Breaking In an Unfired SKS

VanIsleCam said:
Ya, there is not a lot of sks remaining in the thefirearmblog post....
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That's the point.

We've all been there and felt that our sks would be the unicorn that defies all probability. Ours is 'special' then we each owned 2, then 3, then we realized that you appreciate them for what they are, not what they are not. Unless you remove and replace most of the sks from the sks... it's still an sks and will shoot like an sks and not a bolt action rifle.

Enjoy your rifle. It's a good one. It will be utterly reliable, a blast to shoot, cheap to shoot. Just don't expect it to be a bench gun, shoot it standing up and offhand and have a blast doing it.
 
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jzz30tt, I totally know where you're coming from. It's not my first nor my second. I'm just tickled at the notion that maybe I could milk this one for all she's worth. If I'm not an impatient fool, I just might get something that pays me back for the kindness I offered it.
 
Bubba Yugga said:
jzz30tt, I totally know where you're coming from. It's not my first nor my second. I'm just tickled at the notion that maybe I could milk this one for all she's worth. If I'm not an impatient fool, I just might get something that pays me back for the kindness I offered it.
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Awesome then. As long as you're doing it eyes wide open, than have at it. It's always fun to take on a challenge.
 
Feed your SKS good ammo, and properly mount a scope on it...... 5 shot groups under 3" @100yrds are very possible and repeatable. I will post a video of this someday. Mark these words!
 
If you compare this with drag racing, a lot of the "Bubba'd" SKS's can be likened to ET competition. Then there were the "Stock" classes where you had to adhere to very strict characteristics and compete for absolute numbers.
What I'd like to do is "blueprint" this baby to put a smiley face over Simonov's grave.
 
Mister Donut said:
Groups? Sooooo....minute-of-side-of-barn?

Lol, in all seriousness, what sort of groups can the SKS realistically acheive?
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Like 6-8 inch groups if you got a good one at 100 yards with irons. At 25 yards I can get sub MOA tho with mine :D The irons imo suck on the sks, but maybe thats just cause Im used to better stuff now.
 
It looks like a 19/64" drill bit cut off at the flutes can give me a 2 7/8" long slug. At .297" diameter there's .003" to play with.
Also, a 9/64", #27 or #26 drill back end can be used to stuff the "sausage meat" abrasive down the gas port to the bad part of the barrel.
Now, my big question is what kind of abrasive to use.
Fine valve lapping compound is 280 grit, which still scares me a bit as being too agressive.
I'm thinking of maybe using automotive paint finishing rubbing compound, which might be a bit less narsty...
 
I have my buddies Sks right now as his place is getting renoed. I think I will do him a favor and clean it. Gonna take a look right now....

25 minutes later - doesn't look too bad - just a bit of rust on the bolt, lots of old black oil, piston rods could use a #9 soak.
 
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Bubba Yugga said:
I just got an SKS and run a brass slug through it that hung up at the gas port.
This slug is 7.62 mm in diameter, and is from a set that I used to measure other units at notably larger diameters (up to 7.66).
This particular SKS had the slug pass through the bore with some noticeable drag over the rest of the barrel, but would hang up right at the gas port outlet.
I get the feeling that this is a virgin unfired barrel, with some uneveness from producing the gas port hole AFTER the production of the main bore.
Does anyone know if there's any veracity to that notion?

So, I have two other questions - do I have a true virgin SKS, and secondly, how do I break it in to be a nice tight shooter?

I have a load of ideas about smoothing the barrel. One of them is to fire a bunch of chinese surplus rounds that are essentially mild steel jackets with a copper (useless) wash, or I can go to a machine shop to try and hone out that little lump.

eh?
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Shoot it, reload and shoot it again..... There's no break in period for an SKS... shoot the thing!
 
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