Cleaning Sks How much.

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Blindstitch

New member
I just bought a Chinese SKS from my granpa's estate which seems like a steal of a deal. It's scoped and came with 20 boxes of ammo. Only one said non corrosive so I shot that on test fire.

The rest says:
Lead Core
Hollow Point
Cartridges
7,62x39
Made to Hunting
Specifications
20pc​

Came in a White box saying Made in Russia and had two symbols on it. One looks like a Caliper with a P holding something and the other a Cartridge with letters looking like LKNI. - I assume this is corrosive.

Well I shot the one box and my mom wanted to shoot it again. She may be 56 but likes guns so I pulled out a box of the stuff listed above and she shot 4 rounds.

Oh and I bought this all for $200.

I just got done cleaning the rifle but how often do I need to clean it when shooting non corrosive? and how big of a deal would those 4 random end shots have been if I didn't clean it immediately?
 
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P5 Guy

New member
SKS cleaning after four shots?
I'm going to have to ask what one's idea of cleaning a rifle is?
I usually just pull a few oily patches thru the bore after shooting non-corrosive.
After a longer shooting session I'd field strip my SKS and use a good penetrating oil like Kroil. Followed by a bore brush repeating alternately.
If my memory serves Chinese SKS have a chrome lined bore. That should make your rifle easier to clean.
Now if you have corrosive ammo you'll want to clean the gas system and bore with hot water to dissolve the salts from the primers and follow up with your normal routine.
 
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Beretta686

New member
I don't have much experience with an SKS, but I've never cleaned my AK, despite 1000+ rounds. I've never had an issue with it. If it makes you feel better, clean it all you wish, but it's not really very important with a weapon like that.

Now if you're shooting corrosive ammo, all bests are off and I'd clean it after each shooting session.
 
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Blindstitch

New member
Well it wasn't 4 shots. It was 20 non corrosive and 4 that were possibly corrosive in a sks that hadn't been used in maybe 15 years and I didn't know how well it had been maintained.

I bought 8 rifles and ran several boxes through each. Rifles ranged from Stevens Favorite .22 up to Marlin 336 444.

All rifles will get a full cleaning.
 
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tahunua001

New member
some guys would have you think that if you dont pour a gallon of amonia based cleaner down the barrel on the firing line then your gun will be ruined completely... I've left guns for months and never developed anything worse that surface rust. I've also tried all the crazy methods people claim are necessary, I have half a mind to think that they did more damage than the ammo, the gun became a rust bucket, rusted even between cleanings with no shots fired in between. I shoot corrosive from my SKS all the time as well as my mosin nagant, I never give it any special treatment except for making sure I clean them within 48 hours of range time, I just clean with brushes and patches and good old fashioned CLP, I never have rust issues.

with corrosive, a single round fired means you need to clean it, it's a huge pain, so I make sure if I'm shooting it then I make sure I'm putting at least a box through, usually closer to 4 or 5 boxes. oh, and that white box stuff is Ulyanovsk, the same people that make wolf, tula, herters, and red army standard. you're golden, non corrosive.
 
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kilimanjaro

New member
The SKS has a chrome -lined barrel for corrosive ammo. I'd disassemble and give it a good cleaning since you fired it for first time in 15 years.

All of the copper wash or lacquer cased surplus ammo, especially 15 years old, is corrosive. Modern commercial stuff less so or not at all.

I bought brass and reload it, now. Much simpler, and better ammo.
 
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tahunua001

New member
yep it's Ulyanovsk. nothing to worry about. that's that bad thing about x39 ammo. some that doesn't say non corrosive is still non corrosive and some listed non corrosive is still corrosive... then there's some that used to be corrosive and isn't anymore and you have to look at the primer sealant or head stamps to figure out.... it's all a mess, I'm pretty sure that still is safe though.
 
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Mobuck

Moderator
I've been shooting that ammo for several years and AFAIK, it's non-corrosive. It's killed a couple of deer and numerous skunks, possums, coons, muskrats, and a coyote or two.
 
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tahunua001

New member
sorry blind stitch, it all just kindof works off memory and hearsay I'm afraid. you'll be fine with the stuff you have and in the future as long as you buy commercial stuff(wolf, tula, brown bear etc) you won't have to worry about corrosive.
 
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Blindstitch

New member
Thanks guys. I'll probably kill most of it out on my next range day and do a good cleaning to get more familiar with the rifle. This is my first semi. Odd it took so long to acquire one.

I already started buying Tula to shoot once this is gone. Best part is it costs something like 26 cents a shot vs 30-30 (85 cents), 30-40 Krag ($2), 6.5 Jap ($1.50), 303 British PPU ($1), 30-06 ($1) and so on.

Not as cheap as 22 lr when you can find it but equally as expensive as 22 magnum.
 
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jason_iowa

New member
If you're not using corrosive ammo you really never will need to clean it. When I get a new ak or sks I usually clean it really well. Tens of thousands of rounds later I may clean it a bit.
 
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Technosavant

New member
The SKS models where corrosive ammo is a real issue are the Yugo ones... those don't have chromed bores, so corrosive ammo can eat them up quickly (with the 59/66 grenade launcher equipped ones, the gas valve is often rendered useless by corrosive ammo). But yours is a Chinese one with a chromed bore, so no worries.

I agree with the advice to shoot the possibly corrosive stuff, clean it (a bunch of folks just like to use Windex to neutralize the salts), then stick to commercial noncorrosive stuff from then on. I will say to be cautious who you purchase from; I've heard rumors that some resellers will label ammo known to be corrosive (like surplus stuff) to be noncorrosive. Stick with the commercially branded stuff (Tula, Barnaul/Bear, Wolf) and you should be fine.
 
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Willie Lowman

New member
If you wonder if ammo is corrosive, test it.

This is how we used to do it (in the shop at work). Get some bare steel (we used flat stock or a small chunk of 3" angle). Clean the steel so there is no oil or dirt or anything on it. Pull the bullet from the case and dump out the powder. Hold the mouth of the case against the steel at a 45 degree angle. Hold the case with pliers or vise grips and have a friend set off the primer (we tapped the primer with nail and a hammer) Wear safety glasses!

We'd do a hand full of different rounds when we did this. We'd write what cartridge was tested next to the primer spot on the steel with a marker. After popping a few primers on the test steel we'd put the steel in the back of the room so nothing would bother it. Check back in a few days and see where the patches of rust were starting. Some rounds were very corrosive while others were not.
 
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Nullcone

New member
This is how we used to do it (in the shop at work). Get some bare steel (we used flat stock or a small chunk of 3" angle). Clean the steel so there is no oil or dirt or anything on it. Pull the bullet from the case and dump out the powder. Hold the mouth of the case against the steel at a 45 degree angle. Hold the case with pliers or vise grips and have a friend set off the primer (we tapped the primer with nail and a hammer) Wear safety glasses!
Click to expand...

I found it easier to file/sand down the head of a nail, drive it into a decent sized post or log and do basically the same as WL stated.

Of course, that was back when I was worried about such things... like when we used to dump a 1440 round case of combloc 7.62x39 thru an AK in a weekend :)

hth!
 
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