Just got an SKS rifle!

[Argent Towers]

I went to a gun show in Seymour (birthplace of John Mellencamp, by the way) and found a great Yugoslavian SKS rifle with a 30-round AK-47 style magazine AND a scope, for $250. I think it was a pretty good deal, with the scope, and the rifle's in good condition.

Some pictures:

Me with the SKS. (https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/akentisa/Filemanager_Public_Files/rifle1.jpg)

Close up shot of the rifle. (https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/akentisa/Filemanager_Public_Files/rifle4.jpg)

Anyone else have an SKS?

[Amp]

Great rifle. The price with the scope seems great. I don't have an SKS yet but it is on the list. First I have to finish my AR15 build and get my AK and then it will be an SKS.

[DirkGntly]

Nice firearm...
I have one that I put a very similar scope on and re-mounted the rig in a composite monte carlo stock. It shoots pretty well...


Word of caution: there are some who would point out that you should never have your finger on the trigger unless you are actually ready to fire...just so you know.

[Argent Towers]

Yeah, I was always brought up with the "assume all guns are loaded!" rule, but unfortunately if I *know* for sure that a gun isn't loaded (for instance, after taking it apart and putting it back together several times, as I did earlier,) I sometimes disregard it. But I shouldn't though, because it does encourage good gun safety skills to always follow that rule.

Thanks for the reminder.

[Johnny L.A.]

Nice. I used to have a Maadi AKM. One of these days I need to get another AKM/AK-47. My friend who is apparently going end up in Iraq had a nice Romanian one. He dug the black stock, but I'd put the plywood on.

[Cluricaun]

I've got an SKS, a real Russian one to boot. It's a fine gun but I've always thought that it had accuracy issues. I wouldn't depend on mine to hit anything smaller than say a case of soda from more than 50 yards away.

Still, nice grab on the rifle, hope you enjoy it.

[silenus]

I love shooting my Russian SKS. Not nearly as accurate as my Garand, of course, but a fun little gun none-the-less. I stocked up on surplus ammo a few years ago, so I've got plinking supplies to last out the decade. Mine even came with the original sling and oiler.

[Argent Towers]

I've read that the 30-round detachable magazines are prone to failure. I think when I take it out to shoot, I'll use the original magazine (that also came with it.) But the banana-clip looks cooler!

[silenus]

Stock up on stripper-clipped ammo and the issue magazine will do just fine.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Word of caution: there are some who would point out that you should never have your finger on the trigger unless you are actually ready to fire...just so you know.

Um, yeah. I would be one of them.

[Argent Towers]

DirkGntly and Airman Doors, point well taken.

silenus, when you say surplus ammo, are you talking about corrosive or non-corrosive rounds? I've read that the former can be a problem especially in the Yugoslavian SKSs. If so, do you have a preferred method for cleaning the bore to prevent damage?

I know these rifles are not really known for their accuracy. Still I like their looks, their rounds can be had cheaply, and they have some historical significance as a collector's item too. Next gun show I go to, I'll save up some extra cash beforehand for another more accurate rifle for long-distance shooting, maybe something in 30-06.

[Scumpup]

I don't necessarily buy into the idea that the SKS is lacking in accuracy. If you start with good quality ammo, you'll get better results. Most people who own them shoot the absolute cheapest ammo, usually surplus, that they can find. Ammo that is decades old and stored under questionable conditions gives erratic results. What a surprise. If you really want to wring out the carbine's capabilities, reload for it using bullets that are properly sized for the bore.
Fired from a bench with good quality ammo, an SKS is easily capable of four inch groups (or less) at 100 yards. If the best you can do is to hit a case of soda at 50 yards, then there is either a problem with that particular rifle or operator error.

[Scumpup]

Argent Towers,

Don't expect too much out of your scope. Receiver cover mounts like that are notoriously unstable. If the scope isn't rigidly fixed in place in relation to the barrel, you get wandering zero problems. Unless that particular cover fits so tightly that you need a mallet to get it into place, you should expect just that. There are other mounts available that will give better results, but they involve some modification to the rifle.
If I were you, I'd ditch the scope and the extended magazine and learn to make the rifle perform in its original configuration. The 30 round magazine is rather pointless on a semiauto weapon and gets in the way when trying to shoot from prone or from a bench. Hosing away with the big magazine is mainly a way to turn money into noise. With the cost of ammo being what it is right now, making every shot count is more important than ever.
If the as-issued iron sights don't please you, there are aperture sights (http://cgi.ebay.com/SKS-Adjustable-Fire-Sight-system-by-Williams_W0QQitemZ7244188714QQcmdZViewItem) AKA peep sights available from various manufacturers that give a better sight picture and require no permanent modifications.

[Cluricaun]

If the best you can do is to hit a case of soda at 50 yards, then there is either a problem with that particular rifle or operator error.

I didn’t say that was the best I could do. :D I said I wouldn’t depend on it for important accuracy outside that range in say a match or for hunting. I can, and have, done better than that but while I might put two in the 10 ring at 100 yards the next round tends to be a flyer and sometimes man that flyer won’t even crease paper.

Though you’re dead on with the ammo being the cheapest I can scrounge. I bought 1000 rounds for a song a few years ago and that’s mostly what I feed it, I have other more accurate out of the box rifles that I’ll feed the pricey stuff too. I can’t really justify buying match grade 7.62 stuff when I don’t believe that the rifle is worth it.

Oh, and Argent Towers? Never buy corrosive primer ammo to feed into a stamped gun like your Yugo SKS, most of what you'll find today on the cheap is new enough for that not to be as big of an issue as it was a few years ago when the markets were flooded with old useless ammo from Eastern Bloc countries.

[Scumpup]

Corrosive ammo can be used in the Yugo SKS. That's what the Yugoslavians themselves used in it and also in their AK which also lacked chrome lining. The trick is that you have to be disciplined like a Yugoslavian soldier and clean the piece ASAP (immediately is ideal) after a firing session AND you have to use an aqueous cleaning solution followed by lubrication with oil.
That means stripping the rifle, cleaning the bore, cleaning the gas system, and cleaning the bolt assembly. Firing residues contain the corrosive salts from the primer. The aqueous cleaner is important because it is the water component that dissolves the corrosive salts. An ammonia-based houshold cleaner will work just fine. After cleaning, then the components need to be dried, lubed with oil and reassembled. With practice, you get to where all this can be done reasonably quickly.
The Soviet military never switched over to noncorrosive ammo and the US continued using it into the 1950s. The Sacred and Holy Garand itself was used with corrosive ammo through most of its tenure. Corrosive ammo works just fine and won't hurt your weapon provided you are willing to follow the protocols that its use entails.

[Argent Towers]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone.

I have always preferred regular iron sights to scopes. When I take the rifle out to shoot, I'm going to take the scope off and use the original mag as well, for sure. In fact, I made sure when I bought the rifle that the standard 10 round mag was included too. That extra hardware all looks really cool but you're right that it really just gets in the way.

[Scumpup]

BTW, Argent, your new toy is a Yugo M59 variant of the SKS that has had its bayonet removed and the lug/hinge where it attached ground off. Not a rare piece, but the majority of Yugos I've been seeing lately are the M59/66 variant with the grenade spigot and flip-up grenade sight/shut off valve. Enjoy your new gun!

[Argent Towers]

Scumpup, I'm inspecting the rifle now. That scope mount is on there damn tight. I mean, it's practically welded on there. There's a rail, on top of a half-cylinder piece of steel that fits flush on top of the receiver. It couldn't possibly be any more secure than that. There's little space beneath the rail where you can look through to the iron sights if you don't want to use the scope.

[Scumpup]

Is the scope mount attached to the receiver or to the receiver cover? IOW, when you field strip the rifle, does the scope mount stay attached to the receiver/barrel assembly or does it come off with the sheet metal cover you remove to take out the bolt assembly, spring, etc. Your photo is dark in that area and I can't tell from the picture. I just assumed it was a receiver cover mount since those are the most common...due to being cheap and easy to install.

[Argent Towers]

The scope rail is part of the receiver cover. The receiver cover and scope rail are one single piece of metal.

[Scumpup]

Okay, then it is a receiver cover mount. Whoever modded the gun discarded the original receiver cover. Since those mounts were made by several different manufacturers to fit SKS carbines made over different decades in different factories in different countries, sometimes the tolerances add up in your favor and you get one that is a really, really tight fit on your rifle. The tighter the fit, the less the zero will wander and the happier you will be. That's why I referenced banging it into place with a mallet upthread.
If you want a stock receiver cover, they're cheap and easy to get over the web.

[Argent Towers]

This one seems pretty damn tight to me. Maybe I was just lucky. In any case, I'll probably get a stock cover anyway just for the sake of being able to swap everything back to original spec if I feel like it.

[Tully Mars]

Argent Towers, I may have been imagining things, but I think I just saw a GQ thread started by you asking how to reassemble an SKS. Was that before or after this thread?

[Argent Towers]

Before.

[Bear_Nenno]

Just thought I'd share:

I just bought an FN 5.7 last week. I got pics of it at the range.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5729/s1035059jd5.jpg

Also got this picture which caught a bullet in flight. See it?
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1997/s1035032xz3.jpg

[Argent Towers]

The two-tone one? I saw one that looked like that at the gun show. Green slide and the rest black. Or the other way around, can't remember. I don't know if it was the same exact kind.

I'm not all that interested in handguns, more of a rifle fan. In fact, I have never even fired a handgun before (though I wouldn't mind it or anything.)

I do see the bullet in the photo. Nice job.

[T_SQUARE]

Just thought I'd share:

I just bought an FN 5.7 last week. I got pics of it at the range.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5729/s1035059jd5.jpg

Also got this picture which caught a bullet in flight. See it?
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1997/s1035032xz3.jpg

Is ammo still pretty spendy for those? I've been pretty tempted to blow some cash on the civi version of a P-90 but I've heard NATO was buying up most of the ammo.

[Scumpup]

I got interested in the idea of a semi-auto pistol shooting a high speed, very penetrative round. The FN didn't appeal and the ammo costs too much. So instead, I whipped out my handydandy C&R license and had a Romanian TT-33 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TT-33) delivered right to my house. The gun was under $200 and internally was in unused condition. Externally, it showed signs (under arsenal refinishing) of having been stored for an extended period in a leather holster. Surplus ammo is available and cheap. Commercial ammo also easily available. The 7.62x25mm Tokarev is a hot cartridge. If a more modern auto pistol using this cartridge is ever brought to market, I shall insist on having one.

[Bear_Nenno]

Is ammo still pretty spendy for those? I've been pretty tempted to blow some cash on the civi version of a P-90 but I've heard NATO was buying up most of the ammo.
It's about 25 dollars for 50 rounds right now. Availability seems okay though. Everywhere I've been in the last week except Wal-Mart had rounds available.

[Stranger On A Train]

Yeah, I was always brought up with the "assume all guns are loaded!" rule, but unfortunately if I *know* for sure that a gun isn't loaded (for instance, after taking it apart and putting it back together several times, as I did earlier,) I sometimes disregard it. But I shouldn't though, because it does encourage good gun safety skills to always follow that rule.The point has already been made, but not strongly enough for my tastes. One never "assume[s] all guns are loaded!"; it is, instead, a fundamental rule of firearm handling that any firearm that is in battery--that is, fully assembled with the action closed (or ready to fire in the case of open bolt weapons)--is loaded, period. Not "unless I've just checked it," not because "I always store it unloaded," not "I'm really, really, really sure I just unloaded it." A fair number of negligent discharges have occured with an "unloaded" firearm, which is why it is Rule #1. (Back when I was a firearms instructor I used to palm in an inert round after having the student "prove" that the gun was unloaded just to make the point.) A comprehensive collection of the rules of firearm safety (there are only four) is here (http://www.recguns.com/Sources/XIIIA4.html). Anyone intending to handle firearms should be able to rattle these things off like Alec Baldwin reading David Mamet.

Regarding the SKS, I had one once (Russian built), and while it was cheap to shoot it was insufficiently accurate for deer hunting or anything more than casual plinking. It also had an annoying tendency to slam-fire when it got dirty, occasionally resulting in two and three round bursts. I also found that the extended magazine got right in the way of my arm preventing good hand placement on the forearm. I sold it at a modest profit even after putting an aftermart stocks and a cheap scope on it. It was fine for what it was but not a favorite.

Stranger

[Argent Towers]

Props to you guys for the gun safety reminders. I truly appreciate it.

1. All guns are always loaded.

2. Do not let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off of the trigger until your sights are on the target.

4. Be sure of your target.

(Without peeking at the original page.)

Especially since I am getting back into shooting after a long time, I think I will sound practice to repeat these rules to myself every time I'm about to pick up the rifle, to make sure they stay front and center.

Regarding slam-fires, I did some research on that problem. I will make a point of ensuring that the firing pin and the whole bolt in general is super clean every time I perform maintenance on the rifle. I found some good instructions on that here. (http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/boltdisassemble/hs.asp) As for the feel of the rifle, I don't find it to be uncomfortable. I'm not looking to hunt so this one is just going to be a plinker anyway, and it also has some appeal as a historical collectible too.

[usar_jag]

Also, you need to remember P.J. O'Rouke's rules about weapons:

(I'm paraphrasing here)

1. Never point a loaded weapon at anyone.

2. Above all, never, ever point an unloaded weapon at anyone.

[Bear_Nenno]

Word of caution: there are some who would point out that you should never have your finger on the trigger unless you are actually ready to fire...just so you know.
I dont see his finger on the trigger. Which picture is everyone talking about?

[Argent Towers]

I replaced the picture. I was advised not to have a picture up of me breaking a rule of gun safety, lest it come back to haunt me in the future somehow.

[Argent Towers]

By the way, about slam-firing, can something like this (http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=96290078) be useful in preventing it?

[Stranger On A Train]

By the way, about slam-firing, can something like this (http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=96290078) be useful in preventing it?I think the problem I had with the gun experiencing slam-fires was due to not cleaning it of Cosmoline (or whatever it had been packed in) thoroughly before firing. I suspect some of the crud got embedded in some packing jelly in the firing pin channel and made a colloidal deposit that resisted further efforts at cleaning and probably contributed to some corrosion. Cleaning the gun before first use and keeping it clean may help prevent this problem. My main issue with the gun, aside from predictably disappointing accuracy, is that it felt nothing like the customized HK91 I'd learned to shoot on (and at about 10% of the price that's not surprising) and it just never felt quite solid to me as an M1 Garand or FN-FAL of similar design era. It's fine for what it is, and a comparative bargain to shoot, but not to my taste.

Stranger

[Scumpup]

, aside from predictably disappointing accuracy

Did you really try to see what the gun was capable of doing? (http://www.simonov.net/uberaccur.htm)

[Stranger On A Train]

Did you really try to see what the gun was capable of doing? (http://www.simonov.net/uberaccur.htm)I replaced the stock with a synthetic and properly secured the trigger group. I also used some commercial 7.63x39mm loads (Federal, I think) as well as the cheap mil-surplus ammo. I've pulled sub minute of arc groups at 100m routinely on a "sniperized" HK91 at a tender age, so I'm pretty familiar with good rifle shooting technique. The gun is long since gone (as well as most of my interest in shooting, these days) so it's purely an academic issue for me, and with the high degree of variance and QC in East Bloc and Chinese manufactured arms I'm reluctant to claim that this was typical, but I was indifferent about the rifle and happy to sell it at a modest profit. My intent was to purchase a Ruger Mini-30 until I discovered that the gun was nearly as lethal from the side as from the front due to how forcibly it ejected spent brass.

These days my shooting is all done with a Wrist Rocket, and only at pigeons who won't go away from my bedroom window.

Stranger

[Hirundo82]

By the way, about slam-firing, can something like this (http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=96290078) be useful in preventing it?
I haven't heard much about the spring-loaded firing pins. As Stranger said, it is crud in the firing pin channel that predisposes to slam fires or even causes it to go full-auto.

It is actually very easy to disassmble and clean the firing pin; I do it after each range trip with my SKS just to be safe.

When you take the bolt out of the rifle, you should be able to hear the firing pin rattling back and forth when you shake the bolt. If you can't, you probably should disassemble the bolt and clean the firing pin channel. There are good directions here (http://surplusrifle.com/sks/boltdisassemble/hs.asp); I clean the channel with Gun Scrubber, and supposedly brake cleaner works just as well. Do not lube the firing pin.

[NurseCarmen]

I have no idea what you people are talking about. My SKS is crazy accurate, and I throw the cheapest crap plinking rounds in it that I can find.

The bad news Argent, is that due to the various armed conflicts around the world, 1000 rounds will likely cost you as much as the rifle did. That is why I stand shoulder to shoulder with the war protesters. 250? A thousand used to be less than $100!