SKS bolt question

[Matt Dillon]

Folks, recently I have installed a Choate SKS scope mount on a nice Yugoslavian SKS. The scope mount is pretty secure, but after having shot it last week, I realized, that although I can remove the rear cover and spring, I do not have enough clearance to remove the bolt and bolt carrier. :banghead:
Now, I do realize how important it is to make sure that the firing pin can shake freely in the bolt, and have taken it apart previously cleaned it out, and have had no difficulties with this gun.
But I don't wish to remove the scope mount, once it is securely tightened with loctite. So, my question is:

"What will it hurt to leave the bolt carrier and bolt in the gun when cleaning?"

The firing pin channel is currently clean, and I am considering firing some brake cleaner through the little red straw into the bolt to clean out any junk, followed by some Rem dry lube to keep the firing pin lubricated.

Any thoughts? Does anyone have any experience with this scope mount, and ideas as to how to remove the bolt and bolt carrier? Would dropping the trigger group help in removal?

Thanks so much in advance for your advice and help!

 

[distra]

Murry's firing pin maybe a decent investment for you. http://www.murraysguns.com/sksown.htm I just ordered mine over the weekend. That should reduce the number of times you need to take apart the bolt to clean the firing pin. You can still shoot cleaner in to flush the firing pin area and you can still shoot "hard" primer ammo.

 

[Mike U.]

After initially cleaning all of the cosmoline out of my bolt assembly, it went thru almost a 900 rounds without needing another cleaning.
I had thought that since the firing pin is free floating, it would need more attention and I was torture testing it a bit to see just how much I could get away with before the bolt assembly needed to be disassembled again for a thorough cleaning. After I broke it down again it was in pretty good shape inside. Not a whole lot of built up gunk and certainly not enough to hinder function.

The SKS is quite a robust rifle.

I just recently sold it to my nephew as I wanted to get an H&K USP 45 and needed that last little bit of scratch to get it. Now I'm missing that SKS and wondering why. It's not nearly as portable as an AK47. It fires the same round and has the same reliability. I am thinking about just getting another AK as I prefer the portability of the AK compared to the SKS. So many guns I want, so little money and storage space!