SKS Apparent "Slam Firing" Issue

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QuickDrawMcGraw
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SKS Apparent "Slam Firing" Issue

Post by QuickDrawMcGraw » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:31 am

Greetings:
I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with one of my SKS rifles I have owned for many years. To give you an idea of how long I've had it, without test firing it first of course, I paid a friend of a friend $75.00 for it. Even then I felt I was paying too much!!! Anyway, I took it home & cleaned it up, dipping various parts into boiling water in order to remove the still lingering cosmoline. I then dried the components, oiled them up, reassembled the rifle & headed out to the range for some fun. With my targets set up, the safety in the "on" position & the muzzle safely pointed down range, I proceeded to load a few rounds into the magazine, rock the bolt handle back, then turn it loose & let her find her way home... KaPow-KaPow-KaPow. The darn thing started firing on it's own, IN FULL AUTO!!! I da#n near soiled my britches. All I could think of was "What the hell just happened here???" Thank God I had the muzzle safely pointed down range!!! I opened the bolt to insure the chamber was clear, engaged the safety lever, set the thing down on the range table & walked a few yards away from it to collect my thoughts. I began to look around the range area thereabouts where the other shooters were in their respective positions & I just was so thankful that I hadn't accidentally shot someone there that day. It was truly a "Come to Jesus" moment for me. After a brief period of counting my blessings, I installed an orange breech insert into the breech, put the rifle into it's carry case, picked up the remainder of my gear & headed to the car. I got home, cleaned my weapon & put it into the safe where it remained untouched for several years. I talked to a few gunsmiths @ that time that I knew of back then & they all told me they didn't work on SKS's. I suppose back then these rifles were so cheap, relatively speaking, that the owners were hesitant to put much money into one to have any defect repaired. I know I certainly didn't have much money to play with frivolously back in my younger days.
One day, a few months ago, I was on line viewing one of the firearms forums, probably this one & I ran across a link to a You Tube video on "SKS Slam Firing". I watched with great interest as I was taken back to that faithful day on the firing range. Man , when I heard the subject weapon slam fire on the video, I got that same old sick feeling all over again. The gentleman in the video explained that his weapons' slam firing was caused from the firing pin being seized by rusting in the bolt instead of being free floating as it was designed to do from the factory. He then removed the bolt from the subject SKS & shook it back & forth to demonstrate how there was NO firing pin movement within the bolt. He then proceeded to demonstrate how to remove the defective firing pin, then clean up the bolt & then install a new & improved spring loaded firing pin back into the bolt. He reassembled his weapon & Vwalla, it worked like a charm. No more slam firing. I thought to myself, "That's just what I need to fix my ailing SKS." So I ordered one & anxiously awaited it's arrival. Although I did have this little voice in my head saying, "but my firing pin is not seized, it IS free floating as it should be." Of course I ignored that annoying little voice.
In about a week, my new firing pin arrived & I couldn't wait to get it installed. It was a pretty straight forward install. After reassembly of the rifle, confidently grinning from ear to ear, I was off to the range. Once again, with the safety engaged & the muzzle pointed safely down range, I loaded one cartridge into the magazine, pulled back on the charging handle & let her find her way home... KaBoom, the @/#% thing fired once again. The new firing pin did NOT fix my problem. What a bummer. With my ego now fully deflated, I packed up my belongings & headed for the house. I cleaned the rifle & secured it in it's proper place in the safe. Now, to say I was disappointed as well as perplexed would be an understatement. But I was now determined to simply put it out of my mind & move on. But the problem kept popping up in my head, eating at me. I hate it when I can't figure something out. So back onto the WWW I went. I finally came across another You Tube Video on fine tuning your trigger group to reduce & improve trigger pull. At one point, the person in the video demonstrated how to file the sear to tweak the trigger assembly, while commenting for you to be cautious not to over file the sear, Else uncontrollable auto-fire could result. This was an AHA moment for me. I removed the trigger group from the SKS, disassembled it & examined it. I could see where a portion of the sear appeared to have had some apparent machining work performed to it. But the machining appeared to be uniform across the two tabs where the hammer rides, but due to the fact I didn't know what a untampered sear should look like, I couldn't really make the determination if indeed it had been altered or not. So I went online & ordered a new, replacement trigger sear. It arrived in a few days, I removed it from it's packaging & compared the new one to the original. There was definitely a significant amount of material which had been removed from the original sear. I installed the new sear into the trigger group, reinstalled it into the SKS, went back to the range, once again with the muzzle safely pointed down range & the safety in the on position, I loaded one round into the magazine, let the charge handle drive home... Nothing. No slam firing. I moved the safety into the off position, took aim & pulled the trigger. KaBoom, just as it should. I was elated. I loaded a few more rounds into the magazine, pulled back on the charge handle to load the weapon, took aim & fired. It performed just as it should. With my slam firing problem now eliminated, I'm once again a happy SKS owner.
This rifle has provided me numerous challenges as well as opportunity for many learning experiences during our time together & the ole inter web has a lot of educational/informational videos available @ our disposal to help guide us through many a dilemma. However, performing your own firearm repair can be risky & even lead to deadly consequences. So if you are NOT somewhat mechanically inclined & confident in your ability to perform such actions competently, completely & safely, please take your problem firearm to a qualified gunsmith for any service necessary to put the weapon into good operating condition. Also be especially careful when firing weapons you may have purchased in used condition. You never know when some jack leg shade tree has been doing his/her own back room Gunsmithing & as a result of incompetent & shoddy work, he or she is now trying to be rid of a problem of their own creation!!!
Happy trails to all...

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richief
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Re: SKS Apparent "Slam Firing" Issue

Post by richief » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:59 am

I had a gen 2 g21 that slam fired on me, I was pointing straight up when it ran out of ammo. NO fun.

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Re: SKS Apparent "Slam Firing" Issue

Post by guncrank1 » Tue Feb 03, 2015 12:38 pm

I knew exactly your problem without even reading your post,
Glad you found it.

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