My "new" rifle

[juk]

I got a heck of a deal on this sks from a friend. It had seen its better days for sure. When I picked it up it was more and less than I thought at the same time.

GOOD: numbers matching, front and rear flip up night sights, grenade launcher, decent wood, and bayonet.

BAD: It was not semi auto (had to pull the bolt back to chamber new round), to fix this, he soaked it in paint thinner for a week, no finish on stock, and very little finish on metal.

The next day my father had the gun apart and sanded the stock. He applied a nice dark stain and coated it with 3 coats of clear poly. Very nice. I have had good results with duracoat, so I rummaged around on the web and finally ordered the "wolf gray" color. I still have a sling and operating parts to install, but over all I think this will turn out to be a decent little noise maker. It sure looks good. No fancy plans for it other than to shoot it to my (and my fathers) hearts content. Call it bubba if you want, I'm not offended easily and I think it turned out to be a decent project gun for little investment. The pics really don't do the color combo justice.

 

[Afy]

Congratulations

 

[yenchisks]

hi very nice, you should check out [collecting and shooting the sks]lots of info.

 

[davidjblythe]

just wondering about the semi auto issue. Does your SKS have the gas selector for grenade use? If its in grenade mode, the rifle will not be semi and all gas gets vented down the barrel. When in the normal mode, it will function in semi. I figured you probably know this already, but I wouldn't feel right not posting it...

 

[juk]

It does have the selector and it was tried with both positions. I presumed that it would be the operating rod or a bad piston, so I bought new ones. It turned my friend didn't do a thorough job of cleaning the inside, so that might be a partial reason it wouldn't cycle properly. I think he soaked it in paint thinner so it would remove all of the preservatives from storage. It hasn't been fired since he soaked it, but I thought I might as well be safe than sorry and ordered the new parts anyway. If it still won't cycle I will start looking elsewhere. Thanks for the input. I do have a manual on order too, so maybe that will help some.

 

[Starship1st]

Looks like your SKS has found a good home. Take good care of it.

 

[Speedo66]

The color combination looks very "M-1" like, I like it.

Enjoy!

 

[deercop]

The Yugo SKS' are notorious for that issue. When corrosive ammo is used, it gets inside the gas selector and, well, corrodes. It will eventually get to the point that it corrodes through the "seal", therefore you won't have enough gas pressure to operate the weapon.

You probably need a new gas switch assembly.

 

[deercop]

This might help:

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=4191.0://

 

[browningguy]

Very nice looking SKS.

 

[Domino]

I had the same problem on my Yugo the first time I took it out. The weapon would not cycle hardly at all. Take apart the gas system and clean it up, look for any corroded parts. If you see nothing, inspect the gas tube and the gascutoff valve.

I simply replaced my gas piston tube with one from TAPCO and it has been running great since. They also have U.S. made gas pistons and operating rods should you need either of those. I've replaced both in one SKS in order to get it to be 922r compliant and they have worked flawlessly.

http://www.tapco.com/catalog.aspx?id=239

As far as the gas valve goes, there are some who make replacement parts...

http://www.cncwarrior.com/comersus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=1

Virtually everything can be replaced on the SKS and since their gas systems are so robust, its usually just a matter of swapping parts out.

 

[jrfoxx]

Another vote for it looking really nice. I like the dark wood and grey metal combo. Looks good, it's something different for an sks, and apears to have been done very well as opposed to bubba with some spray paint and a 6 pack. Nice work.

 

[juk]

Thank you all for the compliments and advice! It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up one of those gas valves. Thanks deercop and domino for the links. Both were very helpful.

 

[AmishFury]

2 things that can make the gas system on a m59/66 not function one the already mentioned gas valve becoming corroded

the other is a result of cosmoline that has "dried" up and turned into a hard substance that unlike cosmoline in it's usual sticky greasy state which will flow freely once the barrel heats up the dried crap will not budge just from heat... requires a personal touch and some cleaning solvent (good old hoppes will soften the dried on stuff enough to remove it)

 

[sharkhunter2018]

Nice looking SKS there. You'll enjoy it.

 

[sarduy]

uhh Nice black rifle,

 

[SamG.]

Very nice. Same issue with mine.

 

[Hardtarget]

I keep reminding myself that not ALL guns have to be factory "spec" perfect. What you have is a good looking rifle and one you can be proud of...at the range or in your den! Thats the good thing about guns. If they shoot good then they ARE good! Hope it will "walk the talk" for you on the next range trip!

Mark.

 

[john paul]

looks great to me!

 

[juk]

More Pics!

Just thought I would add a few more pictures. You can really start to see the wood in these.