I'm new to CGN. I read the "helpful hints" sticky and decided to try 3 of them.
5 rnd stripper:
Very easy to do, costs nothing. A dremel for the scoring and an 8 inch vise grip set to cam over pinches the open ends very consistently. Definitely worth the time.
Side ejection (modify the ejector surface).
This one is easy to do with a dremel cutter and hand files. The metal is soft. Takes about 30 minutes. Basically costs nothing unless you want to reblue the cut. Bluing is about $10 and for most people one bottle will last a lifetime.
This is a permanent modification so you will be joining the "Bubba Club". It works quite well but I didn't get as good a result as the author. All my SKS casings hit the tin roof where I shoot. After the modification, 8/40 hit the roof. Overall I would say it is worth doing since it costs nothing except the loss in value associate with "Bubbification".
Gas tube porting
For this one I bought another gas tube ($20+10 shipping). These Russian tubes are very hard and you Canadian Tire drills won't do anything. Somebody suggested cobalt drills; I used 1.5 mm carbide drills to make the pilot holes. They cut like butter but the ones I used were meant for CNC machines so each snapped off when it broke through (3 holes, 3 bits). If you plan to do this one, invest in specialty drill bits.
Because the tube was so hard I decided to enlarge the holes gradually using a tapered diamond cutter (300 grit) rather than drill bits. This worked well until the cutter snapped off in the hole (twice). At the range you don't have the tools to deal with so its back to the bat cave....
Long story short I eventually managed to get what I wanted (or at least persuade myself that was what I wanted).
This modification works to reduce recoil and ejection distance. When you do this modification (or the one above) you start looking at where, and how far, ejected cases go. There is a great deal of shot to shot variation even among rounds from the same lot (Chinese 1970s). If you go too far you might find that other lots, countries, or dates might not work properly.
I wouldn't do this modification again. For me the end result isn't worth the cost and effort.
I mostly shoot .308 and 7.62X54 bolt guns so the SKS recoil isn't an issue anyway. Maybe this would be worth it with an aftermarket gas tube that you were going to buy anyway. Likely the aftermarket tubes are not as hard and you could use ordinary drill bits.
It's a forum so it's just my opinion.......
Thanks CGN - all were interesting to experiment with.
5 rnd stripper:
Very easy to do, costs nothing. A dremel for the scoring and an 8 inch vise grip set to cam over pinches the open ends very consistently. Definitely worth the time.
Side ejection (modify the ejector surface).
This one is easy to do with a dremel cutter and hand files. The metal is soft. Takes about 30 minutes. Basically costs nothing unless you want to reblue the cut. Bluing is about $10 and for most people one bottle will last a lifetime.
This is a permanent modification so you will be joining the "Bubba Club". It works quite well but I didn't get as good a result as the author. All my SKS casings hit the tin roof where I shoot. After the modification, 8/40 hit the roof. Overall I would say it is worth doing since it costs nothing except the loss in value associate with "Bubbification".
Gas tube porting
For this one I bought another gas tube ($20+10 shipping). These Russian tubes are very hard and you Canadian Tire drills won't do anything. Somebody suggested cobalt drills; I used 1.5 mm carbide drills to make the pilot holes. They cut like butter but the ones I used were meant for CNC machines so each snapped off when it broke through (3 holes, 3 bits). If you plan to do this one, invest in specialty drill bits.
Because the tube was so hard I decided to enlarge the holes gradually using a tapered diamond cutter (300 grit) rather than drill bits. This worked well until the cutter snapped off in the hole (twice). At the range you don't have the tools to deal with so its back to the bat cave....
Long story short I eventually managed to get what I wanted (or at least persuade myself that was what I wanted).
This modification works to reduce recoil and ejection distance. When you do this modification (or the one above) you start looking at where, and how far, ejected cases go. There is a great deal of shot to shot variation even among rounds from the same lot (Chinese 1970s). If you go too far you might find that other lots, countries, or dates might not work properly.
I wouldn't do this modification again. For me the end result isn't worth the cost and effort.
I mostly shoot .308 and 7.62X54 bolt guns so the SKS recoil isn't an issue anyway. Maybe this would be worth it with an aftermarket gas tube that you were going to buy anyway. Likely the aftermarket tubes are not as hard and you could use ordinary drill bits.
It's a forum so it's just my opinion.......
Thanks CGN - all were interesting to experiment with.
