SKS slamfire

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jona710

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Hey guys I’m sure this has been covered but I wanted to ask directly.

I just cleaned up a 1952 sks with a free floating firing pin and put in one round and chambered and fired no problem. So I tried 5 in the mag and when I chambered the first round it had a slamfire. Only shot one round luckily.

Could this be a bad cleaning job? I had the bolt and firing pin in boiling watter for a few minutes and brake cleaner prior to that.

It’s my first time cleaning up an sks. Are these Murray pins a requirement or is this a cleaning issue
 
If you didn’t take the firing pin out of the bolt when you cleaned it, that’s likely the problem. If you did clean it disassembled I’d ask what ammo you were using.
 
Disassemble bolt completely and boil the parts. Dry firing pin channel with a qtip. Reassemble and make sure flat part of firing pin is oriented correctly when you push in the retaining pin. At most - lightly oil the bolt body.
 
Surplus ammo or new? Some of the new stuff has light striking primers. If the pin is clean and shakes freely it shouldn’t be the problem. Any burrs or roughness in the pin channel that could be causing it to stick?
 
Also once you have cleaned the bolt and firing pin and channel, after re-assembly, do a "shake test". Shake the bolt back and forth fairly vigorously - you should hear the bolt ticking back and forth on each shake, indicating it's free-moving. Also a quick visual check of the bolt face to ensure that the pin is not protruding onto the bolt face when the bolt it standing on its tail.

I doubt a difference in mag feeding would be the culprit, unless you babied or rode the bolt when chambering the first round compared to when you loaded the 5 in the mag. If anything, the bolt velocity would likely be a bit higher going into battery with only one round in the mag vs. the force of a few more rounds in the mag pushing up on the bottom part of the bolt while chambering.

Hope this helps.

Proper range safety procedures - muzzle strictly downrange and not pointing somewhere it shouldn't (including at an angle that would put a round over a baffle at ranges like the one I shoot on) and safety glasses on before chambering a round - can save some heartache when this happens...
 
I've had 3 SKS's and put the Murray spring loaded firing pin in each one. Do you have to, no, but if not you should clean the firing pin gunk out initially by total disassembly of the bolt and clean well thereafter each time you shoot. You have to hear it rattling in there when you shake it with no stickiness. Not everyone likes the Murray but I think it's great.
 
It could also be the trigger. Does it have the early or late trigger? The late has an improved disconnector. Either way though, it might be the hammer isn’t catching.
 
It was sellier and bellot Brass cased non corrosive I’m not sure if the trigger is early or late it’s a matching serial and the receiver is 1952.

In both instances the bolt was allowed to fly home from the fully rear position, I didn’t ride it at all.

I disassembled the bolt and I put it in boiling water for a bit as well as sprayed brake cleaned down the channel. When I push the pin forward in the bolt it sometimes sticks a little bit. The channel and pin appear clean though.


Also I never chamber a round unless any of my firearms are pointed down range so it paid off this time!
 
I took th bolt apart again and there was a bit of oil on the pin and pin channel. I cleaned it all out with qtips and I’ll be trying again next time I’m at the range
 
PinkyPlinker said:
It could also be the trigger. Does it have the early or late trigger? The late has an improved disconnector. Either way though, it might be the hammer isn’t catching.
Click to expand...

What the OP described is a slam fire. What you're talking about is doubling.
A double happens when the mechanism doesn't have a chance to reset itself properly before the hammer tries to come back forward.
The rebound disconnector on the later trigger assemblies is intended to push the trigger bar down out of engagement with the sear. That allows the sear to start returning at an earlier stage in the sequence.
I've found that polishing the sliding surfaces between the sear and the trigger housing allows it to return into position so doubling won't occur. I've proven it on at least 2 early triggers, one of which occasionally even tripled.
Since then, I just remove the rebound disconnector on later triggers, and polish and tune the mechanism for positive engagement and a crisp 4 pound pull with hardly any creep.
 
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