Heavy match SKS barrel project anyone?

poweredbybeer

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I was reading a post in another forum (the gunsmithing forum, I think) about a heavy Mini 14 barrel & gas block, and how badly the guy wanted to find one!! I started getting wishful, since I know there's no such thing for my SKS. I'm wondering why nobody has bothered to bang a few out (I think I have an idea why, but I wanted to hear other thoughts/perspectives on the subject), even on a one-off custom basis, just for the hell of it to see the difference in accuracy it makes on your average SKS? I wouldn't do it to a Russian or Albanian one, or even a Yugo, but a Chicom one with a threaded barrel would be a perfect test-bed for a prototype match barrel, IMHO :cool:

To that end, if there were enough interest and a willingness to pool resources, I'd definetely be interested in 1 or 2 heavy barrels for my SKS. Whether this means I have to throw money at it, or help w/design, or help w/logistics & shipping and junk, or even down & dirty manual labour, I'd be up for it. Does anyone feel the same way? I currently have a couple ideas for a barrel/gas block/front lug design, but I don't have Adobe Illustrator or any other common drawing/dimensioning software that would allow me to share my ideas. Any comments/ideas/suggestions/assistance would be more than welcome, even nay-sayers and bah-humbuggers who think they can convince me a heavy SKS barrel is a bad idea ;) Bring it!
 
I would think that any benefit you gained from the heavy barrel would be used up in the loose action. But then again it would prob' still be an improvement.

An AK friend of mine in the USA says these Russian guns work more like a controlled wobble...as long as she is allowed to wobble in the same way each time you will get predictable results.

Do something as simple as throwing a barrel clamped bi pod on her, and you change the wobble...and the accuracy goes off abit.
 
Your about 10 years behind bud. Several years ago we had a spare complete SKS action, Chinese, we fitted a 26" P-14 barrel, fitted an FN flash hider, put it in a Dragonov stock from ATI. It looks like it's big 7.62x54 brother and shoots about 1.5 mins. Best group so far is about 6.2 inches at 300m with chinese ball.

Scott
Dycor Special Services
 
Calum said:
An AK friend of mine in the USA says these Russian guns work more like a controlled wobble...as long as she is allowed to wobble in the same way each time you will get predictable results.

Do something as simple as throwing a barrel clamped bi pod on her, and you change the wobble...and the accuracy goes off abit.
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I saw a video a while ago (can't find it again, unfortunately) of an AK barrel oscillating while in operation. It was taken with a high-speed camera, so you could see how much the damn thing moved. I couldn't read the scale on the ruler thingy in the background, but it looked like it moved A LOT!!! And that was before the bullet even exited the barrel!! So yeah, you're right, but I think better accuracy could be achieved with little or no wobble, as opposed to a consistent tuned wobble, if you know what I mean :rolleyes:
m39a2 said:
Your about 10 years behind bud. Several years ago we had a spare complete SKS action, Chinese, we fitted a 26" P-14 barrel, fitted an FN flash hider, put it in a Dragonov stock from ATI. It looks like it's big 7.62x54 brother and shoots about 1.5 mins. Best group so far is about 6.2 inches at 300m with chinese ball.

Scott
Dycor Special Services
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Cool!! However, wouldn't that effectively make it a straight-pull bolt action, since P14's have no gas block? I can understand how it would work, and it sounds like it worked very well :D I'd like to retain the gas system though, if possible, and the front lug for mounting & pressure bedding purposes. Did you free-float the barrel on your experiment? Do you have any pics? Thanx for the insight! It sounds like I'm on the right track...
 
Oh oh..methinks we have created a monster. :D
Sounds like a fun project. :D

Now was this P-14 barreled project mentioned above tested from a bench with a scope, or was it fixed to a bench and tested?

Also how was the scope mounted?

If it was a receiver mounted, then it's accuracy could have suffered from the movement of the scope on the receiver which will rattle around while firing on an SKS.
 
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poweredbybeer said:
Cool!! However, wouldn't that effectively make it a straight-pull bolt action, since P14's have no gas block? I can understand how it would work, and it sounds like it worked very well :D I'd like to retain the gas system though, if possible, and the front lug for mounting & pressure bedding purposes. Did you free-float the barrel on your experiment? Do you have any pics? Thanx for the insight! It sounds like I'm on the right track...
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I've seen the critter, Nice

No problems about the gas block you just fit the barrel with the SKS gas block and its good to go.

I'm in the process of fitting a No4 Enfield barrel to an SKS just for giggles.
 
woodchopper said:
I've seen the critter, Nice

No problems about the gas block you just fit the barrel with the SKS gas block and its good to go.

I'm in the process of fitting a No4 Enfield barrel to an SKS just for giggles.
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Is it just that easy? How big does the gas port have to be? Does it have to be drilled at a certain angle or anything? And how do you attach it, I've noticed that mine is pinned on, but is there a better way? Brazing or silver-soldering, maybe? Or TIG welding? I just so happen to have a wee buzz-box of a TIG welder, a scratch start model with a manual gas valve, but it's a welder nonetheless...

I was thinking more along the lines of a heavy bull barrel, about 3/4" or 7/8" diameter, with an integrally machined gas block and adjustable recoil lug for applying forward pressure to the action when it's mounted in the stock. The reciever would have to be rigidly mounted to the stock as well (I've got an idea for that too). I work in the H2 fuel cell industry, so I'm around high-pressure gas fittings all day, and I've got a few ideas for attaching the gas tube with pre-made fittings...but that's a whole other can 'o worms :D

Thanx for the ideas guys, keep up the good work!
 
So would this be a modern day Russian-Canadian-Chinese variant of the Self loading Charlton Enfield? :D

Here is what that rifle looked like...
Charlton2.jpg


Charlton1.jpg


The SKS receiver and gas tube would look allot better IMHO. :D
The other question is...how does one register the beastie when it is finished?
 
^Yeeee-ikes!! What a nightmare creature that is!! No disrespect to firearm history and innovation, but that thing looks like quite an abortion. I'm sure it's historical significance more than makes up for its hideousnessnesses, though :D
Calum said:
The other question is...how does one register the beastie when it is finished?
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I don't think the finished rifle would require re-registration, as long as its overall length is greater than 26 inches and the reciever assembly retains the original registered serial number (which it would). It'd be like putting an aftermarket barrel on a 10/22, no reg. required :D I'm pretty sure, anyway...
 
m39a2 said:
Your about 10 years behind bud. Several years ago we had a spare complete SKS action, Chinese, we fitted a 26" P-14 barrel, fitted an FN flash hider, put it in a Dragonov stock from ATI. It looks like it's big 7.62x54 brother and shoots about 1.5 mins. Best group so far is about 6.2 inches at 300m with chinese ball.

Scott
Dycor Special Services
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I have a similar (though somewhat interrupted) project hanging around.

Mainly I'm waiting for a stock I actually think is worth the trouble & money.

All the gas system parts are in a baggie waiting to be assembled on my 24" .308 barrel.

D
 
I removed the gasblock just remove pins and hammer off. The barrel has a surprizeing large port about 1/8" drilled at about a 45deg angle. I'm now messing around with the enfield barrel turning it down a bit to fit the gasblock.

The endifed barrel had some really bad and deep pitting so truning it down will help a lot.

If you were to enlarge the gasblock to fit the barrel that would work too, but its not that big to start with, so making a new gasblock might be the answer.

If you have the proper tools and the skills to use them you can do almost anything
 
woodchopper said:
I removed the gasblock just remove pins and hammer off. The barrel has a surprizeing large port about 1/8" drilled at about a 45deg angle.
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So just out of curiosity... in which direction is this Gas ports 45 deg' angle on?

<--- Muzzle ... (\ 45deg this way?) ... Reciver --->.
or
<--- Muzzle ... (/ 45deg this way?) ... Reciver --->.
:confused:
 
it would be very interesting to see the results of a heavy barrel mated to the sks.the stiffer[thicker] barrel i would think would not allow much oscillation[ i hope thats the right word for this]is there a 7.62x39 chambered barrel on any other makes or models that could be used? an unchambered .308 barrel might work,a machinist to turn out the chamber.some 7.62x39 commericial ammo is actually made with .308 dia bullets,or hand load with 308 dia.it would actually give you a better choice of bullets for reloading.
 
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buster said:
is there a 7.62x39 chambered barrel on any other makes or models that could be used? an unchambered .308 barrel might work,a machinist to turn out the chamber.
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M39a2 and woodchopper are both using enfield barrels, which are actually .311" diameter, not .303" as the cartridge name suggests. 7.62x39mm barrels are .310", so they're very close (.303 Brit bullets can be used in 7.62x39mm handloads with very good results). I like the idea of a .308 barrel, and it would open up a lot more possibilites for handloads, which would be nice :D
buster said:
some 7.62x39 commericial ammo is actually made with .308 dia bullets
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Do you happen to know which brands/types are made w/.308" bullets? The only reason I ask is because I wanna know which ones to avoid, the .002" of slop between the bullet & bore would be HORRIBLE for accuracy :p
 
Lee Enfield said:
All the gas system parts are in a baggie waiting to be assembled on my 24" .308 barrel.
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This sounds interesting!! Can you explain this particular setup, where the barrel came from, how the gas system parts fit onto it, etc, etc? Better yet, do you have pics? Hell, if you've got actual photographs, I'll pay for the duplicates and you can mail them to me so I can scan them!

As far as the stock goes, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a nice one that's worth time & money, and truth be told the stock doesn't much matter to me, it's the moving parts that get me excited :D There's a guy in the US that makes his own thumbhole stocks for SKS's, but he charges about $130 US for them before shipping, so it's kinda not worth it. Are you planning on making your own? If none of the aftermarket designs turn yer crank, you may be SOL (until Armedsask gets his sheet-steel lower worked out and mass produced) :(
 
I'm not sure how to add a photo to this entry, anyone wishing to, please send me an e mail to my personal address ...sstack1@ocii.com... and I'll send you a photo of the SKS Kev and I did up.

Scott
Dycor Special Services
 
poweredbybeer said:
M39a2 and woodchopper are both using enfield barrels, which are actually .311" diameter, not .303" as the cartridge name suggests. 7.62x39mm barrels are .310", so they're very close (.303 Brit bullets can be used in 7.62x39mm handloads with very good results). I like the idea of a .308 barrel, and it would open up a lot more possibilites for handloads, which would be nice :D

Do you happen to know which brands/types are made w/.308" bullets? The only reason I ask is because I wanna know which ones to avoid, the .002" of slop between the bullet & bore would be HORRIBLE for accuracy :p
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sorry,no info on what brands of commercial ammo are made with .308 bullets.my sierra reloading manual makes reference to two bore sizes for the 7.62x39: .308 and .311.i beleive i read somewhere else that some domestic manufacturers were producing rifles for this cartrige with a .308 bore ,as well as some domestic ammo producers using .308 dia bullets. all european an asian rifles will have a .311 bore dia.i am still going through an old crate of norc ammo,but have been looking into reloading as i reload for everything else i shoot.as a side note my old speer manual makes reference to their test rifle which was a ruger with a .308 bore.

the ruger mini 30 barrel my be a possibility[is there a heavy barrel for this?]i'm not sure if this is the ruger mentioned in my speer manual no.11
but it may have a .308 bore.
 
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