followed me home

[cummins05]

154739Dang another firearm just followed me home. I grabbed this gem for a good deal I believe ($250). only came with a small box of 40 tula ammo but that's ok. I have wanted an sks for quite some time and I know the Russian made are a lot better than Chinese norincos but hey when opportunity presents itself you gotta jump. I tore it apart as soon as I got it home and I believe it was unfired gas tube and rod were spotless barrel looked good. believe I really found a good one. Let me know what you think and if you feel its a good idea to reload for these since tula and wolf are so cheap.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Congratulations! I've got a pair of the Chinese rifles and find them highly reliable. Perhaps the Russian version is nicer cosmetically, but semi-auto is semi-auto and the Chinese rifles work just as well. As for reloading, to me the reloading part is the fun part, and being able to make ammo for yourself that is less available than the import stuff. I've loaded up some very accurate soft point and hollow point ammo, and when you obtain a supply of U.S.-made brass like Winchester you can load with boxer primers, your choice of powder and bullets, and be assured that it's non-corrosive. Personally, and it's just a matter of individual taste, I prefer the SKS to the AK. It seems more of a rifle.

[Clark]

I am no expert.
I got a Chinese ~ 1994 with a case of ammo for $100 from someone who needed money. I sold it back to him 10 years later.
I still have (6) lying around.
I think some Chinese are the best, some not very good.
Russians are worth the most.
Yugos are built the best, but not accurate for me.
Albanians are made so poorly, it is like a joke, and then the stocks are deeply engraved with graffiti.
Romanians are so so.

After some effort accurizing an SKS, I have decided that open sights and com block ammo are good enough for a stock SKS barrel.
I think if I put a 6mmPPC benchrest take off bull barrel on one, things might be different, but until then, no more trigger jobs, glass bedding, scope mounts, hand loads, etc

[cummins05]

just a question on reloading for an SKS how much should I worry about slam fires? I know folks say it can happen with even an AR15 but I believe if everything is in good working order it is very unlikely to happen.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I, personally, have never had it happen to me--but they have happened. I exclusively use CCI primers which are said to be harder than some other brands. And of course, good safety procedures demand that you keep it pointed downrange at all times.

[mrrch]

From what I read the slam fires can only really happen if the firing pins gets grunged up and start sticking (they do not use a spring to return it)

[Hickok]

CCI #34 primers. Made for mil-spec rifles. I use them in my M1A.

[Gofaaast]

The SKS has a reputation of slam fires. The weight of the firing pin is greater than other semi auto firearms and is floating. I would use CCI #34 mil spec primers for ALL SKS loads requiring a large rifle primer. Get some AA1680 powder and you will be in business.

[cummins05]

Thanks for the info guys. Ill snag some primers and plan to lead for it in the future for now ill just waste some tula ammo in steel cases because I have a ton of other thing to work on right now. My contender is eating up my time loading because barrels keep showing up at home.

[WILCO]

Congrats!!!

[funnyjim014]

Nice find. I don't think you paid too much. I bought a super clean norinco just as NYSAFE was released for 350. All I shoot is cheep blasting ammo. Not worth to gear up and reload for it when I have so many other more accurate options

[Fishman]

I had a slam fire with my norinco. I have put a lot of rounds through it and it always works. I think you got a great price because it has been a long time since they were $100. They shoot cast just fine, easier than the ar to load for, that's for sure.

[leebuilder]

Hey all. I have had many SKS, never seen or had a slam fire, i think you keep the firing pin clean and free you will be fine. The quality of them varys so much. The Chincoms seem to vary the most from scrap to the finest, Russians are well built and usually used, what miffs me is what i see most often in Russians is the bore is not concentric with the barrel. Most Russians have trigger groups that are "worked" and the Chincoms not.
Just what i have seen and experienced
be well.

[snoopy]

Good buy, and I'm with you on the ammo, too many other options to bother reloading for it

[nekshot]

around here that would be a 450 buck gun! You did good, now you need a cage to keep brass in the same zip code.

[S. Galbraith]

I've had a lot of SKSs over the years. Never had any problems with any of them, and they have been pretty accurate too.

[Happyguy]

Fun to shoot and a nice looking gun.

[Bazoo]

Congratulations. They are fun guns, and decent shooting guns too.

I have owned 4 sks rifles. One of them I fired extensively. I never had a slam fire. I kept the bolt clean though and the firing pin was always free to move in its track. I had a double once, which was the sear spring getting weak. It doubles as the magazine latch spring.

All in all, it was a great weapon. I had a couple jams, i dont recall exactly how it jammed. But I replaced all the springs in the gun as it was very well used when I got it, and didnt have any further issues. I fired 4 or 5 thousand rounds out of the gun. It was pretty accurate too.

[Mica_Hiebert]

Boil your bolt to remove any trapped cosmoline to prevent slam fores also instead of pulling the bolt to the back and letting go kinda let it drag forward with your hand. I still see them as $89 truck guns but $250 is probly the best deal your gunna find for a while! Wish I had bought truck loads of $350 mini 14s as well.

[Bazoo]

When i had mine, I tried to make the gun slam fire by loading the same round over and over releasing the bolt from the furthest most of its travel. I cant recall how many times I did it. Somewhere about 6 or 8. The primer had a heck of a dent, but didnt go off until fired.

[leadman]

I bought an unfired Norinco after the 2012 election. I slugged the barrel and it is large at .3125" so I size the Lee 160gr TL SKS/AK boolit and load it over a load from the manual of H4895. Very accurate and about the same velocity as 123gr factory ammo. Has a 4X scope on it.

[yeahbub]

Some years ago,I found a sweetly accurate handload for a friend's SKS using the 150gr Rem or Win .30-30 bulk bullets. The jackets are thinner than those intended for .308 or .30-06 and the heel obturates to full groove diameter with a load of 26gr of AA 2015 and seated no deeper than the base of the case neck. Never mind the cannelure. I use the expander for .308 dia in the Lee die and there was no set-back trouble. Accuracy out of this SKS was 1" - 1.5" at 100 yards off the bench with impressive expansion. I attribute the accuracy to several reasons:

1. The bullet weight and length more closely accommodates the 1-in-9.4" (IIRC) metric twist rate. A better match for length-to-twist is the LEE 160 TL but it's not a soft-point. One idea was to cast the 160 soft and paper patch or copper foil patch, but we lost touch and never did.

2. The Bullet's obturation and sealing of the bore. The obturation expands the soft core and stretches the jacket, keeping them tightly together, unlike an oversize bullet being fired out of a tight bore which tends toward core-jacket looseness when the jacket wants to spring back to it's original diameter, as when there's tight spots in the barrel.

3. A good barrel with no tight spots, something we discovered when slugging the bore to determine whether pressure lapping was desirable. It was acceptably consistent and we left it. The hard chrome bore would also have necessitated specialty abrasives, like diamond, but hey, we quit while we were ahead.

BTW, there was a slam-fire while checking feed with a test round. There's nothing like releasing the bolt and having it whack the ever-living snot out of the finger that's still where the bolt handle was a second ago. That hurt so bad I forgot to "express myself" and I felt it for days. I went to CCI primers which are harder than most others and never had another problem. Their M43 primers are a sure fix. The firing pin was free to move in its' channel, so that wasn't the problem. No recollection what brand of primers they were. Someone somewhere made a spring-retained firing pin, IIRC. Maybe that's still an option for those who feel the need. I'd have bought one that day, for sure.

[james23]

Up here in Canada the sks, along with the svt 40 and the moisin nagants have been great buys for several years now. Its one of the last surplus rifles that we are going to see imo as full auto came next. Every small and big gun shop has them from $200- 250 Canadian which is $160 US. I don't reload much for these yet as it really spits brass every where and the last ammo I bought was $210 for 1440 rounds