SKS Bayonets

[matsaleh]

I may be getting an SKS before too long (prolly a Yugo because of price and availability). It's getting hard to resist them anymore. My problem is that I really do not like the integrated bayonet.

Can the bayo be removed without damaging the rifle?

Is the empty bayo recess in the stock unsightly or overly noticeable without the bayo installed?

Does removing the bayo affect the rifle's function in other ways? I've heard that M44's shoot differently with bayos extended vs. retracted.

Thanks and cheers!

 

[LynnMassGuy]

Some guys say you can get the screw out with an impact driver without any visible damage but I've never tried it myself. Most people I've talked to say they don't notice any difference in accuracy. Good luck!

 

[Murphster]

Yes, the bayonet can be removed (and put back on) without damaging the rifle. One screw holds it in place. I don't think the bayo recess or the bayo attachment piece that is permanently attached to the barrel is particularly unsightly. Of course, they aren't candidates for a beauty pageant, either.
It's just the nature of SKS rifles. I suspect about half the people with SKS rifles remove the bayonet. Makes the gun a little lighter. I left mine on my Yugo and removed them from my various Russians. Most of the forum strings I've read dealing with how bayonet removal effects the way the gun shoots indicate that normally there is no difference. I've never noticed a difference with mine. I suspect you'd have to firmly attach a scope and use match grade ammo at a distance to accurately assess a slight difference. Removal of the bayonet doesn't effect anything else on the rifle one way or the other. As far as looks go, remember that the Yugo also has the grenade launcher and the grenade launcher sight assembly attached to it. That's why I left the bayo on mine. It looked like a Swiss Army Knife rifle anyway with the other stuff on it.

The preceding post reminded me. Several folks at an SKS forum indicated trouble in removing the screw attaching the Yugo bayonet. Apparently they crimp or hammer the end of the screw so it won't accidentaly back out. Mine unscrewed easily with a good screwdriver.

 

[DMK]

Can the bayo be removed without damaging the rifle?

Yes. I routinely remove them to deep clean the cosmo out of these rifles. The end of the screw is peaned, but only just enough to keep it from vibrating loose. If you get a good large screwdriver that fits deeply into the slot on the screw you can easily break it free. Just make sure to solidly secure the rifle(remove it from the stock, wrap a wrag around it and clamp it in a vice), watch what you are doing, and don't let that screwdriver slip, lest you scrape the bluing or some skin.

Is the empty bayo recess in the stock unsightly or overly noticeable without the bayo installed?

It's noticable, but not unsightly. You can only see it from the bottom of the rifle anyway. A missing blade bayo looks a lot better than a mising spike bayo. The spike bayos on Chinese and Albanian SKS have a very wide but shallower groove in the stock.

Does removing the bayo affect the rifle's function in other ways?

I haven't tried removing one after I've sighted in an SKS. It may slightly change POI, but probably not much. I don't think it will either improve or degrade accuracy. The SKS bayonette is right on the centerline of the bore where the M44 bayonette is mounted on the side of the barrel.

I have a Norinco without a bayo and it shoots right about the same as my Romainian with a bayo. Those two are the most accurate SKS of my collection.

 

[cool45auto]

I haven't removed the bayonet on my Romanian SKS so I can't comment on a difference in shooting with and without it. Mine has the blade-type bayonet on it so the front of the stock has a slim cut in it for the blade to rest in. If I removed it I don't think it would be that noticeable.

 

[Newton]

I have heard that making any mods to a Yugo SKS may constitute a violation of the rifle's C&R status, this includes removing the bayonet, and also includes adding a scope mount.

Just my 2c, but be careful out there, those bastards at the BATF justify their worthless hides by prosecuting honest gun owners on charges like these.

Newton

 

[cabinetman]

C&R Status

The Yugo and many other iterations of the SKS are indeed classified as a C&R. (Most Chinese are not C&R) Removing the bayonet is your perogative but it IS part of that military-issue rifle and was designed to be shot with it mounted on the rifle. You can get into a long discussion about shooting with it extended vrs collapsed but the bottom line is that it was designed to be shot with it onboard.

Like the other fellas said, you can very easily remove the bayonet by simply backing out the screw which serves as the pivot point. Be sure to hold the bayo securely with one hand while removing that screw, however, as the locking sleeve is spring loaded and will launch if you don't keep it captured.

Save the parts and do nothing else. The pivot must stay on the rifle to maintain the C&R status. If you ground it off, the rifle would be forever ruined as a C&R weapon. Frankly, I think they look naked without this bit of hardware on the front end but, again, that's your choice.

Alterations that ruin C&R rifles are ones that are "permanent". For instance, you can swap stocks and stick one of those ugly monte-carlo plastic ones one and shoot it like that. At that point, it is no longer a C&R. Swapping back the original stock and any hardware you've removed will make it once again elegible for C&R status.

Hope that helps.

Rome