Purchased an SKS

[LTPhoon]

Isnt the A-10 referenced as the "Warthog"? Or am I confusing aircraft?

You are correct,sir. They are good-looking only to Lady Warthogs...

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[floridaguy911]

You are correct,sir. They are good-looking only to Lady Warthogs...

Im no lady warthog but I love those ugly planes. Very capable.

[hsuCowboy98]

The golf ball grenade launcher is for real, and available commercially.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews2006/fore/index.asp

[SixBravo]

So I went and tested this bad-boy out today. Took another CC member, Cliffh, with me to this place just north of us. We spent the morning and afternoon plinkin potatoes and other fun stuff. GREAT little rifle!!! Especially for the price!! The iron sights are dead-on and I loved usin 'em.

But I ran into a problem. Last mag of the day, and I pull the trigger, feel the firing pin come forward - and nothing. Cliff and I assumed a hangfire so we mounted it facing a safe direction and let it sit. After about 10 minutes we popped the chamber and found the round had been struck, but only at about half-strength. I then thoguht it might have been a fluke so I tried again. Same result and wait. This strike was about half the strength of the previous one.

And ideas, guys? I haven't stripped it to clean it yet. I wanted to ask you guys if there ws anything I should be looking for when I pop it open.

[Arkie]

Pop the Bolt out and see if the firing pin still rattles when you shake it.

I bet it just got dirty from shooting it and is gummed up inside.

Just be sure to clean it and make sure it rattles when you shake it.

[WorldPax]

Nice find! I still need one of those.

[Ghost Who Walks]

It’s been, about, two years since I rebuilt a new SKS. Here are a few precautions on firing one for the first time:

(Too late, I know!)

(1) Completely breakdown the weapon and use automotive engine degreaser and/or kerosene to scrub out every part.

(2) The toughest piece to get clean is the bolt. The worst problem you can have on a new SKS, again, is the bolt! Any kind of crud around the firing pin (Which may, or may not have a spring) will slow down or freeze the FP.

(3) If the FP locks in the forward position the rifle can dump the entire magazine on ya! This is the reason, ‘Why’ new SKS’s are always loaded with single rounds until they’re broken in. The regimen is usually single loading for the first 25, then triple loading, and then 10 rounds. Inexperienced SKS shooters have been killed because they didn’t take time to thoroughly clean out a new rifle.

If the FP is slowed down by caked Cosmoline it can give you light strikes. ‘Hot Guns’ has a real good idea, there, about boiling the bolt. (Wish I’d thought of that about 3 rifles ago!) Compared to what an SKS sells for around here, you literally stole that weapon. I’ll bet the store clerk had it well hidden on the display rack!

(4) Ben Murray, the Texas gunsmith makes an improved, ‘safety firing pin’ for the SKS. I’ve used them and like them very much.

http://www.murraysguns.com/

(5) Tom Prince, aka, ‘Kivaari’, offers a truly superlative trigger job. All you have to do is send him your trigger assembly.

http://www.kivaari.com/SKS%20Target%20Match.htm

Typical accuracy is within a 4” circle at 100 meters. (Decent for a short barreled assault rifle.) I don’t recommend you get any of those extended 20 or 30 round, ‘duckbill’ magazines. I’ve seen a lot of them fail. You don’t need to stock up on lots and lots of stripper clips, either. The SKS loads just fine by hand.

My suggestion would be to not, even, think about refinishing the stock until after you’ve made multiple attempts to draw out all the imbedded Cosmoline. Wait until you’ve shot the rifle for a couple of months and repeatedly cleaned it before you consider refinishing; then, wrap the stock in multiple changes of old towels and bake it for several hours - turning every 1/2 hour, or so - in a PREHEATED oven at the lowest setting. (Changing the towels a couple of times helps soak up the cosmo, too.)

I’ve used maple stain and exterior polyurethane applied with an air brush to the soft beechwood on mine. The wood sealed up tight and came out beautiful; but, wouldn’t you know, 6 months later after I’d left one rifle on a bench in the sun for awhile, more cosmo leached to the surface and pitted the finish! This is, ‘Why’ I suggest you wait and repeatedly clean before you think about refinishing.

A quick and easy SKS finish is to use either cold-pressed linseed oil or genuine Tung oil (Not, ‘Tung Finish’) on the stock. The secret of a successful finish starts with complete Cosmoline removal.

(6) By the way, you can get rid of a lot of those little scratches by putting on a pair of rubber gloves, soaking a rag in boiling water and holding it over the scratches. You may want to do this prior to other refinishing work.

I assume you’ve already figured out how to engage the grenade launcher – Which will, also, cause that Yugo M66 of yours to single fire rounds. Watch out when you break open the dual piston gas assembly: That short second piston can go flying across the room if you don’t release the catch very slowly and hold a rag in front of the opening!

Here’s how to take one apart. Remember to keep the safety in the, ‘On’ position.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/carbine/index.asp

If you have to get at the firing pin, then you'll need something like 2 large pieces of wood with a space in between for the locking pin to fall into. You're going to have to take a pretty good-sized mallet and a punch with a long shank to really whack that sucker hard before it starts to move. Pay careful attention to how the firing pin comes out of the bolt; it has to go back in EXACTLY the same way.

Hope this helps. Good luck with you new SKS; they're a lot of fun to shoot and the cased ammo is about as cheap as it gets!

[SixBravo]

Ghost - YOU are the man. I was just about to post about half those questions. Thought I had heard about the SKS's ability to go full auto. Every time I was shooting it, I had a REAL firm hold on the rifle. Good to know what that is caused from.

The only problem is that my SKS didn't come with the famed "cleaning kit" that goes into the buttstock. Do I need that?

Good to know about those suggestions. I was seriously considering that trigger and pin work when I first bought it just because everyone had reccomended it on websites.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Gun sounds like a pain to clean, but its worth it, I think.

[P95Carry]

I throw this in the pot out of interest. My first (of three) SKS's was my Yugo - which I am sure had enough Cosmo for five guns!! It also had a black barrel and was regretably a far from good specimen.

On testing after ''de-cosmo-ing'' - it would not cycle reliably. I found on investigation there was a lot of leakage of gas up front and so - looked harder. Turned out the piston shroud (outer) tube was not fitting well enough onto gas valve and gas valve itself was suffering blow-by of gasses.

Decided to make a new gas valve and add a few thou to it's length to ''take up the slack'' - so back then had my lathe in the basement where we lived and got to making new. Also increased diameter a shade. Hardest part was the oblique drilling for the transfer port.

Of course SKS's without the granade launcher do not have such a darned fiddly valve block! The pics show the old, and the new after making.

[Cliffh]

Gun sounds like a pain to clean, but its worth it, I think.

It's definitely worth the heavy duty cleaning, it's a fun little shooter - especially since I don't have to clean it......

Thanks for the opportunity.

[SixBravo]

Haha Cliff you just loved watchin them taters blow apart from 30 yards!!! Took me 3 hours worth of cleaning tonight and I still couldn't get the damned firing pin housing apart (which I guess is what was causing our "hangfires"). I cleaned out most of cosmo junk that I could find. I also followed the advice and boiled the parts in water for like 20 minutes. STILL didn't get everything... WHEW!

Thanks for the heads up P95. I actually checked that valve when I was disassembling everything. Mine looks pretty good. As was, surprisingly, most everythign else. I found out that my serial number tells me it was assembled in 1968 or 1969. I'm pretty surprised that everything was in the condition that it was. The stock is still in good condition but I think I'm going to replace it with the ATI SKS Monte Carlo Stock. Also looking at lopping off the grenade launcher attachment. I'm not a firearms collecter and these SKS's are everywhere. Of course, these things are touchy with the BATF so I gotta look it up.

[Arkie]

When I buy an SKS it takes me about 3 days to clean it all up.

Yeah, I'm a clean freak. LOL...

Cheap Brake cleaner for all the metal parts (takes the Cosmoline right off) along with a good cleaning with Hoppes or M-pro-7. and then a very light oiling for the trigger. Do not put any oil on the Gas Piston at all. It just collects the dirt and you do not want that.

For the Stock I usually bake it in the oven at the warm setting with some foil under it to catch the drips and wipe it down with a rag every half hour or so.

Also go to the web site that Ghost Who Walks posted and Read, Read, Read. Lots and Lots of info there.

And Have fun but be safe.


ps. And for taking the bolt apart, a nice punch and a good size hammer works. Don't believe the sites you read about tapping it out.
All the ones I have taken apart for the first time you have to lay into it and give it a good Wack!!! Several Times. LOL... It will come apart a lot easier the next time.

I have even used a pipe cleaner with Hoppes or a cleaner of your choice to really get inside the bolt after you take the firing pin out.

[Fragman]

Haha Cliff you just loved watchin them taters blow apart from 30 yards!!! Took me 3 hours worth of cleaning tonight and I still couldn't get the damned firing pin housing apart (which I guess is what was causing our "hangfires").

Aah, getting the bolt apart is the big hurdle every SKS owner runs in to.

The trick is to use a firm base. I had been spanning the bolt over two pieces of wood and trying to knock out the retaining pin with a punch and a BFH. No joy.

Turns out the wood (even though it was quite hard) was absorbing the blow. Replaced he two pieces of wood with two bricks, and that retainer pin came right out, with really not much effort. Used a 5lb hammer and it pretty much just tapped out. Oh, and get a decent punch if you don't already have one.

[SixBravo]

I'm gonna try that today. Brake cleaner is not something I got laying around (I ran out last time I did my brakes). What about carb cleaner?

Good suggestion with the bricks, too. I was using an old printer stand it just wasn't doin' it. The desk just bounced all over the place - telling me it was absorbing almost all of the hammerfall. Wonderful haha

I do have plenty of good size punches laying around. My roommate and I have been building a kit car for the past year (Factory Five Spyder GT) and we've got every automotive tool known to man.... I think. hahahah

Sounds like I'm gonna have to clean it again today. Not big deal. I want this thing to run real well and if I have to deep clean it real hard, then that's what I'm going to do. I'll let you all know how the bolt works out.

[Ghost Who Walks]

Bricks! Why would you want to risk marring a moving part like a bolt? I used an old railroad tie as a base for mine; placed a rag over the top, too. You're going to have to hit that retaining pin hard and fast in order to get it to move; and clamping the bolt down is, also, a good idea. (Wear safety glasses) I, also, soaked mine in Kroil, overnight, before I started banging on it.

They don't come out much easier the second or third time, either. I had Ben Murray turn these pins down for me - That worked! Brake and carburetor cleaners are, kind' a, rough to work with. You'd be a lot safer with engine degreaser and kerosene.

(You don't have to worry about breathing degreaser. By the way, I always wear Nitrile gloves while cleaning.)