Loose sks stock
- Thread starter CanadianBaconPancakes
- Start date
saltednutz
Regular
- Location
- God's Country ᐋᕘᑕ
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At cabelas last sale they had all but one of the 12 guns on the racks rattled or shook in some way. Some of these guns in the refurb process must have just been dropped in stocks. Had the same issue with a very loose SVT40 I bought on here and immediately resold for what I paid. The barrel moved, the covers moved and the mag moved. Would have sounded like the Russian army was out hunting deer from a mile away. New owner was prepared to bed the stock and was otherwise a nice rifle.
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I have a refurbed SKS that i've owned for a couple years now. First time I dis/reassembled I noticed that it had about 1/16"-1/8" play back and forth at the cross bolt. The fellas on here said I had nothing to worry about and wondered what I was expecting from a 60 year old surplus rifle. Fair enough! I ended up putting that rifle in a Tapco stock and it rests without any movement now.
Most of my SKS had some looseness of the barreled action in the stock. A shim at the very back of the receiver - after removing the trigger group - will push the barreled action forward against the front cross bolt and improve accuracy as well as eliminating looseness.
Most SKS owners wouldn't notice one way or the other. To them it's just a cheap use it up and throw it away "surplus" rifle which will always be available along with an endless supply of cheap ammo.
The people on this site for the most part actually look into their firearms to see how they function and try to understand their weaknesses and strengths.
The SKS is a wonderful platform that is for the most part absolutely reliable under all conditions. Mind you I recently watched one that was fired under water and it actually came out of it well with nothing more than a crack in the wrist area behind the receiver. Somehow I don't think it was designed to be fired under water but who knows??
OP, SKS rifles were built under all sorts of conditions. The materials used in those builds was surprising consistent as far as fit and quality goes. I will admit that variances were very tolerant but that is also part of the design and enables the rifle to perform consistently and reliably eve with the poorest trained individuals.
Loose stocks are not common on these rifles but neither are tightly fitting stocks. Last spring I picked up a well used but not abused SKS at the Nelson show. I bought it specifically to modify. My old eyes don't acquire iron sights as well as I would like so I need a scope. I chose a MagWedge for a lot of reasons which were mostly ease of installment and rigidity.
The receiver on this rifle also fit loosely in its bed. Likely why it was sold in the first place so cheaply. It wouldn't hold a zero even though the bore is very close to excellent and measured out at .3105. I tried hand loads/commercial/surplus ammo with no positive results. Shotgun pattern groups were the norm. Reason, overly generous bedding inlet tolerances. I use that term because the bedding wasn't worn at all, just inletted to maximum or over spec tolerances. This is never a good situation.
There is an easy fix though and it only takes a few hours of your time to set the rifle up to perform the way it was intended or even better. Glass bedding at the appropriate points is the answer. Because of its design full length glass bedding isn't really practical and also isn't necessary. About three inches under the rear sight, back to the front of the receiver is the most important and at the very rear, slightly around each side of the receiver.
The effect of bedding at these two points makes a huge difference on some SKS rifles accuracy and even function. One rifle that was brought to me with stove piping issues had nothing wrong with it other than the receiver could move back in the stock under recoil. It was just enough to cause some inertia issues with the bolt. There seem to be a lot of take off stocks available at cheaper than dirt pricing. Not a thing wrong with them but their owners like the new after market black rifle look more.
The people on this site for the most part actually look into their firearms to see how they function and try to understand their weaknesses and strengths.
The SKS is a wonderful platform that is for the most part absolutely reliable under all conditions. Mind you I recently watched one that was fired under water and it actually came out of it well with nothing more than a crack in the wrist area behind the receiver. Somehow I don't think it was designed to be fired under water but who knows??
OP, SKS rifles were built under all sorts of conditions. The materials used in those builds was surprising consistent as far as fit and quality goes. I will admit that variances were very tolerant but that is also part of the design and enables the rifle to perform consistently and reliably eve with the poorest trained individuals.
Loose stocks are not common on these rifles but neither are tightly fitting stocks. Last spring I picked up a well used but not abused SKS at the Nelson show. I bought it specifically to modify. My old eyes don't acquire iron sights as well as I would like so I need a scope. I chose a MagWedge for a lot of reasons which were mostly ease of installment and rigidity.
The receiver on this rifle also fit loosely in its bed. Likely why it was sold in the first place so cheaply. It wouldn't hold a zero even though the bore is very close to excellent and measured out at .3105. I tried hand loads/commercial/surplus ammo with no positive results. Shotgun pattern groups were the norm. Reason, overly generous bedding inlet tolerances. I use that term because the bedding wasn't worn at all, just inletted to maximum or over spec tolerances. This is never a good situation.
There is an easy fix though and it only takes a few hours of your time to set the rifle up to perform the way it was intended or even better. Glass bedding at the appropriate points is the answer. Because of its design full length glass bedding isn't really practical and also isn't necessary. About three inches under the rear sight, back to the front of the receiver is the most important and at the very rear, slightly around each side of the receiver.
The effect of bedding at these two points makes a huge difference on some SKS rifles accuracy and even function. One rifle that was brought to me with stove piping issues had nothing wrong with it other than the receiver could move back in the stock under recoil. It was just enough to cause some inertia issues with the bolt. There seem to be a lot of take off stocks available at cheaper than dirt pricing. Not a thing wrong with them but their owners like the new after market black rifle look more.
- Location
- Steel Town
Well said bearhunter. I used a small piece of soup can bottom at the back of the receiver on one of my SKSs and it tightened it to the point that there was no play... groups improved and it became my most accurate SKS.
ShotgunNut
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Vancouver Island BC Canada
Bed the stock. Very easy and there are lots of products you can use.
