My first SKS!

[pterrell]

Pretty stoked to spend my afternoon off cleaning this sucker. Got it from classic and broke it out of jail this morning. Tough to say off the bay but it looks like it's in good condition (all considered). All matching numbers which is awesome.

One question, how do you further disassemble the gas piston tube and bcg for cleaning? Couldn't figure those two out.

Of course, before you all get mad, a pic (more to follow). Baking it in the sun right now.

[marksmandowntown]

Pretty stoked to spend my afternoon off cleaning this sucker. Got it from classic and broke it out of jail this morning. Tough to say off the bay but it looks like it's in good condition (all considered). All matching numbers which is awesome.

One question, how do you further disassemble the gas piston tube and bcg for cleaning? Couldn't figure those two out.

Of course, before you all get mad, a pic (more to follow). Baking it in the sun right now.

Grats on a great buy. See youtube for how to on all things SKS. (You need two bricks, a hammer, a punch or nail set and a bunch of Q-tips to take apart and clean the BCG.) Pay attention to the warnings about cleaning the firing pin and making sure that it rattles.

[echo1]

Nice.
Soak the whole works in a covered container of gas, all the metal parts that will fit. Not the hand guard. If you can get the tube clean enough, without taking off the HG, better. PAX

[Bobby Ricigliano]

1) The gas tube release lever pivots all the way up to allow the release of the piston extension and spring. Careful, as it will be under tension when you release it.

2) Disassembly of the bolt is easy on some SKS's, and a PITA on others. Usually, you can just hold down the bolt in between two blocks of wood and knock out the retaining pin with a punch and hammer. The extractor and extractor spring will pull up and off. Then you can soak all the individual parts in mineral spirits or whatever you are using.

3) I concur with baking the stock. Take advantage of summer and let the sun do the work. The stock will continue to bleed cosmo over time when you shoot it, but just wipe it off.

4) Lately I have been using boiling water to get the parts as clean as possible before soaking them in mineral spirits. That way the spirits can be reused on additional projects. There is no need to toss parts caked in cosmo into the solvent. Get all the big stuff off first before the soak.

And watch out for the cosmo snake that will be hiding in your barrel.

[pterrell]

Boiling the parts in water? I must admit that's a new one but for the small pieces that makes sense. Wish I had a pot big enough for the receiver haha

[DerZilla]

If you have a big heavy plastic container, like the ones you can buy at home depot, you can put receiver in there then pour the boiling water over it. The best and easiest way to remove cosmoline. I also add some simple green to it as well.

[DirtyRussianAmmo]

Congrats on the SKS. They are simply great rifles. You're going to love it.

Yes on boiling water, really helps get the big chunks of cosmo off. Then paint thinner for the detail scrub. Baking the stock in sun is good. To supercharge the process, might try putting the stock in a black plastic garbage bag.

[bohoki]

just a wipe down and barrel clean is all you need then shoot it and wipe with a towel repeat

[Armistice]

I've always used boiling water then mineral spirits

I took my Mosin sniper stock to the desert last weekend to let it bake while I was out. It didn't come caked like these SKS's did, so cleanup wasn't bad

[pterrell]

Yeah the SKS is notably worse than my mosin was. Got some pretty sizeable globs from the barrel and has tube