Solution to a rusty bore? SKS

F

FLYBYU44

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
186   0   0
Location
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Well a guy I work with and myself were discussing firearms the other day when he mentioned he had an SKS. I'm a huge fan of the platform so I asked him what year and such. Anyway he told me he doesn't shoot it anymore as he shot corrosive with it and left it, now it is all rusty. I love tinkering with SKS's so I asked him if I could tinker with it. Anyway, I got it and it really isn't horrible. It is a 51 Tula with all metal blued, pretty sure it was an unrefurb as all numbers match and there are only the original markings on the stock. I got the gas system, bolt and trigger group all cleaned up, did a trigger job and now I'm left with a very rusty bore.

I took a cleaning rod with some 000 steel wool on it and ran it down the barrel, the lands are now shiny, but the grooves are really rough and pitted still. Question is, is it safe to shoot? And is there any more I could do to clean it up. He gave me 500rounds to fire through it, I want to take it out and try it, just not sure if it is safe to do so.
 
I would get a brass brush on a cleaning rod and run it through with solvent then oil, scrub it really good. should be safe to shoot if you have done that had the bolt apart for cleaning and the firing pin rattles
 
No problem shooting it. I have several barrels on various rifles that are pitted and still shoot and group well.
 
After it has had a number of rounds through it, scrub it out again. You may be very pleasantly surprised.
 
I go a cleaning rod with a used brass brush, put it in a cordless and spent 2 minutes with the drill spinning the brush going in and out. Cleaned off what can be removed. Then with an oily ran I used a bore polish, again with the drill, and spent many minutes cleaning. I used an automotive metal polish in a badly pitted revolver once, it came out looking not too bad. Deep pitting is not repairable. Once bore is as shiny as it gets then just shoot the darned thing.

Fire lapping might get it cleaner but you would need lead bullets. I've pulled corrosive and loaded plain lead, not too hard, but you'd need probably a hundred rounds.
 
I brought a rusted Hungarian M44 back from the dead.
I used a bore paste (mild abrasive) and scrubbed a few runs through.
It was AWFUL how much crap came out.
Did an overnight bore foam. Came out blue like koolaid.

Bore looks good again - and she still shoots just as good.
 
J&B bore paste works really well. I wouldn't be too vigorous with a steel bore brush though. Too much scrubbing isn't good for the rifling.....
 
I'm working on my CanadaAmmo Mosin Nagant right now.
When I got it a couple weeks ago, I did an initial cleaning with Wipe-out. That brought a bit of blue and a bunch of black out of the bore. The bore still looked frosty. I was bored yesterday and decided to work a bit more on it. I ran 2 patches with Birchwood Casey rust remover through it. Waited a couple minutes then pulled a few patches through. A bunch of brown crud on the patches. Bore looked a bit better.

My next step was to break out the Mil-Surp (Canadian) bore cleaner that a buddy gave me a few years ago. 2 wet patches to coat the bore, then I put a new 9mm brush on my cleaning rod, applied more bore cleaner to it, and made about 20 passes back and forth. Waited a couple hours for it to work, then patched out a LOT of brown crud. Bore looked better already!

I'm on my 4th application of mil-surp cleaner and bore brushing now. The patches are looking better every time. The bore's shining up nicely, a bit of very fine pitting in the grooves, but looks 10x better than when I started.

I think the secret is to use the oversize brass brush to really get in there and scrub the crud loose. I might try a couple applications of Ed's Red to see if it gets more out, but the mil-surp's working great.
 
Well my methods worked really well. First shot was a little scary, it was early morning when I got to the range and all that rust and what not blew out the bore in a big fireball. After that I ran some patches and then 250 rounds of surplus through her. Got home and checked the bore, nice and shiny :) Cleaned it all up and I will return it to my co-worker tomorrow. If he shoots corrosive through it again and doesn't clean it, I will kick him right in the balls. Besides being the nicest looking SKS I've had the opportunity to shoot, it is also the most accurate. Target is a five shoot group at 100 yards resting it on my ammo can. Pretty damn good for iron sights.



The rifle and a pile of ammo, ready to go..

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom