SKS: Whats the rope for?

[Bravo11]

I just got a yugo SKS and it came with a cleaning kit that included a brass oiler can in a leather snap pouch, a small metal cylinder that houses a bore brush, a punch and a patch ram and a rope/string about 1/8 inch diameter X 9 ft long with a loop made into the middle.
Whats the rope for? A buddy of mine just bought one from the same dealer about 2 weeks ago and he didn't get a cleaning kit but got a double mag pouch of some sort even though the rifle has a fixed mag.

 

[TheOtherOne]

I just got a yugo SKS and it came with a cleaning kit that included a brass oiler can in a leather snap pouch, a small metal cylinder that houses a bore brush, a punch and a patch ram and a rope/string about 1/8 inch diameter X 9 ft long with a loop made into the middle.

I'm not sure, I figured it was probably for cleaning the barrel. Mine has a little piece of what looks like chalk on one end.

 

[Jim K]

Sounds like a pull-through for cleaning the barrel. I do not recommend using pull-throughs because they have a bad habit of breaking and leaving the patch and part of the pull-through inside the barrel.

Jim

 

[Bravo11]

I was wondering if it was a pull thru but since it had a tapped bore brush and tapped patch ram I wasn't sure.
Mine has heavy chalk stuff at each end and the whole rope looks badly decayed(dry rot).

 

[AJ Dual]

The "chalk" could be fungus. If you've been handling the pull-through string heavily, wash your hands before scratching anything important. The loop might be for doubling the string up twice, and using a "larks head" to thread it onto the various brushes and jags etc.

I'd just wash it with a little dish detergent, and either leave it out in the summer sunshine for an afternoon, or soak it briefly in a little 50/50 water clorox solution, then just pack it away as a keepsake to keep your rifle that much more "original".

The mag pouches your friend has ought to fit a few assembled ten round stripper clips of 7.62x39, unless you mean it's blatantly the size to fit a 30 round AK magazine. In that case, the importer/wholesaler just threw it in there as a "bonus" as they were looking to get rid of them.

Century was throwing rubber OD green HK G3 twenty round mag pouches in with every FAL for awhile, because they roughly fit FAL mags, and they had a ton of them to get rid of, and nobody was buying. Probably because the shipping was more than the pouch.

 

[Feanaro]

That is a pull through cleaning string, if I understand you right. It should have a metal weight of some sort on one or both ends.

Oh, and the "chalk" sounds kinda like the ends of my M48A pull-through. They are metal but they have lime or something of the sort all over them.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Comrade! that is the rope used to pull the rifle behind the truck for test firing.

Unlike the rifles, the ropes frequently don't survive the abuse. Enjoy this rare piece of SKS Militaria with pride.
















Makes for a hell of a story huh?

 

[cool45auto]

9 feet long! I don't know what a rope that long would be for on an SKS.

 

[itgoesboom]

Thats easy. It's 9 feet long, so it made to measure out the maximum distance the SKS is accurate out to.

I.G.B.

 

[Preacherman]

Naah... I think it's 9 feet long so that soldiers issued the SKS could use it as a skipping rope, all the while chanting in unison "I love my SKS!"

 

[BamBam-31]

Oh, I thought this was a Boondock Saints reference. Nevermind.

 

[cool45auto]

Thats easy. It's 9 feet long, so it made to measure out the maximum distance the SKS is accurate out to.

BWAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[standingbear]

bubba says..thats the sling and the thing you though was the sling is in fact...a belt.