Chinese SKS light primer strikes

[FR0STY54R]

My Type 56 Carbine seems to be having issues lately, the firing pin just isn't setting the rounds off, on a full magazine of 10 rounds, it seems like every other round fails to fire. Upon ejecting these "dud" rounds, you can clearly see where the firing pin has struck the primers. I loaded a few of these "duds" back up and they always fire on the second try. Keep in mind every once in a while I will have a full magazine run flawlessly, but generally it seems like every other shot requires a reset and a second primer strike. This happens with both Tula and Norinco ammunition. I know it cant be the ammo because the Saiga feeds these rounds flawlessly. Anybody know what the problem is ?

[Greasemonkey]

My suggestion is to pull the firing pin and check for debris in the firing pin channel, and give the bolt and pin channel a good cleaning. It's very tight tolerances in this area, old grease or powder residue may have built up inside the channel not allowing the firing pin to move as far as nessesary to set off the primer on some rounds.

[Jolly Green Chopper]

Thanks for the info on SKS mis-fires. When I first got my SKS 56 it seemed to fire most of the rounds of all types of 7.62X39 ammo with no trouble . Lately it has not fired some and does seem to be getting more frequent. At first I thought it might be the spring or the pin wearing down but dirt or other bolt obstruction sounds more likely, I cleaned it once but I think I'll try again but do a better job, including polishing surfaces throughly. I will report my results soon. I ordered another one from AIM last week and should get it soon. Aim said the rifles were packed in cosmoline requiring deep cleaning . Looks like I've got my work cut out.What's ya'lls experience cleaning old packed cosmoline ? Thanks again for the help.JGC

[Greasemonkey]

Polishing the bolt won't do too much, but it won't hurt anything. Just tear the bolt down, pull the pin, soak the bolt in mineral sprits or acetone for a bit, use a pipe cleaner to work in the channel. A toothpick can be used to dig in there as well on hardened stuff. Also, you could try soaking the bolt in purple power and rinsing in hot water.

When you reassemble it, use minimal oil, you want the firing pin channel and firing pin almost dry, if you use to much oil, you'll be right back here again. The excess oil just will collect residue and dust.

Also, for safety sake, when you get the bolt together, do the rattle test, shake the bolt to verify the firing pin is moving freely. If it doesn't rattle on each shake, pull it apart and find out why, it should move freely when the bolt is shook.

And every so often, pull it apart and check, inspect and clean, especially if you pop a primer.

[polymerase2]

I had some light strike problems with a Yugo SKS. Make sure the receiver is clean where the bolt drops down. I I had a tiny piece of metal in there. I also had a backwards spring. Make sure the curly part is in the bolt carrier. And of course, clean that bolt/firing pin channel. I also found a little piece of metal in mine.

[FR0STY54R]

My suggestion is to pull the firing pin and check for debris in the firing pin channel, and give the bolt and pin channel a good cleaning. It's very tight tolerances in this area, old grease or powder residue may have built up inside the channel not allowing the firing pin to move as far as nessesary to set off the primer on some rounds.

Sorry about the late reply. I did what you said. Turns out there actually was some debris stuck on the firing pin. After cleaning it real good, I was putting the bolt back together when this happened..... Catastrophic f****** failure.... I was driving that little pin back into place, making sure the firing pin was flush with the little hole so it would go through... Well, turns out somehow it got moved slightly and blocked the path of the pin. Now the thing is completely stuck. As I was driving it in, I noticed it seemed to turn itself which I don't think was supposed to happen. I could honestly puke. Is there any fixing this ? I've broke 3 punches trying to drive this thing out.

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[FR0STY54R]

My suggestion is to pull the firing pin and check for debris in the firing pin channel, and give the bolt and pin channel a good cleaning. It's very tight tolerances in this area, old grease or powder residue may have built up inside the channel not allowing the firing pin to move as far as nessesary to set off the primer on some rounds.

Sorry about the late reply. I did what you said. Turns out there actually was some debris stuck on the firing pin. After cleaning it real good, I was putting the bolt back together when this happened..... Catastrophic f****** failure.... I was driving that little pin back into place, making sure the firing pin was flush with the little hole so it would go through... Well, turns out somehow it got moved slightly and blocked the path of the pin. Now the thing is completely stuck. As I was driving it in, I noticed it seemed to turn itself which I don't think was supposed to happen. I could honestly puke. Is there any fixing this ? I've broke 3 punches trying to drive this thing back out. For some reason it just flat out refuses to come out. Keep it mind I'm going off to the side to avoid hammering the firing pin

[FR0STY54R]

I am trying to post pics but am unable

[FR0STY54R]

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[Greasemonkey]

Find a large, say a 3/4-1 inch half inch drive socket and place it on a concrete slab or concrete floor, set the bolt so the pin retainer will drop through the ratchet drive end of the socket. The firmer the base the better, and this is one time, a quality 1/8 inch punch will save some headaches. Spray it with some penetrating lube, and it will take some ummphh to move it, they can be a bear to move, and I would strongly suggest a replacement.

"IF" you try to reuse the retainer, make sure it's straight and every burr, nick and scratch is removed, make sure it does fit snug, and either way, verify the firing pin is not burred up or has sustained any damage. Also check the retainer pin bore for any damage. It needs to fit tight so it doesn't come loose during firing, but it still needs to still move to allow for maintenance. I have only had one I could not get out, I really got brave, and I ended up drilling it out, not fun.

[polymerase2]

This is the "fun" of surplus firearms. You will learn from you mistakes. Realize that problems are going to happen.
Greasemonkey is right on the money. If you pounded it in you can pound it out; usually. Make sure the punch almost fills the hole.
It is easy and relatively cheap to get a new/surplus firing pin and firing pin retainer for around $20 or so.
I had the opportunity to learn a lot (more than I wanted actually) about the Yugo SKS I had trouble with.

[WeldonHunter]

Frosty if you need a new firing pin or retainer or both here's a list of places that have them. Only one has both, Numrich, but check the prices at some of the other places and see what the total would be from Numrich with shipping and buying them seperately from some of the others. The prices range from $4.95 for the firing pin to about $15. Also Numrich gives you a discount code for $4.95 off of shipping if you call and press 1. I've listed that below.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=72

http://www.copesdistributing.com/firing-p-3790.html

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/p ... ategory=33

https://www.buymilsurp.com/firing-pin-r ... p-214.html

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/sksfiringpinnew.aspx

Numrich

Call this number 866-686-7424 and press 1 and they will give you that days shipping discount code for $4.95 off. These change day by day. Todays number is 2840 and is good until 12 midnight EST I believe. You have to call them during their business hours to get the newest number. For small items like this it bacisally means free shipping or almost free. Now the disclaimer. I've bought a bunch of stuff from Numrich and sometimes it's perfect and sometimes they miss the mark. On this I think you'll be ok.

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/490770.htm

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/490790.htm

[FR0STY54R]

Find a large, say a 3/4-1 inch half inch drive socket and place it on a concrete slab or concrete floor, set the bolt so the pin retainer will drop through the ratchet drive end of the socket. The firmer the base the better, and this is one time, a quality 1/8 inch punch will save some headaches. Spray it with some penetrating lube, and it will take some ummphh to move it, they can be a bear to move, and I would strongly suggest a replacement.

"IF" you try to reuse the retainer, make sure it's straight and every burr, nick and scratch is removed, make sure it does fit snug, and either way, verify the firing pin is not burred up or has sustained any damage. Also check the retainer pin bore for any damage. It needs to fit tight so it doesn't come loose during firing, but it still needs to still move to allow for maintenance. I have only had one I could not get out, I really got brave, and I ended up drilling it out, not fun.

Thank you so much for the help. I may have lost it slightly before lmfao, thinking I had f*cked it up beyond all recognition, I came straight here for help before I did anything else to foul it up. Thankfully I did get it out, and polished everything up nicely. Everything fits and miraculously the firing pin still moves back and forth when the bolt is shook. I have no idea how nothing was marred up horrendously from the severe beating I gave it. I may very well end up needing spare parts but I'm going to take it out and see what happens.

[FR0STY54R]

Frosty if you need a new firing pin or retainer or both here's a list of places that have them. Only one has both, Numrich, but check the prices at some of the other places and see what the total would be from Numrich with shipping and buying them seperately from some of the others. The prices range from $4.95 for the firing pin to about $15. Also Numrich gives you a discount code for $4.95 off of shipping if you call and press 1. I've listed that below.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=72

http://www.copesdistributing.com/firing-p-3790.html

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/p ... ategory=33

https://www.buymilsurp.com/firing-pin-r ... p-214.html

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/sksfiringpinnew.aspx

Numrich

Call this number 866-686-7424 and press 1 and they will give you that days shipping discount code for $4.95 off. These change day by day. Todays number is 2840 and is good until 12 midnight EST I believe. You have to call them during their business hours to get the newest number. For small items like this it bacisally means free shipping or almost free. Now the disclaimer. I've bought a bunch of stuff from Numrich and sometimes it's perfect and sometimes they miss the mark. On this I think you'll be ok.

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/490770.htm

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/490790.htm

Thank you for the links and the info ! Cheers

[FR0STY54R]

This is the "fun" of surplus firearms. You will learn from you mistakes. Realize that problems are going to happen.
Greasemonkey is right on the money. If you pounded it in you can pound it out; usually. Make sure the punch almost fills the hole.
It is easy and relatively cheap to get a new/surplus firing pin and firing pin retainer for around $20 or so.
I had the opportunity to learn a lot (more than I wanted actually) about the Yugo SKS I had trouble with.

Haha no doubt about that at all, I did see a quote recently that sums it up well. It went something like "Sometimes you must lose a battle to figure out how to win the war"

That quote pretty much sums my little fiasco up lmao

[entropy]

Beglad you didn't have the other result of gunk/debris in the firing pin channel; machine-gunning.

[FR0STY54R]

Well, I ran ten rounds through it. It fired three out of ten. The rest were all light primer strikes. As per usual. Good to know I didn't break my bolt though. What is up with this thing ?

[FR0STY54R]

Beglad you didn't have the other result of gunk/debris in the firing pin channel; machine-gunning.

No doubt about that.