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SKS questions and possible answers

I've watched 20 vids on YouTube showing how to remove the stock from a sks and they all do the same thing. So it should be no surprise that when I try it, it doesn't budge. I removed cleaning rod,bayonet is not folded in,trigger assembly removed, bolt yada yada. I used a heat gun in case there was some cosmoline I couldn't see causing me problems and I still can't get the stock off. With a rubber mallet I gave some gentle live taps to see if I could get any movement and no dice. So I ask the sks gods... What am I missing?
 
I'm guessing the mag well is out. ;)

Occasionally cosmolene does kind of glue the stock to the receiver. With the rifle upside down and across your lap, press a large punch against the underside of the receiver (somewhere solid towards the rear) and give it a good whack with a hammer.
 
Got one other sks question. Since I have OCD when it comes to cleaning my firearms I have to ask. The inside of my barrel looks like the surface of the moon. I assume it's from the corrosive rounds shot by previous owners. My question is if I can do anything about the barrel to clean it up? It shoots great but my OCD won't allow me to leave it be. Any ideas?
 
jpm said:
Is it clean or dirty? How's the rifling? If its clean and looking that way and the rifling is decent, you can try this:
http://www.davidtubb.com/ff-kit-308-cal

I used that on a really bad looking 1917 barrel and it cleaned it up pretty well.
Click to expand...
The barrel is clean. I ran a brass brush probably 30 times,ran 25 patches and so on. It's as clean as it can get. Where would I be able to buy that davidtubb?
 
yeah, its just the bullet so you need to load them into cartridges with the appropriate charge. If you don't reload or have a friend who does, they won't do you much good. I think they were 175gr bullets so you also need to make sure you can use something that weight. The seller can tell you for sure, its listed on the box.
 
I just picked up one of the group buy SKS's and am having trouble removing the handguard from the gas tube.
The pin ends have been ground down flush with the ferrule to the extent that I can't even be positive that it's there, let alone its location.
How can I find the center of the pin?
Also, I've seen images of it being pressed or driven from either side. Any way to pick the right side?
 
Usually once you take the handguard off the gas tube the pin is junk and you risk damaging the wood. My advice would be leave it alone and clean it the best you can.
 
The flash point of cosmoline will melt the gun.

But the melting point of cosmoline is somewhere near 110-120 degF. If you go over 140 degF though, it will damage the shellac.

Wipe it down well with a rag. Clean the metal with mineral spirits or brakleen, punch the pin out of the bolt, boil it and clean the pin channel with a pipe cleaner.

Then go shoot it until it warms up. Break it down and wipe it again. After a couple of sessions, the cosmo oozing will begin to ebb.
 
martin08 said:
The flash point of cosmoline will melt the gun.
Click to expand...
I forgot the "this is a joke" smiley.

But the melting point of cosmoline is somewhere near 110-120 degF. If you go over 140 degF though, it will damage the shellac.
Click to expand...
The wood on this thing is pretty beat up. I'm not sure there's any shellac left.
At any rate, the possibility of shellac damage is good to know.
Does that mean that the common practice of using a warm oven to get rid of cosmo is a bad idea?

Wipe it down well with a rag. Clean the metal with mineral spirits or brakleen, punch the pin out of the bolt, boil it and clean the pin channel with a pipe cleaner.
Then go shoot it until it warms up. Break it down and wipe it again. After a couple of sessions, the cosmo oozing will begin to ebb.
Click to expand...
Is there a reason why boiling the bolt is better than a soak in solvent?

Thanks for the advice to a noob.
 
Boiling water just makes it easy. Solvent will work just fine, as long as the pin channel gets cleared.

And a warm oven is just fine. But over 140 degrees, and the shellac will get brittle and break apart.
 
And it will stink up your oven! Wrap it in paper towels and cook it on the radiator in a plastic bag for a couple of days.
 
It sure is! I also enjoy simple green soak in a bathtub of water as hot as it will come out. Soak it for a few minutes, wipe it down completely dry. Hoppes the hell out of it, oil it up with whatever oil of choice you use, and D-U-N.
 
rlee said:
I've read that soaking in hot water can damage the wood.
Is this the case?
Click to expand...

It's not that SKS's haven't survived torrential rains and wallowing through rice paddies. And some owners might even take them out hunting in the wet New England weather.

I don't think that a hot bath soak is the best idea for wood, though it is done quite often. Many U.S. firearm owners will even put them in the dishwasher to raise the dents out, and then bone the wood grain smooth again after it dries.

But really. Just wipe the cosmoline out with a rag. Use a hair dryer at a reasonable distance (don't bake or scorch it), let the cosmoline get a little runny, and wipe it out some more. After a range session, do it again.

No need to get carried away. It's a milsurp gun, and it's supposed to be a little greasy on the inside. Keep the outside wiped off with a rag, and it won't smudge you carpets in your car. Just lay down some cardboard in the trunk if you need to leave it there on a hot day.

Then shoot it some more, and some more. Make lots of noise and holes.

[smile]
 
I moved this from the recent SKS GB thread.
Apparently the stampings are inspection marks.

There are a bunch of stampings on the chamber end of my SKS barrel.
Can someone explain what they mean?
The barrel is oriented muzzle up and the pictures are in sequence from the right side of the barrel to the left.
The 5th image has a "7" stamped over another stamping.
"7" also appeared elsewhere on the barrel and on the receiver.
 
So I'm hitting mine with the blow dryer and it's working well. I have mineral spirits for the metal once I take it apart. My question is, can you use the Simple Green on the wood without damaging it? I figured I'd try this out too, because I have to get cracking on the Mosins and Garands too. The SKS is my cosmo-cleaning learning gun. :D
 
I was able to disassemble the rifle before removing any cosmoline. I guess I was lucky.
Everything was stiff, but the cosmoline also provided some (sticky) lubrication.

Some notes:

When the receiver cover lever is straight up and pulled straight out, the cover, BCG/bolt/spring come out easily.

I used a stubby #2 phillips to press in the trigger group latch behind the trigger guard. It allowed me to put more weight on it than a pin punch would.
The magazine took some prying. The cosmo was holding it pretty tightly.

The front handguard and gas tube are retained by a lever on the right side of the rear sight.
It has to go up at about a 30 degree angle from horizontal. Then the handguard and tube will lift up and away.

I used a Shark steamer to do the initial cleaning of metal. It reduced the heavy accumulations into a film.
I then used WD-40 followed by soaking in mineral spirits or kerosene with air blasts to dry.

The bolt I was not able to clean adequately with solvents.
When I held the (disassembled) bolt face up and pressed the firing pin up into the channel it would stick there.
I took SKS Ray's advice and dropped the bolt into boiling water for about 10 minutes.
The pin now drops out under it's own weight.
 
Definitely wouldnt soak the wood. My suggestion was more along the lines of Rlee. Break it down and soak all the metal in hotwater and simple green. Works just fine.
 
Gonna need some help on this one. Just got a cosmolined SKS and have 2 issues (photos attached):

1) the trigger does not seem to be functional. Both in the rifle, before break down, and as a trigger group. In the photo, you can see the spring tension is uneven on the hammer spring. But when pressing on the disconnector lever, I cannot get any motion from the hammer/spring.

#1 UPDATE: It seems like the disconnector needed to be a specific depression, not all the way, for the trigger rod to disconnect the hammer (i have no idea of the right terms)> So as of now, the trigger is working outside of the gun.

2) Upon stripping the rifle, I cannot eject the plunger and spring in the piston extension or return spring. I have the gas cylinder removed, and then when I apply pressure on the piston, and rotate the handguard catch, I cannot get the piston the be released from the housing (under the rear sight).

Update: Solved, thanks to jpm!!!!

photo(3).JPG photo(4).jpg

Any help is appreciated with these two issues. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
for #2 are you rotating the catch up and above the detent stop? You need to pull it away a bit and rotate up to at least 10 o'clock to get the plunger out.

for #1 it could be all the cosmo caked on it. Mine won't release outside the rifle, at least I haven't been able to figure out how to get it to do so, no matter what I push/pull on. Works fine in the rifle though. Maybe after yours is de-gunked it will work in the rifle.
 

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