Big Problem..?

[Ferroflame]

I went to go shoot my rifles today. Took my Mosin, SKS, .22, and my Grandpa brought his old .22 Revolver along as well.

Long story short, I let my dad fire the SKS first. We loaded it quickly with these new stripper clips, and when he got into position he fired once. Then he pulled the trigger again, and nothing happend. He looked at me and I ran over to see what the problem was.

I had left it in single shot.

So I switched it back to semi-auto and he chambered the next round...

He fired once, then pulled the trigger again and nothing happened.

When he tried to pull the bolt back, it wouldn't hardly move.

After I emptied out the rest of clip, we took it back to the truck to get the bolt unstuck...

I took the back off, got the recoil spring out, and tried to pull the bolt back, but it still wouldn't move...

After 20 minutes or so of trying to get it out, we finally got it...

Then I put it back in single shot and fired it again...

No problems.

Basically what I want to know is: is there something wrong with the gas tube or do you thing the bolt is catching onto something..?

I have absolutely no idea what's wrong with it...

Help me out?

(Also, sorry for rambling... I'm tired and a little fustrated)

Thanks guys!!
=D

[Big Dog]

If it hung up at first, then you took it apart and reassembled and it works fine now - I'd suspect something initially was misaligned. If it's working okay now, no problem. You may have had the recoil spring in backwards the first time - that WILL cause problems. "Curly end" in the bolt carrier first!

[Ferroflame]

I had the spring in the right way.

=/ I just cleaned my gas tube and everything...

And there was this dark black stuff on it.

o.o' I got it all off...

Is there anything I should coat the gas tube with? Like oil or something?

[marcusdunn8192]

never coat the gas tube with oil!!!!! try cleaning out the gas port hole where it meets the barrel , i use a paperclip but watevers handy works.

[Ferroflame]

>.<!!

Does it ruin it if you do?

[SwedeSteve]

No, but it will clog up quicker if oil is in there. lean it out with brake cleaner. It will degrease it and leaves no residue. Be careful though, as BC can mess up bluing.

[mitch_mckee]

Where did you find an SKS with a selective single shot mode?

[knightRider]

i was also wondering that mitch .

[marion57]

yugos !

[mitch_mckee]

Originally Posted by marion57

yugos !

Is that part of the grenade launcher?

[Cyrano]

To amplify what marion said: the Yugo SKS Model 59/66 comes standard with a grenade launcher mount and sights on the firearm. There is a selector switch ahead of the gas tube that will allow you to fire semi-auto (button at the 2 o'clock position) or single shot manually operated bolt (12 o'clock position). The latter is what is used for grenade launching. There are/were special 7.62x39 blanks with much longer necks than regular rifle rounds intended for launching 22mm rifle grenades; you see them offered for sale in online stores from time to time.

From what I understand, the procedure was to load a stripper clip of these blanks, set the selector switch to 12 o'clock, attach a grenade to the launcher, aim and fire. Work the bolt manually, attach another greande, and repeat. I don't think you were supposed to fire it from the shoulder; I think you were supposed to brace the butt and the ground and use it like an old spigot mortar. Anyone have one of the US Army TMs on the SKS? That will have all the details.

[mitch_mckee]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

To amplify what marion said: the Yugo SKS Model 59/66 comes standard with a grenade launcher mount and sights on the firearm. There is a selector switch ahead of the gas tube that will allow you to fire semi-auto (button at the 2 o'clock position) or single shot manually operated bolt (12 o'clock position). The latter is what is used for grenade launching. There are/were special 7.62x39 blanks with much longer necks than regular rifle rounds intended for launching 22mm rifle grenades; you see them offered for sale in online stores from time to time.

From what I understand, the procedure was to load a stripper clip of these blanks, set the selector switch to 12 o'clock, attach a grenade to the launcher, aim and fire. Work the bolt manually, attach another greande, and repeat. I don't think you were supposed to fire it from the shoulder; I think you were supposed to brace the butt and the ground and use it like an old spigot mortar. Anyone have one of the US Army TMs on the SKS? That will have all the details.

Thanks.

[sean46953]

It seems like there was some one else that had an issue like this not too long ago, but they never mentioned it working fine with the rifle in "single shot mode." Of coarse, I don't remember if it was a Yugo or not either. lol Anyhow, it can't be the gas system causing the problem because the only part of the gas system on an SKS that ever makes contact with the bolt is the operating rod, and that only makes a very brief contact with the top of the bolt carrier directly after its fired and only when it's set to semi-auto. Now, enough with what it can't be...Big Dog has the right idia, I'd make sure that the bolt carrier and the bolt head are linked together correctly and that the reciever looks clear of forieng objects (screws, bolts, rocks, ext.) After you inspect it, carefully reassemble the rifle and then slowly operate the action several times manually while feeling for it to bind up. If it feels fine and operates smoothly, you may try to put a few rounds through it. If it jams again though I think I'd stop shooting it again, just incase it's a headspace problem. Another possibility is the may be cosmoline or some sort of sticky build up in the chamber, especially possible if you've used the older Wolf ammo with the steel case and laquar coating. If there is any build up, it is possible for it to only effect the rifle when it's set to semi-auto because you may be fireing more rounds in a shorter amount of time with less time taken in cycling the action which would cause the chamber to get hotter in the semi-auto mode, compred to it being used as a single shot. That increase in heat could cause the fouling in the chamber to become very sticky and casue your jams. It's a bit out of the box, but none the less, I think it could also be a possibility. Let us know what happens and how it goes. Good luck!

[Ferroflame]

Yeah I went back to the range to try it again to see if I had fixed the problem...

I cleaned out the gas tube and reciever pretty well. I was pretty sure it was going to work...

But no. Same problem. Didn't work in Semi-Auto, worked in Single. Afterward I couldn't even put it back into Semi-Auto to see if it would work. I still can't. It's stuck. >_< I took the whole thing apart and I couldn't see any visible problems...

One thing, though...

There's a part of the bolt. It seems a little bit loose. I'm not sure if this is normal or relevant at all, but I just thought I'd say something.

Thanks guys.

Ferro.

[res45]

YUGO SKS rifles we designed to shoot YUGO brass case ammo there chambers are a bit tighter than the standard SKS chamber like the Russian and Chinese that use the steel case ammo. So if you shoot lacquer cased ammo in a YUGO you need to make sure you clean the chamber along with the rest of the rifle. Steel case ammo doesn't expand like brass so as the chamber heats up and the lacquer starts to melt and stick to the chamber walls along with the blow by of the powder mixing in with it, it becomes a glue type substance.
So the next time you run a round up into the chamber it may stick if you have a round that misfires it just jams it up into the chamber that much harder causing the bolt to stick shut. Also anytime you take the SKS bolt apart make sure you put the safety on it make it allot easier to reassemble. It also sounds like you may have just miss aligned the bolt and carrier into the receiver make sure the kinked end going into the bolt carrier . Also check the spring and opps rod under the rear sight,clean it and reinstall it. just curious when you had the gas tube off did you take out the gas valve and clean it and the selector button and see if it would move back and forth into both positions easily before reinstalling the tube.

[Ferroflame]

Originally Posted by res45

YUGO SKS rifles we designed to shoot YUGO brass case ammo there chambers are a bit tighter than the standard SKS chamber like the Russian and Chinese that use the steel case ammo. So if you shoot lacquer cased ammo in a YUGO you need to make sure you clean the chamber along with the rest of the rifle. Steel case ammo doesn't expand like brass so as the chamber heats up and the lacquer starts to melt and stick to the chamber walls along with the blow by of the powder mixing in with it, it becomes a glue type substance.
So the next time you run a round up into the chamber it may stick if you have a round that misfires it just jams it up into the chamber that much harder causing the bolt to stick shut. Also anytime you take the SKS bolt apart make sure you put the safety on it make it allot easier to reassemble. It also sounds like you may have just miss aligned the bolt and carrier into the receiver make sure the kinked end going into the bolt carrier . Also check the spring and opps rod under the rear sight,clean it and reinstall it. just curious when you had the gas tube off did you take out the gas valve and clean it and the selector button and see if it would move back and forth into both positions easily before reinstalling the tube.

Yeah I'm using the Wolf ammo they gave me at Centerfire. That could be the problem, then...

And I did take off the gas valve and cleaned it as much as I could. It still won't go into semi-auto, though... No idea what could be wrong with it.

Thanks guys. ^_^

Ferro.

[marion57]

Originally Posted by Ferroflame

Yeah I'm using the Wolf ammo they gave me at Centerfire. That could be the problem, then...

And I did take off the gas valve and cleaned it as much as I could. It still won't go into semi-auto, though... No idea what could be wrong with it.

Thanks guys. ^_^

Ferro.

You should be able to hold the bolt and shake it and hear the firing pin move..Have you taken the piston extension out and cleaned it?? It sounds like its may be not moving as it should . and you should be able to move the selector to semi or single real easy go here and look at the pictures and break down of the gas tub and slelector ..Remove the extension and clean the tube it sets in out good ,, make sure your locking selector is in right position also

http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/FIREARMS/sks_56.pdf

[res45]

Stupid question here when you try to move the selector button to the right which puts it into semi auto mode are you pushing down on the button before you slide it over. If it want move try and do that with the gas tube off it may just be a tight fit. Pics would be nice of the problem area.

[robertscheib]

Two comments:
We shoot only Wolf ammo in our 4 SKS's [due to local ammo availability]- 3 YUGO's and a Russian - without any problems.
We thoroughly clean chambers and gas system when purchasing a new gun AND after every range outing - gotta be absolutely certain all the old cosmo/gunk and case lacquer residue is removed.
Address and deal with any gas tube to selector valve housing / selector valve / gas piston to gas tube leaks, these can and will cause frustrating cycling issues.

[GlockMeister]

Are we sure it's called single shot mode? I thought, or rather was to the understanding the gas system was switched to the (12 O'Clock position) too fire blanks for launching grenades from the grenade launcher and then back to (2 O'Clock position) for shooting/cycling regular/standard ammunition? Because let's face it, it's a semi-auto so every shot is in a sense single shot, you just don't have to cock it each time or load each shot in. I mean either way you have to pull the trigger for each shot.

And when the gas valve is in the 12 O'Clock position, I believe it alters or changes the way the gas is directed compared to the 2 O'Clock position. I'm just looking for clarification is all. So,

I image searched the net for Yugo SKS gas valve and the picture attached came up. Note the hole in the gas valve itself. When that hole is in the position of 2 O'Clock, it allows for all the gases from a fired round to be used/directed in order to eject the spent round and load the next round and so on. Now when the valve is put at the 12 O'Clock position, the hole is moved and only the round itself is used to propel the grenade and none of the gases from a blank is used to eject the spent round or to load the next round.

Isn't it done manually because generally, the mag is still filled with ammunition so if one has to get back to fighting, they don't have to stop to load the magazine. Lets face it, generally, blanks are generally put in one at a time and the SKS magazine, from what I've learned and read was never loaded via stripper clips with blanks. The magazine was always left loaded so the soldier could get back into battle without having to reload from firing grenades. I could be wrong, maybe they did load the magazine with blanks. To me, in a conflict, the last thing I'd want to do is remove all of my live ammo to fire a grenade. I'd have to stop and try and load ammo to be able to fight or protect myself. So that's why I can't see why one would load a magazine with blanks and instead would load one at a time to fire a grenade. Again, I could be wrong. Just makes more sense to me is all.

The use of the term single shot mode, has confused me and I'm, just trying to find out exactly how it is used. In reading other posts/threads, and not just here, when people have complained about a round not ejecting, they're usually directed to first, check the position of the gas valve and 2ndly to clean the rifle. With that said, in any of those, I've never heard them get or be told, take it out of single shot mode. So yea, it's got me a little lost. Again, looking for clarification is all...