School me on SKS’s

Couple more questions for the SKS gurus
I know that I have to clean the SKS of cosmoline . Should I do a total strip , so disassemble all from the stock ?

I have read that the SKS is more accurate when the bayonet is extended .
Is this myth ?
Thanks
 
When I got my SKS, I put it under my radiant heater in my garage for a couple hours so the whole gun, metal and wood warmed up. Made for cleaning the SKS way easier, then I used no chlorinated brake fluid to clean the metal parts, and as I cleaned the parts, I sprayed the parts with G96 and set them aside until I had the whole gun cleaned, after which I wiped the parts down and just left a thin coating of oil. I found that my bolt was very gummed up in the firing pin channel and I heated that up slightly with a heat gun to assist in its cleaning. Warming the cosmoline prior to cleaning definitely makes it easier.

For the stock, I just kept putting it under the heater, the cosmolne would sweat out of the wood, and I wiped it down frequently until I was satisfied more wouldn’t sweat out under use, but that may change once next summer comes and days warm up.

I tried shooting with bayonet in and out, don’t know for sure if it made a difference but seemed to make the gun more balanced. Only shot once with the bayonet out, works both ways for me, just make sure you clean the bayonet if you use corrosive ammo, or even non corrosive as the bayonet gets pretty black from the carbon.
I started shootings at evaporated milk cans at 50 meters and am hitting those with regularity, hit or miss small, it is FUN!
 
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Leavenworth said:
Couple more questions for the SKS gurus
I know that I have to clean the SKS of cosmoline . Should I do a total strip , so disassemble all from the stock ?

I have read that the SKS is more accurate when the bayonet is extended .
Is this myth ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
1… Full strip. Non chlorinated brake cleaner and hot water, both work well. Then a good hose down with G96. Even the stocks can have cosmoline on/in them. Best way for the stock is to sweat it out… once I put the stock in a black plastic garbage bag, wrapped in paper towels and left it on the dash of my car in the hot sun of summer… close to any heat source will work though.
2…. The ones that I have had in the past seemed to shoot better if the bayo was extended.
 
Leavenworth said:
For those of you that have taken your SKS apart right down to removing it from the wood stock for cleaning have you noticed a decease in accuracy ?
As it has been mentioned that it helps for accuracy to have a very tight fitting rifle in the stock .

Yes I know this rifle is not know for accuracy as mentioned in prior posts but will it get worse the more times you totally disassemble it ?
Click to expand...

"help accuracy" is highly relative. Don't expect anything consistenly better than 4 MOA with an SKS and remember its made for 6 foot, 170 pound targets and you'll enjoy the thing a lot better ;)


Taking it out of the stock to remove cosmo will do absolutely no harm. It probably won't care if you take it out of its stock 1000 times or shoot great or the worst ammo through it. Maybe with a whole bunch of handload experimenting you can get it to consistent 3" 5 shot groups. Maybe.

Course if just doing mods and stuff in and of itself is fun to you, go for it!
 
The only Cosmo on the stock would be inside the receiver/barrel channel (if any), the varnish would protect the rest of it.
maybe the vendor cleaned it before shipping ? Haven't you taken it apart yet ?
 
Buck1950 said:
The only Cosmo on the stock would be inside the receiver/barrel channel (if any), the varnish would protect the rest of it.
maybe the vendor cleaned it before shipping ? Haven't you taken it apart yet ?
Click to expand...
No I have been working haven’t had time to.I will be totally honest I could have made time . I need to put down the iPad and get busy
 
I shot the SKS once or twice years ago, was totally underwhelmed and unimpressed and never considered owning one.

Do you SKS owners consider these generally good rifles and something that you enjoy shooting?
 
Silverado said:
I shot the SKS once or twice years ago, was totally underwhelmed and unimpressed and never considered owning one.

Do you SKS owners consider these generally good rifles and something that you enjoy shooting?
Click to expand...
Depends on your expectations, I guess? I value it for what it is - a bomb proof reliable semi auto carbine that always goes bang, can easily hit a man sized target at 300m and can be maintained without any tools.
 
Silverado said:
Do you SKS owners consider these generally good rifles and something that you enjoy shooting?
Click to expand...
I consider it an historical example of an early cold war era battle rifle that began the use of 7.62x39 and the string of Soviet assault rifles that followed. It isn't a particularly great rifle by today's standards, but it is a time machine that shoots. I like old surplus rifles, even if they have been superseded by time and technology.

Yes, I enjoy shooting it. But I enjoy shooting most guns, so that isn't very unusual.


Mark
 
firebat said:
Depends on your expectations, I guess? I value it for what it is - a bomb proof reliable semi auto carbine that always goes bang, can easily hit a man sized target at 300m and can be maintained without any tools.
Click to expand...
This may be scandalizing for some people to hear, but the Mini-14 is one of my all-time favourite SA rifles. I think I would choose one over an AR 15 if I had to, I’ve owned quite a few of both.

I enjoyed every single M14S I ever owned as well. Especially the ones that cost about 500 bucks and came with crates of ammunition included.
 
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