Yugo SKS -- Pierced Primer

[Kalos]

It being far too fine a day to spend indoors playing video game hockey and the like, I decided to take a late-afternoon trip out to the range. At the moment, my Marlin 60 and my other rifle case is at the shop; all the stores are out of CCI Mini-Mags--the only food my Ruger Mk. II likes; I'm trying to sell my Makarov and it's ammunition; and I'm fresh out of 7.62 Tokarev. So, able to only take one rifle, I settled on the Yugo 59/66--it'd been a while since I've had it out, and it's always a fun plinker. Along the way I picked up a couple of crates of Blue Rock clays and some more Wolf 7.62x39. Got to the range, set up, and started blasting away--no problems. After about 50 or 60 rounds through, I pulled the trigger and got a wash of gas in my face, not to mention a very sticky FTE. Dropped what was left of the magazine, and pulled the receiver cover off. First thing I noticed is that the firing pin was laying in the back of the receiver--not good. After picking it up and setting it aside, I pulled the bolt/carrier, and finally got a look at the case that'd caused all this trouble; one look at the primer showed what'd happened. It was pierced clean through--I can see the anvil peeking out at me as I sit here w/ the case right now. I picked up a few other cases for comparison, and can't see any signs of trouble with them; admittedly, I'm not too experienced at this, so I might be missing something. The rifle's had a few hundred rounds through it w/o any trouble other than some jams and failures to keep the bolt open, probably due to leftover cosmoline (the problems came on the first time I had it out, and one particularly cold day a while after). At any rate, it put my day of shooting to a rather abrupt end--there was no way I could get the firing pin back in w/o a hammer and punch, and I would've been a bit leery of firing it anyway.

So, does anyone have any idea what might've happened here?

 

[Ben Shepherd]

My yugos hit really deep. 2 brothers have had primers pierced, but they didn't do it as bad as yours, from the sound of what happened to you. I've actually filed the end of my pin off slightly, and then carefully reshaped it back to its original contour, so I don't hit quite as deep.

Two things:

1. I would get a new firing pin, and a new cross-pin. Maybe even a whole new bolt assembly.

2. When you put it back together, make the first try a single shot, so you don't risk slam-firing the whole mag if it pierces one and debris locks the pin forward(this is what both of my brothers yugos did)

Shouldn't be to hard to do. Just annoying that your gun went down on you.

 

[DMK]

I would get a new firing pin, and a new cross-pin.

I agree! I don't see how that firing pin could have come out unless either the crosspin sheared or the firing pin broke. Either way, I'd replace both.