it out with a rod. I've always ended up using the rod.

The key is to have the "fingers" grabbing the edge of the case, and not the inside wall of the case.

I had to slightly reshape mine, by using a file to get a slightly different angle on the fingers, to get it to work on 5.45x39, but I think that's because they were probably selling the same extractor for 5.56 and 5.45, or they got mixed up. Either way once it was set, it takes them out quite easily.