Cleaning SKS firing pin assembly...

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Bruiseleee

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How often should I disassemble and clean the firing pin on an SKS? I'm using the corrosive Czech stuff and it seems to leave gritty black soot everywhere. Does it need to be disassembled every time I fire it? Or should soaking in hot water do the trick?

Thanks for replies.
 
I have put about 600 rounds of corrosive Czech ammo thru my sks so far and have had the firing pin out twice(4 or 5 shooting sessions). There is no evidence of any corrsion so far. The bolt and pin appear to be chrome plated on mine. I'm a little concerned about using hot water though. I'd be worried about getting water in the extractor spring pocket and having a rust issue start in there (the spring isn't chromed). If you have a decent punch it isn't a big a chore to fully strip the bolt and clean it properly. It is extremely important if you remove the firing pin than you note which is top and bottom so it can be assembled properly. If you get the pin in wrong and force the retainer in which I am told is possible it will result in the pin being jammed in the forward position.
 
I take it apart every time I clean it, it's not that hard to do so why not. I'm not as worried about corrosion as I am about getting a slamfire due to a stuck firing pin from it being full of gunk. It's not that easy to put the firing pin in wrong, IMHO, so I say strip it. If nothing else just wipe the pin itself and blow out the channel with compressed air or use a small patch and the little straw on the WD-40 cans to wipe the inside.
 
I just drop the entire bolt into my ultrasonic cleaner for 10 minutes.

Then I dry it, oil it, and put it back in the gun. Easy-peasy
 
I whacked at the pin on mine till I was blue in the face and it never budged ... So I never cleaned the insides of the bolt as a result. 2 years and over 1000 of czech stuff later no problems yet.
 
happydude said:
Your what?? :confused:
Click to expand...
Ultrasonic cleaners are just little tubs with vibrating weights inside to produce ultrasound (ultra-high frequency sound waves), which in turn vibrates dirt loose from any parts you dunk into the solvent/soap&water bath. They're great, we have a couple at work that we use all the time, very effective.

As far as cleaning the firing pin/disassembling the bolt, I've never done it and don't really plan to. As I explained to roadwarrior in another post, it's partly because I'm lazy and partly because I don't really have the tools or workspace to do it. That being said, the firing pin does have to be cleaned and lightly lubricated, so I just jam my WD-40 straw in there and hose away, then work the firing pin back and forth to squeeze any junk out. The pot of boiling water would probably work pretty good too, I've never tried it but I probably will (unless I can get my hands on an ultrasonic cleaner!). I might also try the dishwasher with all the small parts, I've heard/read that works pretty good too. Hope that helps!
 
I just found two of the same model from two different sellers, take your pick;
Cody CD-3800 Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner #1
Cody CD-3800 Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner #2
I dunno how good these ones are, the spec says 42000hz which is well above the 20000hz spec for ultrasound, so I don't see why they wouldn't work. As far as cleaning solution goes, we use Simple Green and distilled water at work, but there are lots of different solvents and cleaners you can use, just look around a bit.
 
Just plain ol hot water usually works OK.

Leaving a painted or plated metal item in too long will result in an unpainted metal object coming out :)
 
I've cleaned the bolt assembly a couple of times, but don't find you have to do it every time. I just use Czech stuff and it seems ok. The firing pin still floats freely so thats good. I usually run it under hot water, then shake the hell out of it to get any water out.
 
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