my new sks, what a bargain. questions following

[geronimotwo]

so, i was supposed to do some work for this guy. i had a signed contract, and cash deposit. he calls me to say he changed his mind. when i give him his deposit back he hands me $50 for my trouble. we had talked about guns before, so i ask if he knew anyone with an sks for sale. he gets this light that goes off in his head, and tells me he has one. it seems before the ban (89, i think) he bought 10 for investment purposes. he later sold most of them for $300 after the ban went into effect. however, one came back to him. the guy he sold it to said when he would pull the trigger it would slam fire, and empty the clip. anyway, he gave the guy his money back, and has had this sitting around since, and would sell it to me for what he paid. i couldn't check it out right then as it was at his sons house, but i figured $75, how could i go wrong, and gave him his $50 back for a deposit. about a week later i went to pick it up. what a nice gun! it turns out that it's a navy arms chinese sks. milled receiver, and the bluing is almost new. no marks on the mahogony (?) stock. type 89 scope rail. cleaning rod and kit included. he even threw in 30 copper washed rounds with stripper clips. the barrel is mirror perfect (chromed?). from the info online, i found that it was made at factory #26 in 1967. all matching numbers, except for the internal bolt. (i'm wondering if the first guy he sold it to had swapped bolts with a malfuntioning gun he had, and then returned it, as the bolt shows some wear, and the rest of the gun seems about new.) when i took the bolt apart i found that someone had inserted the firing pin upside down, causing the slamfire. after flipping the pin, and cleaning the bolt, i took it out and put two rounds in it. no slamfire! i then used the rest of his ammo to zero in the sights which were shooting about 18" high at 100 yards. i did have two shots double. i think this was because of the cosmoline in the trigger group. since then i stripped the whole gun down, and used outers gun oil on the trigger group. i should be able to fire it again this afternoon, and will let you all know how it goes. all in all, for $25 out of pocket, it doesn't get much better.

now for the questions!

how good are the factory 26 guns?

does anyone know when navy arms imported these?

is the stock mahogony? the grain, and color,look like it, but it is harder than the mahogony i'm used to.

where can i find a scope mount to fit this rail? or convert it to a weaver?

were all chinese barrels chrome lined?

is there an easyier way to clean the chamber, besides using a rag on a stick?

does anyone know the translation for the three chinese symbols on the receiver? online they mentioned them being on weapons issued to their military, but didn't give their meaning.

thanks for the help!

 

[DF357]

Does it look like this? A 1967 Chinese paratrooper factory 26 version, machined receiver.

No import marks on it though. Can't tell what kind of wood, it has a chrome barrel lining
.

 

[ZeSpectre]

If you are having slamfire or doubling issues I would do two things immediately.

#1) go to Murray's guns and look at his "spring" firing pins. Dirt cheap insurance against stuck firing pins.

#2) have someone who knows SKS trigger groups go over yours to make sure the sear is correct. A cocked-up trigger group is a seriously dangerous thing!

 

[geronimotwo]

df357, it looks exactly like yours, but my carbine is the longer 40" model. i'm surprised to see the bayonet on yours, i thought the para model had that feature stripped.

zespectre, the murray spring sounds like a good idea.

as far as the trigger group goes it looks brand new, but i wiil look more closely at the sear, to see if it has a positive or negative rake.

i wasn't able to fire it today, but i would bet that removing the sticky goo will solve the doubling issue.

 

[imprezagm4]

Hmmmm. That spring firing pin has my interest.

 

[blo0dyhatchet]

That pic you posted looks exactly like mine..its the paratrooper model? Interesting. I picked mine up for 200 however, I wish i had found it for 25 bucks, lol.

 

[Limeyfellow]

It could also be the firing pin in backwards. Its possible to do with the Norincos and will result in a slamfire everytime. Its also possible that they didn't clean the bolt properly and its jamming in the channel. Thats quite a common one. The other main reason we see slamfires is they are using commercial ammo with really soft primers that will set off when the bolt slams back into place.

The spring will take care of that third problem. The second requires lots and lots of cleaning to clear it up. The first just requires the removal of the bolt from the carbine, punching out the retaining pin and switching the firing pin the other way around.

 

[geronimotwo]

limeyfellow, my pin will not go in backwards, but i did find that it was upsidedown. this was a problem because, on my model (and i think other chinese manufactered models), the pin shoulder (that retains the pin) is longer on the bottom versus the top. this causes the pin to be jammed fully forward, causing it to slamfire every time.

 

[Plink]

The chinese guns and most others have chrome bores.

As for the doubling, SKSes are noted for this if there's any grunge hiding in the firing pin channel. The free floating firing pin isn't spring loaded. If there's crud in the channel, they can remain forward and slamfire the next cartridge. I'd suggest pulling it apart and thoroughly cleaning and lubing the bolt. When you shake the bolt, you should hear the firing pin rattling freely.

I don't know what wood the stock is made from. They pretty much used whatever they had available at the time. I own several chinese models and it looks like several varieties of wood had been used.

As for a scope mount. Check Kalinka Optics. They have several scopes and even a weaver conversion mount for the side rail. Also if you poke around the various parts sellers, you'll find things like a chamber cleaning brush, front sight adjusting tool and other things that might come in handy. CDNN Investments, jgsales.com, Cheaper than Dirt, etc.

 

[TooTaxed]

As PLINK said, CDNN and Cheaper Than Dirt have very inexpensive after-market stuff for the SKS, including both scope mounts and scopes. I got my case deflector...essential if you plan to mount any scope projecting above the receiver (the SKS ejects vertically)...from CDNN for $5. If you want a long scope you will also need to install a removable magazine, as you won't be able to use stripper clips to load the original fixed magazine. Ten shot magazines are best for bench or prone firing...long twenty or thirty round magazines seriously get in the way!

 

[Frog48]

where can i find a scope mount to fit this rail? or convert it to a weaver?

This is the best SKS scope/mount combo I've found, in my opinion. Its a 4x scope with quick disconnect rings, and replacement receiver cover with rail. I got it at Cabelas for $54.99, so the price is hard to beat.

 

[busdriver72]

Slamfiring can usually be traced back to a dirty/sticky firing pin. Before firing any milsurp, completely field strip it and clean it. I usually soak the bolt with the firing pin in a solution (mineral spirits, acetone and marvel mystery oil) for several hours while I'm messing around doing other things. Then I usually spray cleaner into that area. I make sure it is free floating and then put an itty-bitty, extremely light touch of Lucas Gun Oil in it. Have never had a slam fire. I have a long PVC tube that I fill with solution and put the metal parts in and let them soak(except the handguard). A little bit of cosmoline can do bad things.

 

[geronimotwo]

well, i was able to fire 40 rounds through it today, and no slam fire. i also (with it empty) got a little rough on the gun to see if i could trip the hammer. no problems! now i would like to see how good the gun is. i was firing at 100 yards, and would get about 3 out of 5 in a pie plate. i'm afraid that my dominant eye may need a prosthetic device of some kind soon. all i see is a big white blob with some dark spots on it (with the open sights at 100yds). i'm pretty much just centering the sights on the white blob. my left eye is closer to 20/20, but i've always shot with my right.