SKS barrel has vertical play in stock

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Rossiter93

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Hello all, like the title says, I have an SKS that had about an eighth of an inch vertical play while its in its stock. There is no horizontal play whatsoever, and I haven't shot the rifle yet but I am concerned about accuracy with that much movement. The rifle is a 1950 vintage, in a laminate stock. I intend to replace the stock at some point, but I was wondering if there is a known fix for this in the meantime? It appears that the movement is due to the stock being beaten down where it sits in the front ferrule, I was thinking something along the lines of shims or building up JB weld to create a tighter fit for the meantime. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you for your time!

Oh, I'll try to add pictures tonight when I get home from work.

Also, another side note, by bolt carrier seems to have cosmo still in the firing pin channel and no matter how much simple green, boiling water, and scrubbing with pipe cleaners I do o can't et the pin to float completely freely. It's much better then it was, and it will move if you're holding the bolt carrier and whip it back and forth hard enough, but it's no where near as buttery as my old Chinese SKS was. I'm going to try baking it in the over tonight to see if I can't get any stubborn cosmo out.
I'm only in such a rush to get this all done because I'm taking the girlfriend out shooting this weekend and she's going to fire it to see if she wants to buy the one available locally for a good price, her first time firing anything larger then her .22. I want it to be as pleasant as smooth an experience as possible haha.
 
I would try some thin card stock shims first and see if that takes the play out, then bed it with epoxy of some sort if you don't want to screw with shims all the time.

Try some brake cleaner on the bolt carrier if all else fails.
 
For the play in the action/barrel: Try wax cooking parchment, folded and pressed, build up as many layers as you need to get the fit you want. I shimmed the action on one of my SKS's and it made a huge difference for accuracy. And it's relatively impervious to the heat from the action and barrel.

For the pin:
Completely dis-assemble the bolt/carreier, pull the pin out, and give it all 1/2 hr in an ultrasonic cleaner. If you know anyone who reloads a lot, good chance they'll have one. There's a specific solution for doing steel parts (not the same solution as used for brass), but it does wonders for removing every trace of guck in hard to reach places.
 
My original post was kind of murky and I only realized after you replied, but I do always completely disassemble to clean. I've scrubbed and soaked the thing numerous times but once it's reassembled the firing pin still feels sticky in the channel.
 
grelmar said:
For the play in the action/barrel: Try wax cooking parchment, folded and pressed, build up as many layers as you need to get the fit you want. I shimmed the action on one of my SKS's and it made a huge difference for accuracy. And it's relatively impervious to the heat from the action and barrel.

For the pin:
Completely dis-assemble the bolt/carreier, pull the pin out, and give it all 1/2 hr in an ultrasonic cleaner. If you know anyone who reloads a lot, good chance they'll have one. There's a specific solution for doing steel parts (not the same solution as used for brass), but it does wonders for removing every trace of guck in hard to reach places.
Click to expand...

I don't have access to an ultrasonic cleaner :( I'm trying to get it done with stuff I have at home or things I could pick up at Walmart on the way home tonight haha.
 
Rossiter93 said:
My original post was kind of murky and I only realized after you replied, but I do always completely disassemble to clean. I've scrubbed and soaked the thing numerous times but once it's reassembled the firing pin still feels sticky in the channel.
Click to expand...
The Russian pins are different than the Chinese. If you took it apart and cleaned it you should be good to go. A 1950 should have a SPRING LOADED pin by all accounts. Soak it in paint thinner when disassembled again to be sure. If you bake it to get cosmo out, and you do it too hot, you could bake harden a cosmo deposit inside the channel. Push the pin forward until it protrudes. Shake it back. If it goes, it's good. Don't worry about what your Chinese does if you can do it on the Russian with reasonable kinetic energy. And before you shim/mess with bedding. SHOOT THE RIFLE. Don't fix what isn't necessarily broke.
 
Disassemble the bolt. You can put it in a vice (wrapped) tight and knock out the pin / remove extractor. I drape the towel in the vice to catch the pin. You may get lucky and few gentle taps will free it. Or maybe not. No comment on the barrel - haven't come across that.
 
Okay, I got it fixed up! turns out after a good soak in brake cleaner and a good scrub, I noticed some really rough machining marks on the firing pin itself and on the firing pin retaining pin. I very lightly filed these down and voila! the firing pin moves much easier in the channel. I need to go buy couple nicer files tomorrow, the one I used was old and worn right down so I couldn't get everything as smooth as I would have liked. a very slight amount of material was removed and I highlighted where it was removed from in the pictures. I also went the beer can shimming route to take the play out of the stock, and it worked beautifully. It was a real ##### to get the shims the right size and fit, but they're in there and the fit is nice and tight. I have a picture of the finished shim job as well (that almost sounds dirty.) There's also a side view of the rifle, just because. I'm very pleased with Westrifle.
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Everyone go squeeze your SKS with your hand at the gas tube and front of the stock and see how much play there is...plenty.
 
EL34/6L6 said:
Everyone go squeeze your SKS with your hand at the gas tube and front of the stock and see how much play there is...plenty.
Click to expand...

There certainly is. I am curious however if shims would make any sort of difference in terms of performance. I'm sure its been discussed plenty of times before, but I don't imagine it accomplishes much.
 
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