Couple of questions...SKS

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pisces-guy

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I got my first semi-auto rifle on Saturday, a 1953 SKS with chrome barrel and laminate stock in great condition. I was wondering about the slam-fire issue with the free floating firing pins, the pin being forward and sticking a bit in cold temps, and then firing the rifle when you load and let the bolt slide forward. Is this something that's likely to happen or does the bolt have to be really dirty for the firing pin to stick forward and fire the bullet...not just a question of colder temps? What's involved in replacing the free floating firing pin with a spring loaded one, like the earlier models had? What part(s) do you need to replace? Finally, G96, it's the best product for lightly lubricating the action parts of an SKS?
 
pisces-guy said:
I got my first semi-auto rifle on Saturday, a 1953 SKS with chrome barrel and laminate stock in great condition. I was wondering about the slam-fire issue with the free floating firing pins, the pin being forward and sticking a bit in cold temps, and then firing the rifle when you load and let the bolt slide forward. Is this something that's likely to happen or does the bolt have to be really dirty for the firing pin to stick forward and fire the bullet...not just a question of colder temps? What's involved in replacing the free floating firing pin with a spring loaded one, like the earlier models had? What part(s) do you need to replace? Finally, G96, it's the best product for lightly lubricating the action parts of an SKS?
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Dont worry about the slam fire issue. Clean your bolt completly, free of oil,grease,cosmoline and you wont have trouble. The firing pin must rattle freely that,s all. Best way to not have trouble is to keep the firing pin dry,no lube, particulary in cold weather. Some peoples like to oil a bit but there,s no need to. Russians have learn since long time that the best way to keep a semi auto reliable, particulary in cold climate, is to run it dry. The sks dont require lube to function properly and even if you dont lube it, you will not wear it out, the sks will outlas you! I just peak from my experience somes may agree somes may not and its perfect.
 
svt1940 said:
Dont worry about the slam fire issue. Clean your bolt completly, free of oil,grease,cosmoline and you wont have trouble. The firing pin must rattle freely that,s all. Best way to not have trouble is to keep the firing pin dry,no lube, particulary in cold weather. Some peoples like to oil a bit but there,s no need to. Russians have learn since long time that the best way to keep a semi auto reliable, particulary in cold climate, is to run it dry. The sks dont require lube to function properly and even if you dont lube it, you will not wear it out, the sks will outlas you! I just peak from my experience somes may agree somes may not and its perfect.
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What he said....

I've had 6 SKS rifles, and never encountered a slam fire - Although I've been hoping for it, never happened....:(

My preference is to very lightly lubricate the firing pin to keep it rattling free in the bolt. I use both G96, and CLP - G96 smells like double-bubble gum, which gives it the slight edge over CLP.
 
I like to oil mine just cause I oil or grease anything that moves, but svt and kodiak are right, you wont damage it with a dry pin. The steel is very well hardened. That firing pin needs to get very dirty to slam fire, Ive run them full of cosmo with milsurp ammo without slam fires. I think most of the hype comes from americans with all their commercial ammo. The CZ 858 gremlin is similar to a slam fire but it cant ignite milsurp primers even with the healthy dent it puts in them. BTW the cosmo'd firing pin was purely accidental, I forgot about it during initial cleaning. Just clean it out good, brakleen and gun scrubber work well to clean the channel.
 
Gun Oil or automatic transmission fluid {cheaper} for lube and anti-rust/corrosion. Slam Fire situation would happen only after neglect.Firing pin seizes {rusts} in its firing position. Love your gun and it will love you back.....Neglect you gun and...well, I guess what I'm trying to say is Guns are a lot like women in many regards.:D
 
Just throw the bolt and pin assembly in some paint thinner overnight. In the morning its like new and ready to put back into the rifle.

I oil everywhere but the firing pin. Hundreds of rounds later not one issue.
 
If it was milsurp fresh out of the crate its probably full of cosmo, take a brass punch and drift out the retaining pin on the bolt to completely clean the firing pin and bolt assembly. Its not hard to do and there is not many pieces. I do this with my rifles for piece of mind, knowing that it was done properly.


As with what the others said, if it rattles freely, its good to go.
 
Stuffed with glorious cosmoline, I boiled water and poured it into the bolt, took my air compressor and blew out the remaining water, then let sit to dry by heater. Followd by a nice lubing everything should run great
 
Good advice on disassembling and cleaning the bolt in this thread, but SKS Man sells a spring loaded replacement firing pin assembly, which, when installed in a clean bolt, which is kept meticulously clean, should eliminate any possibility of a slam-fire. I have one and it is really the right choice.
 
woodlotowner please be advised that the Murray pin is not meant for hard primer's found in such surplus ammo that is commonly available but instead meant for the soft primers found in western manufactured ammo. Extensive use of this ammo with this firing pin could cause, pieced primer's, slam fires or even worse, out of battery firing. Even with excessive cleaning, the primers are hard and take it from me who had it happen too. The firing pin will wear & break eventually.
 
woodlotowner said:
Good advice on disassembling and cleaning the bolt in this thread, but SKS Man sells a spring loaded replacement firing pin assembly, which, when installed in a clean bolt, which is kept meticulously clean, should eliminate any possibility of a slam-fire. I have one and it is really the right choice.
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same deal with a floating pin, otherwise the Russians would never have dropped the spring from the design and left it that way. it takes a healthy strike to ignite milsurp primers
 
^^Commercial soft primer I believe.

If the SKS owner keeps the firing pin channel clean, there will be no issues with slam-fires. Believe it or not, after I've taken down the bolt on a new to me SKS, I use brake cleaner to clean out the firing pin channel. Cheap fix and works great. I've never had the slam-fire problem after doing this.
 
That stuff is generally Czechoslovakian mil surp ammo that has been repackaged by Seller & Bellot. If it comes in the distinct greenish packages of 2 stripper clips I can promise you its mil surp and the guys are right when the say it has a hard primer. If you take the bolt out and give it a good shake, the pin should slide freely inside and rattle, that is a good sign and it means that the bolt is nice and clean
 
on all three of my sks rifles, I let the bolt boil in water and palmolive, let it cool down and then force some more palmolive in around the pin. Boiled again. Blew the gunk out and one last round of boiling water. No cosmoline, lots of rattle.
 
Satain said:
woodlotowner please be advised that the Murray pin is not meant for hard primer's found in such surplus ammo that is commonly available but instead meant for the soft primers found in western manufactured ammo. Extensive use of this ammo with this firing pin could cause, pieced primer's, slam fires or even worse, out of battery firing. Even with excessive cleaning, the primers are hard and take it from me who had it happen too. The firing pin will wear & break eventually.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So, you had a Murray's in your gun and it became dangerous after much use with the harder primers? I will keep a close eye on mine in that case, since I had myself convinced I had virtually eliminated the future potential for these kinds of problems. Good info to have...
 
IMPORTANT- I clean and oil my SKS religiously after every trip to the range and I did have a slam fire. I was teaching my girlfriend's little sister (15) how to shoot and I had luckly explained to her to keep the muzzle pointed down range at all times and to give me a yell if there were any problems. She called me over because "it didn't go boom when I pulled the trigger" I noticed the bolt was almost all the way to the rear, I asked her to place it on safe (she did) and I took the rifle from her (keeping it pointed down range). The motion of me taking the rifle caused the bolt to release and it fired.
Slam fires are a risk with the SKS so you must be extra-careful to make sure you never point the rifle at anything you dont want a hole in.
 
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