Recently in SKS Category

My SKS Saga...

Start at the bottom...some of the older links got broken when I moved from Movable Type 3 to version 4.

Remember what it was like when you noticed your first girl...how smooth her legs and arms were.  Well the SKS is not quite as deadly as that young lady, but has it's own snaky charms now with a clean front end.



I'll give it a shot of cold blue this weekend and see how it looks. Coating with Aluma-Hyde is not out of the picture quite yet. It depends if I can match the deep bluing on the barrel.

What a freakin' job. Rather than buy an arbor press, I took the advice of SailorCurt in the comments of my last post on this and bought a gear puller...and yes, I had to use a 28" breakbar to get it loose. It would "CRACK" and move an eight of an inch...about 10 times. After that I was able to pound the assembly off with a hammer and wood block. The front sight assembly is beat up a bit, but not unrepairable, and the barrel is in the white but without a mark on it.

Sweet. Thanx Sailor and everyone else who offered advice.  Check out Sailor's blog for his own SKS saga and lots of other goodies.

My Saga runs from 10/9/2004 thru 12/13/2004 in the 'Guns and 2nd Amendment' archives with a report in the archive 'Range Reports' on 10/24/2004.

Update:  Bluing came out pretty good after 3 applications.  I'll probably hit it again once or twice.  The sling is a WWII vet that I got in '55 for my first rifle.

It looks pretty sleek with the Albanian bolt carrier and 5 round mag.

I have to get that big honkin' front sight assembly off of this thing. I've pounded, heated, pounded, soaked in penetrating oil, and pounded some more. After taking the pins out, they say these either fall right off or you need an arbor press...which I don't have. I'm going to have to cut it off.  I think the SKS would look a lot cooler with that looooong barrel bare except for the muzzle brake.  Front sight assemblies are cheap anyway...even if I want to put one back on some day.

I like the scout configuration a lot. I can use stripper clips and shoot with both eyes open thru the red-dot. Put the dot on the target and blast away.

Here's a picture reader Johathan sent me of the inspiration for the work he is doing on his SKS.  Doesn't the clean barrel look sweet?  Nice clean lines with the 5-round mag also.  I've got one of those...too bad Jersey doesn't allow those 20 round fixed mags they have for these.



Update:  Results of the latest pounding, pulling, and swearing are here.

Woohoo...today starts my holiday weekend. I'm off to the Fort Dix range with the SKS. I want to sight in the holosight and shortie scope I installed. I'll double-check the iron and long scope while I'm at it. Williams rear peep sights have a tendency to loosen up...if they are off I'll resight them and freeze the threads with loc-tite. Pictures and report when I get back. Hope it doesn't rain. The Weather Channel: Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. 130 rounds....120 of Wolf and 10 of Federal factory grade. The Wolf (still) sucks. I had three failures to fire with it. I never have any problems with the factory stuff. Although at less than $90 for 500, the Wolf is a bit cheaper than the Federal at $10 for 20. I was able to sight in the iron and shorty scope with no problem. The Holosight had reverse verniers and I kept anti-sighting it in to the point I was ready to throw the thing in the garbage. Eventually I fixed the rifle to the bench, lined up the iron sights, and without shooting I dialed the holosight close while looking thru it. Then I was able to tweak it in. Much better. The fellow at the bench next to me had a Garand and an 03 he had built from parts. They both worked beautifully. He has about 30 various rifles he got from the CMP...mostly Garands. He also had a couple of M1As from Springfield. He takes the best parts of them and builds shooters and sells them. The rifle he showed me today looked like it had just come from the Remington factory in 1942...literally NIB. He wanted $500. I got his number and will get one after I get a couple of paychecks from my new job. Its better than taking a chance with the CMP. He shot the rifle off-hand at 100 yards and shot a beautiful group right away. Using mil-spec ammo he got from the CMP, the rifle was quiet. I love the 'ping' sound when the clip gets flung. The young guy on the other side had a Springfield Armory Garand fitted out with a scope mounted to the back sight base. Interesting. It also sounded like a cannon with the hi-end handloads he was shooting. Garands to the right of me, Garands to the left of me, volley'd and thunder'd. Storm'd at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well... I got the SKS dialed in and was able to play with a piece of history...a good day at the range.

A muzzle break Yes, I understand very well that the SKS has neither the recoil nor muzzle blast that would require a break. However, something has to cover the threads in the Peoples Republik of New Joisey. It was this or cut off the treads and recrown.

You can see how the William's Firesight lights up for the camera. It's like having a powered red-dot for iron sights...cool. If the weather cooperates (it hasn't lately) I'll take this out on Wed.

I was finally able to get my modified SKS out to the range today. I trucked out to Ft. Dix Range #14 early to take advantage of their 9:30AM opening...it's been packed out there lately. As it was, I got the last available table. The weather was in the mid-50's, windy, but dry and sunny.

My goal was to test out the fit and function of some of the modifications I had tortured the rifle with, and to zero in the scope. Since I had fired the rifle last, I had installed a new stock with picatinny, a Murray firing pin, an Albanian bolt carrier, a receiver mounted scope mount with shell deflector, 5 round fixed mag, and a Wolff spring set. As it turned out, each of them gave me some initial cause for concern, but my biggest problem turned out to be my ammo. Lets get the ammo problems over with, shall we. My first two shots were duds using Wolf ammo. As the firing pin didn't even dent the primers, I was seriously concerned with my modifications. I immediately checked out the firing pin, swapped out the Albanian bolt carrier for the original Yugo, and tried again. BANG. OK, what the hell, I popped the Albanian back after 20 rounds and didn't have another problem of this type for the remaining 150 shots. I have no idea what this was...I had checked the firing pin before the trip to the range and it was moving freely. The Albanian is machined to tighter specs than the Yugo carrier, but the bolt still seemed to move fine after 150 shots of dirty Wolf ammo. However I did have several failures to fire with the Wolf ammo and about a half-dozen failures to eject. The failures to fire did dent the primers and the failures to eject went off with a dull thud...not the sharp crack of the normal shots. While the failures to fire could be a combination of hard military primers and a lighter Wolff spring set on the rifle... with my low power failures to eject, I'm inclined to blame the ammo for all these problems. The Wolf was dirty ammo and I felt obliged to give the rifle a spritz of break-free after a 100 rounds or so. There were no problems of any kind with about 40 rounds of Federal I shot off...spread over the hour and a half I was shooting. Over the course this time, I sighted in the scope, removed and replaced the mount to check zero, tried to get some good groups, and banged away with the rifle trying to see what loosened up.�� The mount stayed solid and returned to zero after removing and reattaching the scope...I was happy with that. The Harris bipod loosened up after about 100 rounds and needed to be tightened down...a thumbscrew. The Weaver converta-mount didn't move a bit.

Ft. Dix range 14 is only about 220 yards max distance. I set my targets up at 50 initially and moved them out to 100 yards a bit later. The wind was from behind me and was holding the range flags straight out. Disclaimer: I couldn't get any 5 round string to shot consistently. No matter what I was doing, with what ammo, I could get three rounds to go where I wanted, and two would not cooperate. Here is the target I used to test "return to zero" after the removal and reattachment of the scope...it's got a 1 square inch grid on it. This was at 50 yards with Wolf ammo.

I fired 2 5-round strings and removed and reattached the long scope in between them. Seven shots in an inch and a quarter...and three more rounds another inch high and low. The flyers were from the first and second group both. You can say I would have been a lot more pleased if all ten had gone into that one hole. Anyway, I think I can say the scope returns to zero after reattachment. What I can't say is that I could hit anything with it. I had worked on the trigger and gotten it down to 8# pull. That's not saying much. The trigger pull is looooong and has at least two definite stages. The hammer on this is huge and I swear I could feel it swinging around like a 2lb sledge inside the receiver when I touched off. Here is 100 yards with Federal Ammo. I claim that 3/5ths of my shots are sub-MOA with this rifle! I also claim that my remaining 2/5ths are MOB (Minute of Blimp). I did hit close enough to a golf ball at 50 yards to fling it into the air twice...I am a terror to small white orbs.

OK, what does this all mean. The Wolf ammo is just for plinking. I can't trust it enough if the SHTF. It is cheap (about $50 for 500 rounds) and goes BANG about 96% of the time. It's very dirty. I feel that about 75% of it is good accurate ammo...but what do I know, I can't hit crap anyway. The Federal is fine, but at $10 for 20 rounds, it is too expensive for plinking. This will have to be the ready ammo on stripper clips. After an initial problem with 2 FTF (which I still haven't figured out), the rifle was fine. All of my FTE were prefaced by a dull thump when the shell fired. Always Wolf. There were no feed problems with the 5 round fixed mag.The scope mount was solid, and the bipod less so...better the scope be solid. No recoil to speak of and very comfortable to shoot with the Ramline stock. Not a sniper rifle, but I'm confident I could hit something out to 300 or 400 yards with this...at least 3/5ths of the time.

I installed the picatinny under the forearm of the SKS tonight. I had to shorten it an inch or so to fit the flat area of the stock. I fitted the picatinny and an attachment that adds a swivel head. Now I can put the bipod on and off and still have a picatinny for other items.

Here are a couple of shots of the flush mounted 5 round mag, converta-mount, and integrated shell deflector. Everything has been either re-blued or black anodized depending on the material. It is very solid. The flush mount mag is pretty cool.

 

Getting there....

The muzzle break I was waiting for won't be coming. Apparently they couldn't deliver so I'm getting my money back. I'll need to find another. At that point I am done. I think I'd like to find a smaller red-dot than the one I have...make the rifle a bit sleeker in that SHTF configuration. My boys were down for the holiday. The SAW gunner and Jarhead took one look at the SKS and began worrying about my sanity. They are both poodleshooter fans. Personally, .30 cal and up is all I'll ever buy. This project has been cheap fun.

Welcome... You might choose the SKS category on the right (hit the Java tag) to get the SKS diary without all my other entries....

I received the shell deflector today. I attached it beneath the Weaver converta-mount with 4 6x32 machine screws. That mount is done. I am still waiting for the short scope and muzzle brake. So far, so good. The SKS with long scope on the Weaver converta-mount. The shell deflector mounted permanently under the converta-mount. The converta-mount removed from the mount base. The shotgun converta-mount base with another top

My Harris bipod, picatinny rail, and spare fixed mag showed up on the doorstep today. The bipod got installed and I am starting on the modifications needed to create a fixed 5 round hunting magazine. Yesterday the long scope and an additional converta-mount were delivered. I'm still waiting on the muzzle brake, shell deflector, another converta-mount and a short scope. This rifle is going to be utterly convertible when I'm done. I made pains to have the attachments work with some of my other firearms. A Sniper with a full sized scope, integrated shell deflector, picatinny, and bipod. A hunter with a 5 round flush mag and short scope. A SHTF rifle with holosights, 10 round mag, and picatinny attachments. The converta-mount means I can put any of the opticals on my sweeper. The bipod pops off for re-attachment of a hunting sling and will fit any of my other rifles with a swivel lug. The short scope and holosight allow the use of stripper clips. The holosight will fit the 1911 Kimber rear dovetail with an adapter. Sweeet! The short scope on the converta-mount would be perfect on my slug gun. Pictures tomorrow. Still to be done: What to do about the front sight? I would like to remove it, but I want some type of iron backup. I'm thinking a small folding front sight on a band around the forward gas tube...that would be off the barrel and out of the way when I would use the glass. I can visualize what I want and could use the post from the front firesight. Yet again life intrudes on my shooting schedule. *She* is going to a baby shower Sunday and I get to drive halfway to NYC. While *She* is there, I'm going to trip over to Ray's sport shop out in Plainfield...20,000+ sq/ft of just hunting and shooting stuff and a thousand guns for sale. I've got to get the SKS back out to the range before the weather goes completely to shit in New Jersey...

The following letters were gleaned from a thread on Survivors SKS board: As I read this, I can pretty much do what I want with the SKS as long as I keep the fixed mag. I have removed the bayonet and grenade launcher, and that seems to have helped...although the PRNJ doesn't allow detached mags on the SKS or fixed mags over 15 rounds.

I have ordered: A flat picatinny rail for under the fore arm. Another top scope mount for the base I machined onto the receiver. A muzzle brake. A Bushnell 4-12x40 rifle scope. A shell deflector. I need to get another fixed 10 round standard OEM magazine and a bipod. I am planning to manufacture my own 5 round flush mount mag using a 10 round OEM that I pick up somewhere. We have the technology. It actually looks like a really easy job...barring the mag catch. I expect I'll have to rivet or spot weld that in to get the flushy goodness I want (I love using technical terms). I received a Yugo replacement cover yesterday...un-numbered. I think I am going to attach a flat rail to the top of it as a back-up scope platform. It should be easy to attach gripper panels to the sides (rubber lined) to keep it solid on the receiver. Family matters (in other words...life) are interferring with my working on the SKS and my shooting. Hopefully, things will calm down and I can get back to work on this. Today's trip to the range for some serious testing was again side-tracked.

Trigger: No matter that I have polished the sear and carrier rails to a high shine and replaced the springs, I'm still not getting any better than 8# pull...and a long one at that. About the only thing I can do is send the assembly away for a professional job if I want to get it down to 4# or so. I probably won't go that far. Optics: I like the weaver 810 mount assembly I bubba�d to the receiver...and I find myself a happy victim this time of the law of unintended consequences. The top thumbscrew assembly can be bought separately. I realized that I can use one top with a holosight or red-dot with stripper clips, another with a shortie scope, and yet another with a full sized scope with a shell deflector fitted under the thumbscrews. They should take about a New York minute to swap out with no loss of zero. The following is a picture of a Chinese SKS modified by the famous Gewehr98. He has been modifying it for weight, but again the unintended consequences have resulted in a minute of angle rifle. I really like the Capco muzzle break, but unfortunately they are no longer being made. He is using the same stock I have, and a cover mounted scope and shell deflector. The gas tube is a light model available for about $20 bucks�but I like the one that came with the Ramline. He is using the stock bolt carrier as well as a semi-flush mount detachable zytel 5 round mag. His goal is to get the rifle to 7lbs, and he appears to be almost there. I�m doing much the same things as he is, without regard for weight. It would be nice to get my rifle as accurate.

I have ordered a type of shell deflector that can fit under the thumbscrews of my mounting system, and another mount that will fit the existing base that I have machined onto the receiver. I�m looking for a decent scope on Ebay, and should have better luck now that I am not looking for a quality compact scope�there are plenty of regular scopes of good quality at reasonable prices. Front Sights: Doesn't the barrel look great on Gewehr98's rifle? I would really like to pull the front sights off completely...cut them off if I must. The muzzle break on his rifle fit all the way up to the step in the barrel where the front sight assembly ends...and looks really sharp. I would cut the front sights off in a heartbeat if I could find a pivoting front sight that I could fold out of the way when using glass or holosights...I still want something up front for iron use. Bipod: The bipod goes under the front end, but should I attach it to a swivel or to a picatinny. I expect the picatinny would give me the option of removing the bipod and attaching something else. That seems the way to go. The Mag: New Jersey does not recognize the federal C&R statutes, so I'm pretty sure that replacing the mag will not make the gun illegal...as long as I keep the replacement under 15 rounds AND it is detachable only with tools. I'm interested in finding a flush mount 5 rounder that is really flush mount. I think that would look cool with the long scope. It's coming along nicely, parts are cheap, and pretty soon I will have a long snaky black rifle that won't embarrass me at the range.

It is time to take a look at some of the work I have done on the Yugo SKS I bought from AIM surplus.

I like the looks of the Albanian Bolt Carrier on the SKS.

These are the first pictures with my new camera...practice, practice, practice. I'll be working up a pictorial essay on my rebuild of this thing. Patience.

SKS follies I tried to take the front sight base off...no joy. I soaked in penetrating oil, twisted, tapped, walloped, heated, begged, cried, and swore. What I needed was an arbor press but what I got was bent bayonet lugs. So I cut the bayonet lugs off, smoothed and polished on a wheel, and was pretty satisfied with the result. I�m a better cutter and shaper than a puller or prier. I just may cut and shape some more. The CommieWeenieHolsterCompany One thing I haven't talked about is my adventure with the Russian Holster Company... I started this as a thread on the AR15 forum with the following post on September 29th. This is probably wierd, but here is how I got started with this. I missed out on a really nice Mak [url=http://i22.ebayimg.com/03/i/02/5a/51/72_1_b.JPG]holster[/url] on Ebay. I had never seen one like it. The only marking on it was Izhevsk (the same city Klashnikov assault rifles are made). I did some research and came up with the [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/about.php?lang=en]factory[/url] that made holsters for the late un-lamented Russian empire (thanx Ronnie). Most of the site is in Russian (I used Altavista babel fish) but the product stuff is in english. Tons of holsters. The thing that intrigues me are the prices...in roubles. A 100 roubles equals $3.42. How about this [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789008017b.jpg]one[/url] for 8 bucks. You have to add stuff to a shopping cart and then contact them for shipping. I checked international shipping and 2# is about $20 to Russia. Hopefully the handling charges aren't $200. I'm going to try them just for grins...I'll let you know how it works out. [b]Update:[/b] OK I ordered about $45 in various holsters ([url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789008017b.jpg]1[/url], [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789015129b.jpg]2[/url], [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789015111b.jpg]3[/url], [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789014042b.jpg]4[/url], [url=http://www.holster-ltd.ru/images/info/8789008013b.jpg]5[/url]) (2000 roubles). What a trip. Back and forth with Babel Fish to figure out addressing, international phone numbers, email, types of payment and shipping. I still don't know what FIO means (a required input) and my payment got set to "In Person"...that ain't going to happen. I included my changes and questions at the end of the form in English and a BabelFish translation to Russian. I guarentee I sound like a idiot on the other end. They are supposed to get in touch with me in a couple of days with shipping and payment information. As far as I know, I could have just offered to marry 45 Russian sweeties. However, it is worth a shot...IF the holsters are worth while, and IF it isn't too hard to do the deal, and IF the shipping isn't a rip...it could possibly be a good source of stuff. The fun never stops. After some intermediate discussions, I finished up with the following post yesterday. Three of the holsters showed up today. Very, very, nice quality. I got #1, 2,and 3 from the above post. My digital camera was liberated recently and I need to get another soon. Quick and dirty....no cheap Chinese crap here. Much higher quality than I thought I would get. The drop leg holster is heavy duty, has a sight channel, and is adjustable for size six ways from Sunday...and really looks cool. The covered holster has a pocket for an extra mag, leather loops for a bore tool, and another long pocket for sundries. It's got a leather flap that covers the butt of the pistol when the top flap is down. The leather is thick and metal fittings are excellent on all items. The yaqui slide holster holds the Mak tighter than my yaqui slide holds my Kimber and also has a plastic sight channel. It has a spring steel clip sewn into the leather to pinch the gun. Everything was top quality...siliconized rubber for spacers instead of plastic, brass fittings on one of the holsters, everything really nice. Each holster had a little tag with the initials of quality control and the packer...a nice touch. I can't wait to see the shoulder holster. Everything fits the Mak perfectly. As soon as I can get pictures up I will. If we can find a cheaper way to get money to Russia, this would be a really good source for stuff. My total costs were <$60 for the holsters and ~$20 for shipping...it was the $40 for the wire transfer that pissed me off. On the other hand, I got 3 holsters in 2 weeks...quicker than they promised Oh, and I've got a Galco Yaqui ($60) for my 1911 and this one is nicer. If the shoulder holster is of the same quality, that one holster will more than cover my total costs. Check out what all-leather shoulder holsters cost. I'm pleased. I'm not an idiot after all. I wish they made holsters for my other guns, but it seems they stick mostly to Macs and It's difficult to figure out what guns their other holsters fit. To be worth it right now, you need to buy multiple holsters to make up for the shipping and transfer fees.

My Ramline stock was delivered today and it is a beauty. I had to trim the stock to trigger assembly keeper spring to get it in, but other than that the fit was perfect. It is perfect for what I want to do next...a bipod, brake, new M45 front sight to replace the 5lbs of Yugo stuff, and a optical sight mount. *She* took one look at it and said..."that looks evil, I don't know if I want to drive in the car with it, you'll get arrested." Bliss. Update: In a discussion on the subject of removing metal from the SKS that I had on Survivors SKS Forum, I mentioned "removing all the crap from the front of the Yugo" Geese, you would think I kicked a puppy. I got slammed for refering to some of the parts as crap, my lack of respect for the weapon, and general newbyness. My reply..."Sorry about my slur on the grenade sight. I carefully removed the grenade sight by scalping the pin and removed the sight in one piece. Then I put the piece of crap carefully away." I have no respect.

I removed the grenade launcher last night. I punched out a small pin, wrapped the unit in a rag, fixed the receiver in a vice, and turned it off with a pipe wrench. One sharp tug and it came off. It took longer to clean the threads. I expect to pick up one of these...although the threaded barrel looks kind of cool, and illegal in the PRNJ. I pulled the trigger assembly to see if I could do something about the loooooong pull. I had installed a Wolff spring set previously and wanted to do something about the sear. I simply spent some time polishing the sear and frame rails trying to brighten it up without taking metal off. After reassembly, the pull is smoother, but still long. I have read that there is a way to cut an angle on one surface of the sear that cuts down on the take-up. I may try that, but only if I have an extra sear around in case I screw it up. Trigger disassembly is a pain in the ass. To remove the hammer, you must (again) move the hammer back against spring pressure and pop it out of it's trunnions. The two ways I found to do this on the web didn't work for me. I finally gripped the hammer shaft in a vice-grip, wrapped the vice-grip and trigger in rags, and pushed the hammer out by main force...and still tried it 20 times before I got it out. It reassembled on the second or third try. I was able to find two suppliers that ship to New Jersey that have ammo in stock. www.cheaperthandirt.com www.ammunitionstore.com www.dansammo.com - is out at the moment I bought a Ramline stock used and it is on the way. We'll see what that looks like. I need to wait on the bipod until I see the stock. I'm mounting a picatinny under the forearm. That way I can mount a bipod sometimes...and a tactical refrigerator/beer cooler other times. I considered removing the front sight assembly. The barrel is long and snaky and would look cool with just glass sights. The device is pinned thru the barrel in two places. I can get the sight off, but I'm not sure how I would like the barrel with two pin slits cut in it. I have to do something...the sight assembly still has grenade and bayonet stuff on it and is massive. Perhaps install a regular SKS front sight and live with one pin slit. This is what I started with. This is what I am going for. The para model shown here has a shorter barrel than my Yugo, and the front sight on mine has the bayonet lug directly under the sight and another assembly for the grenade launcher attached also...big.

I was finally able to get some trigger time in with the SKS.  Unfortunately I haven't replaced my liberated digital camera so no pictures of me doing the deed as of yet. This isn't mine, but it pretty much looked like this when I got it (and cleaned it up a bit). This carbine (?) is a SKS Yugo M59/66 manufactured in 1976. The furniture is a unprepossessing moderately grained beech. The gun was delivered with some leather straps, an arsenal book, and an ammunition pouch. The accompanying arsenal notebook has a start date of Nov15, 1976. The last entry was on Jan 24, 2002 for a procedure "nagrizenosti" notated at 5%. Eventually I'll find out what that means. The same entry is notated for '78, '82, and '95. This unit may have been shot in 1976 and in 2001. Hard to tell cuz I don't read Yugoslavian. I would not be surprised to find out it had never been shot at all. The metal is deep blue and beautiful. The Yugo has a fixed 10 round mag fed by stripper clips and can accept single rounds. Detachable mags are available but don't seem to work as well as the OEM. This puppy comes with a built on bayonet and grenade launcher, so be VERY careful about what you add to it...or you might have the BATF kicking down your door. The AIM SKS-select grade is extra money for the wood...not the mechanicals. Save your money and get the shooter-grade for $80 bucks. You'll be refinishing the stock anyway. As received from AIM surplus, the Yugo was drowning in the eastern European version of cosmoline...wax, sheep fat, motor oil, or whatever. I was able to generally clean it up with oven cleaner, carb and brake cleaner, break-free, purple goo, and a good long soak in gasoline for the metal parts. The stock I soaked in oven cleaner for an hour at a time and that was enough to avoid baking the stock.  As I disassembled deeper and deeper, I would still run into the ersatz cosmo but it would clean up nicely. The stock was OK with minimal dings, but one number higher than the serial number on all of the other parts...weird. and less than collectable. I removed the grenade sight carefully as noted in an earlier post. I also removed the burnt out tritium night sights and the bayonet. I replaced the awful iron sights with William's Firesights. I replaced the free-floating firing pin with a machined model from www.murraysguns.com with a spring...to avoid slamfires. I am considering different stocks and scope mounts. What I really wanted to do was shoot it. The only ammo I can get around here is Remington UMC at $10 for 20 rounds...not exactly a buy. In an earlier post I talk about my problems getting milsurp ammo shipped to New Jersey. I still bought 100 rounds of the Remington...because did I say what I really wanted to do was shoot it? Off to the range...here is my first target at 50 yards, iron sights, on a sandbag rest for 20 rounds. Not very thrilling, but I was checking fit and function and getting used to the trigger.  As JL at www.surplusrifle.com says..."the trigger on an SKS is like pulling the bumper off your car with your finger". Maybe not quite that bad, but mine has a short take-up, a loooooooong bumpy trigger pull, and a soft break. This is not a sniper rifle. It did shoot better as the barrel heated up. The day was cloudy out at Fort Dix with only a bit of wind. The Firesights showed up like a battery powered red-dot scope...very impressive. There were no failures to feed, fire, or eject. 90% of the ejected shells went forward and to the right about 6 feet. The rest went all over, including straight up and down to bonk me on the head. Recoil was lighter than I expected for a 30 cal carbine...hell, the thing weights about 10#. I turned the gas port off for a couple of shots and the kick was noticeably greater. It doesn't feel as strong as a .308...but I'm a recoil wussy anyway. I was down to my last few shots when I turned the gas port off, so I don't really know if this is more accurate tricked out as a boltie. Here is a target toward the end of my day. Getting better, but my 1022 would put rounds in the center circle all day long. The black is 5 1/2 inches and the center circle is 1 1/2 inch. I am told this rifle was designed to hit a man-sized stationary target out to 500 yards...bullshit. I would say 300 yards max with a lot of luck (a big stationary target - like a house). As a battle rifle...100 to 200 yards (unless they're moving). This is my best target. I shot 5 rounds and this is what I saw...and saved the target immediately. The first rounds ripped the paper and a couple of rounds flew thru that...it's been flattened out for scanning. I don't believe I could shoot this rifle like that consistently without major tuning. This 10# 43" long carbine (?) is a serious joy to shoot...hopefully www.dansammo.com will get some 7.62x39 in stock. The commercial stuff is just too expensive. This is a rifle as much fun to shoot as a .22 if you can get the ammo cheap enough. I also learned that I am a thumb-fingered idiot with stripper clips. It would have been quicker for me to load the rifle one shell at a time. I saved some brass to practice loading with stripper clips. An examination of the brass showed no crimps at the neck, deformations, or problems with the caps or ejector. As for making it more accurate...I don't hold out much hope. Free floating the stock is problematical because of the gas valve and forend hanger attached to the barrel...much less the huge front sight and bayonet lug. Maybe bedding would help. The trigger is awful, but even if tuned down to a couple of pounds pull it couldn't help that much...the honkin' great hammer is the size of a 2# sledge and has a long arc to swing thru. Go cheap for glass and mounts, too...I repeat, this is not a sniper rifle. This is a gas-operated, semi-automatic, supremely reliable, killing machine out to a couple of hundred yards. It ain't as pretty as an AR and couldn't compete with the worst of them in a target match...but it will work in the worst of conditions with a minimum of maintenance...something AR's are not known to do. It's not a poodleshooter, you know you're poppin' caps on a 7.62. Accessories are very cheap and varied...from no-gunsmith mounts with shortie scopes, tuned triggers, lots of stocks, bipods, up to caddy rebuilds. What's next...I think a composite stock, more work on the trigger, some kind of solid mount and glass. The last time I got so much pleasure out of less than a day's pay, there was a Po-town hooker involved.

A lot of money, but just so cool. I especially like the sights.

The special firing pin from Ben Murray was delivered today and immediately installed. Unlike all other SKS variants, this firing pin is milled to accept a return spring. One of the problems (ouch) with the SKS is that the free-floating firing pin can get gummed up or stuck forward in the bolt carrier...resulting in slam fires. This special pin virtually ends that problem. The stripper clips and metal cleaning rod showed up also, but I'm still waiting for the Wolff trigger spring set. One thing that I need to watch carefully is the gas port on the Yugo. The original design for the SKS was brilliant, but the Yugo variant has a lot more "stuff" hanging on it...and is much beefier. There have been ejection problems because the gas port hole in the barrel is pretty small...as designed for the older types. I will have to shoot the thing to see if there is a problem, of course, but drilling the hole larger is something a lot of guys do on the Yugo. Still no luck finding surplus ammo. The 2 new patio doors are leaning up on the back deck calling to me...install me, install me. Don't know if I'll be able to get any shooting in this weekend, but I'm going to try. If I get up early and get the job done, *She* will be so happy that I'll get to go to both Ft. Dix with the rifle and ShoreShot for some pistol shooting on Sunday. Well, I can dream can't I?

I'm still waiting for some parts for the SKS. A firing pin from Ben Murray, a Wolff spring set for the trigger, stripper clips, and a metal cleaning rod (the alum' rod snapped trying to clean cosmo out of the barrel). I built a three-point sling for the carbine. There is a hardware store up in Point Pleasent that's the only place locally that has webbing and an array of various clips. When *She* trots me up there for the antique stores, I always stop by and get some webbing and accessories...for slings, tie-downs, etc. Next I tackled the shooting glasses problem. I'm very near-sighted. With my glasses off I have no problem reading or seeing gun sights at arms length. With my glasses on, I see fine for distance but everything within arms length is a blur. I had bought a pair of stick-on reading lenses for my glasses. They are small and work well for reading without constantly taking my glasses off. They also allow me to see the sights of a weapon as well as the distant target. Problem is, I have to crane my neck back to get a good picture through the bottom half of my glasses with these stuck on. The last time I went shooting, I wore my regular glasses, with a pair of largish reading glasses over them...this worked out very well. I could see my sights and the targets and shot like a house afire. It looked kind of stupid tho, wearing two pairs of glasses, and was awkward keeping them both centered...especially with the ear pieces both under sound supressors. I went out and bought a cheap pair of weak reading glasses and popped out the lenses. I removed the lenses also from an old pair of clip-on sunglasses by drilling out the studs with a pin drill. I drilled 4 holes in the lenses of the new reading glasses and mounted them with tiny studs onto the clip-on frame. Works like a charm. I now have reading lenses I can clip to my regular glasses. They fold down nice and flat and pop up when I don't need them. I still would like to get purpose ground shooting glasses, but don't have the bucks right now.

Tonight's project was to remove the grenade sight. It has a pin with a rivet type flat at both ends, so you can�t just punch it out. Most guys cut it off. I wanted to save the sight just in case�besides, why destroy pieces if you don�t have to. I have the metalworking skills and tools to do the job right. I set up my drill jig to get a perfect 90 deg. angle and sunk a hole into the center of the pin about 1/32 deep x the diameter of the pin. That removed the flat on one side and I was able to punch it out. An easy project compared to playing with the rear sights last night. With all the crap off the front this baby is starting to get positively snaky. The 'gas tube over the barrel' Russian design has a mean look. It would look hot with a metal gas-tube hand guard instead of the normal wood. I still haven't gotten my stripper clips or firing pin assembly. Next will probably be a mount for the optics�a good one will require drilling and tapping the frame. If I can find one of the better receiver-mounts cheap on Ebay, I might try that first. A bipod that mounts on the old bayonet lug is all that�s left. I still haven�t decided about the stock. I�ve had no luck finding a Choate standard camo SKS stock anywhere.

I received my Williams Firesight today and installed it. I bit of a job, that was. The trick is to compress a spring-steel tab under the rear sight to be able to free up the old sight and slide it out. Some instructions call for slipping a screwdriver between the front of the sight and the sight housing and pressing down against the spring...other instructions call for compressing the entire sight from the top with a block of wood...easier said than done. I tried for a couple of days and couldn't get it done. I finally used a "third hand" to compress the entire rear sight, slid a couple of round pins into the trunnion holes to hold the sight down against the spring. When everything was a compressed as it was going to get, I used a screwdriver to pop the sight off...cosmo. What a pain. The front firesight sight installed OK, although only if you followed the instructions backwards. The rear Firesight popped on fine and the sight picture is as bright as a red dot scope even with interior lighting. The peephole is just the right size for the SKS sight radius. Even my old eyes could get a good sight picture. I also removed the bayonet and cleaning rod...big surprise, more cosmo. AIM could not sell me any ammo (something about not being sure of what is legal for NJ) and Dan's is out of 7.62x39. I refuse to pay $9 locally for a box of 20 when I can get 500 rounds for less than $50 on the web. I'm still waiting for my stripper clips and a purpose build SKS tool and cleaning kit from Tapco. Ben Murrey has sent me my safety firing pin, but I haven't gotten that yet either. I talked via email to Fred Choate of Choate Machine and Tool...they no longer make the camo stock for the SKS that I wanted, only in black. I'm going to check around a bit more and see if I can find one. Otherwise it's a art job for *SHE*. Sweetie has already said she will design a camo pattern and paint it on for me...be afraid, be very afraid. I want to mount a scope (or at least some type of holosight) on this puppy. About the only solid mount that allows you to field strip the rifle and continue to use stripper clips must be machined onto the frame. Rear cover mounted rails are (1) too shaky, or (2) solid but you can't use stripper clips, or (3) very solid but you can't use clips and must remove the mount each time you want to field strip. Choate makes a nice frame mounted see-thru rail that would require me drilling and tapping 4 holes...I'll probably do that. We have the technology. Well, as you can see I'm having fun with my commieweenierifle...and I haven't even shot it yet.

The cosmoline surrendered to a combination of oven cleaner, carb cleaner, and a long soak in gasoline. I know I was getting somewhere when the rifle started smelling like wood. Todays' project was cleaning that wood. After the rifle was disassembled and all metal parts were rubbed down with a silicon rag and put away. The stock was then soaked in oven cleaner for an hour then washed....and repeat. It lightened up quite a bit. I toweled it dry after the last treatment. After drying under hot lights, I then hit it with steelwool to remove the "fuzz" caused by the water. For the next several hours I sanded with 60, 100, 150, and then 220 grit sandpaper. I finished it off with a good rubdown with the 0000 steelwool. It has a nice smooth feel now with just a few dings from 50 years of storage. Tomorrow stain, repeat. I think something dark...maybe ebony. Then a couple of coats of Tung Oil. The only thing I have bought for this so far are William's Firesights, and a safer firing pin and spring aftermarket add-on. When I see the way it looks after staining, I will decide on a new stock, paint, or leave well enough alone. Update: The application of stain is time consuming. There were no major scratches, stains, dents or dings so I was able to start early and get two coats of ebony in by drying for 4-5 hours under lights. I hand rubbed a coat of Tung Oil, buffed it up, and set it aside for drying. Perhaps another coat of Tung Oil later. Tomorrow it will be ready for wax or satin Polyurethane depending on how it looks. It only looks about a thousand percent better now, and I ain't done yet.

Lesson One: When depressing the tappet and spring back into the housing under the rear sight...don't let it go until it is secured. It tends to shoot into the air like a rocket, strike the ceiling, separate into its various components, and find the most inaccessible spots in the room to hide in. Lesson Two: Jumping up and down on the rifle to reseat the trigger group might look stupid...but it works. Lesson Three: After soaking the rifle in a combination of MEK and Rocket Fuel for three weeks, you will still find cosmoline on your clothes when you handle this weapon. I am convinced that the Russian Empire stood as long as it did only because it was gummed together by cosmoline.

My AIM select grade SKS showed up...oh, happy day. I was able to pick it up at the FFL dealers after work. The first comment out of the dealer's mouth..."that can't be legal in New Jersey"! Sweet Jesus, Yes. Bayonet, Grenade Launcher, et al....legal in New Jersey. My wife took one look and banished me to the attic with oven cleaner to remove the big block of cosmoline to see if there was a rifle inside. I worked on it for an hour to get to the point where I could start to clean it...it was that coated. Beautiful. Tonight I will start stripping it down to get at the cosmoline on the inside. Update: Another two hours of work and I'm just about at the point where I can start soaking this thing in gasoline. I think the entire annual output of the Duchy of Cosmo was lovingly folded around this carbine. It is beautiful under the grease, but I've a long way to go. Some great SKS links... www.surplusrifle.com www.simonov.net www.sksman.com

My SKS hasn't arrived yet...bummer. The 1000 rounds of 9x18 JHP Makarov from dan's ammo showed up, but no carbine. It's probably a good thing (as Martha would say). I'm supposed to be working on the house this weekend. Especially since the electricals are going screwy. I've fixed one serious problem, but I'm now running my computer from an extension cord out of the living room. I have replaced breakers, switches, receptacles, etc and I still can't get power to the most important plug in the house...the one with my computer on it. Nothing in the attic that I can see so tomorrow it's a creepy-crawl under the house looking for skunk-chewed wiring. With an SKS in my hot little hands I would be cleaning, inspecting, tweaking, and shooting the beast. Instead I am cleaning, inspecting, tweaking, and fixing the electricals. The homestead rebate showed up...and visions of firearms danced in my head. That was until *She* decided on new sliding-glass patio doors...two each. I've got three projects going...fence, bathroom, and electricals...and now sliding-glass doors.

I ordered my SKS from AIM. I expect it to be in on friday or saturday. The more I think about it, the more I expect I will keep it basic. I do know I want a firesight and opticals (for my eyes), and a bipod for my old shaky hands. I would like to paint the stock camo, I think...the advantage to buying these types of guns is that you can play with how they look without spending a fortune or worrying about messing up an expensive rifle.