A few SKS questions

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N3rday

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Ok, first question. How far should I disassemble my SKS? the SurplusRifle.com instructions take it completely apart, and separate the stock from the barrel. So far I have only stripped the back end (cover, recoil assembly, bolt/bolt carrier), though I recognize I need to strip the bolt as well to avoid slam-fires. Also, what should I oil and what should stay relatively dry? I was told to oil only the bolt carrier rails lightly, but I just wanted to confirm this.

Second, what are the specifics behind a slam-fire? The way I see it now (I'm probably wrong about this) is that when the bolt goes forward, the firing pin, because its got gunk in it or whatever, unintentionally goes forward. Will this leave the gun uncocked? i.e. is it possible to tell if your gun is slamfiring by dry-firing it and seeing if the weapon is still cocked?

Thanks!
 
I believe you get slam fires for the most part when you get a bunch of gunk (comsmoline & carbon and other gunk) that won't allow the firing pin to move freely. When the firing pin is stuck in the forward position, and the bolt goes into battery on a live round, and BOOM! There you go, one slam fire....
 
I just went through the exact smae thing myself.

Take everything apart that you can: oprod, oprod extension, bolt, remove the magazine, trigger group and barrelled action from the stock.

Take the bolt apart completely- this will require hitting the retainer on the bolt hard with a punch and hammer.

Bets bet would be to boil the bolt in water to get all of the cosmoline out.

The sks has a free floating firing pin just like the M1, Ar, and M14, when the bolt closes, it will lightly hit the primer, but since its free floating, it won't hit the primer hard enough to set it off provided that there is nothing impeding or slowing the firing pin from moving backward in the bolt. What Inoticed is that the firing pin in the SKS has much less room to move about than in other rifles, so it might not take much to gum it up and cause a slam fire.

Give everything a light coat of oil, except the firing pin or the firing pin channel. Not sure about the gas piston- I gave it the same treatement as I do with my M1- oiled it and wiped it completely dry.
 
I'm a little unsure as to why you're dissasembling your SKS. If it is because you just got it and it is covered in cosmoline, then yes, by all means you really need to dissasemble it completely, taking the action/barrel out of the stock. You'll be amazed at how much cosmoline is between the wood and metal, inside the trigger group, etc. Plus, if the cosmo is soaked down into the wood, you'll need to remove all the metal so you can give the stock a good cleaning. If you don't, your trigger will never work right, and after a few rounds someone may call the fire dept. on you because it will be smoking like a chimney.

If you're disassembling your SKS just to generally clean it because you've been shooting, then nah, I wouldn't break it down completely. Just do the field strip and clean the action, bolt, gas tube, etc.

It sounds like you know what a slam fire is. But, you cannot tell if your gun is going to slam fire by dry firing it. Once you take the bolt out and hold it in your hand, the firing pin should rattle back and forth when you shake it. If it does not, then there may be gunk in the fp channel, or it may be sticking for some other reason. Knock out the firing pin retainer, and clean the heck out of the channel with a good solvent, pipe cleaners, etc. This ought to cure it. If you don't know how to break the bolt down, I think that surplusrifle.com site you found has a how to on that. If you really want to be sure you don't get a slam fire, pick up a Murray's firing pin like some of the other guys suggested.

As for oiling, yes, oil the bolt carrier rails, anywhere else it looks like there is wear or metal to metal contact. However, DO NOT oil the gas piston/piston tube. This will cause a buildup of carbon and crud that will choke your gas system and cause problems. Leave that area dry.

Good luck.
 
While I won't presume to say that it's inherent to all SKSes, in my own experience the only instances of slam-firing, doubling, and one extremely disconcerting FA episode have all been with non- milspec commercial ammo.

I have never had a single episode of any of the above with surplus or mil-spec ammo. IMO, the main reason for this is the much 'harder' primer cups found on mil-spec ammo designed for use in SF and FA firearms.

Examination of cartridges chambered in the conventional manner (retract operating handle to disengage bolt stop and release) and extracted without firing in my carbines show a distinct 'dimple' where it is logical to infer that the sheer inertia of the free-floating FP, given the added momentum from the bolt and carrier 'slamming' into battery, is sufficient to cause this.

Where the thicker, 'harder' material of the mil-spec primer cup will offer enough resistance to impact that the round will not fire, the primers found on most, if not all, commercially loaded sporting/hunting ammunition will not.

While this is not to discount the possibility that differences in the relative sensitivity of primer compounds may also have something to do with it too, I don't know enough chemistry to form an opinion.

I'm not saying that a gunked-up FP doesn't account for many of them. Only that that is not the case in my own somewhat limited experience. I take considerable care to keep my personal weapons clean and working properly. In none of the above mentioned episodes was there any indication evident upon detailed examination of the weapon that any part had failed to function as it should have due to foreign material (to include firing residue, excess or inappropriate lubrication, dirt or metal particles, etc.) nor mechanical binding of the FP in its travel or return.

I was not aware of the FP modification linked to above. While simply limiting my own use to mil-spec ammo in my own SKSes has worked for me, it's something that I will almost certainly install on my most-used SKS, just to add "suspenders to my belt", as it were.
 
I reload for my SKS. I installed the firing pin mod so that I could use standard rifle primers (as opposed to using special MilSpec hard primers).
 
just an FYI, but brake parts cleaner takes cosmoline off better than most anything I've ever tried.

Use the little red tube and watch it blast away and eat away all that nasty brown goo.

Another trick you could try is to put the wood into an oven at 250° or so. Leave it in for a while and *IF* there is cosmoline soaked into the wood, this will bake most of it out. You'll be able to see little beads of the stuff as the wood sweats it out.
 
Well, its kind of hard to tell if my rifle's cosmolined or not...the rifle's innards are pretty oily, but I don't know if its cosmoline or not. This is my first rifle, remember.
 
If it looks like amber grease, it's cosmo. Gah. Stuff is wonderful fun to remove....Purple Power did a good job, but dried my stock out completely....so I get to refinish it. Oh well.
 
Um, it's a little tough getting that lever near the front site to move so that i can take the gas tube assembly off. Is there a tool to be used for this? Any suggestions?

THX again!
 
Sorry, I kind of don't have ammo for it, haven't taken it shooting yet. Would something like a 1/16" punch work? I have one for an AR-15 build never finished >_<.

edit: Got it open ok, and found that the piston is positively soaked in Cosmoline. So, should I dissasemble the entire thing and boil all the parts in water like I've read before? Are there any parts that CAN'T be boiled?
 
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"Um, it's a little tough getting that lever near the front site to move so that i can take the gas tube assembly off. Is there a tool to be used for this? Any suggestions?"

If yours came with a cleaning kit in the buttstock, there should be a punch in it. Insert the tip of the punch into the small hole on the lever, and move it up. If you don't have the punch from the cleaning kit, a small nail, or a punch of the right size will work fine. Be careful, there are two "up" positions to the lever. The first position allows you to remove the gas tube/piston. The second, further up position allows you to remove the piston extension and piston return spring. BE CAREFUL. This piston is under pressure from the spring. After removing the lever up one notch to remove the gas tube, moving the lever to the second notch without putting your finger over the piston extension will cause it to shoot out and across the room. If you it doesn't make sense to you, it will once you remove the gas tube.

Figure 21 on this link is exactly what I'm talking about. Good luck.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/carbine/index.asp
 
I spent about 5 hours removing cosmo over 4 days, from the new Yugo. Worth the effort, AND paying $162 delivered, as opposed to $250 in a local shop! :cool:
 
without putting your finger over the piston extension will cause it to shoot out and across the room. If you it doesn't make sense to you, it will once you remove the gas tube.
Click to expand...

Or it will after you have spent a couple of hours in the basement, scrounging for the part that went flying 'somewhere over the rainbow' *** :eek:


*** With apologies to Judy Garland
 
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