SKS Recoil Buffer

fat tony said:
^I don't think that would be a problem, I have had a 6mm nut and bolt in my rear cover since I fcuked the cover release lever when I put on a tech sight quite a while back.
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Ya when I took it off I noticed major marring marks both on the bolt carrier and also on the under side of the rear cover. I suspected that the rail ways were binding due to the lack of slack taken up by locking this down. So I put back in the rear take down lever and it went on with out a hick up. Although I did have to ditch my toy back in Somalia before I left. Dam thing was fun but she was a rusty old gal.
 
i dont really believe this...the reciever is so damn hard its next to impossable to drill and tap for somthing like a side mount for a scope. The smith that did my mount killed two bits during the process. I dont see how a spring can cause any wear or damage. I've also put over 2000rnds or ammo through min with little signs of wear. the bolt carrier slaming into the reciever does more then a spring moving around a bit.
keep it the way it is man.
 
Matt308 said:
i dont really believe this...the reciever is so damn hard its next to impossable to drill and tap for somthing like a side mount for a scope. The smith that did my mount killed two bits during the process. I dont see how a spring can cause any wear or damage. I've also put over 2000rnds or ammo through min with little signs of wear. the bolt carrier slaming into the reciever does more then a spring moving around a bit.
keep it the way it is man.
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Well in that rag tag country filled of mix and matched parts its quite easy actually, It would cam up the rear reciever with the cross bolt causing the action to lock up but then again after you leave the computer world you will relieaze that this rifle platform has some of the looses rifle tolerances of any semi-auto battle rifle that has been produced say minus the ak. But thanks for the vote of confedance.
 
After I clean the sks, I melt a big blob of hot glue at the rear of the receiver right behind the bolt carrier. I figure if things get sloppy or the loads are too hot, the bolt will hit the glue 'cushion' first.
 
fat tony said:
You can get a tapco gas cylinder and start drilling holes in it until the bolt carrier velocity is down to a sane level, and the brass does not get tossed 50 yards. I still have a ways to go with mine. The directions have been out there for a while on the web.
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Quite correct. I took a Chinese tube that I got for $20 and drilled a few 3/64 holes right up an 1/8" from the end. This reduces the slam and is easier on the mechanism. The empty casings now only fly a couple of feet away. Nice and smooth. It is in NO WAY a necessity. I just like playing with stuff.
It is also a thing to note, that the rear cover des not take the full impact of the rearward traveling bolt carrier. When you add this piece of crap, the bolt carrier now slams the back of the cover and puts all of the load on the retaining pin. That pin was not intended to take that kind of punishment. The mod changes all of the loading to the wrong part. Don't do it.
 
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points said:
Quite correct. I took a Chinese tube that I got for $20 and drilled a few 3/64 holes right up an 1/8" from the end. This reduces the slam and is easier on the mechanism. The empty casings now only fly a couple of feet away. Nice and smooth. It is in NO WAY a neccesity. I just like playing with stuff.
It is also a thing to note, that the rear cover des not take the full impact of the rearward traveling bolt carrier. When you add this piece of crap, the bolt carrier now slams the back of the cover and puts all of the load on the retaining pin. That pin was not intended to take that kind of punishment. The mod changes all of the loading to the wrong part. Don't do it.
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Ok, that makes complete sense. I figure these rifles were made to be operated in the harshest of conditions, so they were built for a purpose and designed to with stand the rigors of that use. No sense in modifing the internals unless you can really recoup some advantages or correct an inherent flaw. Can you post a pic of the drilled holes in your cover?
 
Knuckles Muldoon said:
Ok, that makes complete sense. I figure these rifles were made to be operated in the harshest of conditions, so they were built for a purpose and designed to with stand the rigors of that use. No sense in modifing the internals unless you can really recoup some advantages or correct an inherent flaw. Can you post a pic of the drilled holes in your cover?
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I had a thread with photos about this sometime last winter but I can't seem to find it now???
I am having trouble with photobucket and can't seem to even get into it.
 
Are they essential? No.
Do they cut recoil? No.
Do they smooth the action? Yes.



The buffer is incorrectly called a recoil buffer, it just smooths the action & stops metal to metal contact & the clang that goes along with it. It will help the receiver cover scope mounts hold zero better. You can feel how they work by cycling the action, then installing a buffer & cycling again. They are not a huge investment.
 
I have fooled around with SKS buffers more than most. I have not yet tried the gas tube hole trick.

Just after discharge, the piston in the gas tube pushes the bolt for the first 1" of travel and then bottoms out, after that, the piston has not effect on it.
Drilling holes in the gas tube then, will reduce the amount of force the piston can impart, since you are bleeding off additional pressure and reducing the bolt's rearward velocity.
The risk in doing this is as already mentioned, reduced reliability with certain ammo and weather conditions. By changing the bolt velocity, you will be changing the timing of the action (making it slower to cycle I suppose).
So now the bolt is traveling backward at a certain velocity and will impact the bolt stop with metal to metal contact.
During this time, the bolt is slowed down by friction (minimal) and recoil spring. If you watch the slow motion videos on youtube, a stock sks bolt does not slow down significantly due to these forces.
By adding the blackjack style buffer, you spread out the impact period from instantaneous to about 1mm of travel with the blackjack style buffer as the urethane compresses.
This will reduce the shock seen by any optics you have mounted on either the dust cover or more preferably, the choate style scope mount. Basically, the bolt is a hammer and the action is the anvil. I certainly would not put a cheap scope on an sks without a buffer like this.
FWIW, I know of another design of urethane buffer that increases the compression distances to approximately 3mm.
Now again, by introducing the buffer, you are changing the timing of the action. That is why the blackjack style buffer only puts a small length of urethane in between the bolt and action. If there was too much urethane to compress, you would start to experience more jams, etc.
The type of buffer shown in the OP is one that does not prevent metal to metal contact between the bolt and action ( and the high shock force), as it sits between the recoil spring and dust cover. It does center the spring in the dust cover which has been claimed to improve accuracy due to better repeatability. It also increases the spring force on the bolt slightly.
 
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