What happened and how do I fix it?

MHouser

MHouser

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Not sure what happened exactly but gun went off when it shouldn't have. Got I nice blast of air in the face and right had took a bit of shrapnel.

- Chinese SKS
- Had never used anything but czech surplus ammo
- On this day I used PRVI hunting ammo
- Loaded single round into magazine (like I knew something was about to happen)
- Pulled bolt back at let her go
- Bang
- Rear of casing was on the bench beside me
- Front of casing was stuck in chamber
- Bullet went down range somewhere
- Hand was stinging like !@#$

Now: Firing pin appears to be stuck out and will not retract. Took bolt apart but firing pin will not budge. New cartridge will not fit all the way into the chamber even though I can't see anything blocking its way. Sticks out about 1 cm.

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you are very lucky, its called a slam fire. pound out the firing pin and clean it. the sks has a free floating pin that gets dirty and sticks once and a while causing this potentially dangerous situation. also look for a stuck peice of a case in the chamber. any case stuck in there means you have a dirty chamber.

the firing pin should slide freely in the bolt. you should be able to shake it and hear it rattling

you really need to keep the gun clean if using the corrosive ammo from the chechs.

also make sure the bullet is still not in the barrel.
 
Bullet is gone. Casing is intact expect that it is in two pieces. I did clean it quite rigorously after each outing but never took the bolt apart. Tried pounding on the firing pin pretty hard but it wouldn't move. Scared to hit it any harder for fear of damaging it worse. Would soaking it in solvent or oiling it up help or should I just hit harder?
 
Their is a pin on the side of the bolt that has to be removed, I have used a hammer and a Robinson screwdriver on occasion. Go the the red rifle forums, their are some "stickies" at the top of the forum list. Two of these stickies are focused just of the SKS, one id history and technical info, the other has links to some sites that have step by step photo instructions on how to strip the SKS. Also, Youtube is your friend, their are more then enough video's on SKS stripping, just search for "SKS bolt stripping" or something.

The Czech ammo is "corrosive" as it contains a salt that attracts moisture, which then causes rust. Some cheap security against rust is HOT water. Just clean like normal, then flush all the parts that co into contact with the gases like the bolt, bolt carrier, barrel, gas tube, and receiver. Use near boiling water as the water will heat the metal up enough to evaporate the water instantly. You then wipe the parts down with a rag, and run a patch through the barrel and gas tube to get any remaining water. Lube it up then Reassemble. When you get it down, it takes less then 15 minuets.

Some people will tell you the hot water method is pointless, but I have seen it with my own eyes, I left the rifle overnight in a fairly humid enviroment and their was rust the next day. If your in a very dry enviroment you have some time. A good practise is to spray the rifle down with WD-40 as it will create an oily surface that blocks out moisture and prevents rust, but is a temp solution. Some people don;t use the water flush and don't see any rust, great for them. Others go ot and buy some fancy cleaner that "neutralizes the salt". But if you have a coputer to type on, chances are you have a sink with running water, and a stove or kettle to boil said water. Its cheap insurance IMO.
 
What he said. Then boiling water first, then solvent. Let it sit over night (in the solvent), then try again. All you need is that one little piece of crap stuck next to the pin...

Good thing it wasn't on a full mag hey?

For what it would cost I would be taking the old girl off to your gunsmith for a quickie look-see.

As a side note, I've seen a slam fire cook off three rounds at the range, and I've seen it done on Youtube on purpose.... I don't recall the casing coming apart like that.
 
I have to believe that it went off before the cartridge was fully in the chamber for this to happen. I think it was even worse than a slam fire. It was an out of battery firing if I've got the term right. I did check a bunch of references on how to disassemble the bolt. Everything has been removed from the bolt assembly except the firing pin but it is still jammed. I will try the hot water, solvent and then a gun smith in that order.

Will likely sell the gun when I get it all functioning properly again. It was actually a pretty good shooter for an SKS (about 2.5 moa at 100 yards). Even went to the trouble of mounting a scoutscope mount and 2x fixed power scout scope (eyes are failing).
 
Definitely a slam fire (which can occur out of battery if the firing pin is jammed out in the fully extended position). Boiling water has always been the best answer to corrosive ammo and cosmoline. In this case, you'll need to pull the bolt apart to make sure that the firing pin hasn't been bent by it's experience, if it has you might want to consider ordering the spring loaded firing pin conversion that's available in the States. If you plan to hunt with the rifle, using civillian primered ammo it's well worth the cost. Check the FAQ's for info on the conversion.

As others have said, glad to hear it wasn't more serious than it was.
 
Let the bolt soak overnight in solvent and pounded on it some more but no luck, so I decided to hammer the $h1t out of it as it seemed to be a lost cause anyway. Moved it enough that the tip of the firing pin was now flush with the bolt face and not sticking out anymore. Used vice grips to grab the fat end and twist and pull it out. Got it out but had to put so much force into it that I have to believe that it is bent.

Can someone point me at the spring loaded conversion kit. I can't seem to find it.
 
I have a bunch of problems with my Chinese sks, including a firing pin that got progressively more and more stuck. Cleaning did not help.
Problem was tracked down to 2 things. 1st a burr had developed right where the retaining pin hold the firing pin. This burr was NOT there originally. 2nd the firing pin developed a slight arc to it rather than being straight. I’m too cheap to buy a new firing pin, so I filed and straighten the one I had. It seams to solve the slam fires.
 
I'm gonna suggest restarting this thread on the Red Rifles forum... They deal with a lot of SKS related stuff over there. I Google-ed the kit and came up with several options but all out of the states.

Milarm, Marstar, Moving target... There are several of our sponsors who carry the SKS so I would guess they could hook you up or atleast point you in the right direction.

Good luck =)
 
Saw the same thing happen with a C1, many years ago. Guy loading was standing right in front of me, inserted the mag, retracted the charging handle and let her go.
POWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Really nice thing we were only issued 12 rds at a time: rifle came back over his shoulder and the last one was just over my head. Armourer at the range told me that nothing happened at all..... he had the thing apart on the bench in front of him when he said this! You're at least being honest.

Really happy you weren't hurt badly.

You have to watch for damage when using corrosive ammo of any description; regular thorough cleaning helps a lot.

Regarding your chamber, I'm wondering if a PREVIOUS round left its neck in there. Saw this happen with a '95 Winchester that a local guy has. It's a .303 and it would not chamber a round. I got the neck of a .30-40 Krag cartridge out of it. Now it works fine. Also, you might have accidentally got a 7.62x45 mixed in there; that would leave the front of the case in your chamber, blocking things.

Good luck.
 
I was definitely putting in 7.62x39 rounds. All of a sudden the rounds will go in the chamber just fine now. Again, I'm only guessing but maybe when it fired out of battery because the bullet would have been so far off of the lands, that maybe a piece of lead got ripped off as it entered the bore and was causing the obstruction and with all my messing around since then maybe the piece just fell out.
 
There is a cross pin just behind the extractor. Drive the pin out from the other side and you should able to take the firing pin out. Clean the bolt channel and check is there any burr in the firing pin. Polish the whole firing pin with finest sand paper until it can move inside the bolt without binding.
 
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