SKS Primer Question

[JCooperfan1911]

Hello. I am not too familiar with Simonov’s patent rifle, the SKS, and figured I will ask the group.

This afternoon I fired at total of 150 rounds of Tulammo through my Chinese SKS and all fired great except one round. The primer was hit squarely and deeply, yet did not ignite. I decided to try and fire it again and nothing happened. The third time, again nothing.

Would it be safe to assume the primer on that cartridge were dead? I imagine if it were a light strike issue, the gun should have fired the second or third time but am unsure. This type of arm is meant for inexpensive steel cased ammunition. Thank you.

 

[mokin]

I'd guess the cartridge has a dead primer. Usually when someone has a problem with primers and SKSs it's a slam fire.

 

[troy fairweather]

A 25¢ loss nothing to worry about, clean the bolt if it will make you feel better.

 

[Mosin77]

Pretty safe to assume if it fired off all the other rounds...and not that one... the problem is with that one round, not your rifle. If it happens every box, or with different brands too, well, that points toward a rifle issue.

 

[illinoisburt]

The all important question - was the bad one the last round you tried to fire, or did you keep shooting other rounds afterwards?

 

[sparkyv]

Duds happen.

I'd pull it down for S&G.

 

[edwardware]

Duds happen.

I'd pull it down for S&G.

This.

It's a Ruskie cheap crap ammo, but it's still educational to look at. Pull the bullet, poor out the powder, and look down there and see what you can see.

 

[BigBlue 94]

A 25¢ loss nothing to worry about, clean the bolt if it will make you feel better.

Until you find a 2003 cabelas catalog with 1000 rounds for 82 bucks... Then proceed to buy 500 for 180...

Ive put thousands of rounds of russian ammo through my romanian sks and had the occasional dud. It happens.

If you dont have a bullet puller, pliers and a bench vise work. Just dont crush the case with the vise.

 

[Scooter22]

The all important question - was the bad one the last round you tried to fire, or did you keep shooting other rounds afterwards?

He said the dud round had a deep dent in the primer so it,s not a broke FP if thats what you mean.

 

[illinoisburt]

He said the dud round had a deep dent in the primer so it,s not a broke FP if thats what you mean.

My question is pretty simple. If everything was fine, then had a bad round, then all good again with more shots I would be pretty certain had a bad round & gun is fine to carry on. If he shot a bunch of rounds then had this one not work, tried few times and nothing, then quit shooting altogether since then we don't know for sure the gun is still functioning because were not told that information and should never assume.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

Thanks all I had 12 rounds left after this happened with no other problems. The primer was hit very squarely and pretty deep, and two more attempts did not yield a discharge.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Thanks all I had 12 rounds left after this happened with no other problems. The primer was hit very squarely and pretty deep, and two more attempts did not yield a discharge.

Yup, just a dud. Ive had a handful over thousands of 7.62x39 down the pipe, both Russian and Chinese.

The SKS is a fine rifle, mine have been exceptionally reliable. Slamfires are not unheard of when firing US-made commercial ammo with soft primers and the Yugo production guns with the built-in grenade launchers are known for corroded gas valves which can lead to short-stroking and failure to cycle. Otherwise, they are pretty much bullet proof.

 

[Scooter22]

My question is pretty simple. If everything was fine, then had a bad round, then all good again with more shots I would be pretty certain had a bad round & gun is fine to carry on. If he shot a bunch of rounds then had this one not work, tried few times and nothing, then quit shooting altogether since then we don't know for sure the gun is still functioning because were not told that information and should never assume.

I getcha. But he said one round didn,t fire and the rest did and made no mention it the gun wouldn't fire after that. I saw your Q as the gun stopped firing on the bad round but the OP said nothing to that effect. Just different observations.

 

[wesmonster]

Tula is bottom of the barrel when it comes to imported steel case 7.62x39. I’ve seen primers set too deep more than once on Tula in multiple calibers.
Ammo made in Barnaul is more consistent. Barnaul brand, Brown/Silver/Golden Bear & Monarch brand all come from Barnaul plant.
Wolf & Red Army are importers and get their ammo from multiple factories. Years ago Wolf Black was Tula and Wolf Military Classic was Barnaul, not sure if that’s still true.
Vympel factory is best, same factory that fills military contracts. Easy to identify as it’s the only stuff with a red or purple primer seal AND a neck seal. Golden Tiger, MaxxTech & some Red Army Standard. Vympel uses a boat tail projectile and usually is most accurate.
SKS is fine if you see a good primer dent.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Tula is bottom of the barrel when it comes to imported steel case 7.62x39. I’ve seen primers set too deep more than once on Tula in multiple calibers.
Ammo made in Barnaul is more consistent. Barnaul brand, Brown/Silver/Golden Bear & Monarch brand all come from Barnaul plant.
Wolf & Red Army are importers and get their ammo from multiple factories. Years ago Wolf Black was Tula and Wolf Military Classic was Barnaul, not sure if that’s still true.
Vympel factory is best, same factory that fills military contracts. Easy to identify as it’s the only stuff with a red or purple primer seal AND a neck seal. Golden Tiger, MaxxTech & some Red Army Standard. Vympel uses a boat tail projectile and usually is most accurate.
SKS is fine if you see a good primer dent.

Im assuming Wolf Gold was renamed wolf military classic? Havent seen either in a while.

I remember back in the 2000s when all wolf 7.62x39 had the red lacquer primer seal and bullet seal. Now that you described it, I cant recall seeing much of that on the recent tula stuff.

 

[wesmonster]

Im assuming Wolf Gold was renamed wolf military classic? Havent seen either in a while.

Wolf Gold is brass cased .223 made in the Philippines. I’ve never seen Wolf Gold 7.62x39.
I don’t think any new 7.62x39 made in comblock countries is brass case. Closest would probably be surplus Yugo M67 or E.German or Chinese. Golden Bear made in Barnaul is just brass plated steel case.

If you want cheap brass case new production 7.62x39 I have good results with PPU, Herters (Cabela’s brand) and Geco (made in Hungary). I think I got a half case of Geco two years ago on sale for 40 cents/round when PPU was 50 cents. The PPU is available in a round nose soft point (RN SP) which looks like a 30-30 projectile, much shorter/ blunter than the semi soft points. Some rifles have feed issues but I’ve never had a misfeed with several AKs or a VZ58. Never tried it in my SKS but if you have the factory fixed 10 round mag I’d be surprised if you did.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Wolf Gold is brass cased .223 made in the Philippines. I’ve never seen Wolf Gold 7.62x39.
I don’t think any new 7.62x39 made in comblock countries is brass case. Closest would probably be surplus Yugo M67 or E.German or Chinese. Golden Bear made in Barnaul is just brass plated steel case.

If you want cheap brass case new production 7.62x39 I have good results with PPU, Herters (Cabela’s brand) and Geco (made in Hungary). I think I got a half case of Geco two years ago on sale for 40 cents/round when PPU was 50 cents. The PPU is available in a round nose soft point (RN SP) which looks like a 30-30 projectile, much shorter/ blunter than the semi soft points. Some rifles have feed issues but I’ve never had a misfeed with several AKs or a VZ58. Never tried it in my SKS but if you have the factory fixed 10 round mag I’d be surprised if you did.

I never had the 223 in wolf gold. The WG I bought was 6.5 grendel. If they make grendel, x39 shoulda been a no brainer.

I have two 30 round mags but usually run the 10rd box. Mostly always shot com-block steel case.

 

[mokin]

Y'all are funny. I confess to having shot expensive ammunition in my SKSs. I've even reloaded a bunch for them. I've noticed ammunition quality does make a difference. One of my SKSs is scary accurate with handloads. But, no small part of the charm of those rifles is the fact that they seem to thrive on crappy ammunition. I don't abuse my rifles, I clean them after shooting them, and I occasionally treat them with "the good stuff", but there is a certain sense of satisfaction shoving a ten round clip of cheap communist ammo into an SKS and blasting away.

 

[bfoosh006]

I would also blame the Tula Ammo. Tula ammo isn't one of my favorite 7.62x39 ammo's.

 

[Deus Machina]

Think of it this way: cheap commie ammo doesn't always work, but cheap commie guns always do.
Prevents them from going down twice as often, and a net gain.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Primer

 

[mljdeckard]

I have also recently seen, that if commie ammo is out of the box for a long time, it gets worse. I ignored my SKS for a few years doing other projects, and then I decided to pull it out and cycle out the ammo that had been sitting in those mags for at least three years. About 20% duds. I wondered if it was a problem with the rifle, but I loaded and shot a few hundred rounds of new ammo, and I think I had one dud in about 200.

So if someone is keeping one as a fighting gun, I would recommend learning malfunction drills, and buying some sealed tins of ammo that will be opened only im case of emergency.