Author Topic: couple new toys (Read 840 times)

Curtis · « **on:** February 01, 2009, 03:10:00 PM »

Tonight I detail stripped my new SKS for the first time (laptop in the background with good web instructions helped). I found some corrosion inside the gas cylinder bore, but the piston is in good shape. I'm in the process of smoothing out the inside of the gas cylinder so the piston can travel freely. Other than a missing receiver cover, that is the only thing keeping this from being a working unit. The previous owner is looking for the cover. Evidently her husband (a friend of mine) had the rifle field stripped when he died several years ago so she's having to dig for it. I'm optimistic that I'll get this one going though, I already bought a can (700 rds) of 7.62x39 to feed it. Southwest ammo in Mesquite (TX) had some Romanian fmj pretty cheap (considering) and I was afraid they'd be out by the time I got ready for it. I'm new to the SKS but learning fast. Any "heads up" type things you think I should know would be appreciated.

One of the other items from his collection that I'm buying is a Yugo M48A 8mm Mauser excellent in appearance, but it will get the same treatment (detail strip/inspection/cleaning) as well as guaging the headspace before I fire it. When I start working on it I'll post a pic.

Curtis

Curtis · « **Reply #1 on:** March 15, 2009, 12:43:23 PM »

Well, my friend never found the receiver cover but I picked one up at the gun show for $5.00 yesterday. My Chinese is ready to go now!

I'm glad I bought the ammo when I did, it seems that prices are going out of control.

While at the gun show I also picked up a bayonet for my new Yugo M48.

I still haven't gotten around to pulling the M48 apart and checking it out. I didn't find any decently price ammo at the show yesterday and it may be a while before that happens. Here's a picture anyhow.

Curtis

1911crazy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2009, 01:24:31 PM »

Thats one of the unissued M48's

I found one like that still NIB in a pawn shop. These are awesome 8mm mausers. There was a run of the well used m48's for a while too. I believe these had the shortest bolt length of the 8mm mausers.

On the sks make sure you disassemble the bolt and remove the firing pin to clean it out good so slam fires won't occur. Just make sure its dry and clean when you reassemble it.

There was a difference in the american manufactured 7,62x39 ammo. It was .308" diameter and had soft primers. It made the imported rifles in 7,62x39 very inaccurate because they had .310"..311" bores and some had slamfires because of the soft primers. I shoot mainly new wolf ammo. But i'm sure any russian or european ammo will be ok to shoot. If you reload the 7,62x39 make sure you use the CCI nato primers there made for the floating firing pins.

SKS Warning; Once you shoot it, it can cause you to buy more sks's, shooting the first one and seeing how much fun it is to shoot can start the disease beaware......it could cause a feeding/buying frenzy and you may go looking for a Russian, an Albanian, a Yugo and a Romanian sks soon after. Don't smell the cosmoline for too long too. This can cause you to reach for your wallet everytime you smell the cosmoline too. Trust me i know......

Curtis · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2009, 02:54:54 PM »

Quote

Thats one of the unissued M48's

How can I find out? Is there any way to look up serial numbers to find out the history of a particular rifle?

Quote

On the sks make sure you disassemble the bolt and remove the firing pin to clean it out good

Thanks for that advice, I didn't do that last week. I finally watched the video on surplusrifle.com last night and realized I neglected a couple of things. I've got to go back and make sure I don't have any oil in the gas cylinder too, so I'll disassemble the bolt and clean it good.

Quote

SKS Warning;............

Yeah, I haven't shot it yet but I had a feeling it might be a very fun little carbine.

Thanks for all the good words of advise, what did we do before we had forums?

Curtis

db22 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:31:43 PM »

Curtis: Since you're in Texas, you should check out a couple of fellow Lone Star SKS guys who provide good solutions to the SKS's inherent troubles. There's a gunsmith in McKinney who does mighty good work on the oddball trigger mechanism, goes by the Finnish name Kivaari, and another who makes a new, stainless-steel spring-loaded rebounding firing pin that stops slamfires (in my rifle, so far). As 1911crazy noted, slamfires are a real danger if you use ammo with normal primers.

Look in the advertisements at surplusrifle.com for these two vendors. I apologize for mentioning vendors who do not advertise on GBO, but the SKS has some dangerous weaknesses that can be avoided if the right modifications are made.

Curtis · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2009, 02:28:03 AM »

Thanks db22, I'll look for them.

Curtis

Curtis · « **Reply #6 on:** March 19, 2009, 10:28:25 PM »

Here's another picture I took tonight. Chinese SKS and Yugo Mauser together.

I finally got time to take the M48 apart for a good cleaning. Everything looks great and the headspace gauges I ordered should be here in a day or so. Now all I have do do is find time to go shooting!

Curtis