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Thread: SKS receiver damage: anything to be concerned about?

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    Member Circle_10's Avatar

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    SKS receiver damage: anything to be concerned about?

    So I was looking over this Albanian SKS and noticed a little "ding" in the receiver apparently caused by the bolt carrier slamming into it.
    I've never seen that on an SKS before but I don't actually shoot the ones I have all that much.
    Is this indicative of a problem, like the bolt carrier is impacting with more force than it should, or soft steel in the receiver, or is it just the normal wear and tear one would expect on a well used third world military rifle?

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    Team GunsNetwork PLATINUM 10/2012 rci2950's Avatar

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    when you ride the bolt closed does it make contact there? if not it could be from something else. Looks like you could polish it off with a fine file.
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    Member Circle_10's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by rci2950 View Post
    when you ride the bolt closed does it make contact there? if not it could be from something else. Looks like you could polish it off with a fine file.
    Yeah the bolt carrier does make contact with that part of the receiver when it is closed, which seems normal for an SKS. I'm sure I could smooth it out some, I just find it odd that the metal seems to be deforming there at all. My primary concern is that something may be out of spec somewhere.

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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    No way to say really. I would need a Rockwell Test device to check the metals hardness. Most weapons have a receiver in the 35 to 40 Rc scale of hardness. I had an Albanian, also owned Romanian and Yugoslav SKS rifles. Never saw anything like that ever. That said I doubt it means much except that maybe your bolt carrier is not machined correctly and there is a tiny bit of extra metal.

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    Member Circle_10's Avatar

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    I'm out of town for a couple days but when I get back I think I'll do a detailed comparison between the carrier in this rifle and the ones in my Chicoms and see if anything jumps out at me as being particularly different.

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    Team GunsNetwork PLATINUM 10/2012 rci2950's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by Circle_10 View Post
    I'm out of town for a couple days but when I get back I think I'll do a detailed comparison between the carrier in this rifle and the ones in my Chicoms and see if anything jumps out at me as being particularly different.
    Sounds like the right thing to do.
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    Member Circle_10's Avatar

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    Definitely seemed to be some extra metal on the underside of the bolt carrier, filed that down a bit and also smoothed out the damage to the receiver somewhat and used a bluing pen on the bare metal. Yeah, yeah I know it's a super-dooper rare Albanian SKS and there are less than 6000 in the world, so I shouldn't be filing or re-bluing anything on it, but in this case I'm ok with doing it.

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    **Team GunsNet SILVER 12/2014** skorpion's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by Circle_10 View Post
    Definitely seemed to be some extra metal on the underside of the bolt carrier, filed that down a bit and also smoothed out the damage to the receiver somewhat and used a bluing pen on the bare metal. Yeah, yeah I know it's a super-dooper rare Albanian SKS and there are less than 6000 in the world, so I shouldn't be filing or re-bluing anything on it, but in this case I'm ok with doing it.
    Hopefully that works out okay for you. Damn, so I should have jumped on the opportunity to buy an Albanian SKS 10 years ago for $400?
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    Senior Member sar32's Avatar

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    My 1953 Tula has impact marks like that on the opposite side from the slide contacting it. I was concerned about it but now it doesent bug me.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Helen Keller's Avatar

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    I had quite a few Sks with marks like that...



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