Cleaning the SKS in wartime situation

madashell said:
Bedding might help keep the wood swelling issues down from dunking in a river. Maybe give the inside of stock a good drenching in tung oil or the like since it's generally unfinished wood in there so river water won't soak in as much.

I made a little rig for running water down the bore without getting it all over the place. Drill out a fired x39 shell, glued in a length of aquarium hose, other ended glued in a small cheap funnel.

Drop the "shell rig" in the chamber pour some water in and don't have to pull out of stock.. When you can do a deeper cleaning than do so. Small and light system for the bore anyway. Doesn't properly do the gas system but at least it's something.



may your commie rifle deal with as many Canadian commies as possible. How ironic is that.
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I use a Turkey baster
 
I just run the barrelled action under the Laundry-sink tap using straight hot water. A minute of that gets the metal hot enough that it mostly dries by itself. Then I do the standard cleaning using C4, then Hoppes #9. After that I run 90%-alcohol patches to remove solvent and then oil with Mobil-1 in the barrel and dry-lube sprayed into the action. And a tiny bit of synth-grease (CT) on the sear.
Obviously not a 'war-time' solution, then look for a puddle (or make one ^O^ ).
 
Innavedaw said:
Heavier, lower capacity, slower to reload and in many cases, less accurate than modern carbines…Precisely the reason it is not in front line service in modern armies.
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I suspect there are other reasons than those you mention, but you would be surprised at how many are still in use in non civilian hands.

If you're under the impression that mag capacity is all that important, you've been playing to many video games.

Slower to reload, not if you're well practiced.

Less accurate, not hardly, especially at the ranges mostly encountered in a scurmish and depending on how fast and stressful, shots are seldom aimed with precision in mind, mostly they're just trying to incapacitate their opponent as quickly as possible.
 
Hrsplit said:
Bah hot water and wd40
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My relatives live in a war zone right now, in several cities/towns. They have been drinking rain water for about two weeks. Using water to clean a rifle? Maybe but yea... Spring came early this year, all snow is gone, so it's all about rain water. Maybe but yea...
 
bearhunter said:
I suspect there are other reasons than those you mention, but you would be surprised at how many are still in use in non civilian hands.

If you're under the impression that mag capacity is all that important, you've been playing to many video games.

Slower to reload, not if you're well practiced.

Less accurate, not hardly, especially at the ranges mostly encountered in a scurmish and depending on how fast and stressful, shots are seldom aimed with precision in mind, mostly they're just trying to incapacitate their opponent as quickly as possible.
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Again, I have an SKS modified to accept modified mags. 20, 30 , 40 round ones. Reloading is not he problem, weight/length can also not be an issue depending on person's size. I dont find it heavy, again, I can manage a PKM... but a bit too long for sure and Im 185cm. At low ready it's almost to my knees as well as if it's hanging off of a one point sling. I can have something like a Tavor or T97 hanging down, hidden by a long coat and nobody will be wiser. Again, I love SKS, very good rifle, its my go to gun but not against regular military. Civil war maybe, when civilians fighting civilians or end of the world scenario. I mean, lets say "world is ending as we know it". SKS will be a long gun I take with me, along with a scoped .22 bolt action and a .22 pistol.
 
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bearhunter said:
I suspect there are other reasons than those you mention, but you would be surprised at how many are still in use in non civilian hands. .
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No I wouldn’t

bearhunter said:
If you're under the impression that mag capacity is all that important, you've been playing to many video games.
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Sorry, don’t play video games…and if you think magazine capacity is not important, I would guess you haven’t been in many gun fights

bearhunter said:
Slower to reload, not if you're well practiced. .
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This made me actually laugh out loud…No matter how fast someone gets with stripper clips, they can get faster reloads from modern detachable box mags with less practice.

Jerry Mikulek can load a revolver really fast, but his semi reloads are faster…

bearhunter said:
Less accurate, not hardly, especially at the ranges mostly encountered in a scurmish and depending on how fast and stressful, shots are seldom aimed with precision in mind, mostly they're just trying to incapacitate their opponent as quickly as possible.
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Again, another laugh out loud moment…

The SKS was a fine rifle for its time and is still fun and reliable but to say it is equal or superior to modern service rifles is ridiculous.
 
Quote Originally Posted by bearhunter View Post
If you're under the impression that mag capacity is all that important, you've been playing to many video games.

Innadavew
Sorry, don’t play video games…and if you think magazine capacity is not important, I would guess you haven’t been in many gun fights

I'm willing to bet I've been in a lot more gun fights than you have.

I had the choice of FNFAL, AK47 and G93, as well as the SKS and a few others.

I chose the SKS for all of the above reasons.

Been there, Done that

I made up my own mind, in real life, stressful situations, rather than depend on a columnist's opinion.
 
The reality is if you want to stay alive you would be using very little of that corrosive ammo...you would be avoiding people and gun fights at all cost and saving every round to defend your loved ones.

Potassium and sodium chlorate primers have been used by militaries around the globe since the 1800's all the way back to the percussion lock right up to present day in many parts of the world...it's a non issue...any water will do.
 
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Great North Guns said:
Ballistol and patches like at home.
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That sounds great, as long as it's available.

The OP asked about cleaning in the field.

What do you use when there isn't any Ballistol? What do you use when there isn't any motor oil or any other lubricant?

Under some stressful conditions, even water isn't available for such luxuries.

You do what you can, when you can, with what you have on hand

If you have a steady source of resupply, it's not much of an issue.

If supplies have to be scrounged or deliveries are few and far between???????
 
I would be mostly concerned about the gas piston rusting in place..the rest of the gun would likely be fine for a while.
 
I know a nice old German fellow who fought partisans on the Russian front for the better part of WW2. He told me he never cleaned his mauser once, and it worked great. I think religious cleaning is a peace time thing.
Oil it, shoot it.
 
5440fight said:
I know a nice old German fellow who fought partisans on the Russian front for the better part of WW2. He told me he never cleaned his mauser once, and it worked great. I think religious cleaning is a peace time thing.
Oil it, shoot it.
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I'm willing to bet he didn't oil that rifle either. Oil attracts all sorts of grunge that will cause a rifle to malfunction.
 
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