sks gas system, dry or oiled?

DAR 701 said:
Gas system needs to be dry. No light coats of oil, nothing. Bone dry. A coat of oil raises pressure and turns to a sticky gummy mess which can cause FTE in the rifle.
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Ummmm. No. 4 cases and counting. Flawless operation out of my three shooter SKS's. No rust, no orange residue, nothing. A thin coat of oil is good insurance. We're not talking about cosmo or grease here, just a thin oil film.
 
DAR 701, I take it you own a nice Canadian made AR? I can see oil being a problem in a tighter fitting rifle like that and agree with running anything like that dry. The SKS is a whole nother animal though. It is loose fitting so it will stay reliable after being drug through the mud, covered in dirt, dropped in a river and lit on fire. You would need a massive amount of crap in there to stop an SKS from cycling with its oversized gas port and loose fitting gas piston. I have found that lighter oils work well on the gas piston, Ballistol Klever and M-pro7 work well and clean very easily after shooting. I have a feeling Birchwood Casey Barricade would be even better as it is very thin. Cheaper, heavier oils that will dry out easily would gum up quicker and be harder to clean, the 2 I listed are not and clean easily. I like to run a dry patch down the barrel before shooting as it comes out much cleaner after shooting than being oiled, and when I remember I wipe the gas piston too. Oiling everything after cleaning lets you get away with not having to do any voodoo witch tricks like windex and boiling water to prevent rust. Boiling water or windex has never touched my red rifles, and they never rust when oiled.
 
sierra6point5 said:
Bulls**t. I oil the hell out of my gas system, it'll rust otherwise. No ill effects whatsoever. Maybe you'll have issues if you don't clean it every time you go out shooting, but that's pretty unintelligent considering we all know milsurp is corrosive.

In any case, hasn't this been done to death? We have a bazillion of these threads, a quick search would've told you everything you needed to know on this subject.
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i went with the dry thing at first and i got rust ,light oil works fine no probs , just dont over do it the oil cloth i wipe all my rifles with is what i use .
 
I found this thread rather helpful. Being new to shooting and the sks on of my first guns, the only time I cleaned the gas piston or spring is when I brought it home. Truth is I dont really know what the gas piston does for me. If anyone cares to explain feel free, or tear into me for not knowing and not cleaning it either is fine. As these seem to be the things we do on internet forums.
 
people who chew on newbs need lives...when you fire the SKS, the powder charge burns and expands as it pushes the bullet down the barrel, after the bullet passes the gas port, gas is directed up the gas block and into the gas tube. The gas pushes the gas piston back, pushing the op rod back and pushing the bolt open to eject the spent casing, then the recoil spring pushes the bolt closed chambering a new round. Simple gas operated semiautomatic.
 
Pull the lever right side behind the gas tube up part way{depending on make and model of sks} pull up on the gas tube assembly {the piston and rod are inside} WITH YOUR THUMB OVER the op rod...move the lever all the way up...you will feel the op rod under spring psi hit your thumb....release the sprig psi and remove the rod and spring....clean all and in my opinion oil all once clean....better yet, go to Curttons thread....all will be revealed my friend.....now go buy crates of ammo to feed that beast dammit!!:D
 
As another new SKS shooter. This thread shows either way is good. I'm going to follow the dry school and clean regularly like all my firearms. I did research on this gas tube issue and the seminal book on the SKS, I can give you the name of the book if you message me but dont want to infringe anyone's coppywrite but you all know the book. When they discuss the gas tube cleaning their opinion is...if you use corrosive ammo, clean the bore, bolt face and gas assembly with hot soapy water. No mention of any lube, thats good enough for me.
 
So many people will tell you this that and the other thing. You will find what you want to do.

Me, I dont leave any oil on gas affected parts. Thats not so much from anything I know about my SKS and more from my time in the army. I suppose it doesnt really matter.

I fire about 200 rds per shooting session and when I come home I clean it just like I imagine a russian soldier in the field would have. No windex or boiling water. No taking a shower with the gun. I just strip the gun and lay out the parts left to right. I just use gun oil, a rag, and the issue cleaning kit and do a propper job of it. Sometimes the piston wont wipe clean right away so I leave some oil on it and come back to it after I clean everything else. It cleans up nicely then. Everything comes clean just fine. No corrosion. No mechanical problems.
 
supernova said:
DAR 701, I take it you own a nice Canadian made AR? I can see oil being a problem in a tighter fitting rifle like that and agree with running anything like that dry. The SKS is a whole nother animal though. It is loose fitting so it will stay reliable after being drug through the mud, covered in dirt, dropped in a river and lit on fire. You would need a massive amount of crap in there to stop an SKS from cycling with its oversized gas port and loose fitting gas piston. I have found that lighter oils work well on the gas piston, Ballistol Klever and M-pro7 work well and clean very easily after shooting. I have a feeling Birchwood Casey Barricade would be even better as it is very thin. Cheaper, heavier oils that will dry out easily would gum up quicker and be harder to clean, the 2 I listed are not and clean easily. I like to run a dry patch down the barrel before shooting as it comes out much cleaner after shooting than being oiled, and when I remember I wipe the gas piston too. Oiling everything after cleaning lets you get away with not having to do any voodoo witch tricks like windex and boiling water to prevent rust. Boiling water or windex has never touched my red rifles, and they never rust when oiled.
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Nope, don't own a nice Canadian AR. Had a couple Dlask rifles back in the day, just have a Norinco M4 now. I have run SKS rifles since the mid 90's and currently have 9 of them littering my safes. Never run a gas piston with any oil on it and also never had a speck of rust on a gas piston. I don't windex the rifles, just give them a hit of gunzilla and a wipe when I get back from shooting.
 
I put a little bit of oil on the gas piston when I'm going to store it for awhile, and wipe it clean (several times) before using it. If there's any oil on it when I go to shoot it won't cycle properly.

Maybe my gas piston fits a little tight?

If it's dry I can shoot 300+ rounds with no issues whatsoever, but if there's even just a little oil on it it will begin to not cycle properly almost right away.
 
I leave it dry, but my house is pretty dry. I don't envision a thin film being too big of a problem anyways as long as you clean it each time you shoot it. I think we really over think about the sks.

Seems everyone does things their own way and they all seem to work.
 
Run the gas system dry. Any gas affected part should be free of excess oil. I'm not saying get out some solvent and wipe the oil away completely, just wipe off any oil with a clean rag before shooting. Any film left will evaporate after a few rounds.

If that method will work for a C7, C9, or C6... it's fine for an SKS.

I've been using CLP exclusively in my SKS since I got it a few years ago, and I have yet to see a single speck of rust anywhere on my gun. I don't bother with Windex or any other random concoction that people dream up to fight off the exaggerated evil demon that is corrosive salts. For some of the steps people go through, you'd think that a rifle will instantaneously turn into a heap of brown corrosion the second you get it home from the range if you don't douse it in windex, dump boiling water on it, and do a circular rhythmic dance to please the metal gods, SKS in hand.
 
Sherlock is right, everyone does their own thing and it seems to work. There is a guy on a US board and he is a gunsmith and he uses dry moly to lube ALL his firearms, including SKS piston. He says the carrier dries and leaves a coating that basically soaks into the pores. I think, for me I'm leaving it dry until I have a problem then I will rethink it.
 
I think alot of it has to do with humidity and heat where you live. Rust is formed when Iron, moisture, oxygen and heat are brought together. This past August a friend and I went out shooting on a stinkin hot muggy day. Humidity was high and it was around 30 deg. out. I ran about 40 rds through one of my SKS' and within 6 hours I had rust starting on the piston and in the gas tube. When temps are more normal and humidity is low, I can often get away with cleaning 24 hrs later with no rust. DAR 701, is it a little drier in Sask? That may be why your guns dont rust, while guys in B.C. fight rust like the plague.
 
This is being totally over analyzed. As are so many sks subjects. This rifle was built to do the job, whenever, wherever, however. A friend of mine left his uncleaned for 4 months. With a quick brush of the chamber, a wipe of the gas rod/tube, and a light oiling of the bore, sh!t cycled properly till he put the gun away.
 
some of these rifles are collectors pieces, and some of us wont have rust on or in our guns. I know some people buy the sks cause its cheap and will take all the abuse you can throw at it, but for me, its a milsurp rifle and I take care of it. If it were some cheap truck gun that I didnt care about then I wouldnt bother putting much effort into it but its not
 
supernova said:
I think alot of it has to do with humidity and heat where you live. Rust is formed when Iron, moisture, oxygen and heat are brought together. This past August a friend and I went out shooting on a stinkin hot muggy day. Humidity was high and it was around 30 deg. out. I ran about 40 rds through one of my SKS' and within 6 hours I had rust starting on the piston and in the gas tube. When temps are more normal and humidity is low, I can often get away with cleaning 24 hrs later with no rust. DAR 701, is it a little drier in Sask? That may be why your guns dont rust, while guys in B.C. fight rust like the plague.
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It is quite dry out here. My safes are also equipped with dessicant packs, which keeps the humidity down (safes are fire rated so they have a rather tight seal on the door). The only thing I have ever had that developed rust was a russian .22 as it has been used so much there is no finish left on the bolt handle. It had a light speckling of rust after 4 months in the safe that wiped right off with Gunzilla. I pulled my gas pistons this weekend and they were all dry and rust free as always.
 
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