SKS firing pin question

Polish-Jack

Polish-Jack

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
29   0   0
Location
Kelowna, B.C. Canada
I am seriously considering getting an SKS so I have been doing some reading and found that the later model do not have a return spring on the firing pin. How can the Russians do that and still have it function reliably?

P.S. Why are some parts on some SKSs painted black?
 
Just keep your bolt dry and clean. You won't have any problems. The pin should move quite freely and make a 'tinkle' sound if you shake it, a clunking means it's time to take that little sucker apart and hit it with some brakeclean! A lubricated bolt gets sticky, if something gets in there and starts to stick to the pin, slamfires CAN happen. Rarely, but they do.

I bought my Sks to beat the hell out of and I do, never had a slamfire issue.

If you're still unsure you can order a spring loaded
firing pin up from someone online. And replace your free floating pin.
 
Free floating pins are fine, Clean your firing pin out with WD40 to desolve the salt.
Hoppes solvent is great too for corrosive ammo "REF Smallarms review"
 
Note that even spring loaded pins, if not cleaned properly will have the same issue in time. I thought about replacing mine but realized there's no need as I still have to clean it anyway.

The painting is done when they refurbish the rifle. Most people end up scraping the paint off the bolt carrier using brake clearner or other chemicals and leave everything else black.
 
If you get a early model russian 1949-1951 (I think those are the years) then they will have a spring loaded firing pin. I have a 1950 from Tula and it is spring loaded. I believe you can upgrade your firing pin for something like $15 or $20 though if you dont have a spring loaded firing pin for a spring loaded firing pin. It seems like a common upgrade.
 
I had a batch of non-corrosive ammo once so I tried a little experiment with my Norinco SKS.
Fired 920 rounds in four sessions that spanned about 1 1/2 months without cleaning anything.

Not one problem, but it was really tough to get clean after.
 
Commercial ammo can cause slamfires, it has to do with the hardness of the primers. I have 2 russian sks's one will slam fire almost every time while using remington ammo. I reload for all my rifles and the fix was to use harder primers, I use the CCI 450M primer, also use a primer pocket uniform tool from sinclair to seat the primers about .003 deeper. Have not had a problem since.

If you are using the milsurp ammo chances are you will never have a problem if you keep things reasonably clean.
 
I baught one of those american spring loaded firing pins from sksman and it broke after 1,000 rounds of surplus and would sometime's not hit the primer hard enough to set the round off. So it's a trade off. I you want to be lazy and only shoot the expensive non-corrosive ammo then get one but if your like me and have way to much fun blasting your sks with cheap boom, boom. Then free floating firing pins are the only way to go.
 
gpracer said:
Commercial ammo can cause slamfires, it has to do with the hardness of the primers.
Click to expand...

Here's something you can try when you get your rifle. Load 2 rounds on the mag. Point the muzzle downrange, pull back the bolt and let it go to load a round. Fire one round. Pull back the bolt to eject the second round (unfired). Check the primer of the unfired round. You will probably see a slight imprint of the firing pin.

This tells you that the firing pin does come in contact with the primer as it loads the next road but because military ammo has harder primer cases, it will not detonate.

Using commercial ammo with softer primers increases your chances of slam fire, hence others opt to upgrade the firing pin if they plan to use non corrosive ammo for hunting.
 
I believe someone posted once of doing just that. I'm not sure how well it worked though. You must remember the spring loaded firing pin might be thinner to accommodate the spring inside the bolt carrier.
 
Spearhunter said:
I believe someone posted once of doing just that. I'm not sure how well it worked though. You must remember the spring loaded firing pin might be thinner to accommodate the spring inside the bolt carrier.
Click to expand...
Excatly right Spearhunter. The part's look like this;
2007%20SKS%20Firing%20Pin.jpg
 
Just spend the $15-$20 on the spring loaded firing pin if you get a later floating pin model. I have a spring loaded one, but if I didnt I would just upgrade. Its very simple 5 minute process.
 
blueflash said:
Just spend the $15-$20 on the spring loaded firing pin if you get a later floating pin model. I have a spring loaded one, but if I didnt I would just upgrade. Its very simple 5 minute process.
Click to expand...

spring loaded firing arent $15-20 , try US35-$39 for murray type.
 
My SKS was the slamfire king. I tried every trick listed here and then some and it still slammed. I got a murray pin from the SKSMAN and have never had a problem since. Highly recommend.
 
Satain said:
I baught one of those american spring loaded firing pins from sksman and it broke after 1,000 rounds of surplus and would sometime's not hit the primer hard enough to set the round off. So it's a trade off. I you want to be lazy and only shoot the expensive non-corrosive ammo then get one but if your like me and have way to much fun blasting your sks with cheap boom, boom. Then free floating firing pins are the only way to go.
Click to expand...

I agree.
I just removed my recently installed springed firing pin as I was experiencing this exact problem in my 1956 Tula. I purchased the springed firing pin as a precaution, and it ended up being a hinderance to shooting corrosive surplus. I also had two different production dates of ammo with me, so that was not the cause of the FTF's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom