Recoil buffers in AK's and SKS's, with and without?

[His lordship.]

I have been using recoil buffers from Buffertech and Brownells with good results in my AK-47 and pistols over the last 1-2 years.  

I had a Chinese SKS without a recoil buffer that I had put 1,400 hundred round in over 7 years, the rifle was very well cared for, and yet I could see during strip down of the firing assembly where the metal was being scraped back on the receiver block from the bolt end hitting it during recoil, causing the steel on the bolt to also wear as well.

I installed a recoil buffer on my Russian SKS when it had only 60 rounds through it, remembering that the receiver wall looked near mint where the bolt hit it, I have since put around 150 more rounds through it, and lo and behold, there is damage (gouging) to the steel where the bolt is hitting the receiver wall block.  I just tore down my Romanian AK-47 yesterday for a real good cleaning and I could see where the recoil buffer was doing its job, helping to preserve my rifle.  

Has anyone had experience with these recoil buffers?  Is my buffer for the SKS defective?  I do have another one as a spare, would it be better than the older unit in design function as it is a different colored plastic and newer?

As many of the writers on this site seem to really know SKS and AK-47's, have they had any problem with the steel damage from recoil impacting their bolts and receiver wall blocks without a recoil buffer?

I am really unhappy about the gouging on my very nice Russian SKS laminated stock rifle, as I wanted to keep it going for many many years of shooting, but now I am wondering if the AK-47 with the recoil buffer is much better in the durability department, and yes, I was thinking about one of the Yugo rifles, hmm....? :?

Thanks

[S.S.]

Believe it or not, The SKS was designed to only last a minimum
of 5,000 rounds. at a firing rate of 35 rpm.
 I know that does not sound like a lot, but
when you really think about it, that ain't bad. The design is
actually more robust than Mr. Simonov planned for.
Some of the wear you are seeing may just be the Rough edges
wearing off. I don't worry about it on mine, because There have
been tests on the SKS lasting more than 30,000 rounds.
I don't think I'll live long enough to put that many through mine!!

A note of interest:
   Did you know that the SKS is based off of an Anti-Tank gun?
It was the 14.5mm PTRS !

[1911crazy]

As I do with all my semi's I just moly-lube them and shoot them so far no wear at all. But i did just recently buy a used sks that showed wear from using the wrong lube.                                            BigBill

[savageT]

S. Sumner, Big Bill,
On the SKS:  Is the expected life relatively short due to lack of chromium lining in the barrel bore and corrosive primers, or was it from general field use- wear and tear?
Big Bill, you are always talking about using moly grease.  What brand names are you using, and where do you find this stuff?  Is it a wheel bearing grease, available from most auto supply stores like NAPA??


Jim

[1911crazy]

S. Sumner, Big Bill,
On the SKS:  Is the expected life relatively short due to lack of chromium lining in the barrel bore and corrosive primers, or was it from general field use- wear and tear?
Big Bill, you are always talking about using moly grease.  What brand names are you using, and where do you find this stuff?  Is it a wheel bearing grease, available from most auto supply stores like NAPA??


Jim

Moly isn't a grease or oil its a natural mineral additive that reduces friction and wear.  
There is a site for it; tsmoly.com they have it in all forms but I use it in the ts-70 paste/antiseize form this stuff is awesome its the best lube you can use. I use it in semi-auto's, bolt-actions and handguns on sears it reduces trigger pull as much as 50% and on bolt actions on the lugs and sear. In the semi-auto's all moving parts you can see the difference in the cycling its faster and smoother "NO FRICTION" and "REDUCES ALL WEAR" which is great in guns. I even use it on my 45acp/1911 slide its messy I shoot it on the first treatment but once its in the metal thats it no wear. The first thing I do with a new gun when I first get it is to give it a good G.I. cleaning then "Moly" it up right away and its good to go shootin anytime.

On the sks's the chinese norinco's and the russian's have chrome lined barrels which last longer.  I have also heard that some of the yugo's that they are selling have pitted barrels because of corrosive ammo and poor cleaning habits not all of them just a few. As supplies of these guns runs out the condition/quality gets worse and the price goes up.    BigBill

I just bought a couple of yugo ufixems from century arms for $79 the only thing wrong with them was a broken safety lever a $5 part.

[His lordship.]

With the exception of S. Sumner, thank you, S. Sumner, the other authors seem to be confused on how recoil works.  When the trigger is pulled the fired cartridge forces the bolt back under great speed and force, it hits a part of the rifle in the main assembly area.  

lubricatin like grease or oil allows parts to move easier when they are resting on other parts, this has nothing to do with a hammer hitting a wall.  In other words, it would be like putting grease on your car bumper and hitting a wall at 15 miles per hour.  The grease would do nothing to help you but your bumper is now dented.  What I was talking about would be like putting a chunk of rubber on the car's bumper to absorb the impact on the wall, again oil or grease would do nothing to protect the bumper of my car.  I hope this helps.

[1911crazy]

Here's my views on buffers if it was a problem to begin with, who ever manufactured the sks would of put it in there right? I just took my sks apart that I have been shooting since the early 90's it was brand new when I bought it and there are just two little marks from the slide hitting the reciever block but nothing to worry about. I think if you have that problem there is something wrong with the spring pressure??? I would either replace the spring or shim it first. And reblue the end of the cover and shoot it and see what happens.
I just took apart and looked inside one of my yugo's that have been well used in war and there is no marks inside it too.  So you may have a problem with spring pressure if your getting marks that bad.
But my question is what ammo are you using?? Is it hot?? Which could cause that problem too?                                       BigBill

I don't put moly on my car bumpers either.

[1911crazy]

You should be able to open the slide easy to the point where the chamber is exposed to eject the spent round. Then the farther you go past that point it should get harder to open as the spring pressure increases. On my newer sks it increases big time at this point.          BigBill

[His lordship.]

After I wrote the original article, I tried the different colored recoil buffer (light grey) that I had bought years after the first one, as a spare, in my receiver cover on my Russian SKS.  After several sessions to the range it is doing its job and the back of the bolt is not hitting the receiver block.

The only thing is there are so many more moving parts on the SKS to get hit compared to the AK-47.  For instance, on firing the gun, the gas piston rod hits the center rod in the rear site part of the receiver, which then hits the front of the bolt, and the bolt then slams into the receiver block (without a recoil buffer), and then the bolt is making marks on the front of the receiver when it slams home on closing.  With the AK, the gas piston is one piece with the bolt, the whole thing moves back to hit the receiver rear.

With the AK-47 being cheaper to make, and can fire full auto, with a 30 rnd. magazine, I wonder why the various communist countries, other than the USSR, continued to make the SKS for so long?  :?

[hillbill]

sks good, change bad, mmm me hungry