Did a Impulse Buy - Chinese SKS

iloveruger

iloveruger

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Location
Ontario
My collection
1. Last month - my first rifle after PAL - Ruger PCC with Vortex strikfire 2
2. Last week - Derya TM22 - for cheaper range days - Have Bushnell TRS 25 for it

yesterday there was a flash sale @SFRC and i got the last Chinese SKS for 499. Door to door (tax included). Not sure it was a wise decision.

But i noticed stock disappear in FOC as well because of their 15% discount and even at SFRC it was 5 or so and all were sold with few hours. Hope its a good deal.

My question is - what should i do first when i get it ? Strip and clean ? refinish the stock ? (its wood right. i should be able to refinish)

Should i get a scope or red dot ?

Not planning to buy Ammo in this month. But will eventually get. Norco non-corrosive ammo is good ?

Sorry if its lot of blabbering in the morning :D
 
Definitely disassemble and clean cosmoline out before shooting. It’s your rifle but I would leave the stock as is. If you decide it’s not for you and want to resell it’s worth more unmolested. In general fun rifles for plinking.
 
iloveruger said:
My question is - what should i do first when i get it ? Strip and clean ? refinish the stock ? (its wood right. i should be able to refinish)
Should i get a scope or red dot ?
Not planning to buy Ammo in this month. But will eventually get. Norco non-corrosive ammo is good ?
Sorry if its lot of blabbering in the morning :D
Click to expand...

Strip and clean?-yes

refinish the stock? - the stocks on these Type 56's factory /26\ SKS's are good enough for me. The stocks are very well refurbished. Just oil the stock from time to time (I use Ballistol on everything).

Should i get a scope or red dot? - I went this avenue several times (a scope and then a red dot) on my other SKS's. Too many hassles for basically no gain. All these Al alloy rails are too long and vibrate. No measurable accuracy improvement. The other, more stable mounts, require drilling the receiver (never will do that).

Norco non-corrosive ammo is good? - Yes, the Norinco red box ammo is quite reasonable. But don't expect anything even close to target quality. I've been shooting in my Type 56 (exactly the same batch as yours) both corrosive surplus and the Norinco red box. No problems whatsoever. Just more thorough cleaning after shooting surplus (I use Ballistol)
 
Personally I’d strip and clean the crap out of it and then go shoot it as is, get some cheap surplus ammo and clean it after every range day, get some stripper clips and enjoy it as is
 
People who say not to shoot corrosive ammo only screw with rubbers, take their car to the garage for tire rotations and think reloading ammo is dangerous.

Don't be that kind of guy.

Corrosive ammo is cheap, available, reliable, and is what the sks was designed to shoot. Read up on how to clean the rifle after corrosive shooting and you'll be fine.
 
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Corrosive is fine- especially in the new batch Chinese SKS- they are chrome lined. Good habit to clean your firearm after a shooting day, so if you do that, no harm in shooting corrosive.
 
thanks all. Let me do some research on cleaning it for the first time and after range days. If anyone have video or thread regarding cleaning. Please share it. TIA
 
Claven2 said:
People who say not to shoot corrosive ammo only scre with rubbers, take their car to the garage for tire rotations and think reloading ammo is dangerous.
Don't be that kind of guy.
Corrosive ammo is cheap, available, reliable, and is what the sks was designed to shoot. Read up on how to clean the rifle after corrosive shooting and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Well said. For years, I've been shooting corrosive ammo in ALL my 7.62x39 and x54R rifles including the SKS's (Russian&Chinese), the Mosins, the Ruger Ranch and Howa Mini Action. Clean thoroughly with Ballistol (sometimes mixed with water). Not even a speck of rust.
 
iloveruger said:
My collection
1. Last month - my first rifle after PAL - Ruger PCC with Vortex strikfire 2
2. Last week - Derya TM22 - for cheaper range days - Have Bushnell TRS 25 for it

yesterday there was a flash sale @SFRC and i got the last Chinese SKS for 499. Door to door (tax included). Not sure it was a wise decision.

But i noticed stock disappear in FOC as well because of their 15% discount and even at SFRC it was 5 or so and all were sold with few hours. Hope its a good deal.

My question is - what should i do first when i get it ? Strip and clean ? refinish the stock ? (its wood right. i should be able to refinish)

Should i get a scope or red dot ?

Not planning to buy Ammo in this month. But will eventually get. Norco non-corrosive ammo is good ?

Sorry if its lot of blabbering in the morning :D
Click to expand...

You need more coffee and then more coffee.
What ever you do when you get your new firearm do not wash it in the dishwasher.
Become familiar with it by cleaning thoroughly and lube it with your gun oil of choice.
Happy shooting.
Rob
this is not the dishwasher method btw......
 
iloveruger said:
thanks all. Let me do some research on cleaning it for the first time and after range days. If anyone have video or thread regarding cleaning. Please share it. TIA
Click to expand...

There are tons of videos on you tube on cleaning the SKS. Some of them even require removing the action from the stock. I don't do that when I shoot on a nice sunny day. Only if there was raining. After a nice day on the range I do a routine cleaning involving field stripping and then cleaning the bolt carrier, bolt assembly, recoil spring, gas system (a gas tube and piston), gas piston extension and inside of the magazine well and magazine. You will find that people use the whole variety of cleaning agents and oils. Personally, for years I've been using just Ballistol oil for all my cleaning needs.
Once a year I remove the action from the stock, inspect and clean with Ballistol.
 
Good choice on the rifle. As far as I am concerned, every shooter should have at least one SKS, or three... To add to what others have said:
- Wood refinish: No need to unless the finish is flaking. It's your personal preference, but I would not touch it myself unless the existing finish is really bad...
- Scope or Red Dot: Unless you cannot see the sights because of older eyes, do not bother and use the irons.
- Corrosive Ammo: Not a big deal to clean once you know how; it is cost expensive and still relatively plentiful, compared to non-corrosive.
- Non-Corrosive Ammo: I like Barnaul but it's now very hard to find. About the Norinco ammo, I am always unsure if corrosive or not; lots of differing opinion on the web; I would do a "nail test" or keep an close eye on rust after putting away the rifle.
 
cheb said:
- Non-Corrosive Ammo: I like Barnaul but it's now very hard to find. About the Norinco ammo, I am always unsure if corrosive or not; lots of differing opinion on the web; I would do a "nail test" or keep an close eye on rust after putting away the rifle.
Click to expand...

The Norinco red box ammo is absolutely non-corrosive. I've been using it for a few years now. A lot of people made a nail test on it. Some examples from other posts:h ttps://www.reddit.com/r/canadaguns/comments/126oq5v/anyone_tried_this_762x39_and_is_it_actually_non/

u/FullMetalLoaf avatar
FullMetalLoaf
24 days ago
Ive pulled a few samples from the batches I've received to do the nail test. After leaving them out for a few days I didn't see any corrosion.

u/Xhenoz avatar
Xhenoz
24 days ago
Used tons of the stuff over the past 2 years and never had any corrosion, I've heard some of the really old boxes (I think the white boxes with the norinco logo) were sometimes just repackaged old military corrosive stuff but thats not the case anymore and all the red boxes I've ever used have been perfectly fine, good ammo too

u/Entire-Party-8842 avatar
Entire-Party-8842
24 days ago
311/19 is safe, nail tested and no gun clean in 4 months, no rust.
 
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First off, great choice to get that sks. I doubt you'll ever regret it, unless you regret buying only one when you had the chance.
For my bifocal eyes, the tech sight ts-200 was a nice improvement over stock open sights. They add an extra step to cleaning, but are really foolproof for the most part. If you like peep sights more than open sights, consider them.

Also, an sks butt pad spacer off amazon will make it nicer to shoot if you are normal height. A 2" thick one is about right.
 
05RAV said:
The Norinco red box ammo is absolutely non-corrosive. I've been using it for a few years now. A lot of people made a nail test on it. Some examples from other posts:h ttps://www.reddit.com/r/canadaguns/comments/126oq5v/anyone_tried_this_762x39_and_is_it_actually_non/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I have both Norinco "red box" and "white box" ammo and had been treating them with the same suspicion, which by the looks of it might be unfounded...
 
SKS are fun rifles to shoot. I have two , one original and one I put a butler creek stock and a forward mounted scout scope on. Impulse buy I had to laugh at as I carry a rifle case in the trunk just for such occasions. Norinco red box I find is a little dirty after 300 or 400 rnds but definitely non corrosive. That many rounds is one range trip. Wait for Cabelas to have the red box on sale and keep buying it every sale. I was buying 10 or 25 boxes at a time, couldn’t resist the sale.
 
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