storing the chinese sks loaded?

[bullseyebob47]

wondering if storing the sks with 10 rounds in the box magazine but with the bolt still open is safe. it would be in a safe. i keep it clean and it has never fired without pulling the trigger. i would want to keep the safety off.

 

[rcmodel]

No, that wouldn't be safe.

If you must store it loaded?

Keep the mag loaded, bolt closed, and safety on.

Storing loaded, bolt open, with the safety off is one slip away from an accident.

And there is no way in the world it is necessary anyway.

If you have time to grab the rifle, you have time to jerk the bolt back and let it go!!

rc

 

[briansmithwins]

I do what used to be called cruiser ready': full mag, bolt forward on a empty chamber, and the hammer down.

The problem with the bolt back is that jarring can cause the bolt to go forward unexpectedly and that a closed bolt keeps junk out of the action.

BSW

 

[caribou]

Is this in the home or in a tent at a Grizzly Bear fishing area along an Alaskan river...??

"Cruiser ready' would be best, as noted above, if its your self defense weapon at home.

 

[ontarget]

I agree. Mag full bolt closed safety on.

 

[joem1945]

Really a bad, bad idea. I have had a SKS do a slam fire. That will get your attention real quick.

 

[Onward Allusion]

Full mag with bolt closed on empty chamber. Safety optional.

 

[greenlion]

Thats why they make stripper clips...

 

[Davek1977]

bad idea, for the reasons listed above. A slight jarring can release the bolt, which on some rifles, ESPECIALLY the SKS, can cause the weapon to fire. Just keep it loaded with the bolt closed on an empty chamber. Theres no logical reason to do otherwise

 

[Reloadron]

While it goes against your grain of safety Off my suggestion is loaded, round chambered and safety On. Since the rifle will be in a safe I fail to see where safety On or Off is of much consequence? Bolt open is foolish and as mentioned dangerous. While a slam fire is unlikely I would not want the muzzle looking up at me if one happened.

Just My Take
Ron

 

[Clark]

Normally I did not work with smart or grumpy mechanical engineers when doing electronics [lots of money to pay for an ME with no moving parts].
But 20 years ago a guy at some start up in some buisness park was the exception.
He was smart and he was grumpy.
He had a number of college degrees and had been a gunsmith.

The guy had a semi auto pistol in every room of his house, with a loaded magazine and the slide locked back.
And his wife did not even shoot guns.

His opinion on SKS rifles would not make it past any censor.

 

[mugsie]

I don't know, from a safety standpoint, mag in, bolt closed on an empty chamber is the safest, but the VC used to keep the bolt closed on a loaded chamber constantly in all kinds of weather and it didn't have any adverse effect on the mechanics of the rifle. Safety? Different story.

 

[Missouri Farmer]

Storing any autoloader with a magazine in and the bolt back is a bad idea. You're just waiting for the bolt to slam home some day. Bolt down and safety on is the way to go.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

While it goes against your grain of safety Off my suggestion is loaded, round chambered and safety On. Since the rifle will be in a safe I fail to see where safety On or Off is of much consequence? Bolt open is foolish and as mentioned dangerous. While a slam fire is unlikely I would not want the muzzle looking up at me if one happened.

Just My Take
Ron

DO NOT store the SKS with a cartridge in the chamber. The SKS is not designed to be safely stored this way. Many SKS have poor/negative sear to hammer engagement. In addition the safety isn't a true safety. It only prevents the trigger from rotating and it doesn't prevent the sear from moving. All that keeps the sear from moving is tension from a spring. A strong jarring movement such as a drop can cause the SKS to fire with the safety on.

Storing the SKS in the safe, magazine loaded is fine as long as you are very careful to hold the cartridges down far enough that the bolt does not load a cartridge into the chamber. Always be sure to check for a loaded chamber before handing unless you are expecting to immediately engage in fire, then pull back on the bolt carrier handle to load.

 

[bobinoregon]

I have one of those worn SKS rifles, drop the bolt and it sometimes empties itself. Got to fix it one of these days, til then its in the safe with a "do not shoot tag". I wouldn't leave any of mine with the bolt back and a loaded or unloaded magazine just on general principle

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

I have one of those worn SKS rifles, drop the bolt and it sometimes empties itself. Got to fix it one of these days, til then its in the safe with a "do not shoot tag". I wouldn't leave any of mine with the bolt back and a loaded or unloaded magazine just on general principle

Have you checked that the firing pin easily free-floats in the bolt? Hold the bolt in your hand and shake it forward and back several times. If the firing pin cannot be felt and heard bouncing back and forth then the firing pin is not free-floating properly. 9 times out of 10 all it needs is for you to clean out the Cosmoline. To clean, use a punch to hammer out the firing pin retaining pin, remove the pin, extractor, spring, and firing pin. Soak all parts in mineral sprits. Clean firing pin channel with mineral spirits an a cotton swab or pipe cleaner. Reassemble. DO NOT oil the firing pin, oil the the extractor. Perform the shake test and you should feel and hear the firing pin moving in the bolt. If you do, it is safe to reassemble.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I keep an SKS in the safe, 9 in the mag, chamber empty, bolt closed, safety off. Easily racked if it needs to be put into action.

 

[boom boom]

Storing any autoloader with the bolt or slide (pistols) retracted is a strange idea that gives little actual safety. My guess is the practice originated at firing ranges where often you have to have the slide or bolt open with a chamber flag when the range goes cold and the normal practice to check the chamber that anyone should have when encountering a gun that has not been under your control.

On sks's, I highly recommend Murray's Gun Shop-SKS firing pin. The original Russian design for the SKS included a firing pin with a spring to ensure the pin did not stick in a forward position. For some reason, later models of the SKS from Russia and others left off the spring which risks slam fires if the firing pin sticks in the forward position.

Adding the firing pin is easy peasy--if a Russian peasant can take down a bolt then you can. Clean it thoroughly to get rid of any trace of cosmolene and gunk (if you have never done so) while you have it disassembled. Murray's also has a letter from the ATF citing that adding the firing pin does not alter the 922r count nor does it affect C&R status.

 

[Sunray]

Knew a guy in the CF who was in the back of a truck with his C1A1 with the mag in, action open. Truck hits bump, bolt slams closed, round fires, Davey got busted to Cpl. And a C1A1 was not a stop gap carbine designed to be issued to illiterate conscripts either.
If you insist on storing a firearm loaded for whatever daft reason, do so with the action closed on an empty chamber. Safety on or off makes no difference.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

yeah who would want to store a loaded firearm anyway?
not like you would ever need to use it

keep your weapons clean, keep them loaded, keep spare mags loaded.

as mentioned, keeping the bolt open is not great especially on an SKS.
rc got it right the first time

lol i can imagine the firearm being bumped, cat or dog and the bolt slams home at night. That would sure as hell wake me up wide eyed with a little bit of poop in the bed.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Storing loaded in a safe?

I was present at a gun shop when an heir brought in an unwanted Winchester pump rifle. When the gunshop clerk checked it, it was fully loaded.

I was paying admission at the gun show when another guy was getting a pistol he inherited but did not want cleared and cable tied by the cop at the safety check desk: left fully loaded, chamber and magazine, by the deceased and left to someone without a clue.

Storing a gun loaded is not a good idea.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Load nine round in the magazine, press down on the top round and let the bolt ride over it. Do NOT chamber the round!

Take off safe and dry fire it. Leave the safety off.

Your gun is now "cruiser ready" if you will, and all you need to do is rack the charging handle and fire. This is 100% safe, and the gun will not go off.

Most SKS's are not safe to carry around with a round chambered due to no firing pin spring. Drop the gun on concrete, and it could easily go off. The SKS uses a simply safety that while decent enough for combat, isn't the safest or most reliable. It's just a simple trigger block type if I recall.

 

[Clark]

I have a friend who started living with a woman who was widowed.

I went over there to inventory the guns for them, and all the handguns were loaded. I mean all of them. I unloaded the guns for them.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

Lol, I honestly can't believe some of the things I'm reading. Are you guys trolling? Load the sks, do your best NOT to chamber a round and pull the trigger in your own home? And thats 100% safe? Lmao omg man. God forbid we receive training as firearm owners to indeed treat our firearms as if they were loaded and use them effectively.

Want to know what other firearm doesn't have a firing pin spring? Nearly every modern rifle on the market including the AR15...

Or Perhaps we should also use the locks supplied by the manufacturer, store our firearms and magazine separately, better several zip codes away in the interest of safety.

You know, it's so crazy to keep firearms loaded, people actually do even crazier things like treating them as if they were loaded. Imagine that..

Would you carry with an empty chamber and the safety on?

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

Lol, I honestly can't believe some of the things I'm reading. Are you guys trolling? Load the sks, do your best NOT to chamber a round and pull the trigger in your own home? And thats 100% safe? Lmao omg man. God forbid we receive training as firearm owners to indeed treat our firearms as if they were loaded and use them effectively.

Want to know what other firearm doesn't have a firing pin spring? Nearly every modern rifle on the market including the AR15...

Or Perhaps we should also use the locks supplied by the manufacturer, store our firearms and magazine separately, better several zip codes away in the interest of safety.

You know, it's so crazy to keep firearms loaded, people actually do even crazier things like treating them as if they were loaded. Imagine that..

Would you carry with an empty chamber and the safety on?

I'm not sure what your point is. If it is that it it safe to store an SKS with a chambered cartridge you are providing potentially deadly advice. The SKS is not designed to do this safely. Read my post, it isn't based on some sort of free floating firing pin hysteria, it is based on knowledge about the SKS fire control group.

My carry weapon is stored 99% of the time in condition 1, even when it is in my holster on the night stand. That is because this weapon is designed to do so safely.

Not all firearms are created equal and providing advice based on generalizations is dangerous. Yes the AR has a free floating firing pin. What about it? The AR and the SKS are vastly different pieces of equipment and have vastly different fire control groups. The AR safety blocks the integrated trigger/sear component from movement which is much safer than the SKS design. Also, most ARs that don't have a bad trigger job have positive sear/hammer engagement which prevents the sear from randomly slipping out of the notch on the hammer.

Do not listen to Dr.Zubrato's advice on how to store the SKS.