Dumb sks questions...

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cidirkona

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Ok, after purchasing my first semi-auto rifle yesterday, I've got a few questions. I've read around one some SKS sites, but haven't gotten all my questions answered.

How does the gas piston work -- push the bolt back from the top and then go back inside the gas tube?

How accurate is this thing? Is it worth putting a scope on (just for plinking, of course)?

What are all these parts in the cleaning kit for? How do they go back in the stock without getting all jammed up in there and having to wiggle them out difficultly?

Anything else I should know about it?

Thanks!!
-Colin
 
It is a Yugo, Chinese, or other flavor? Lennyjoe should be along soon. He also lives in Tucson and just got 3 beeeyootiful Yugos.
 
It's a Chinese, matching numbers too. Got it at a fair price, bore's shiney except for a few small spots right in the middle, action is clean and decently smooth, although there's a little bit of rust on the gastube near the front and a little bit of rust on the top of the bolt. The gastube can be easily replaced (or so I've heard), but how do I get the tiny little rust dimples out of the top of the bolt? Just sand them out?

I think I might schedule some time in my afternoon when I get out of work to take this guy out to the Vail pit and put some rounds through it...

I've met LennyJoe before, real nice guy. I think I shot one of his SKSs at the big Tucson shoot we had a couple months back -- that's when I told myself I'd get one. I'm not too nostalgic on the history of the thing or anything, so I think I might just get one of those Drunkenough fiberforce stocks.

Can I install a bayonet lug mounted bipod on this, or will that be in violation of 922r? Trade out some other part for an American one? Maybe a milled trigger group?

What's the accuracy on these guys? The iron sites go all the way to 1000 meters... but I highly doubt I'd even be able to hit dirt at 1000 meters... (I'm not that good at the whole long distance thing yet).

-Colin

-Colin
 
I only have a Yugo and know nada 'bout the Chinese. Have you been to www.surplusrifle.com and www.simonov.net ? There is also an SKS forum but I can't remember the address. As for the rust, maybe polish it out with a pencil eraser, or a little 0000 steel wool. :)
 
In my experience, for plinking a scope is too much and just gets in the way. Not to mention the rifles arent the most accurate to begin with. Not knocking the SKS, I love em. They just arent a Remington 700.

One thing you want to check before you shoot it- make sure there isnt any cosmoline or anything in the bolt that will restrict movement of the firing pin. It should move back and forth in the bolt freely. It it is stuck in the forward position, you will experience a slam fire through the whole mag :what: . Never have had the..uhh....pleasure of experiencing one myself, thank god.

Now stock up on the 70 bucks a case surplus ammo and shoot the ???? out of that gun.
 
Maurice is right about the cosmoline, especially in the bolt. The firing pin should rattle when you shake the bolt. I thought I got all the cosmo out of my Yugo, but the first time I took it to the range it was doubling. That was freaky.
 
Well, it's a used-and-tested working one, not a new/unissued/whatever in the cosomolene, so there's none on it anywhere (that I've found) (another reason I picked up that one).

I've been to surplusrifle.com, but not simonov.net, I'll check that out after I get home from Vail. I'm going to be taking it out to the desert in about an hour or so to try it out, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

The first time I fire a new/used gun, I only load one round in it at a time for the first few rounds, then two for a couple times, then go to a full mag -- you can never be too careful.


Thanks!
-Colin
 
use carb cleaner on the firing pin

put a sling on it. Wrap the sling around your arm. Put two rounds in and shoot em both, put three and shoot em all, keep adding one more (shooting em all) until you get to ten.:eek: If it don't slam fire by now, it probably will not slam fire on you.
If she slam fires with ten, the sling will keep the muzzle from comming up all the way to pointing at your head:what:
Congrats, I love the little suckers, but when the lights go out, they multiply.:D
 
Well I took her out to Vail today. First round went just fine and the second round also went just fine, so I loaded two and this is when I found a crucial error...

After that first round fired (had only two loaded), the gas piston, or what I thought was the gas piston, stayed out, keeping the bolt from closing. The outside of the gas tube has a tiny bit of rust on it, so I figured there may have been some rust inside it. I unloaded the second round, dropped it in the mud (damnit), pushed the follower down and let the bolt closed - this pushed the piston about half way back in, so I pulled it back and let it fly again -- the bolt closed completely.

I put the SKS down and played with the Glock and the SIG for a while, and tried a few more rounds, singly loaded. Three more times the piston got stuck out again.

We killed the rest of the 40 and 45, before we started cleaning up, I decided to give it another try... loaded 5 (because hey, who knows, right?).

5 rounds came out without a hitch. I loaded the last 7 out of the box and let Jasper take a shot at it (no pun intended) -- ya know, just in case it blew up. No problems. Loaded 10, fired as fast as I could (and only hit the target once) -- no problems. Jasper took the last 10 with no problems either.

After a thurough breakdown and cleaning, the gas piston and gas tube looked like it had never been cleaned -- but got a good one from me. I understand how the gas piston and extender bar-thingo work now... although the trigger area looks to be a bit confusing still... After a little break-free CLP though, she shined right up and got alot smoother.

If I were to do this again... I'd try cleaning it well first, THEN take it out shooting... It was cosmolene free, so I thought I'd be safe -- guess not.

Thanks for the help guys, although I still think I'm going to put a little shorty scope on it and a drunkenough stock... The poor brand-new mossy I bought on Sunday didn't even get a single shell fired... I think she's jealous... :D

-Colin
 
PS, thanks for the links, I'll check them out!! ...and West of the Pecos has two clean Yugo's for 180 with bayonets, grenade launchers and whatnot; and a fiberforce sporter stock one with a scope on it for 250... if nobody gets it by my next paycheck, it's going right next to my cute little Asain mistress... (the SKS of course).

-Colin
 
two clean Yugo's for 180 with bayonets
Click to expand...

I know, I see them all the time! Thank goodness I have my C&R license finally so I can order one for $100 or so, I just would have to clean the cosmoline again (it isn't that bad!) Those rifles have been there months...

Good to hear it is working ok now. Tha trigger group is actually pretty simple once you have it apart and look at it closely. One of those SKS sites had a trigger group fluff and buff instruction set if you are so inclined, I never bothered.
 
Hey there WKW, how's it going? Ever tried one of thoise Cobray 30rd mags? I've heard it's either hit or miss... but I think it might be fun to give it the ol' college-try.... or in my case, ol' college-keep-going-to-classes-but-never-graduate try... I'm getting side tracked very easily today...

-Colin
 
Did anyone answer your question?

Just in case:
The gas piston pokes out of a little hole and gives the bolt carrier a good shove. The bolt carrier travels back until it hits the inside of the cover, or is stopped by the recoil spring, which pushes it forward.
 
Gas piston, operating rod, etc:

The gas piston (that's the big long sliver colored one) in the SKS is pushed rearward by the expanding propellant gasses.

Gas piston in turn pushes the operating rod (on my Yugos, it's dark metal, with a spring wrapped around it) to the rear. It is the op rod that actually pushes the bolt/carrier assembly to the rear. The spring around the op rod pushes the op rod, and in turn the gas piston, back forward.

The bolt/carrier group is returned forward by the big spring behind it.
 
Yeah, that operating rod must have been really stuck too... that spring is pretty strong, and the rod was stuck out a good 3/4 to a full inch...

That simonov.net site has alot of really good information too!

What kind of MOA should I expect out of this thing? 5? 10?

-Colin
 
Instead of a scope, you might get a Mojo rear sight. I've got one on an AK, and it makes a huge difference in my shooting - without the weight and dubious ergonomics of a scope (dubious on an AK or SKS, that is).
 
I (respectfully) disagree. I have the Mojo sight on one of my SKS's, and although it's slightly better than the stock sight, it still leaves a lot to be desired. The problem is that it sits too far forward/the aperture is too small to be really useful as a peep sight - my dominant eye (and those of other who've shot this particular SKS) wants to focus on the rear sight and can't seem to get a good "lock" on the front sight and appropriately 'fuzz' the rear peep.

I have put a small/short generic $30 Chinese 4x scope on another Yugo SKS, and it both cleared the stripper clip cutout and helped me pull my groups in considerably. (Right now, in advance of getting the trigger reworked, I'm sitting at about 5" groups @ 100 yards with the 4x and about 8" groups using the Mojo sight.)
 
there is no such thing as a dumb question.


when the op rod was stuck back,could you still remove the gas piston by lifting up on the release lever on the sight housing?I had a heck of a time putting that oprod and spring back in the sight housing after breaking the gun down for its initial inspection.I eventually just sprayed carb cleaner in there,checked it for rust with my bore light and cleaned it out with a qtip.I had to fumble around for nearly an hour putting those pieces back in the sight housing while turning that lever up and down to get it to stay-so now..I leave it alone.

I have experimented with various scope mounts and a redot on the gun.didnt care for any cept the original military side mount permanently attached to the side of the receiver.jus my .02 cents.got the mount at a gunshow.the extended mags dont work in all the guns..the steel ones work in the chineese but not the russian.the tolerances are different,smaller.

theyre fun guns and you get alot for your money in buying one.
 
I wouldn't recommend scoping it. If you want a scoped rifle, get a bolt gun or an AR. This is not a MOA rifle and if you are going to have a scope you ought to get at least 2" out of it (I would rather have 1"), but I doubt you will with this gun. Just use the good ole iron sights and have fun. The cleaning kit is spring loaded in to the buttstock so it comes in and out no problem for me. Have fun.
 
Well, I've got a few other bolt action rifles, and I find it annoying to attempt to use the bolt and the rifle is then a few feet off of my target when I recheck the scope. If my receiver cover moves a little bit right now, should I avoid a receiver-cover rail or something I'd have to tap into the receiver?

Also, how do you set scopes to zero so that the elevation and windage are at 'zero' when shooting stuff less than 100 yards?

-Colin
 
Once again, I think that we're being a litle too hasty and maybe even a bit snobby in our judgements vis-a-vis the SKS. Take a look at the Simonov FAQ site and scroll down the page until you come to the section that speaks to *real-life* experiences with a receiver-mounted scope on a SKS (titled "Scope Mount Surprise"). For those of us who're doing this - this is no surprise.

I'm expecting to get 2-3MOA out of my Yugo SKS's once I take care of the incredibly long and heavy trigger, and I'm already knocking on the that door with my Norinko SKS. That's not bad for a lightweight 7.62x39 carbine. There is nothing inherently WRONG with the SKS, no reason in the world that it cannot deliver 2MOA accuracy, and certainly no reason why everybody needs to start shuffling and hemming and hawing anytime the subject of SKS accuracy somes up.

And, while I'm on my soapbox - while sub-MOA accuracy may be a really neat thing - it's more of an emotional benefit than a real-life one. IMO, of course. :)
 
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