Bedding the SKS, Results are in.

mikeystew

mikeystew

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A while back I epoxy bedded my SKS stock to see if it would make much of an improvement to its accuracy. Well, last week I had a chance to take it out and see how it did, and I was disappointed to see not much if any improvement. It still shot about 3-4" groups at 50m at best, closer to 5" for the Barnaul stuff, and roughly 6-8" at 100m, up to 10" for the Barnaul fmj.

Today i decided to try Something else, and that was to add some downward pressure to the barrel by placing shims under the front stock ferrule where it joins the tip of the forestock to the barrel. I just built it up with about 6-7 layers of masking tape, and now the cross pin acts as a proper fulcrum.

Like Magic. It now shoots as good as I was hoping it would after the initial bedding. These are some of my targets from today, and shamefully I tossed the last set of poorly shot up targets out of disappointment.. so I don't have any to compare it too. But take my word for it, it wasn't anything to boast about. And honestly neither are these targets, but it's absolutely a huge improvement. Really, it's yuge.

American eagle fmj, 50m - 5 rounds. The hole above the 9 is two shots. This group measured 1.5" ctc. Pretty damn hot for an SKS if you ask me. At least better than any group I've ever shot with one.




Barnaul hollow points. 50m - 5 rounds



Barnaul FMJ, 50m - 5 rounds



Hornady SST, 50m - 5 rounds. This actually disappointed me somewhat. I was expecting better from Hornady.



I ran out of my Score keeper targets but still had some 50m rimfire targets so decided before I left, I'd put one out at 100 and burn the rest of my Good stuff.
American Eagle, 100m - 10 rounds. This one really impressed me. To see it go from 6-7" with the American eagle last time I shot it, down to 4.5" if you count the flyer, pretty cool. And I know I pulled a shot off early in that group. Discounting the flyer it's otherwise a 3.5", 9 shot group




So all in I can pretty happily say that bedding the SKS is totally worth it, but it benefits from some downward pressure on the barrel.
 
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S1de8urnz said:
Any chance you got a picture of the tape on the stock? And thank you for putting in the work and time to try new things.
Click to expand...

Sure, I've got pics of it all.

This is the main bedding area at the rear, the draws on the trigger group hanger, and the cross pin



This is the are I added the pressure to.





I also bedded the gas tube cover with RTV Silicone.

 
If you can put rounds into centre of mass at 50m, you're doing fine. Anything better is strictly for your own satisfaction. I sight my rifles in for real-world scenarios. If I can put rounds into the chest of a target at 150-200 feet, I'm satisfied.

Cannon
 
Well now. I guess I know what I'm doing to my SKS next. I "bedded" mine with brass at the rear recoil lug. I'm fortunate that my SKS is one of the fortunate ones blessed with great accuracy. MFS shot the best for me of what I have tried so far. Hornady SST's shoot worse than Barnaul for me. The jury is still out on Norinco white box. The one time I tried it, the groups were horrible, but it was really cold out. My SKS doesn't really start to group well unless it gets the chance to warm up.
 
Jonny_Cannon said:
If you can put rounds into centre of mass at 50m, you're doing fine. Anything better is strictly for your own satisfaction. I sight my rifles in for real-world scenarios. If I can put rounds into the chest of a target at 150-200 feet, I'm satisfied.

Cannon
Click to expand...

real world? you must be in a diff world. I want to hit a running coyotie at 1-300 yards. anything I can do to tighten up the groups is great. this is a good idea, and I think I will try it. I have a good sks stripped down and mounted/ bedded in a timberline stock just like the poster has, and it didn't really make much diff. I'm very interested to try this idea however.
that's my real world
 
CMichaud said:
Wonder if it would shoot as well had you not bedded it but only did the shim thing
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Im not sure, but it needed to be bedded anyway. There was no contact on the draws where the trigger group hangs, and there was a lot of back and forth play because the cross pin wasn't making contact.
Fundamentally, I think adequate bedding is necessary whether it's glass, epoxy, or a wood to metal fit. The downward pressure on the barrel is like the tuner that dampens the vibration of the barrel.
 
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