Cutting the barrel on a SKS?

sametwinnie

sametwinnie

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
197   0   0
Location
Lotbiniere
Anyone ever tried to cut the barrel to min. lenght (18.5'') on a sks?
Any chance of malfunction? I know the front sight will have to be displaced to the rear and probably the bayo will have to be remove but is there anything else I should be aware?

Thanks
 
Chopping the 2" off the barrel probably won't mean that you will have to remove the bayonet just some removing of the bayonet chamber on the wooden stock. As for malfunction...
No there won't be any because you are just chopping the barrel and not touching the gas assembly. Also the front post sight assembly can be simply moved back.
If it was up to me I would chop the barrel and thread the end to the AR15 thread pattern then I would pick out any 308 muzzle brake and slap it on there & swap the stock out to a tapco or a nice ATI camo. Add a posp scope and have fun pinking at varmints'.
;)
Just my 2 cent's.
 
Satain said:
As for malfunction...No there won't be any because you are just chopping the barrel and not touching the gas assembly.
Click to expand...

I'm not too sure about that.
I'm thinking that since the barrel is now shorter, the bullet is in the barrel for less time so the pressure curve will be different.

I'm no expert in interior balistics but it makes sense to me.

Craig
 
The SKS owners south of the border do it all the time and have no problems, move the sight back and recrown the muzzle, no problem. If you do it ,let us know how it turns out. Cheers.
 
Craig67 said:
I'm not too sure about that.
I'm thinking that since the barrel is now shorter, the bullet is in the barrel for less time so the pressure curve will be different.

I'm no expert in interior balistics but it makes sense to me.

Craig
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:
Ya ok!
Then by that same idea all the M14 owner's that got 4 inches taken off the end of there barrel's should get twice the amount of issue's.
:onCrack:
In the real world you will be good to go as long as you don't touch the gas assembely area.
 
I think the issue arises when you take too much off the barrel and the pressure is released from the muzzle before it has time to properly cycle the action. i.e. not enough gas is rerouted through the gas assembly.
 
I don't see the point. Even if you don't bugger the gas system, it will probably bugger the accuracy. Not that these rifles are wonderfully accurate to begin with, it will be harder to aim and less accurate to shoot. In my opinion of 35 years of shooting, Bubba modifications rarely solve or improve anything from the rifles original design.

Why don't you just buy the rifle that you want that has been engineered, designed, and tested? It just seems like a lot or work and effort to make a rifle look "cool" , all at the sacrifice of the rifles integrity and design. I know its not my rifle and they are quite inexpensive, but my experience would be to avoid it and all the problems that go with it.
 
Satain said:
:rolleyes:
Ya ok!
Then by that same idea all the M14 owner's that got 4 inches taken off the end of there barrel's should get twice the amount of issue's.
:onCrack:
In the real world you will be good to go as long as you don't touch the gas assembely area.
Click to expand...

Except that...the M-14 cartridge is much higher pressure (7.62x39 Russian is around 42000 CUP, while 5.56 is something like 56000 cup, and I think .308/7.62Nato is just shy of that, 52 or 54000 cup), but it also has much larger VOLUME of gas produced. This means the typical M-14 being shortened would be much less susceptible to barrel length closer to the gas block, than say any 7.62 Russian firearm.

That said...just because there is less pressure, doesn't always mean "not ENOUGH pressure". My guess is that anyone shortening an SKS by just 2 inches of barrel length, would cycle just fine. The gas block would still have maybe 4 or so inches of barrel in front of it, so there would be no need at all to do anything but cut and crown the barrel.

The shorter the barrel, and especially the closer the muzzle is to the gas block, the more likely the gas port needs to be enlarged (get more volume in the short time available). It's worth looking at the "Krinkov" pattern designs: the originals were in 5.45mm, and they required the funky looking "flash hider" to function reliably. But it wasn't really a flash hider alone, it was also a "muzzle booster", similar to that seen on the MG-42, and helps to ensure more pressure is available for cycling. When the Russians started modernising their AK's into the "100 series" (the "black AK's" of the 1990's), they offered the "krink style", but lengthened the barrels about 2 more inches, and still kept the 'muzzle booster'.
 
fiddler said:
I don't see the point. Even if you don't bugger the gas system, it will probably bugger the accuracy. Not that these rifles are wonderfully accurate to begin with, it will be harder to aim and less accurate to shoot. In my opinion of 35 years of shooting, Bubba modifications rarely solve or improve anything from the rifles original design.

Why don't you just buy the rifle that you want that has been engineered, designed, and tested? It just seems like a lot or work and effort to make a rifle look "cool" , all at the sacrifice of the rifles integrity and design. I know its not my rifle and they are quite inexpensive, but my experience would be to avoid it and all the problems that go with it.
Click to expand...

The reason for cutting is not for the cool factor, just handling quality. Harder to aim: yes with iron sight but not with a red dot. I want to install a scout rail on it. As for accuracy, I doubt 2'' less will affect accuracy; in fact, if I'm lucky, it will be better!!
 
sametwinnie said:
The reason for cutting is not for the cool factor, just handling quality. Harder to aim: yes with iron sight but not with a red dot. I want to install a scout rail on it. As for accuracy, I doubt 2'' less will affect accuracy; in fact, if I'm lucky, it will be better!!
Click to expand...

if crowned properly I'm inclined to believe it will shoot the same, and from what I understand, the gas port on the SKS is larger than it needed to be in the first place. Most likely a reliability thing, and we all know how reliable these little troopers are. Talk to Prince50 on these boards, he makes a clamp on front sight base for when they chop barrels to 16" down in the states, he will know if any problems arise but I'm 99% sure there will be none. Others on these boards have gone to 18.5" and didnt report issues. The only thing I can think of is if its chrome lined, I dont know what process's wont flake the chrome off around the cut, but a lathe seems to be the best option. But to be honest, removing the bayonet makes a huge difference in balance if you havent tried that yet. I havent weighed it but its over a pound, a 1.5" barrel stub will only weight a few ounces. Try the bayonet if you havent yet, and if its not enough then maybe a CZ 858 would be better, everything the SKS can do, the 858 does better. But I still love the SKS as a battle rifle :D
 
Sametwinnie:

Just make sure it's done well as it cut straight and recrowned. The better the crowning and the better the cut is on the barrel, the more accurate it will be. Your SKS should be fine even if the barrel is shorter as SKSs are very tolerant of variations of gas pressure.
 
sametwinnie said:
The reason for cutting is not for the cool factor, just handling quality. Harder to aim: yes with iron sight but not with a red dot. I want to install a scout rail on it. As for accuracy, I doubt 2'' less will affect accuracy; in fact, if I'm lucky, it will be better!!
Click to expand...
I dont think having 2 inch less will make a difference in handling,sks is already handy. Still interesting project:)
 
just finished cutting my barrel,took about an hour, trimed the sight sleeve, bored the end out, resizing it, heated it up tapped it back on. used a pipe cutter to score a groove around barrel, was surprised how easily it grooved,hack saw, file, sandpaper on file,staying square, brass screw to crown, looks good , my first major gunsmithing project, haven't had chance to fire yet. If i did it again i would shorten the sight sleeve to around 5/8'' then you wouldn't have to resize the end to slide over where the barrel gets larger in diameter. Americans i read have problems with the gas system when cutting to 16.5''. will be doing it to my other sks if accuracy is just as good
 
lwing said:
just finished cutting my barrel,took about an hour, trimed the sight sleeve, bored the end out, resizing it, heated it up tapped it back on. used a pipe cutter to score a groove around barrel, was surprised how easily it grooved,hack saw, file, sandpaper on file,staying square, brass screw to crown, looks good , my first major gunsmithing project, haven't had chance to fire yet. If i did it again i would shorten the sight sleeve to around 5/8'' then you wouldn't have to resize the end to slide over where the barrel gets larger in diameter. Americans i read have problems with the gas system when cutting to 16.5''. will be doing it to my other sks if accuracy is just as good
Click to expand...

how did the chrome lining turn out at the cut?.. flaky? Also what find of tool? I am gonna say carbide :)
 
As a semi hijack, can you run 16 inch barrels if they were manufactured as such? My understanding of the law is that short barrels are only illegal if they are home made and they are okay if they are factory made.
 
greg11 said:
As a semi hijack, can you run 16 inch barrels if they were manufactured as such? My understanding of the law is that short barrels are only illegal if they are home made and they are okay if they are factory made.
Click to expand...

Why would you want a restricted SKS?

A firearm with a shortened factory barrel becomes prohibited, if the barrel is cut below the legal minimum. It is not a question of home vs factory made.

An SKS leaves the factory with a 20" barrel. I simply cannot see how shortening the barrel by less than 1 1/2" would improve handling, kewlness or anything else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom