questions on Yugo SKS

[tercel89]

Just got a Yugo and it has cosmoline all over it and the bore looks untouched. Looks like it has never been fired . I see no score marks from normal fire . How can you tell if it hasnt been fired? Do the countries still put cosmoline on the weapons even if they have been shot/used to sell to wholesalers? Sorry so lame of a question but i got no ansewer by doing a search. :)

[dougwtx]

Can't really tell if its been fired or not. Most were rearsenaled and may have had new barrels or other parts put on. Cosmoline is common in the C&R world; new and used will be packed with this stuff.

[RENEA]

Yugoslavian made SKS's will all have been fired because the weapons were taken out of depot storage every 5 years and test fired for serviceability. I check the gas tubes and bore prior to purchase as the Yugos used corrosive ammo.

[tercel89]

thanks abunch .I will check the gas tube when i get home tonite.

[Glockdude1]

You will really like that rifle. Mine has been 100% so far.

:thumbsup:

[tercel89]

Hey whle i am thinking about it , i was at this gun show buying this Yuog SKS and one guy was looking at the same batch that i was looking at and he says that he wouldnt buy any sks that had any type of play or looseness in the gas tube cause they wont work or cycle. Well i got to thinking and all the sks's i have ever picked up or seen had at least some type of wiggle room or looseness. Even my MAK-90 had some wiggle room in it gas tube and it worked just fine.Is this guy just being a wiseguy or do you think he's telling the truth?

[Glockdude1]

Originally posted by tercel89
Is this guy just being a wiseguy or do you think he's telling the truth?

"Wiseguy" knows little about SKS rifles. My Yugo gas tube is little loose and it works just fine.

:supergrin:

[dougwtx]

Mine is a little loose too. If its too bad, there's always the popular paperclip fix.

Originally posted by Glockdude1
"Wiseguy" knows little about SKS rifles. My Yugo gas tube is little loose and it works just fine.

:supergrin:

[Glockdude1]

Originally posted by dougwtx
Mine is a little loose too. If its too bad, there's always the popular paperclip fix.

:thumbsup:

[kf4zra]

another way to gauge the amount of use one of the rifles has seen is to pull the bolt back till it locks. then look inside. the more a rifle has been shot, the more wear marks (places where bluing is gone) will be seen on the receiver "rails" and on the magazine follower.

ive seen gas tubes be so loose you thought they would almost fall off and they worked fine, then there are some that are so tight you can barely get them back on that dont work. usually if the gas selector switch internals are pitted bad, you will need the paper clip trick, or purchase a replacement switch.

the things to check on a yugo would be to see if the safety is broken which happens often in shipping, and to see if the gas selector switch will move or not. if it is rusted into place in the semi position, its not a really big deal, but if its in launch mode and frozen up, thats not good. some frozen gas switches can be freed others will need to be shipped back.

last but not least, make sure that when you pull the bolt free from the bolt carrier that you can hear the firing pin moving back and forth freely. if this pin gets jammed you can have a slamfire condition. its not good. you may need to clean the cosmo, grease, sand, whatever from inside there. sometimes you can blast it clean with brake cleaner, othertimes, you will need to knock the pin out that holds the firing pin in the bolt and clean out that channel manually.

[RMTactical]

Mine came with a shooting log that documented all the times it was shot, IIRC it was shot like once or twice. That's rounds, not sessions.

[Glockdude1]

http://www.kivaari.com/

Has anyone here had a trigger job done by Kivaari? (Tom Prince)

If I can get my trigger on my Yugo down to a nice crisp 4.5lbs it would be just about perfect.

:thumbsup:

[tercel89]

thanks a bunch guys . I guess he was just being a smart***** :upeyes:
I'll try all of the above procedures and see , but i really think it is just fine . I have heard of the slamfires and that sounds like it would be a surprising experience , scarey but surprising.Thats a good reason to never rack the bolt back to chamber one if you are indoors or not at the range or not at a safe place if its a relatively new gun. So the fireing pin gets kinda locked or jammed in place instead of "foating " around in there and it casues the gun to keep fireing everytime it cycles back? Ill probably shoot it good with brake cleaner or soak it good in kerosene.

[87vert]

Originally posted by tercel89
So the fireing pin gets kinda locked or jammed in place instead of "foating " around in there and it casues the gun to keep fireing everytime it cycles back? Ill probably shoot it good with brake cleaner or soak it good in kerosene.

that is exactly what happens, the yugos use the free floating design while others have a spring in them. You need to take the bolt apart and clean the channel out. Look up Ben Murray's firing pin if you want a better replacement. It includes the firing pin and 2 springs (extra one).


For the trigger job, I used Wolff springs on mine and polished the sear surfaces and it is nice and smooth now.

[tercel89]

Originally posted by 87vert
that is exactly what happens, the yugos use the free floating design while others have a spring in them. You need to take the bolt apart and clean the channel out. Look up Ben Murray's firing pin if you want a better replacement. It includes the firing pin and 2 springs (extra one).


For the trigger job, I used Wolff springs on mine and polished the sear surfaces and it is nice and smooth now.
so the Ben Murray pin turns it into a spring loaded version like the russians?

[87vert]

Originally posted by tercel89
so the Ben Murray pin turns it into a spring loaded version like the russians?

yup

[tercel89]

thanks for the info on that 87Vert:thumbsup:
This military surplus thing is still all new to me , but i got to tell you guys , its cool as heck cause you dont spend near as much as you would buying new guns! I remember when i got my Bushmaster and it cost me out the butt! But with these SKS' and stuff , i can buy a whole gun for the price of only just one component on my Bushy. And like i say when i am looking for a car or truck , I prefer function over fashion and thats what these rifles are .They may not look as cool as todays rifles but they are plain, simple, and very reliable.

[87vert]

when I first bought my SKS I was really confused that it cost more for a case of ammo than the rifle. Not used to that

[kf4zra]

Originally posted by 87vert
that is exactly what happens, the yugos use the free floating design while others have a spring in them.

Ill agree regarding the yugos, however the above statement is not true. mthe firing pin in my yugo 59/66 is free floating, but so are pins in my albanian, chinese, and russian sks's. cant speak about the romanian, e german, or n. korean ones tho. i dont own any of those....yet.

only the russian ones from 49-51 have the return spring.

[hotpig]

Originally posted by RMTactical
Mine came with a shooting log that documented all the times it was shot, IIRC it was shot like once or twice. That's rounds, not sessions.

The first case of the Yugo SKS that I sold all had their log books. Most had been fired only a few times.

[chowchow]

Most of these Yugo SKSs are brandnew, Marshall Tito was fanatical in stockpiling arms cache for possible war with USSR during those days. I have several sks and the most accurate is the M59/66. The heavy barrel it has makes for its inherent accuracy.

[A_Fletcher]

kf4zra,
I know I've seen this somewhere before, but which position is the gas selector supposed to be in for regular fire?

[Glockdude1]

Originally posted by A_Fletcher
kf4zra,
I know I've seen this somewhere before, but which position is the gas selector supposed to be in for regular fire?

Down and to the right.

[kf4zra]

yup what glock dude said.

for launching grenades the switch would need to be in "single shot" mode. since you would want to use the grenade sights to launch said grenade, you would have to move the switch from "semi-auto" to be able lift the sight.

think of the switch as a grenade sight retainer. down, it locks the sight in place since you are in semi-auto mode, up so you can lift the sights into place for single shot nade launching.

the switch doesnt really hold the grenade sight down, theres a detent for that, but its how i find it easy to remember.