I finally own an SKS!!

[kingpin008]

Just got back from my FIRST EVER gunshow (in Howard County, MD) and I have to say - it was a LOT of fun. Went with my fiancee and some friends, good times were had.

I came away with an unissued Yugo 59/66 SKS from Century Arms. Total cost to me was $283 out the door, which is acceptable in my eyes. A little more than I was hoping to pay, but still within the range I was thinking. And it's nice. Oh, is it nice. Very clean, virtually no cosmoline, and a nice shiny bolt and chamber. Rifling looks good too. Nice wood. All-in-all, very satisfying.

Now, a quick question. How in blazes do I get the bayonet extended, and how do I get the front grenade sights to lay back down? I was showing my new purchase off to my dad (who was very impressed, even if he is somewhat non-gunny) and I managed to flip up the front sight and now I can't make it go down!

Thanks!!

(And I know, this thread is useless without pics. Trust me, they're coming! I'm very proud of my new rifle, of course I'm going to show it off!)

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

Congrats! The Yugo M59/66 was my very first gun, and I still have it. Great rifle, though mine wasn't in quite the pristine condition you got yours for.

Anyway, as for the bayonet, you just flip it up, and when it's about level with the barrel, you pull the whole thing up a little, and then push it the rest of the way until the bayonet is parallel with the barrel. A small part should latch to another part sticking out of the barrel. I don't know how well I described that...

As for the grenade sights, I think it just takes some elbow grease to get them back down, but I wouldn't swear to it. Don't do anything until someone more knowledgeable comes along. Wouldn't want to break your new rifle.

 

[Cannonball888]

You have to fire a grenade to get it to go down. Just kidding. I have no idea. I just bought a russian sks off of gunbroker.com. It will be my first SKS too

 

[Geno]

Congrats.

To release the bayonet, pull the base shroud toward you and drop the bayonet. Fold the bayonet down and forward to the barrel. It will latch in. Then, to release it while locked open, extend the shroud forward toward the muzzle to release and fold the bayonet closed. WATCH THE FINGERS!!!

The grenade sight requires that you push the button (that is locked on an angle) down, move the botton to the left and stand upward. Now the sight will be able to raise up. It "locks" in place, but not solidly. To fold it, simply strike it lightly from front, toward the rear, and it should drop down. Reverse the button process after folding the sight, move the button back to the right, thus locking the sight back down.

Hope I made that clear.

 

[Macgille]

with the bayonet folded grasp the bayonet handle and pull toward the rear of the gun. then swing the bayonet down and forward until it is parallel to the barrel. It should latch in the extended position. I don't remember how to lower the grenade sight since I cut mine off along with the bayonet mount and the muzzle brake.

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

Congrats on your purchase! You'll love it.

See the photos for answers to your questions. It is important to note that the gas cutoff "button" must be in the "off" position to stow the grenade sight, then it must be rotated to "on" to lock the stowed sight in position.

Sorry about bad lighting, was doing it in a hurry.

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

Also, check out the site below. It will give you an idea when yours was made. I don't think it's updated anymore, but its the best info I have found for date info on these rifles

http://yugosks.net/Survey Results.htm

 

[nwilliams]

Congrats on the new gun!

$283 is a bit steep but if you like the gun and its what you really want then cost isn't what matters. Besides the way things are going in a few years you'll probably be luck to find one under $300, seems like most surplus guns only go up in cost over time.

Have fun and stock-up on ammo you'll probably put lots of rounds through it

 

[kingpin008]

Many, many thanks for all the replies! I do realize that the price was a little high, but for what I got I'm more than happy. I also appreciate such quick (and helpful) answers - I think I have it figured out now!

And no worries, I plan on picking up some ammo as soon as I can! I cannot WAIT to try this thing out.

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

While you're out buying ammo, you might want to get yourself some stripper clips too. They make loading a lot easier and quicker.

Oh, and don't use aftermarket magazines for the SKS. With very few exceptions, they suck. At least, in my experience.

 

[kingpin008]

One step ahead of ya. Bought a pack of 20 while I was at the show. I'm not bothering with the whole detachable-mag nonsense... I never did see the point of it, and I personally think it's kinda...well, silly. If I need detachable mags, I'll just have to buy myself an AK.

(no offense to any detachable-mag SKS enthusiasts out there - just not my thing. )

 

[XD-40 Shooter]

I bought a Yugo 59/66 SKS a year ago, in excellent condition, for $150. Anyhow, they are really fun, durable, robust rifles. Its one of the best purchases I have made. You can still get a case of Wolf ammo for under $200, but not for long, as the prices are rising.

 

[Arkie]

Man, you are going to have fuuun with the SKS. I love to shoot mine.

 

[chris in va]

A couple things.

Your SKS may look clean, but it's imperative you take the bolt out and make sure there's no cosmo inside the firing pin channel. Not a hard task to do, simply pound out the pin holding the firing pin in place on the bolt and it slides out.

Also I recommend the Tech Sights for your SKS. I had the Wilsons but the peep was too far forward for my liking.

Mine didn't like the Wolf hollowpoint ammo. Stick with the FMJ stuff.

You can make the gun a single shot by pushing the grenade launcher button over to the right. It disables the gas system. You'll just have to rack the bolt every time.

Enjoy!

 

[kingpin008]

XD - Yea, yea. I am in MD, so everything's a little more spendy here when it comes to guns.

Arkie - Yea, I think this is one of my better purchases so far. I haven't even really explored it yet, and I already love it.

Chris - I'll most definetly be field stripping my new toy before bringing it to the range. I've heard stories about what cosmo in the wrong places can do, and I'm not interested in that sorta situation at all.

I'm just too tired to mess with it now, and I haven't convinced myself that I'm not gonna break anything yet. You know how it is - the new gun gets home, and you don't want to screw with it too much for fear of breaking something, heh.

 

[esmith]

Whoa, $300 for an sks???? My friend got a accurate good looking sks for 110. Id better hope that is the most accurate, smoothest, best looking sks on the market. Oh well, at least you got a new gun.

 

[Novus Collectus]

Wow, I bought a great condition Yugo 59/66 SKS at a Silverado gun show in MD about four years ago for about $80.......but if I saw one at a Silverado gun show in the same shape today for what you paid, I would not be too surprised.
As someone said, they are only going to go up in value and in MD always figure the purchase and sale price is higher in this state than most places in the country.

I do suggest you get a C&R license though. They are very good in MD and you can order C&R handguns from out of state delivered to your address without having to deal with the MD dealer markup, transfer fees and the seven day wait for handguns bought within MD.
You get discounts or cheaper prices on C&R rifles too.

 

[kingpin008]

Esmith - No, $280 for an SKS. And honestly, for MD that's not too bad. I'm extremely happy with it, and that's all I care about.

Novus - Yea. From what I hear, four or five years ago they were much cheaper pretty much everywhere. I was hoping to pay less, but I've sort of quietly been checking out what SKS's are going for in different areas, and it wasn't out of line with most of what I'd seen price-wise.

 

[Average Joe]

Nice rifles. I have three. Yugo, Chinese, and a Russian...good shooters. Make sure the firing pin is free floating, other wise, you may have a 10 round machine gun...

 

[kingpin008]

Definetly. I'm no stranger to the stories about what happens when their firing pins are gummed up...

 

[kennedy]

The one thing I learned about the sks` I have owned is NOT to modifiy them in any way, they were made to shoot as is. I tryed a 20 rd mag, could not get it to fit and feed, next tried mounting a scope, did not work either, evertime I cleaned it, had to take the scope off and lost zero. enjoy as is.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Did you get the accessories with it? The cleaning kit and all that fits in the hole in the back? The surplus one I got was soaked in cosmo, but didn't have the cleaning kit, but it was only a hundred bucks and had some ruskiey (or someone's) name on the bayonet. If anyone you know asks why the gas valve has to be shut off (the up position) to get the grenade sight up, explain that to fire an grenade, they used rifle blanks in the chamber. If the gas valve were open, the grenade wouldn't have enough go to get very far, eating up the energy in the action.


This is especially important if you take to reloading for it and don't want to look for your brass all over BFE. Turning off the gas valve makes it bolt-action, and gives you a bit more range to boot.

+1 on the firing pin. Tear that thing down and scrub it, polish it, and give it an extremely light oiling to keep corrosion at bay. After that, if you notice it sticking a bit a few hundred rounds later, spray some bore-cleaning spray in there to get the gunk out. But you HAVE to tear it down completely at least once to convince yourself you got all the cosmo out.

Oh yeah. The easiest ameteur way to get the through-pin out of the firing pin block is to drill a large enough hole for it in a piece of 2x4, get a proper size punch, and whack away in a considerate manner. Some of those, especially the ones that weren't cleaned, are exceptionally hard to extract.

Have fun with your rifle. They're a hoot.

 

[Novus Collectus]

I have a fixed 20 round Chinese mag in my Yugo. At first it jammed on the 18th round, but for some reason after just two shooting session I have not had a single jam since and I have fired probably a thousand or two rounds out of it since.

As far as the scope mounts go, they have imprved in the recent years.

 

[MudPuppy]

First gunshow and finally got a rifle you've been wanting--sounds like a good day.

(Don't listen to folks that got "a great deal and paid such and such. Important thing is you're happy as a clam--I'll tell you this for sure, the true value of those SKS rifles is a sight more than what you've paid for it.)

Have fun!

 

[kingpin008]

Kennedy - I'll be leaving this rifle as-is. The most I might do is add an aftermarket Mojo sight to it sometime down the line, but that's not for sure yet - wanna see how it does by itself first.

Fiero - Nope, no cleaning kit. That's ok though, I can pick one up at my local shop, or at another show if I really want one. I've got enough cleaning supplies on hand to take care of it in the meantime. I will have to buy myself a punch set and brass hammer though. I saw plenty of both at the show today, but like a dummy I didn't pick up either. Ah well.