So I managed to break a mint Norinco SKS...

[InterWebGuy]

Well, not break, exactly, but damage a bit... I was trying to get a friend into shooting centerfire a few weeks ago (she "only like shotguns, dammit!"), and was putting her through the standard paces shooting plates with wolf FMJ at about 40 yards using another friends Norinco SKS "paratrooper" carbine.
After she'd finished her second mag, I took the gun back to inspect it prior to going down rage to see how she'd done, and noticed that the knob of the bolt carrier had been sheared clean off! We looked around, but were unable to find it anywhere, so I'm going to have to buy a replacement, I guess (which sucks as the gun had all matching serials).
Has this happened to anyone else? I've mentioned it to a few of the guys the gunshop, and they claimed that chinese SKS's are notorious for being made of of low-quality metal... is there any truth to this? Or did I maybe load up a magazine with some shady mid-90's wolf FMJ that was accidentally +P++ loaded or something?
Thanks,
IWG

 

[Hoppy590]

post some pics of the break area.

Chinese military SKS's are properly made.
Commercial Norinco SKS's may not be

the ammo shouldnt have effected it enough. the knob is just an offset moving weight, at the end of a shaft. it happens

 

[InterWebGuy]

Thanks for the reply- I can't post pics as the gun is in a safe about 70 miles from me, but I'll do my best to describe the break:
The knob on the end was completely sheared off, leaving only the "stem" for the knob and a tiny bit of the concave bottom of the knob interior (the hollow part of the knob). The break looked to my layman's eye to be almost a "tear" in the metal... like it had been torn off by hitting something (not possible, given the shooting conditions). I'll update the thread with pics if I can get some, but my friend is still a bit sore about the subject, so it might be a while

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

Never heard of that happening. I would love to see pics, eventually...

 

[Hoppy590]

i think it was probably just a flaw in the metal, unrelated to the ammo.

 

[jonnyc]

Was the bolt handle resting against something when the rifle was fired? It might have come into contact with an upright at the firing point and gotten whacked off. It could have happened very quickly and not been noticed.

 

[stubbicatt]

If it were an ammunition issue, other symptoms would have manifested. I suspect a latent defect in the bolt carrier, else earlier impact damage perhaps cracked the piece, which only gave way later under the conditions of firing.

 

[PercyShelley]

Is the charging handle welded on or is it machined from the same chunk of metal? Welded on seems likely, so flaw in the weld seems fairly plausible.

 

[45B@cav]

It's A SKS Dude!!!!!!!!!!!