[Megaton]

I recently purchased an SKS and it was very dirty. I cleaned it as good as a could with what I have but I am not satisfied.

What is something that I can safely soak the metal pieces in? Thats the only way I am going to get this rifle clean.

The rifle functions fine I am just being anal about this. I would never let one of my guns get close to this dirty and now that its mine I want it clean.

[Southern6er]

Originally Posted by Megaton

I recently purchased an SKS and it was very dirty. I cleaned it as good as a could with what I have but I am not satisfied.

What is something that I can safely soak the metal pieces in? Thats the only way I am going to get this rifle clean.

The rifle functions fine I am just being anal about this. I would never let one of my guns get close to this dirty and now that its mine I want it clean.

Probably cosmolene on there.

Brake/Carb cleaner works great on the metal pieces. Just be sure to oil em afterwards - that stuff takes all the protecting stuff off.

How's the stock? Covered too? If so, that is cosmolene to be sure. Hot water, the garbage bag in the sun trick, Simple Green, and the controversial dishwasher trick will all work. I used a bit of all of them cept the dish washer.

[Megaton]

Yep must be that stuff, its on the inside of the stock too. Im not really too concerned about the stalk, more concerned about the moving parts mainly the bolt. It was filthy with normal buildup that accumulates. I did my best on it but I will have to make a trip to the auto parts store to get some carb cleaner and some compressed air.

[Southern6er]

Dupe of next post.

[Southern6er]

You want to clean up the stock too. That cosmo can leach out of the stock and into/onto the metals, so you're best off by cleaning it up too. I put it in the black garbage bag, wrapped the stock in paper towels. and let it sit outside a day down here. Then I applied hot water/simplegreen to clean it up. Did a bit of heat gun stuff, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. Here's how the stock sat at that point.



It wasn't bad, but I knew it still had some cosmo in it - it felt odd, and greasy. Did NOT like it.

So then I switched to turpentine to clean it up.

THAT got it out.

I then applied some military wax I got at Home Page. 1/3 beeswax, 1/3 boiled linseed oil, and 1/3 turpentine. It cleaned it more (applied with 0000 steel wool) and I let it harden up. Then I wiped it all down and hand applied the stuff again and let it absorb.

Here's how it sits today.



It cleaned it so well, I can see stampings that I hadn't seen before.





I've used this process on my M1 Garand (1942 Springfield) and it came out wonderful.

[Megaton]

I went ahead and sprayed down most of the internal parts with break cleaner. Some are still not up to par but certainly much better then when I got the rifle last week. No work on the stock just yet. Thinking about sanding it down and refinishing it as it has some imperfections.

Matching serial numbers, unknown when it was built as its a chinese sks and not from the factory that we have dating info on.

A question, I am experiencing some misfires with wolf steel case ammo. Roughly 5% of the rounds do not fire on the first attempt. They all go bang on the second attempt. To me the primer strike seems fine, about the same primer strikes I get with all my other centerfire guns. Could it be the ammo or is there something I can do to fix this problem?

Other than that I am very pleased with the rifle. Plenty accurate to drop a zombie at 100+ yards. Id like to get this failure to fire problem sorted out so I can rely it for medium range defense in a SHTF situation.

[RL357Mag]

3 years ago I bought an "Arsenal New" Yugo which was in storage for 40 years and came packed in cosmoline and wrapped in plastic. I thought I cleaned it good enough, but I experienced the same problem you did until I soaked the bolt in kerosene overnight and blew it out with compressed air. The grease congeals over time and causes the firing pin to stick. Try cleaning the bolt. Remove the firing pin if you can and clean the bolt out thoroughly. Be sure the bolt spring is clean and free of caked-up grease.

[Megaton]

I tried to remove the firing pin but it proved to be more stubborn than I am. I believe that is my problem with the failure to fires because when I pulled out the bolt the firing pin was stuck. I guess I did more harm than anything by spraying the bolt down with brake cleaner. Must have loosened up some grime and then it hardened. Im going to try soaking the bolt and hopefully the retaining pin will come out.

[gunsmith01]

I would suggest looking for Kroil. It's a cleaner that will take out just about anything. You can soak the parts in that overnight and it should come apart relatively easy. I have always had good results with Kroil.

[Southern6er]

This link will walk you through disassembling your bolt.

Collecting and Shooting the SKS Rifle - Bolt Disassembly and Reassembly