I have done trigger jobs on at least 10 SKS rifles and have had zero ill effects from them. It is a pretty simple mechanism, anyone with half an ounce of mechanical ability should be able to work on it. I did one up for a friend who wanted a very nice trigger. I spent a substantial amount of time on it and got a trigger that would rival most hunting rifles. That rifle has had literally over 5000 rounds through it since then, with no issues.
SKS trigger job
- Thread starter mbogo3
- Start date
After reading this thread a while ago I decided to do mine. Afterward, I beat the hell out of it from every possible angle (bump test). It feels far better than any sks trigger I've felt so far. No more grit and a nice clean break. My goal wasnt to reduce creep or pull weight. just smooth it out and create positive engagement. Now as I pull the trigger, the hammer moves away from the firing pin. It must overcome the hammer spring pressure, as well as a slight upward slope in order to drop the hammer. It does feel a fair bit lighter now but that may be just due to the lack of grit.
No range test yet and I plan on being especially careful while testing it, but im confindent it was done well.
No range test yet and I plan on being especially careful while testing it, but im confindent it was done well.
Lots of SKSs have negative sear engagement from factory. They make up for it with a tonne of creep. A DIY trigger job the reduces creep, smooths things out and changes the sear angle to positive engagement will make the rifle safer and much more functional.
I don't know how you would make it much lighter without a different spring though. A lighter spring may lead to ftf ect.
I don't know how you would make it much lighter without a different spring though. A lighter spring may lead to ftf ect.
I'll just put in my 2 cents on this from my own experience.
I've done 2 sks trigger jobs according to sailor curt links above, both worked fine and there are no issues for me. Originally the pulls were in the 10-12 lb range (can't remember exactly, but generally unacceptable). One was a Izhevsk 1954 refurb, the other a factory 625 military chinese. Afterwards the pulls came out at 6 lbs and 6.5 lbs. That's perfectly acceptable, just a tad heavy. Since it is a long pull, it's easy to shoot accurately at this level, no need for a 3 lb sks trigger in my universe.
I tried the spring kit also mentioned above in those guns, and the sear spring worked fine and dropped the pull about 1 lb. the other (hammer) spring was too weak as it gave me light strikes, so that came out. I wouldn't recommend that hammer spring if you go that route. As a matter of fact, I have a few springs lying around if anyone is interested.
Regarding the original sks design, I will throw in that five years ago I tested a series of five unissued factory 316 military chinese sks's. The pulls were not gritty, not particularly short but much smoother than the average russian sks, and they broke at 4.5 lbs to 8 lbs. So if, as mentioned above in this thread, the original design was for a heavy pull due to a primitive trigger design, for some reason the chinese got the pull much lower on average for the sks triggers they made for their own use (depending on the factory I suppose), so I kind of doubt that interpretation that a 12 lb pull was the original design intent. Instead, I would propose the difference was due to workmanship and other constraints.
Also, FWIW, I have seen run of the mill unmodified russian tulas with surprisingly good factory triggers, so there's that.
I've done 2 sks trigger jobs according to sailor curt links above, both worked fine and there are no issues for me. Originally the pulls were in the 10-12 lb range (can't remember exactly, but generally unacceptable). One was a Izhevsk 1954 refurb, the other a factory 625 military chinese. Afterwards the pulls came out at 6 lbs and 6.5 lbs. That's perfectly acceptable, just a tad heavy. Since it is a long pull, it's easy to shoot accurately at this level, no need for a 3 lb sks trigger in my universe.
I tried the spring kit also mentioned above in those guns, and the sear spring worked fine and dropped the pull about 1 lb. the other (hammer) spring was too weak as it gave me light strikes, so that came out. I wouldn't recommend that hammer spring if you go that route. As a matter of fact, I have a few springs lying around if anyone is interested.
Regarding the original sks design, I will throw in that five years ago I tested a series of five unissued factory 316 military chinese sks's. The pulls were not gritty, not particularly short but much smoother than the average russian sks, and they broke at 4.5 lbs to 8 lbs. So if, as mentioned above in this thread, the original design was for a heavy pull due to a primitive trigger design, for some reason the chinese got the pull much lower on average for the sks triggers they made for their own use (depending on the factory I suppose), so I kind of doubt that interpretation that a 12 lb pull was the original design intent. Instead, I would propose the difference was due to workmanship and other constraints.
Also, FWIW, I have seen run of the mill unmodified russian tulas with surprisingly good factory triggers, so there's that.
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