SKS problem at the range

[bunkysdad]

This past week weekend I had a chance to carry 2 SKS carbines to the country for some fun in the sun. While attempting to shoot my Russian Tula ( let me call it a bbq painted refurb before someone else does), after a few rounds the gun stopped cycling. The spring tension was gone on the bolt and it fired, then the bolt stayed open, with no return tension. I unloaded it, double checked it, and removed the bolt cover. Here is what I found.
I packed it up and brought it home, thinking I had a broken recoil spring. I took it apart on the bench and found this.
It appears that during the last cleaning I left a patch in the spring channel in the rear of the bolt, and it only took a few shots before the patch got totally bound up in the spring, locking the 2 spring rods down. Like a doctor doing surgery, it is a good idea to account for all the items, both tools, and patches!

[desdem12]

Well at least it was an easy fix and nothing was broken.

[OLD OUTLAW]

WOW! It is a good thing you shut down quick. The forces of recoil with it bound up like that, even a little, had to be tremendous.
Another testament to the SKS not flying apart when a problem does occur.

[Junk Yard Dog]

For a minute there I thought this was gonna be another "my rifle blew up in my face" posts, two in one day would be too much . Good thing there was no damage done.

[OLD OUTLAW]

For a minute there I thought this was gonna be another "my rifle blew up in my face" posts, two in one day would be too much . Good thing there was no damage done.

Too be honest about it, a few other semi's may have had a drastic event. He instinctively knew some thing was not correct. Had this happened in some of these AK rifles or to a newbie or a Bubba guy, the results may well have been serious injury.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Oh yea, and people make fun of me for stripping down rifles before shooting them when I am away with friends at a big shoot.

[bunkysdad]

Last year I was at the range testing some semi-mild handloads in my Enfield #1 mkIII, and almost dismissed a mild "pop" and with my ears on and a busy range I could have had a real bad day, if I had just squeezed off one more round. I had already cycled the bolt, but suddenly the reality of what had just happened clicked, so I listened to the voice yelling STOP and opened and removed the bolt. When I looked through the barrel and saw darkness, I gotta tell you. It will make your blood run cold. One of my handloads had only a primer to move the bullet into the bore where it lodged. I know I mentioned this recently, but we are getting so many new milsurp owners with old guns, and I think it is a good idea to consider safe gun handling constantly. When a dud round causes a bullet to lodge in the barrel, it is called a squib. You do NOT want to fire another round after you have a squib round. Cowboy action shooting is big these days, and these guys load down their rounds to elliminate recoil. Sometimes loading just above a squib load. They practice with these rounds extensively before matches requiring timed fast shooting events. Well we should practice our hobby of milsurps just the same. Take your time shooting. You can do a "mad minute" if you want to, but it may not be the safest thing to do with forty year old ammo. Just thnking out loud tonight.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Spray and pray is never a good idea with 80 year old rifles and 30-60 year old ammo.

[Drago]

Last year I was at the range testing some semi-mild handloads in my Enfield #1 mkIII, and almost dismissed a mild "pop" and with my ears on and a busy range I could have had a real bad day, if I had just squeezed off one more round. I had already cycled the bolt, but suddenly the reality of what had just happened clicked, so I listened to the voice yelling STOP and opened and removed the bolt. When I looked through the barrel and saw darkness, I gotta tell you. It will make your blood run cold. One of my handloads had only a primer to move the bullet into the bore where it lodged. I know I mentioned this recently, but we are getting so many new milsurp owners with old guns, and I think it is a good idea to consider safe gun handling constantly. When a dud round causes a bullet to lodge in the barrel, it is called a squib. You do NOT want to fire another round after you have a squib round. Cowboy action shooting is big these days, and these guys load down their rounds to elliminate recoil. Sometimes loading just above a squib load. They practice with these rounds extensively before matches requiring timed fast shooting events. Well we should practice our hobby of milsurps just the same. Take your time shooting. You can do a "mad minute" if you want to, but it may not be the safest thing to do with forty year old ammo. Just thnking out loud tonight.

Wow, Bunky! This just happened to me last week. I recently started reloading and am going very slow and easy, making sure all cases are not double charged, etc. However, my son and I stopped to inspect a problem with the primer die. We pulled all cartridges off the carousel, in order to not forget something while we messed with the die. Apparently, we DID miss something, because when we took our fresh new loads out to shoot, on the second to last round that fired, there seemed to be a jam. It was a squibb, as we had placed that case with only the primer into the bullet seating die instead of the powder charge die. I'm glad my HK jammed and didn't chamber another round. I learned a very valuable lesson about reloading. Triple check everything! This is the first squibb I've ever had and what scares me the most, is that I didn't even notice a difference in sound. I'm sure it was there, but I simply didn't notice it. Had another round chambered we'd have found out real quick-like how well a USP is built!

[bunkysdad]

Yeah it can be hard to tell the sound, because other range traffic is so loud already, and even though the recoil isn't there, it is almost like there is a slight disconnect in the thought process. By the time the error is realized it is too easy to already have a new round chambered. All it takes is a little break in the thinking, maybe thinking about the target, rather than paying attention to cycling the bolt. The cycling becomes one thoughtless fluid motion, and you could have a disaster. Junk Yard Dog has the #1 best advice to prevent this. Simply take a moment and weigh the completed rounds. This makes the small price of a digital scale worth it alone. A round that is missing 20-40 grains of powder will be obvious. Glad you came out ok Drago.

[Junk Yard Dog]

A double charged round will be obvious also.

[bunkysdad]

Oh yeah, just as dangerous if not more so. Good point JYD.