SKS trigger job questions

TRaTSeRiF

TRaTSeRiF

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Decided to fix the trigger on my SKS, which is a pretty typical specimen.. Feels like broken glass and got more creep than Michael Jackson.. The plan is to shorten the sear to remove the creep, polish the engagement surfaces on the hammer and the sear, the slots on the sear and the rails it slides on (already replaced the springs). Now, to the questions..

1) I was planning on using 280 grit valve lapping compound on a buffing wheel, low speed, dremel. Is that stuff too coarse? Does it cut too fast? Any other polishing compounds that would do a better job?

2) Is there a way to test for the creep reduction little by little without having to reassemble the trigger group each and every time?

3) Currently, there's negative sear engagement. To make it positive, would using a flat file and then polishing with valve lapping compound be an ok approach?

4) Would it be a better idea to finish off the polishing tasks with some 600 wet-dry?

Thanks in advance for the advice, everyone.
 
Another question...

5) The Wolff hammer spring seems to be significantly longer than the stock spring.. Should I be cutting off a few coils to bring it down to the same length as stock?
 
I would want to be careful that you don't try too hard on this trigger, the wolf spring is already a good bit weaker of a spring than the stock spring and cutting more off of it will make it lighter yet. You don't want to get to a point where you are experiencing light strikes on the harder military primers.

As well, while I agree with changing the sear contact surface angle to move to a positive engagement, I wouldn't take it too far and try to make this gun something it very much is not. It's not going to be a break-like-glass 2 lb trigger and I'd encourage you to take it somewhat easy in the trigger job. Yes it can be greatly improved over the 'mile long drag over gravel' trigger that it is stock but it's never going to be a match trigger.

I'm sure a few people more knowledgable than I will be able to add more regarding the tooling.
 
All done.. Short version: Way better, not expecting any "unfortunate incidents".. Long story:

Didn't reshape the sear engagement surface, but I shortened the sear and used a triangular file to cut a very shallow channel where the hammer was resting. 15 bounces off the floor with the safety off later, no accidental discharges (this was done after polishing for obvious reasons). After reshaping the sear, I loaded the sear channel and the rail with lapping compound and worked it forward and back around 100 times. Then I polished the rails and the channels and the engagement area with 600 grit and finally finished off with the Dremel rouge. With a bit of "gentle persuasion" I managed to reassemble without cutting off any coils. All sliding surfaces got greased, rotating surfaces got oiled, everything was back together (skipping a couple of test-fits as I was shortening the sear little by little and testing). End result: The travel was reduced by A LOT and it's a lot lighter and crisper than it used to be. It's not accutrigger but it's a HUGE improvement. Can't wait to test at the range.. Might crown the barrel before that.

Thanks for the advice :)
 
Excellent comrad! Now is possible to use butt of superior communist tool for bash face of capitalist pig with no accidental waste of glorious 7.62x39mm cartridge.
 
mdmaroon said:
Excellent comrad! Now is possible to use butt of superior communist tool for bash face of capitalist pig with no accidental waste of glorious 7.62x39mm cartridge.
Click to expand...

Good, since I don't have the option of using the bayonet ;)
gLEho.jpg


At least until the 2" recoil pad arrives - Dave shipped it today :cool:

Claire-19 is waiting for Red Liner to finish the test batch of the magwell adapters.
 
1 280 should be fine, but try some of the 3m superfine abrasive on mylar you can get it from lee valley, this stuff is amazing.
2 unfortunately not, but you can use a small finishing nail in place of the pin that holds the sear spring in. this makes for super fast assembly when testing.
3 yes here is a trick; lay the file flat on the table and hold the sear in your hand. push the sear in one direction only (you will f@ck the file up if you cut both ways) on the file (towards the tang or handle of the file). mark the top of the sear with a sharpie so you can see where its cutting. at the end put some chalk on the file it will make for a smoother finish.
4 yes 600 will work but the 3m stuff from lee valley is about 300 times better and is less than 4 bucks, if you put the 3m stuff on a pane of glass the sear will come up like a mirror in about 2 minutes just buy the coarsest 3m abrasive it is the fastest cutting and leaves a great finish.
Good luck and happy modding last advice when you are taking the creep out cut a little and test then repeat, you cant put the steel back on.
As for the wolf springs I would use them un modified.
OK really last thing you must remove the negative sear engagement before anything else, and polish the grooves on the sides of the sear as well they will help make the trigger smooth.
 
Thanks.. I'll look at the 3M sheets and maybe give the sear an extra polish. After the pin's been in and outta there a few times and grinding the ends around the edge just a tad bit, it's a lot easier to handle. Actually I gotta pick something up in Woodbridge so Lee Valley will be around the block. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered as I have no reason to be in that area or even worse - downtown Toronto ;)
 
first bit of advice... ditch the crummy scope mount if you want accuracy. Go to hical.ca (they are on here) or westrifle and get the screw n tap variety. I went through 3 scope mounts and an ATI stock before going back to stock, but with bedding and screw on mount (and cool magazine :). Also did the same trigger job but DID reshape the sear and clip a coil off the hammer spring. Though it is the MAG RELEASE spring that affects the sear the most IMHO. So I lightened it and polished all sides and the channel it moves in. WAAAAY better.

If you want to spend a hundred bucks order hammer and sear from Murray's Gun shop. I put their spring loaded firing pin in as well :) Hical.ca stocks there stuff a bit.

Anyway, good shootin with your neat rifle buddy!

good luck

P.S. I used a dremel with sanding drum, then a flat diamond file, then dremel with buffing pads and several grades of polishing compound. Steady hands, and a less is more approach made my effort successful.
 
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Thanks for the tips. This is a drill/tap mount right into the receiver.. The reason it looks crappy is that the mount was originally made for the AK so it's supposed to sit about 1" higher. I cut it down to size, drilled the 2 halves, tapped the bottom half and went to town with loctite. It's rock solid, slides on a plate that mounts to the receiver (used the red stuff for that one) and clamps down with the lever (it is very solid and holds zero well even after dismounting and remounting). The reason I went with this setup is that I can easily alternate scope and red dot (useful for one of the range events). I'll re-polish eventually as I might be hitting Lee Valley pretty soon, just gotta get the plans in order.
 
You should use ceramic or india stones for trigger/sear reshaping,
You might be happy with a polished negative engagement, but it should be positive for best results in reduced creep, crisper letoff and less chance of slamfire.
 
I polished using one of those 3M 15 micron abrasive sheets. The difference wasn't monumental but the trigger was UBER crap to begin with and the huge difference came from the initial 50 micron or thereabouts polish/smoothing of the rough spots. I did the 15 drop test (with safety on and safety off) and no discharges, so that little channel is doing the trick.

Note to those of you who wish to do the same: Make sure you clean out all of the abrasive before lubricating/reassembling. You do NOT want abrasives stuck in your trigger mechanism. My routine was to blast with compressed air, wash with detergent and a brush several times over, with a GOOD rinse under the tap, blast with carb cleaner and more compressed air.
 
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