Got my first mil-surp!

What, no pics?!!!!

Congrats on your buy! The norincos are nice! My uncle has one and it's pretty accurate. Idk about the whole brass cased ammo thing. I think my uncle has shot Winchester ammo through it without issue.

You know the rule, pictures or it didn't happen

Congrats! I'll warn you, it's an expensive addiction!

I heard that you can't shoot brass case ammo with the stock firing pin just steel case ammo, sounds like it's not true, but not sure.

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Not true.
However, be sure to make sure the bolt is internally free of old cosmoline and other gunk; the FP should move freely. Crud inside the bolt may cause a slam fire.

SKSs have been known to slam fire due to the softer primers on commercial ammo vs the harder primers of milsurp ammo.

Congrats I love mil surpluss it's pretty much all I own. My dad has a sks that he brought back from the war. He has all the papers from the us govt that allowed it back into the country, it's a really fun gun to shoot

what on earth would the firing pin have to do with what casing you can fire? the two never touch.... ever


it's a load of BS, shoot whatever you want.

Congratulations on what is likely one of the most enjoyable shooting military surplus rifles out there. As to this:

I heard that you can't shoot brass case ammo with the stock firing pin just steel case ammo, sounds like it's not true, but not sure.

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I got my SKS about 20 years ago as Chi Com surplus. I completely cleaned it and maintained it. Over the years it has seen just about every flavor of 7.62 X 39 ammunition you could imagine, including Remington and Winchester commercial as well as hand loads. My hand loads used standard small rifle primers in many flavors. The rifle never malfunctioned and has never seen a "slam fire".

The same is true for my M1 Garands and my M1A. Personally I wouldn't put much stock in claims you can only shoot ammunition with less sensitive military priming, however, it's your rifle so do what you are comfortable with.

Just My Take....
Ron

The firing pin on SKS's does not have a return spring to hold the pin in the recessed position as does western built weapons so if the bolt is gunked up or things are a little dirty or bent the firing pin can remain in the protruding position, thus causing a slam fire. It will do that no matter the origin of the round in the firing position. There is a gunsmith in Texas who will install a new hardened firing pin with a retainer spring for quite a reasonable price if you send him your bolt. I have had that operation performed on all of my SKS's and have never had a slam fire, but I did experience several before I had them modified.

Steel Horse Rider said:

The firing pin on SKS's does not have a return spring to hold the pin in the recessed position as does western built weapons so if the bolt is gunked up or things are a little dirty or bent the firing pin can remain in the protruding position, thus causing a slam fire. It will do that no matter the origin of the round in the firing position. There is a gunsmith in Texas who will install a new hardened firing pin with a retainer spring for quite a reasonable price if you send him your bolt. I have had that operation performed on all of my SKS's and have never had a slam fire, but I did experience several before I had them modified.

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What western built weapons? Looking at the M1 Garand, M14 or M1A and the M16 or AR15 rifles they all use a free floating firing pin. I never saw any form of spring in there. Correct me if I am wrong on that note but I am not seeing any springs in there?

Yes, the SKS can have a spring kit installed with a new firing pin. Yes, the SKS can experience a slam fire. The same can be said of the rifles I mentioned which are all US manufactured rifles.

The place in Texas is Murray's Gunsmithing. The link has some good images. I believe that some places also offer kits to modify the SKS rifles.

The bottom line here is any rifle should be well inspected and properly maintained or bad things can happen. This is especially true of military surplus rifles that are a mix master of parts.

Ron



Ron

Should be a spike I think. A wide cut in the stock is a spike and a narrow slot is a blade. Pretty sure on a 66 chi com it should be a spike.

Ron

FYI The Norinco SKS cannot have the Bayonet mounted, to be legal. Unaltered Russian SKS's could, if the Bayo was the blade style. The minute you altered them in any way, the bayo had to come off, as it was no longer a historical relic.

1858remington said:

FYI The Norinco SKS cannot have the Bayonet mounted, to be legal. Unaltered Russian SKS's could, if the Bayo was the blade style. The minute you altered them in any way, the bayo had to come off, as it was no longer a historical relic.

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That depends on your local laws. I live in indiana and there are no issues with having a bayonet attached. Besides, how else are you suppose to roasts marshmallows or see what the bump in the middle of the night was?

"It is the federal import ban law, an executive addition to the GCA, that stopped SKS's from being imported with a bayonet. The firearms that were imported before the ban can have their bayonets, those imported after the ban should not have any military feature added unless you play the 922 import parts game to make the rifle no longer an import. It is very difficult to determine when your rifle was imported and whether it can legally have a bayonet."

It all pretty much depends on your rifle being pre-import ban.. Which judging by the date it should rightfully be fitted with a bayonet.