Ok, let’s talk about SKS's. I have a buddy who has a Yugo SKS. He quick cleaned offsome of the Cosmo lien and shot it, worked fine. Now he gave it a really good cleaning brought it to work and ran it through the solvent tank that we use on our weapons here at work. Well he took it out and shot it, he now has the cleanest single shot Yugo SKS I have ever seen. The action will not cycle when the round goes off. Have torn the thing apart checked all the parts for damage and obstructions none found. So now we are scratching our heads wondering; "Uhg..... why gun no workie"

What the heck are we missing, has anyone run into this problem?

Thank You

Ice Out

This is more common than you think. Make sure the gas block is in the rigt position(down and to the right), second, if the gas leaver is in the right position and no worky, gas hole may be clogged and either needs a good cleaning or replaced.

Ok, lets make sure we are talking about the same thing, if you are talking about the grenade launcher gas diverter, that is in the right position for it to fire as a rifle. As far as cleaning, he cleaned it so well that youcould use it as a straw for a very big drink, and at my job we have more funky tools for cleaning weapons than you can shake a stick at, so I don't think cleanliness is the problem.

So I am just trying to figure out if there is something that we are missing. Or some strange Yugu VooDoo on the darn thing?

Ice Out

maybe you cleaned that SKS too well!

Throw in about a half pound of dust and everything might work better.

It sounds like the piston might be stuck.

LUBE IT WELL, You cleaned it to good, as was said. Gas piston is a good second.

didnt you know that they put a bunch of grease inside sks rifles to take all the slack up from the machining process

I guess they don't bother using grease inside the AK's because they would run out?

Update; SKS now works as advertised, put a bunch of high temp gun grease around the knob on the end of the piston, now it fires anything you can feed it. My friend came in smiling from ear to ear this morning, he is very happy that it was a fairly easy fix.

Thank you everyone for the Ideas and suggestions.

Ice Out

I have the exact same problem. Mine is at the gunsmiths right now and he cant figure it out either. I think I'll take it back and try that. Thanks guys I'll keep ya posted.

I bought my sks about 20 years ago when they first came to the US for $100. It was covered in cosmoline. I wiped it off and took it out in a field and over the roof of my car I was shooting 2" groups at 100 yds with iron sights. I was so impressed. I took it home and cleaned it meticulously (sp). Next time I shot it, it acted like that, it wouldnt cycle, etc.

This had slipped my mind untill you all started talking about grease.

SKS's love to be greasy and dirty. Make sure there is plenty of grease on and around the piston. If you think you put enough grease in there then put some more. Use axel grease. It sounds crazy especially if you have been trained with U.S. or German firearms but it is true. Where an AR is a swiss watch, an SKS is a big ben wind up.

Keep the barrell clean but grease the shit out of the piston. The bolt should lock back when there is no ammo in the clip. You should have to depress the feeder on the clip to advance the bolt. Be careful, it will smash your thumb. This commmie iron hates finely made after market capitilest parts. Remember, it was made by stamping out parts with poor tolerances.

If it doesn't rattle when you shake it, something is wrong.

Another thing you can try is after you have covered the piston and piston tube in grease is to put the rifle on the ground in front of you and take a good pee on it. Screaming "die you commie bastards" while doing this will make it angry and ready to fight.

SKS is one of the finest and toughest combat rifles ever made. Don't treat it like a fine American rifle. Treat it like you are a poor communist oppressed by the politariot and it will work for you like a good little commie rifle.