Yugo SKS not cycling/ejecting casings

[tantrix]

A friend of mine has a Yugo SKS he just bought and we're having an issue with it. He fired 11 rounds out of it right after he bought it out of town, as fast as he could pull the trigger and all rounds ejected normally.

Fast forward a week later (today) and he gets home with it. I took it out back to try it out.

I load 10 rounds in it and pop off a round, everything seems normal until we realize it never cycled and ejected the casing. We cycled it by hand and fired again...same problem.

We went inside and I tore it down and did thorough cleaning/inspection. The piston channel was spotless, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. We cleaned all parts and lightly oiled it then reassembled it.

We went back out to try it again, and same thing. As he shot I noticed the action wasn't moving but maybe 1/4 of an inch, not nearly far enough to eject a spent round.

After pulling the trigger and cycling the action by hand to reset the trigger, the action feels like it's sticking.

Is something wrong with the trigger assembly maybe?

 

[1858remington]

Check the gas cut off for the grenade launcher spigot. If the grenade site is up it shuts off the gas piston that cycles the action. The gas shut off might also have a clog.

 

[tantrix]

....

 

[lamazza]

Mine was doing this after I first bought it-Until I gave it a good cleaning.
These need a serious cleaning to get all of the cosmoline out of them. Its even packed in the bolt. The recoil spring needs to soaked and brushed. Spen a few hours leaning this rifle up and it should work just fine.

 

[tantrix]

Check the gas cut off for the grenade launcher spigot. If the grenade site is up it shuts off the gas piston that cycles the action. The gas shut off might also have a clog.

Ok, we took the gas tube and the spigot off and checked, it is indeed spotless. Stuck our finger in the breech to plug it and blew in the end of the barrel and you could hear the air whistle through the hole.

With the spigot positioned in the upright or right postions (the only 2 it can be in) the action still wouldn't cycle and eject casings in either position. It had to be done by hand.

We can't figure out what the hell is up with the action not cycling all the way...it works fine by hand but only moves 1/4 of an inch when shooting if that much.

Then, why did it work the first time he shot it then all of sudden stopped when I tried it out at my place?? :banghead:

 

[tantrix]

Ok, after fiddling with it some more we just shot off a couple of rounds in the front yard and it ejected normally. We think maybe the gas cutoff wasn't seated all the way and engaging on it's own. Now the fun part. More testing tomorrow!

 

[EvisceratorSrB]

LOL I remember one time I first bought my SKS, and took it out immediately.

Wouldn't cycle! Man I was so angry. I had the cuttoff switch in the vertical position.

I don't even want to talk about it!

Glad you got that thing up and running. It's fun. IMO if you hook up a red dot to it, it's the most fun rifle I've ever shot.

 

[Technosavant]

Hope it works now. If it keeps being tempermental, you can always get a new valve for about $10; it's about the one weak point in the Yugo SKS. If a Yugo isn't cycling, that's often the cause.

 

[tantrix]

Hope it works now. If it keeps being tempermental, you can always get a new valve for about $10; it's about the one weak point in the Yugo SKS. If a Yugo isn't cycling, that's often the cause.

Yeah, we won't know for sure until tomorrow. I guess we'll just shoot the hell out of it and keep an eye on that gas valve. I personally have never seen one do that unless the thing was gunked up.

 

[another person]

Try this:

http://www.sksboards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4191