How do you clean your SKS after an afternoon of shooting?

1 drive home from the range

2 chug 6 coors light or some other cheap swill

3 wait 5 minutes

4 open the action and pee down the barrel

5 toss sks back into corner

important, do not let the bolt carrier slam closed on your ####, this is NOT the best way to perform your circumcision
 
Been doing just that for a few years now .... When I feel like it I spray CLP down the bore and gas cylinder upon getting home, than back in the safe she goes ....

So far whatever "rust" has ever formed has been cleaning up nicely with the following method : one CLP soaked patch, followed by about 20 nylon brush strokes, followed by another CLP soaked patch, followed by a dry patch.

Repeat the process 2-3 times, than back to the safe she goes.

Intervals between range and "cleaning" sessions, anywhere from 3 months to a full year.

Worst "damage" ever suffered : The gas valve got stuck once and was a ##### to remove (we're talking about a non-chromed Yugo 59/66) solution : spray both the valve and the gas port with CLP, fart around for about 20 minutes, wipe "clean" re-apply CLP, put back together.

The gas piston was "stuck" in the gas cylinder once so I banged on it a couple times with a screwdriver and the palm of my hand, it wouldn't budge, so I turned the assembly around, balanced it on the end with a wad of newspaper underneath it, filled the hole with CLP and left it there for a little while, within 15 minutes the CLP was beginning to seep thru the gap between the piston and the cylinder, sprayed some more CLP down there, and another 5 minutes later the gas piston fell in my hand after I gave the assembly a shake ....

Wiped the whole thing down with blue "shop towels", applied some more CLP, then put the thing back together again.

Interestingly enough, as time goes by (I use CLP almost exclusively as a cleaning product although I've been known to use some of that "foaming bore cleaner" stuff every once in awhile also, name your brand) it seems that rust seems to like to "catch" less and less.

I have come to use the same kind of "cleaning" regimen for all of my other firearms, in which I shoot almost exclusively corrosive stuff, with no ill-effects whatsoever.


Myth busted as far as I'm concerned ....

MosinNagantM44 said:
i am not going to clean my sks anymore. I am interested on how long it will last without cleaning.
Click to expand...
 
I strip my SKS, hose it a bit with cheap brake cleaner, throw all the parts into the laundry room sink and flush with hot water. Dry it with a rag, brush/patches with normal barrel solvent for the bore, oil everything and slap her back together.

Cheap, easy, and she hasn't had a spot of rust on her regardless of my house that's always super humid and alternates from hot to cold.
 
I've used Windex at the range, and boiling water at home-both seem to work equally well. Then I shoot WipeOut foam down the bore and let it sit overnight to remove copper deposits and powder grime. The gas system and bolt assembly I scrub with Breakfree/CLP and that seems to work on all my Milsurps after firing corrosive.
I have a buddy that shot a bunch of corrosive ammo through his Norinco SKS and then threw it in the closet for a year without cleaning it. The gas piston was frozen tight in the tube, and the bolt assembly had major rust deposits on it. I managed to free everything up and got it clean, but the major score marks inside the gas tube makes me wonder if it went from a semi to a single shot rifle....
 
On the topic of brake cleaner, it works great to remove the caked on Cosmoline that surplus rifles are packaged in, but it's quite a bit more expensive than Windex or boiling water to clean after firing corrosive ammo.
Just my 2 cents...
 
Instead of carrying a big bottle of Windex to the range and making yourself look like a Dork, use a small spray bottle of Muzzleloader cleaning spray. That stuff is meant for Black powder Muzzle loaders. I use it on my SKS when I am out in the bush, I just spray it down all over when I am done. Then when I clean it at home later that day, or in a couple of days, everything cleans up easy.
 
Cleaning...

Sorry I have to bring back this thread from the grave. After shooting some corrosive ammo out of my SKS I need to know the best way to clean it. My SKS is a chrome lined barrel. So I pour hot water from the muzzle back to the chamber or the chamber out to the muzzle? I must have to detach the stock then right?

I have the cleaning kit that came with the rifle, a .30 cal bore snake, a can of G96 and I can get some .30 cal patches if needed. What should I do?

Is there a video or pictured instructions showing the hot water and oil method?
 
Max-4 said:
Sorry I have to bring back this thread from the grave. After shooting some corrosive ammo out of my SKS I need to know the best way to clean it. My SKS is a chrome lined barrel. So I pour hot water from the muzzle back to the chamber or the chamber out to the muzzle? I must have to detach the stock then right?

I have the cleaning kit that came with the rifle, a .30 cal bore snake, a can of G96 and I can get some .30 cal patches if needed. What should I do?

Is there a video or pictured instructions showing the hot water and oil method?
Click to expand...

It doesent need to be done to a science. I believe you're overthinking it a little.

1) Remove the action from the stock, then pour boiling water onto the gas affected parts. (down the barrel from either end, the gas tube and the piston, the gas block, and the boltfact... just to be safe)

2) Let it evaporate, scrub her with your favorite cleaning oil/solvent/solution, and you're done.
 
I think this deserves reposting...

You cannot "neutralize" potassium chloride. Calling corrosive ammo "corrosive" is a misnomer. All you can hope to do is mechanically remove as many of the KCl molecules as you can.

The absolute best method is lots and lots of BOILING SOAPY WATER. Bar none.

The soap will help breakdown the crud in the bore so you can start to access KCl underneath it. Boiling water dissolves s**t better than ice water, and the more you use, the more you can dissolve then flush away with new water.

If you can show me a better solvent for KCl I would love to know. CLP, G96, Brake Cleaner etc are not polar.

Windex isn't bad, I have used it in the past in a pinch. But torrents of boiling water beat measly squirts of room temperature water every time for dissolving/flushing away the most molecules.

Go to Home Depot/Crappy Tire/Store down the road and buy a funnel and some tubing. Make the device that has been illustrated here:

image006.jpg


and be done with it. You wont have to disassemble the rifle, except the gas system, to do a post corrosive ammo cleaning of the major components. If you want follow up with WD-40 to displace any remaining water it couldn't hurt.
 
Last edited:
GilesG said:
I think this deserves reposting...

You cannot "neutralize" potassium chloride. Calling corrosive ammo "corrosive" is a misnomer. All you can hope to do is mechanically remove as many of the KCl molecules as you can.

The absolute best method is lots and lots of BOILING SOAPY WATER. Bar none.

The soap will help breakdown the crud in the bore so you can start to access KCl underneath it. Boiling water dissolves s**t better than ice water, and the more you use, the more you can dissolve then flush away with new water.

If you can show me a better solvent for KCl I would love to know. CLP, G96, Brake Cleaner etc are not polar.

Windex isn't bad, I have used it in the past in a pinch. But torrents of boiling water beat measly squirts of room temperature water every time for dissolving/flushing away the most molecules.

Go to Home Depot/Crappy Tire/Store down the road and buy a funnel and some tubing. Make the device that has been illustrated here:

image006.jpg


and be done with it. You wont have to disassemble the rifle, except the gas system, to do a post corrosive ammo cleaning of the major components. If you want follow up with WD-40 to displace any remaining water it couldn't hurt.
Click to expand...

Great advice! Thanks.
 
Do like the real users of the sks do -

Piss on it -

Just like the NVA and VC did -

The ammonia neutralizes the corrosive salts -

No need for boiling water etc.-
swingerlh.gif
 
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