Yugo SKS 59/66 Bolt jammed--help?

[krustoleum]

I had my SKS out to the range a couple of weeks ago and fired about 150 rounds. I took it home and cleaned the barrel, but I did not disassemble the rifle. I took it out to the range today. I loaded and fired one round and the bolt would not discharge the round in the chamber, nor can I manually pull the bolt back. It is locked up in the forward position and it won't budge.
I took the bolt cover and the trigger group out to see if that helped, but no luck.

Anybody have a clue about what the cause and cure would be?

 

[kingjoey]

If you fired it in single-shot mode, the case probably stuck to the chamber. Hit the bolt handle with a rubber mallet and it will break loose.

 

[Picard]

That happened to me a couple of times as well. I think it was caused by some old, crusty cosmoline still being in the chamber. After that happened, I cleaned it out real good and it hasn't happened in about 30 rounds (too soon to tell if it's a full recover, I know).

The best way to fix it would be just to try and yank the bolt carrier back. It may take some force. If you can't do it by hand, take a block of wood and put it against the bolt carrier handle. Then hammer the wood until it frees the stuck casing.

When you get it loose, make sure that you clean the chamber really well to get anything that might stick out of there.

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

What kind of ammo are you using? That might explain quite a bit. I hear that Wolf Military ammo can leave behind some nasty carbon fouling that can eventually act like a "glue" if you don't get rid of it right away. Barring that, I once had an issue with my Yugo, turned out I overlubed it a bit, and it got all sitcky.

Someone more knowledgable than myself will hopefully post here soon, but that's my 1/50 of a dollar.

 

[res45]

If you shooting the lacquer coated ammo you need to clean you chamber each time along with your bore. The lacquer will buildup and cause FTE problems to occur,it turns into glue once it cools then the next hot round sticks in the chamber. Use a 7.62 chamber brush or one slightly larger dipped in bore solvent on a short cleaning rod,chuck it in a cordless drill and give ita good spin swab it out and repeat if necessary. Don't forget to give it a light swabbing of gun oil to protect agents rust.

 

[Bartkowski]

I placed a block of wood on the charging handle and hit that with a hammer...fixed the problem.

One quick hit should do it.

 

[esmith]

A good hard whack with a rubber mallet should knock it out of place. With these jams it tends to help with a big hit than a constant pull of pressure.