1952 Tula SKS

[Greasemonkey]

Just remember.. addiction is a disease.. admission is the first step


Top bayonet collar is a tapered bayonet collar and lug on one of my Romanians, this same style was used on the later Russian, Yugoslavian, Chinese, etc. It would be pretty much a universal for replacement for any maker, even later Russian (the actual maker of your collar would be tough to judge)

The bottom is the early Russian square cut collar and lug, this is from my early '50.

Shows how much difference there really is between the two and why your bayonet has the droops.

[steelbuttplate]

That looks like the wrong bayonet for that rifle. I don't know if somebody has added a chinese or short Yugo onto it or what, but the end of the bayonet should not be touching the cleaning rod. Thats why it won't close. Also the notch should fit squarely onto the ears that holds it closed. I just saw greasemonkey's pics, you can see the difference.

[Greasemonkey]

Blade bayonets from early Chinese, Romanian, Russian, even North Korea, East German and North Vietnam blades are all pretty much follow the same dimensions, 12 and a quarter inch long with a 9 inch blade.
The biggest difference in them is their finish, blued, painted black, some Russians can be phosphate yellowish, some shiny(usually an Honor Guard) or just a dull boring chrome. One might also find a random inspection stamp as well.

Now, Yugoslavian blades, the M59 bayonet is a hair longer overall, just under a half an inch longer with a very obvious dull grey finish, and the M59/66 is longer yet.

Chinese para blades are cut down standard bayonets with about a 7 inch blade.

His bayonet would be fine as they are not maker marked or serialized, the collar is the issue.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I found the box my Russian 1950 SKS cam in back in the 90's, found it at the back of a storage container. I had thought I tossed it 20 years ago, and it seems I did, right into the back of the storage container.

[captsupercow]

Taking the cleaning rod out didn't help, so it is definitely the collar. I've ordered the one from Ebay and it should hopefully arrive sometime next week!

In the meantime I intend to take it out to the indoor range (25yrd) this weekend for firing trials!

All of our longer ranges are usually closed this time of year. (NE Ohio)

I've been trying to identify the origin of the bayonet but am having difficulty finding anything definitive. One thing that stands out is that the fuller doesn't seem very straight, almost as if it was hand milled or something.... I'll try and get a good picture of it if I can to show what I'm talking about.

[captsupercow]

So I broke this guy down tonight and this gun is filthy!

I did find a surprise cleaning kit in the stock for starters.

The retainer pin was tough to get out, I ended up using a heat gun to soften up the gunk and was able to get it out with the die and hammer.

The big thing I found is RUST! The end of the gas piston rod has rust on it (pictured) as well as some corrosion on the inside of the tube itself. Recommendations on cleaning this up and then keeping the rust out for the future? I've read conflicting methods as whether or not to oil the gas system.

Lastly one other interesting thing I found is the number on the extractor? appears to be different, but very, very close. It's either 3268 or 3968, just a couple in line away from the rifle itself. Otherwise everything else is matching 3868.

Here's the pics of the bolt and gas system:





Thank for all your help so far!!

[Greasemonkey]

An expendable 20ga shotgun brush and Hoppes or other solvent will clean up the tube, worst case mount the brush in a drill and go slow, and swab it out many times. If your realy careful carb cleaner can be used, but avoid contact with the hand guard.

As for lubrication, use as little as possible in the gas system, excess oil will cause a thick black goop to build up and spray over everything or due to heat and gas from firing smoke and or burn, it could in very rare cases cause excess gas system pressure.

To prevent rust, when your not going to shoot it oil it, just dry it some before firing. And clean it and keep it clean from here on out then its not much of an issue. Also clean the gas port in the gas block to prevent a build up of carbon, clean inside the actual gas block with a small brass brush. A tooth pick or something similar will work, or there should be a tool in your cleaning kit for such job.

The butt stock suprise was worth it.. Never know what you will find in there.

[captsupercow]

So I went shooting yesterday and it was great!!
I fired a single round first to ensure operation, then two rounds, then five, and then before I knew it I shot all the 80 rounds of ammo I had brought....

I love shooting my Mosin, but I've never gone through so much ammo so quickly as with the SKS. I need to find cheaper ammo too; The range I shoot at right now only allows non magnetic ammo... The best I can find right now is Fiocchi and that's still at $0.57 a round.

I had no fail to fire, feed or eject events and no slam fires. Very, very happy with this gun right now. The only thing I noticed when cleaning was some what looked like gas leakage/spray at the connection between the gas piston tube and the front gas block. Is this normal or do I need to seal up that connection a little better with something?

Thanks!!

Edit:
Also I need a recommendation on where to get the correct stripper clips for the russian SKS; the clips that I got from another site don't quite fit into the slot and I had to hand load all the rounds. They are definitely SKS clips but must be for yugo or chinese, just a little bit too wide.

[Greasemonkey]

I have a few that leave some residue at the tube/gas block joint, but if it functions normal, leave it be, sometimes you can cause an issue way worse trying to fix a trivial issue. It's not a 100% leak free joint, given the pressures, age, and everything else, there could be some slight blow by.

As for strippers.. the two best I have and used are BXN marked Czech ones and the ones included with Yugo M67 ammo. There are Chinese strippers as well, but I have found the real deal(true blue military ones which work great) as well as cheap copies(military wanna be ones which work not so great, good garbage can fodder).

You can find the Czech BXN ones on Fleabay or even some retailers sell them, usually in 10, 25 or 50 stripper lots, or order Yugo ammo and get the strippers thrown in with ammo.

Now, if you go the Yugo ammo route, keep in mind, it is corrosive, so clean accordingly., BUT... as a plus, it's non-magnetic and has good stripper clips.

http://www.sgammo.com/product/surplus/1 ... ugo-surplu

[Dannyboy53]

I think it looks good captsupercow! I have a '53 Tula dressed in an Izhevsk stock. I think the price of yours is fair especially since it looks so well.

[captsupercow]

I've gotten the new collar for the bayonet and it improves the droop, but hasn't fixed it completely!

My next try is a different bayonet blade! I found an early Russian bayonet (shiny) with collar that I'm going to try. I know that it won't match the refurb style of the rifle; however, the bayonet that is on there now obviously isn't the right one either. At this point I'm just trying to get rid of the droop. Hopefully this'll be the viagra that it needs!

Other than the bayonet I friggin love this rifle!

My next investment is either a mak or an m44/38. Just waiting on my C&R to come back!

[Greasemonkey]

Did you get a spring with the new collar or have to reuse your old one... weak saggy springs don't help matters. You may, or should be able to stretch the spring to increase pressure. Or one other option to try, find a M44/Type 53 bayonet collar spring, they seem a little more stout than the SKS spring, some trimming of length may be required. The 2 collars are very close in size, so no trimming may be necessary, just swap them. I do know they fit the inner diameter of the SKS collar, but I have not tried to install the SKS collar with the Mosin bayonet spring on the SKS rifle.

[captsupercow]

Did you get a spring with the new collar or have to reuse your old one... weak saggy springs don't help matters. You may, or should be able to stretch the spring to increase pressure. Or one other option to try, find a M44/Type 53 bayonet collar spring, they seem a little more stout than the SKS spring, some trimming of length may be required. The 2 collars are very close in size, so no trimming may be necessary, just swap them. I do know they fit the inner diameter of the SKS collar, but I have not tried to install the SKS collar with the Mosin bayonet spring on the SKS rifle.

The new collar did come with a spring as well. I'll try to stretch it out a tad as the collar tangs are sitting properly. The new bayonet is also coming with it's own collar and spring. I'm going to have an entire collection of collars and springs by the end of this!

[Greasemonkey]

I also don't know if it would affect it, the droop that is, I have mainly just dealt with removal/installation of spikes.. but, there is a right and wrong way for the blade, just like the spike bayonet, which is commonly installed wrong. When folded the flat side of the blade faces down, the cutting "edge" fits in the stock groove/ferrule.


Extra parts and pieces are fun....

[Blakefromminnesota]

Question for you grease monkey, i currently bought a 52' sks also. (Referb) everything is nice and tight except there is alittle play in the action and the stock. Foreward and rearward motion. Is that a big deal? Or are they supposed to do that? Thanks.

[Greasemonkey]

It is supposed to be very snug to tight...define "a little play".. we talking a few thousandths of an inch or 1/8 inch? Is the spring present in the stock that puts pressure on the trigger guard?

It can affect accuracy, usually it will be very inconsistent with the action moving around, if real loose in a worse case, it can even damage the stock. You can shim it, see the photo below. Note the material between the rear of the receiver and stock, this is a worse case. It took 3 pieces of a cut up credit card to tighten the action in the stock, and notice the stock split from being fired while loose. As I said, this is a worse case, it had back and forth and up and down play, this is an Albanian I picked up years ago. This stock is now just for appearance, when and if I ever shoot it, I just move it to a spike bayonet Chinese stock I fitted to it. No one really notices the difference.
I would try shimming in the same area using something similar and thinner as needed, something that wont compress or just distort, like thin sheet plastic, brass sheet stock or even shims made from beer cans can work. This should hopefully put more force back on to the crossbolt where it should be. You would want to shim it thick enough to lock both together very firmly, but just with enough clearance to latch the trigger back in with a good amount of force during assembly. Another option, just to throw it out there, you could try a different stock, just to shoot with like I did, any blade bayonet Chinese or a Romanian would fit, a Yugoslavian would fit as well. This leaves the original stock unaltered and it wouldn't be damaged "if" something happened.

[Blakefromminnesota]

The spring is there id say its about an 1/8 maybe alittle less of play. Do i shim the rear or the front of the action? Ill probably just cut up some soda cans and shim it. If you believe its needed

[Greasemonkey]

You can shim the nose of the stock as well, or shim both and kind of split the difference between the two. Biggest thing is get movement to as little as possible.


Just out of curiosity is it a laminated stock, most of the one I've seen loose were laminated.

[Blakefromminnesota]

It is laminated. So would that explain the big inconsistent accuracy difference?

[Blakefromminnesota]

The looseness that is