Stuck gas cutoff on SKS

[Sandman]

My Yugo SKS has the gas cutoff switch stuck to the "on" setting. If it were stuck to the right I would probably leave it alone, but now the rifle is essentially a straight-pull bolt action.

BTW, I did a search on this and only found stuff about gas leaks, etc. Has anyone had this problem? If so, how did you fix it? I don't want to take pliers to the valve itself because I might mess up the gas seal. Is this a reasonable thing to worry about or will pliers not damage the valve?

 

[DnPRK]

You have to push inward on the button before moving it. if stuck, use some penetrating oil and let it soak.

 

[P95Carry]

Hmmm ..... so Yugo, grenade launcher etc. DnPRK makes the first and most useful suggestion .. are you depressing the ''button'' properly?

If this does not permit rotation then iondeed .. some ''liquid wrench'' or whatever ... let it soak.

If you disassemble the whole gas tube system . remove piston etc . then you can get even more release agent in there. It should free up.

I had to machine a new valve piece on my first Yugo cos of bad fit and gas leaks .. but it should free off.

 

[railroader]

My yugo gas valve had a burr and was stuck like yours but downward when I got it. I soaked it in oil then I used a wooden dowel that I could depress the button and tap on at the same time with a hammer to get it to turn up. I then tapped it out and cleaned up the burr. Works great now. Mark

 

[R.H. Lee]

Let us know what happens

 

[Sandman]

Yes, I have been depressing the button.

I just sprayed some solvent into the valve and it seems to be loosening up but it still wont move to the right. Im gonna take railroader's advice and try to tap it with something. Thanks for the replies.

 

[foghornl]

Mine was real hard to move, too. Took several soakings in PB Blaster, and a couple of takedown-reassembles, but it works OK now.

 

[Sandman]

I was able to get it unstuck by tapping it lightly with a wrench, but I have a follow up question.

When the rifle is assembled and the gas tube is snapped into place, there is a small gap between the lip of the tube and the gas cutoff valve, perhaps 2mm in thickness. Should this gap be there at all? If so, how large should it be?

I'm only asking because when I reassembled the rifle I noticed this for the first time and I've heard of many people having gas leaks with these yugos. Thanks.

 

[Rexrider]

My Yugo has a small gap as well, probably about 1 to 1.5 mm. Yugo functions just fine. No cycling problems. Try it out and see what happens. If it works, no need to worry about it.

If you discover you do have enough of a gas leak to cause problems you can fit an O-ring around the gas valve where the gas/piston tube connects to it. It won't last long due to heat but they are cheap enough (have not tried this myself but other people have done this stop gas leaks). Better than shooting as a bolt action.

Also, make sure all the cosmoline (sp?) is cleaned out of the gas tube and the channel (for lack of a better word, runs under the rear site) between the gas tube and bolt carrier. There is another spring loaded piston in there. The lever that releases the gas tub also holds the spring loaded piston. Just keep rotating the lever and it will pop out (careful, remember...spring loaded).

You will also want the gas system as dry as possible. I use a cleaning rod to run dry patches through everything after using some CLP to clean everything. The cleaning rod that comes with the SKS can be use to push small patches in, then use at the other end to push them back out. The tube gets to narrow to push all the way through.

The SKS is a very reliable rifle but excessive oil/lube and/or cosmoline in the gas system will slow it down in a hurry.

Good luck and enjoy. I liked mine so much I got a second one