Yugo SKS

[Trent]

Was getting a gun out of the safe tonight and got to thinking about my Yugo SKS when I picked it up to dig out a rifle deeper in the safe.

I transferred the pick of the litter to myself when I had my gun shop, based on cosmetics. Got around to shooting it earlier this year, and holy crap, it sucks. I'm talking horrible 12-15" groups at 100 yards with Wolf and Tulammo (the two kinds of ammo I had on hand).

The bore doesn't LOOK bad, rifling appears pretty crisp. There's some light pitting but nothing horrible (I've seen much worse on Mosins, and those have shot far better than this did). And I can't see any obvious signs of crown damage.

Any ideas or insights on anything I might be able to try to get this thing to shoot something other than a shotgun pattern? I've never had a milsurp shoot THIS bad before, and I'm not really familiar enough with the inner workings of an SKS to know if there's any tweaks or tricks that I might be able to try (short of rebarreling, which is a mechanical task slightly above my aptitude and equipment level).

 

[BHP FAN]

I have a Russian that normally shoots just great, but hadn't had it out of the safe in about a year....my son has borrowed it, and shot it with his buddies, so it's been handled, and I really need a new [bigger] safe, so it's taken some bumps, too. Long story short, I need to re-zero the gun. I already know this one is pretty accurate!

 

[juk]

My Yugo didn't shoot anywhere near that bad. It was a 4-5" shooter all day, every day, with any ammo. As such, I never felt the need to tinker with it. If I were trying to work the groups down though, I would check the crown, replace the trigger, and put on a set of better sights. Also, does your Yugo have the bayo and ladder sight?

 

[Trent]

Yes, it has the grenade launcher sight and the folding bayonet.

 

[meanmrmustard]

The SKS has a very short sight radius, not unlike its stablemate, the AKM.

I suggest the first order of business is to extend this with a rear peep from Tech Sights. Not only will it aid precision, but you'll get a superior sighting picture.

 

[carbine85]

What ammo are you shooting? There's a big big difference in 7.62 x 39 ammo.
My Yugo shoots pretty good with good ammo. You might try scrubbing the bore and remove copper fouling.
The SKS will shoot better if you remove all the steel weights hanging off the barrel.
The triggers on these rifles are long and stiff, not exactly what you want for accuracy.

 

[Palehorseman]

Bought two Norinco SKS rifles in 1987, still got one and I am always surprised as to just how accurate it is.

 

[RCArms.com]

Is yours a Arsenal Built M59/66 or is it a later "Parts Rifle" assembled from spare parts for export to the US Market?

It sounds like a parts rifle based on the poor accuracy as they never were fired for accuracy prior to military acceptance like the Arsenal built rifles were.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

Wow. That is exactly the opposite experience I had with my Yugo. I bought mine back when you could pick one up in "unissued" condition with hand-select for around a bill, and mine has shot lights out since day one. With the rifle-grenade launcher, ladder sight, bayonet, and everything, mine will put an entire magazine into 4 inches all day long with the cruddiest lacquer coated crap you can find for it and I have gotten honest 2 MOA three shot groups on multiple occassions. I hadn't shot the ol Yugo in a while, but like you found it sitting in the back corner of the closet when going for something else and broke it out this weekend. No problem at all putting 125 gr Brown Bear JSPs on 12 to 16 inch pieces of ice floating down the Clark Fork from 200 to 300 yards away.

Eliminating the dinged crown or obnoxiously out of spec bore, you might check tension on the barrel from the stock and handguard, cleaning rod, ect. And see if there is any play between the receiver and the stock.