sks problem

1911_shooter

1911_shooter

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So I bought an sks and finally got a chance to shoot it. So me and a bunch of friends go up on the bush. Im all excited to shoot her. Load her up pull the trigger and nothing. I can hear the firing pin but nothing. There is a dimple in on the primer but never managed to get her to fire.

I tried to remove the firing pin but was never able to get the retaining pin out.
Any idea what may have prevented it from firing. I am fairly new to firearms and this is my first sks.

Thanks
Ashley
 
1911_shooter said:
So I bought an sks and finally got a chance to shoot it. So me and a bunch of friends go up on the bush. Im all excited to shoot her. Load her up pull the trigger and nothing. I can hear the firing pin but nothing. There is a dimple in on the primer but never managed to get her to fire.

I tried to remove the firing pin but was never able to get the retaining pin out.
Any idea what may have prevented it from firing. I am fairly new to firearms and this is my first sks.

Thanks
Ashley
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.

Can you return the firearm maybe and get yourself something like a Ruger if you budget allows it?
 
kevguy said:
Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.

Can you return the firearm maybe and get yourself something like a Ruger if you budget allows it?
Click to expand...


I already own a ruger I just wanted something different so I'm willing to see if I can get it working
 
The next time you are out with your SKS try this. All the ammo that does not go bang, run it through a second time and see if it fires. I have a old batch of surplus ammo that will not fire the first time but always fires the second time. Also check and see if the trigger group is properly installed.

1911_shooter said:
So I bought an sks and finally got a chance to shoot it. So me and a bunch of friends go up on the bush. Im all excited to shoot her. Load her up pull the trigger and nothing. I can hear the firing pin but nothing. There is a dimple in on the primer but never managed to get her to fire.

I tried to remove the firing pin but was never able to get the retaining pin out.
Any idea what may have prevented it from firing. I am fairly new to firearms and this is my first sks.

Thanks
Ashley
Click to expand...
 
bjs7293 said:
The next time you are out with your SKS try this. All the ammo that does not go bang, run it through a second time and see if it fires. I have a old batch of surplus ammo that will not fire the first time but always fires the second time. Also check and see if the trigger group is properly installed.
Click to expand...

If the trigger group is not installed properly would the firing pin still be making contact with the ammo? I will have to try that with the ammo. I was thinking about getting some new ammo to try it out and not the surplus and see if that makes a difference.
 
did you try different ammo? or did you try the dimpled cartridges a second time to see if they fired..

one of the guys at our club had problems with his sks a couple of weeks ago with only 2 out of 5 rounds going off every time he loaded up.. the primer was dimpled nice and deep, but no boom..

i gave him some of my ammo and he had no problems at all.. the strange thing is that it was both chech ammo.. mine came from a crate packaged in the blue boxes and his was in a plastic bag with what looked like the same ammo.. I didn't think to check the headstamp at the time... if the primer is dimpled, its probably the ammo.
 
valmet762 said:
did you try different ammo? or did you try the dimpled cartridges a second time to see if they fired..
Click to expand...

I didn't have any other ammo to try. I did try a few different rounds. The dimples in mine weren't all that deep, one round was deeper then the others. I had someone tell me that it may have been that the bolt wasn't going forward enough but as far as I know it would have been.
 
I have seen some pretty strange concerns when the trigger group is not snapped in all the way. The disconnector will still let the hammer fall but not hitting the firing pin properly.

1911_shooter said:
If the trigger group is not installed properly would the firing pin still be making contact with the ammo? I will have to try that with the ammo. I was thinking about getting some new ammo to try it out and not the surplus and see if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...
 
The gun probably needs to cleaned a more thoroughly.

U mentioned that this was ur first sks. they are typically completely covered with the cosmo grease, and the bolt is a place that is hard to get into and clean. the firing pin retaining pin some times needs a bit of persuasion with a bigger hammer and a brass punch. the firing pin should loose in the bolt, no sticking when re assembled .
The trigger group should be checked to see if there is any grease or crap or other stuff that might prevent the hammer make a full strike against the bolt.
Try another shot with the ammo that didnt fire the first time, like others have said, mine have also fire on the second try. i have had also a few from those blue boxed kinds and the other wrapped ammo.

....and for the price of the Ruger u could buy a number of sks's and crates of ammo.
 
mckutzy said:
The gun probably needs to cleaned a more thoroughly.

U mentioned that this was ur first sks. they are typically completely covered with the cosmo grease, and the bolt is a place that is hard to get into and clean. the firing pin retaining pin some times needs a bit of persuasion with a bigger hammer and a brass punch. the firing pin should loose in the bolt, no sticking when re assembled .
The trigger group should be checked to see if there is any grease or crap or other stuff that might prevent the hammer make a full strike against the bolt.
Try another shot with the ammo that didnt fire the first time, like others have said, mine have also fire on the second try. i have had also a few from those blue boxed kinds and the other wrapped ammo.

....and for the price of the Ruger u could buy a number of sks's and crates of ammo.
Click to expand...


Yes it is my first sks. I did clean it quite well or so I thought. I boiled many of the parts that I could. The only thing was the bolt and getting the firing pin out. I am going to try and find a smaller punch as the one I have is too big and I was using something simular but that wasn't working.

As for the firing pin is it suppose to be loose if its a spring loaded firing pin?
As far as I can tell mine is spring loaded. I can push the firing pin and it moves freely.
 
kevguy said:
Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.

Can you return the firearm maybe and get yourself something like a Ruger if you budget allows it?
Click to expand...

I've noticed you like to go around bashing SKS's, which are classically a very reliable gun. Every case of SKS unreliability can be traced back to owner carelessness.

If the firing pin hit the round and it didn't go off, that's pretty much a no brainer...that's a problem with the round, not the gun. Milsurp ammo can be hit or miss.
 
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kevguy said:
Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.

Can you return the firearm maybe and get yourself something like a Ruger if you budget allows it?
Click to expand...


Ya,;) you sound like you know what you are talking about.
A Ruger Semi auto more reliable than an SKS good luck with that
 
I can't speak about the ammo, however myfriend and I have had that problem from time to time and usually just after we cleaned the rifle for the first time.........turned out to be grease on firingpin inside bolt...........pull bolt out and pull pin out clean both,try this..........oh and we have gone through cases (many) of ammo and no problem with the rounds, I think this only happened in 2 rifles out of 35.....................




...........HEY,who is the big guy.........Him! oh thats uncle Bob.............
 
Unreliable SKS

kevguy said:
Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.

Can you return the firearm maybe and get yourself something like a Ruger if you budget allows it?
Click to expand...



;)Yes, these SKS rifles are terribly unreliable. The only reason they made a million or so of the things is that the Russian Premier gets a royalty on each one. Of course, the Chinese, well you know how they are producing knock-offs today, and selling them to unsuspecting North Americans, who are willing to pay cash for this crap.;)

By now, you should have been given good advice on your problem. If you have trouble cleaning the firing pin, simply go down to your Canadian Tire or auto parts store and buy some Carburetor Cleaner in a spray can. It comes with a short tube on it. You disassemble the rifle, take the bolt out, and use the tube to spray the stuff inside the area of the firing pin. If you don't want the wife to chew your butt, do this outdoors. Wear Safety goggles.

Also, when you load the rifle, allow the bolt to slam forwards. Do not try to ease the bolt forward, as it may not go properly into battery. These rifles are designed to really have the bolt move forward under spring pressure when loading a cartridge into the chamber.

But, as far as saying a SKS is unreliable, once again the disinformation net has struck. That is like saying ### is no good and never having it again because you had one bad experience.
.
 
kevguy said:
Sorry to hear about your situation. These rifles are known to be problematic. Personally, I would never own one just due this unrealibity.
Click to expand...

These rifles are not problematic at all. They are actually one of the most reliable semi rifles ever built. Yes, sometimes ammo is bad and won't fire, sometimes the pin gets warn a bit, and sometimes the bolt and the pin get a bit dirty and need cleaning.

I own several SKS, some of them since the 80's with tens of thousands of rounds through it with out ever a problem. Give it a good cleaning and or replace the firing pin. Firing pins wear out, not just on SKS, but yes, even Rugers , Remington and Brownings.
 
buffdog said:
Also, when you load the rifle, allow the bolt to slam forwards. Do not try to ease the bolt forward, as it may not go properly into battery.

These rifles are designed to really have the bolt move forward under spring pressure when loading a cartridge into the chamber.
Click to expand...

This ^^^.
 
1911_shooter said:
Yes it is my first sks. I did clean it quite well or so I thought. I boiled many of the parts that I could. The only thing was the bolt and getting the firing pin out. I am going to try and find a smaller punch as the one I have is too big and I was using something simular but that wasn't working.

As for the firing pin is it suppose to be loose if its a spring loaded firing pin?
As far as I can tell mine is spring loaded. I can push the firing pin and it moves freely.
Click to expand...

If the firing pin moves freely and doesn't "spring" back i would assume it's the usual free floating pin. I have one of each and you can definitely tell which is spring loaded. Like some people have suggested, it could likely be the ammo. If it is indeed the pin it's a cheap, easy fix regardless. Good luck. I love the SKS's. Mine have ALWAYS been reliable.
 
If you remove the firing pin,be sure to reinstall it correctly. There's a flat on the firing pin so she wont be jammed by the retaining pin because if the firing pin is jammed the gun could slam fire. The SKS is a perfectly reliable gun, you will not wear it out!
 
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