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.
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.
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?
Before.
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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. 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
Props to you guys for the gun safety reminders. I truly appreciate it.
**1. All guns are always loaded.
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Do not let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
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Keep your finger off of the trigger until your sights are on the target.
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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. 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.
Also, you need to remember P.J. O’Rouke’s rules about weapons:
(I’m paraphrasing here)
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Never point a loaded weapon at anyone.
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Above all, never, ever point an unloaded weapon at anyone.
I dont see his finger on the trigger. Which picture is everyone talking about?
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.
By the way, about slam-firing, can something like this 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
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
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; I clean the channel with Gun Scrubber, and supposedly brake cleaner works just as well. Do not lube the firing pin.
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!