Russian SKS........Do they ever blow up ?

Only thing I've had to do too one of my Chinese sks (which I bought used) was change the gas tube it was pitted to heavily. Previous owner didn't clean it well.
 
I'm still wet behind the ears as far as firearms goes but I was incredibly impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of my Russian SKS tonight. It ate every single round I loaded into it without any issues at all. So simplistic to operate and such a smooth and solid action. You can tell these things were built to a certain standard just by picking it up. Built to last.
 
Everything can fail over time and use. If you abuse it will break. You know I've never had a firearm blow up the reason is simple they way it's used and inspecting it closely after prolonged use to look for cracks ect. Lots of the guns that blow up are due to human error on the side of the user more then anything or neglect like never cleaning a firearm. I had 1 person tell me his gun was junk because it doesn't work right he fired 3,000 lead 22lr rounds and it fouled up the barrel so bad you couldn't see through it. A chunk of lead broke off and he thought the barrel was broken some scubbing and solvent down the barrel and it looked like new again. Handed it back and went nope just fouled up bad with that blazer ammo I like copper ammo because it fouls allot less. Another person had his gun full of dirty powder and it finally stopped working cleaned it handed it to him said try it now and it worked fine just needed to be cleaned...

Some folks just aren't cut out to be shooters lol
 
"http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=109307.0
"So, with that being said, tomorrow we are going to do a couple of KABOOM tests and see what happens.

I've cut both SKS barrels I have and welded plugs into the barrels to ensure a successful Kb test.

On the first gun, the plug was welded just behind the muzzle (18.7" barrel total length) to simulate a squib at the muzzle

And on the second gun, a plug was welded into the barrel just infront of the chamber to simulate a squib load that has just left enough room to allow a second round to be loaded and fired (probably the most dangerous case of a squib I can think of)."
dsc01885fk.jpg

"
Essentially all that happened to the first gun was that it blew out the welded plug and bent the end of the barrel a few degrees."

"
The second gun was particularly interesting. When fired, the bullet actually pushed the entire welded steel plug out of the barrel. There is NO other damage to the gun."

 
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Hard to say, On some U.S forums that I have seen many people who own both the SKS and AK-47 seem to like the SKS a bit more but a lot of these were compared to the WASR ak-47.

IMO: The SKS is the better of the two. Other than allure of the prohib status of the AK here in Canada & the accessories available in the States for it. The only real advantage I see is the detachable mag, not commonly seen on the SKS's. The AK's success & ease of manufacture & maintenance is well known, but I still believe the SKS is a better rifle...
 
I've never seen an SKS explode. I've barely even seen them jam. More thousands of rounds than I can count out of 6 different SKS's and I've had a grand total of 5 malfunctions I can blame on the rifle, and all were simple stovepipes.
 
Those vids are impressive! Kinda like the mosin torture test vids. Some of these old war horses are just tanks. As far as the SKS vs AK I think the SKS has it over the AK. (Still want one though) remember the Allah Akbar BOOM video of the guy firing a AK.
 
"http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=109307.0
"So, with that being said, tomorrow we are going to do a couple of KABOOM tests and see what happens.

I've cut both SKS barrels I have and welded plugs into the barrels to ensure a successful Kb test.

On the first gun, the plug was welded just behind the muzzle (18.7" barrel total length) to simulate a squib at the muzzle

And on the second gun, a plug was welded into the barrel just infront of the chamber to simulate a squib load that has just left enough room to allow a second round to be loaded and fired (probably the most dangerous case of a squib I can think of)."
dsc01885fk.jpg

"
Essentially all that happened to the first gun was that it blew out the welded plug and bent the end of the barrel a few degrees."

"
The second gun was particularly interesting. When fired, the bullet actually pushed the entire welded steel plug out of the barrel. There is NO other damage to the gun."


after a little crown job ,accurate as ever ;].these rifles never cease to amaze me
 
Cheers Juster :)

Those 2 vids are probably the best promotional videos Ive ever seen.
Hard to believe some people still call the SKS junk.
Going to get another one on Monday...........just because I saw the vids :)
 
I bought a new Russian SMS that was still coated in grease and I didn't get all of the grease out of the firing pin and as a result I did get slam fire. And if your firing mil spec ammo then every couple hundred rounds pull the firing pin out and clean it otherwise it will jam again. There is a popular mod to limit slam fire but I have not actually seen it.
 
There is a poster here I thought he would have chimed in by now. He has some pictures of his sks bolt that was starting to come apart. If he had not seen it and kept shooting I am sure that there would have been some unpleasantness eventually.
 
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