What's the point of stripper clips....

[WonderNine]

When you can't get them to strip bullets off into the magazine?

I got a bunch of 7.62X39 stripper clips and it's very difficult to strip them into the magazine of an SKS. Every once in awhile it works good, but almost always, they won't budge no matter how hard I push. I think the ones I have are Chinese, but I'm not sure. They are blue steel.

Are they any decent ten round stripper clips out there for 7.62X39 that actually work? I'm ready to give up as it's easier to load the magazine by hand.

 

[Onslaught]

Interesting... I'm sure you're already doing this, but when I press down on the very rear of the casing, right up against the SC, I have the most success.

FWIW, the only SKS stripper clips I've used came from a gun show, so I don't know what they were. They worked OK, but they were never as smooth as the ones for my AR. In fact, the first time I used the AR strippers, I was amazed at how easy it was, since I'd only used the SKS ones before.

 

[M2HMGHB]

Im wondering if they're straight or curved. I've seen strippers that were straight and made for charging rifles but never tried them in an SKS. That said I've got about 30 SKS strippers that workd perfectly, had one or two that had burrs in them so I filed the burrs down and now it works fine.

 

[Acolyte]

I often have to push down in 'bursts' to get them to load.
It is a pain how one or two rounds always seems to fall off the edge when they're carried in a pouch or something.

 

[jame]

I don't usually have any problem. It does seem to be an "all or nothing" type of endeavor. I just put my thumb next to the SC, get one started, and PUSH! I wonder if a little vaseline along the edges of the clips would help. (?)

They really work so well for me that I have no desire to switch to magazines. Good luck!

 

[goon]

I don't have an SKS, but my brother does.
I have found that if I just push, things don't go as smoothly as they should.
But, if you place your thumb at the rear of the rounds, push down, and sort of jiggle your hand as you go, the come off rather well.
At least well enough to get the gun loaded quickly.

BTW- All you have to do is bend the little "springs" on the stripper a little bit to keep those few loose rounds from falling out.

 

[pittspilot]

I also find that it helps, after having pushed half of the rounds off, to pull up on the stripper, while pushing down on the rounds.

Don't be gentle.

 

[DougB]

I've also found it difficult at times and wondered if it was really a useful system, but as I've gotten used to it (and maybe the stripper clips got broken in), it's become pretty quick and reliable. I'd advise you to (carefully) practice using the techniques already suggested (except pulling up on the stripper clip - that doesn't seem to make sense to me, but maybe I'm not understanding correctly).

One other thing, I have some clips with a gray, rough, parkerized looking finish, and some that appear to be blued - quite shiny and smooth. The blued ones seem to work more smoothly, thought the parkerized ones are okay after they get broken in a little. I tend to store my SKS ammo on strippers, and generally load in this way. I can USUALLY do it pretty smoothly.

Doug

 

[Bainx]

Another key thing to do: while pushing down at base of cartridge with thumb, pull up slightly the tip of the bullet using index finger. This helps to focus the force at the rear and keep the cartridges from getting into a bind. This works great with SKS and Mosin strippers and it is the only way I have been able to load from the Enfield .303 strippers. Try it.

 

[AK103K]

I find with stripper clips, reguardless of which gun they are for, if your not forceful and deliberate in your actions and hesitate in the least, they will balk. Once in the gun and bottomed out, you need to put hard, steady pressure at the base of the top round and dont stop until the clip is empty. Any hesitation tends to stop the process. With a little practice, they are easy enough to use, but you do need to practice.
I'm begining to wonder if the problem isnt the youth of today. They are not accustomed to things that require effort to make them work. If its not electronic its to hard. If it requires problem solving and something mechanical, its even worse. The proper use of stripper clips and bolt actions, and their use together, are becoming a lost art. Now they are picking on the SKS.

 

[cool45auto]

Like the others said-put your thumb right against the SC and smash 'em down in there! They'll go. It took me a while to get the hang of it, and I use them to load a 30 round mag!

 

[pittspilot]

Doug said

(except pulling up on the stripper clip - that doesn't seem to make sense to me, but maybe I'm not understanding correctly).

I agree with what everyone said here as to the force required, and not hesitating when using the clips.

Here is what I meant by pulling up in the clip.

If you do get stuck halfway or wherever, while holding down in the clip with your thumb, and the same hand cupping the buttom of the rifle, lift up the clip very slightly with your other hand, while continue to exert pressure on the rounds. I find that this tends to allow the rest of the rounds to follow easily.

Try it the next time you are out using strippers.

 

[Detritus]

are you speaking of both Pre-loaded SCs AND ones you yourself assembled, or JUST the pre-loaded ones that come in the "battlepack" type lots and similar??

b/c that will make a difference as well.

I seem to remember reading a thread either here or at another forum about the Russians and Chineese both using lacquer to make the round "stay put" a little better. and that over time the lacquer became further hardened, AND that rounds would actually become welded to the SC by corrosion over time.

something to consider.

 

[Jim K]

I never heard the bit about using lacquer to keep rounds in the clips, but some of that lacquer tends to deteriorate with age and climate and that could make the rounds sticky.

I have found that, as others note, that all at once works best.

The U.S. provided a tool for stripping into M14 mags; that is what the concave part of the M14 cleaning rod handle is for.

Jim

 

[WonderNine]

Another key thing to do: while pushing down at base of cartridge with thumb, pull up slightly the tip of the bullet using index finger. This helps to focus the force at the rear and keep the cartridges from getting into a bind. This works great with SKS and Mosin strippers and it is the only way I have been able to load from the Enfield .303 strippers. Try it.

That did it! Pulling up on the tip of the first bullet as you push down on the base of the cartridge really does it! It went from them not coming of the stripper clip at all to them coming off easily. That really makes the difference!!!! I figured I was doing something wrong, and I was even trying to exert pressure only at the base of the cartridge, but pulling up on the nose of the bullet makes all the difference in the world. Thanks for the help!

 

[dude]

some fresh WD-40 on the clips does wonders

 

[WonderNine]

WD-40 is bad for primers. Or so I hear....

 

[dude]

....so is hitting them with firing pins

I take some WD on days that I'm shooting the SKS, makes the strippers load like goose poop.

 

[benewton]

Mr. Keenan, sir:

I always wondered what that was for, so thanks for the info.

Somewhere around here I've a few strips for the .308, even though the rounds are boxed, fifty each, in plastic, so maybe I'll give it a whirl.

I have, however, had to load tons of AR mags from clipped ammo, and the best way I've found to do so has been using the guide, bracing the top round against the edge of my (old) steelcase desk, and
pushing HARD. Works fine.

Any hand method seems to involve me losing flesh from the pushing thumb. 'course we were doing recoil tests full auto, and needed the mags as fast as we could load them...

 

[AK103K]

Any hand method seems to involve me losing flesh from the pushing thumb. 'course we were doing recoil tests full auto, and needed the mags as fast as we could load them...

You need one of these then:
Benchloader
Check out the movie, talk about going through a goose!

 

[benewton]

Na, the desk worked well, and I already own it.

Besides, dumped that gig, and now have to fire my own reloads, and that, you can trust me on this, happens at a much slower rate of fire.

 

[foghornl]

Don't have an SKS, or any other Kalishnikov, but here is what works for me with my Mosin-Nagant M-44 & strippers:

Once the clip is placed in the "loading guide/grooves", I lift the front of the top round a bit, while pushing down with my thumb near the base of the rounds. A bit of the "jiggly" while pressing down helps, too.

 

[WilderBill]

I also have heard that WD 40 is bad for primers.
I don't think it would be much of a big deal if you use just a little right before you strip, but I wouldn't soak a loaded stripper and let the WD sink in.
If you want to polish the clips, try a little valve lapping compound on a fired case. Push it through the stripper while rotating it a few times. Be sure you clean it out when you think it's smooth enough.
SKS stripper are always gonna be harder to use than most strippers because of the steel cased ammo and the fact that they hold ten rounds. Five rounds of brass ammo in a Mauser clip will slide more easily.

 

[Destructo6]

On my SKS I've not needed to do the top bullet tip up as I shove them in. With all of the 100 or so stripper clips I have, they go in the SKS as slick as snot.

Using the same stripper clips to load AK mags is another story. Then, it takes the same sort of push and release nonsense I use with AR stripper clips.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

My SKS stripper clips take the same push and pause and push process, though it is still usually very quick. Every now and again they all just fly in.