Ok to leave bolt open?

[muddcat]

I just bought a SKS and was wanting to know is it ok to leave the bolt open for extended periods of time? Will this cause fatigue on the spring? The reason I ask this is because I want the gun to be ready on a moments notice and the clip cannot be inserted with the bolt closed. Thanks for the replies

 

[1KPerDay]

If you really want to be ready, why not keep it chambered/safety on?

Otherwise, I doubt keeping the bolt open would hurt that war-horse.

 

[benelli12]

I think it would be okay, but I dont know for sure, I have left mine open for weeks at a time with no problems. Someone else would probably know more on it than I do.

 

[muddcat]

Right now I do leave it chambered with the safety on , I guess I just feel its a bit more safe to leave the chamber open instead of locked and loaded. Now that I think about it I guess its the same either way

 

[1KPerDay]

Not really... especially if you have kids or whatever. I don't really know much about the SKS... is it possible to press the cartridges down below the bolt so it will close on an empty chamber (but with rounds in the magazine)? If so, that would probably be my choice. Rack the bolt back and let it go and you're off and running.

 

[K.L.O.sako]

it'll probably wear out the springs over time, my night stand pistol only got half loaded mags after i noticed weak springs in them. it would lay in the drawer for mounths at a time. i got a wheel gun to replace it, no worrys now.

 

[imprezagm4]

Magazine springs are not worn by leaving them loaded, it is persistant unloading/reloading that wears the springs.

As for the SKS, I leave mine bolt open, I'm not worried about it. No ill effects yet.

 

[Mr. Ouchie]

How about keeping a snap cap as the first round in a full mag. Then you can just rack it and go.

 

[stevekl]

Try this: Load nine rounds, and push the top round down into the magazine while easing the bolt forward. This way, you only have to charge it to be ready. You'll be without one round, though.

 

[dispatch55126]

I personally like to use snap caps when possible. Not only is the bolt closed but you can releave thetension on the firing pin spring. Honestly though, I don't know if it does anything or if its a old soldiers tale. Its like driving a brand new car. These days with current manufacturing, there really isn't a break in period. However, I still drive 55 mph for the first 500 miles, no cruise control for the first 1000 miles, and change every fluid after 1000 miles. Old habits die hard.

 

[Sunray]

"...leave it chambered..." Sounds like you need to move if you need a loaded rifle in the house. Unload it and buy some stripper clips. You can lock the action open, it won't bother the springs.
Springs do not lose temper by being compressed. The bends on a flat spring like a mag spring, can get work hardened, but only from lots and lots of use. Coil springs rarely have any problems.

 

[TimboKhan]

it'll probably wear out the springs over time, my night stand pistol only got half loaded mags after i noticed weak springs in them.

I'm no engineer, but if your springs weakened when they were only half loaded, they probably weren't all that great to begin with. I know Jeff Cooper once talked about using 1911 magazines that had been loaded for some obnoxious number of years, and I personally have one magazine that was loaded for 2 straight years at one point. It still works just fine, although I rotate mags every 6 months or so just for the heck of it.

 

[blackhawk2000]

Canadians


Like mentioned before, cycling weakens springs.

 

[rockstar.esq]

Really if you're that worried about it, you could just pull the bolt out of the gun! An SKS strips Mo'Rickety tick.

 

[Art Eatman]

Any spring that is made of true spring steel will never take a set from being compressed.

Any spring that "wears out" in some relatively small number of thousands of cycles wasn't very good to begin with.

Doubt me? Consider the valve springs of any car. Even at a 500 rpm idle, they're cycling 250 times per minute. A hundred thousand miles at an average of maybe 40 mph and you're talking 250 x 60 x 2,500 = a boatload of cycles.

Art

 

[Grump]

Yeah, Art, I'm a bit skeptical about these competing theories of:

A. Springs take a "set" if left compressed; and

B. Springs ONLY wear out from being cycled.

From the old Dire Straits song "Industrial Disease," it's like that line about "two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong." Or perhaps they are both right, just about different types of springs and/or defects.

Qualifiers like "true" spring steel don't help much without some definition.

This much I know: A Ruger 10-22 from about 1964 production was stored with the bolt back all the time for 30 years. The hammer spring got weak and caused misfires. The replacement Ruger sent me (for free!!) was about 1/4-inch longer and substantially heavier to compress. It was a coil spring.

I suspect that the ratio of spring wire diameter to length may play a role. Those valve springs in our engines cycle a whole bunch and are exposed to heat, but they are also much thicker, proportionally, and are compressed to less than the "solid stack" stage.

Based on experience with that Ruger and one or two magazines whose springs *seemed* weak, I generally keep 3 mags loaded and the rest empty, rotating them yearly. I remember the Jeff Cooper article as describing .45 gov't model mags left loaded at the parents' place during WWII and for a few years afterward, total time compressed only 7 or 8 years.

How long have you owned YOUR house gun? How long do you plan to own it? Think about it.

 

[270Win]

That's a GREAT example, Art. I'm going to start quoting that at the range when the usual idiots start spouting off.