- Location
- Nova Scotia
I still see SKS as a sub 200$ rifle. Mind you I had 3-4 and paid 75$ for my first one.
Rust in Barrel of My SKS
- Thread starter CarloNord
- Start date
I still see SKS as a sub 200$ rifle. Mind you I had 3-4 and paid 75$ for my first one.
Sadly, they aren't anymore. Even when they were, try to find anything else as well built for anything close to $200. Even most sub $1000 guns today aren't as well built.
Of course, McDonald's meals are no longer just $5 either....
If you were shooting Norinco non corrosive, what you are seeing is copper fouling. Unless you left the rifle out to get wet and put it away wet.
When using non corrosive ammo you don't need to use hot water to clean out any corrosive salts and you don't need clean after every shooting session unless you want to . You can clean after every case of ammo and it will be fine, as long as there is a bit of lubricant on the rifle.
When using non corrosive ammo you don't need to use hot water to clean out any corrosive salts and you don't need clean after every shooting session unless you want to . You can clean after every case of ammo and it will be fine, as long as there is a bit of lubricant on the rifle.
So you got a screaming deal on a very good rifle and you turn your nose up at it???? Why because it was cheap??? All sorts of folks look back at the new in grease Lee Enfields that sold out of barrels for $10 each at the Army&Navy, Sears, Eatons and every little rural gas station and hardware store.
I picked up a half dozen such rifles from our local dump, back in the early seventies. The owners had passed away and their offspring considered them to be junk.
Never shot by them, still slathered in cosmolene. I just took them home and put them in the safe with a few others.
No doubt. This sentiment always amazes me. Show me another gun that is better for a similar price!
The closest thing on the market is probably the t81, which is close to 3x the price of the sks now, has a stamped receiver rather than machined, and may or may not be bent when you get it! Accuracy doesn't seem to be much better on those either.
Even at $400 these guns are a good value. $400 doesn't get you much these days other than 22lr guns - the Savage Axis retails for more than that!
Now, more on topic, I have noticed that not all "non-corrosive" ammo is the same. I have some stuff that I think was made in the Ukraine (came in white boxes, was widely available a few years ago in hollow point and ball ammo), after shooting it and letting the rifle sit in my safe for a few day it got a light coat of rust on everything. My bolt is now a lot darker than it used to be, even with a wire brush it just won't go back to shiny metal.
The 1950 SKS's were not chrome lined. So, it's quite possible that you have a bit of rust in the barrel. I also have a 1950 Tula SKS in a Tapco stock. In order to keep the barrel out of any rust I clean the bore every two or three weeks with patches soaked in Ballistol followed by dry patches and eventually I leave some film of Ballistol in the bore for storage. In contrast, my 1952, 1953, 1957 as well as a 1971 Chinese all have chrome lined bores and I've never had any rust problems in their bores.
The "white box" Norinco 7.62x39mm cartridges are definitely lightly corrosive. They are not as corrosive as surplus but still are to some extent. The really non-corrosive 7.62x39mm cartridges are brass-cased manufactured by PPU, Sellier&Bellot and steel-cased by Barnaul and Hornady. However, they cost a fortune nowadays.
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With the steel case, berdan primed ammo (especially from Ukraine and Russia) it's a good idea to check a good sampling of your spent casings for pierced primers or deep strike. Blow back from the busted primers can wreak havoc on the bolt face, firing pin, and firing pin channel.
For the caked-on carbon scoring, try #0000 steel wool and cleaning solvent (as elbow grease, of course).
Its not the boltface thats dirty (well, it probably is too) but rather the bolt carrier. I'm sure I could get it to clean up better if I REALLY tried, but I hit it with a bronze bristle wire brush and that did not do the trick.
