Accurizing an SKS

MacGille · June 26, 2007, 03:43 PM

I bought one of the Yugo SKSs a couple of years ago. I didn't like the junk on the end of the barrel so I took off the bayonet and used a cut off wheel on the mount, then I cut off the barrel 1/2 in. forward of the front sight, thereby losing the muzzle brake and the grenade adapter. Then I filed the muzzle square to the barrel and re crowned it using a weldon 82 deg. counter sink. I installed a composite stock and went shooting. I couldn't get a group any better than 5-6 inches at 100 yd.

I installed a leapers scope mount and a leapers scope. Groups didn't get any better. So, its time to look at the bedding. I found that the hand grip was too vertical and the stock didn't fit my hand well. When I measured the action and the stock, I found a gap of .379. The action could move in the stock over 3/8 of an inch. It also pinched my hand until I had a blood blister.

So, I made a filler block of the correct thickness, glass bedded the stock and cut off the hand grip and made one that matches the grip angle of my FN Mauser. I epoxied the hand grip on and installed a screw in the bottom to fix it in place. Then I painted the stock flat black. The action is tight to the stock now and can't move.

I drilled sockets in the receiver for the set screws in the scope mount, and used locktite on the jam nuts.

Took it to the range yesterday with my son ABNDOC and after three rounds of sighting in, the rifle now shoots a 10 round group measuring 2" in the center of the bull. I fired 50 rounds thru it to see if anything moved and when I left it was shooting 2" groups in the center of the bull.

I am going to cut a thumb groove in the stock ala a sniper stock. It is still a bit too fat for my hand. I was surprised at the accuracy of the SKS and I can't wait to take it pig hunting. I installed the scope because my eyes went and got old on me. I find it is easier to shoot when I can see the sights and the target at the same time.

Limeyfellow · June 26, 2007, 04:02 PM

Nice work. Only other thing I can suggest is some work on the trigger group. Perhaps install some wolff springs in it and smoothen and lighten the pull. That might be able to give you another half a moa off and you have one fine SKS with the right ammo.

Eitherway 2 inches is pretty good for the majority of SKS' out there and I too was surprised at how well bedding the stock properly helps the rifle.

I never bothered scoping mine though. I stuck on a Tech-sight and found that works really well.

Mannlicher · June 26, 2007, 04:11 PM

frankly, I would not bother trying to 'accurize' a yugo SKS. No matter what you do or spend, its still gonna be a yugo.

Gewehr98 · June 26, 2007, 04:29 PM

I did this bona-fide one-MOA Norinco SKS target conversion with bedding, barrel mods, and Kivaari trigger just to piss Mannlicher off...

Why? Because you can. Don't let others tell you different. If they don't like it, they can look elsewhere to promote their brand of snobbery.

RedneckFur · June 26, 2007, 05:00 PM

Gewehr98, would you be willing to post the details of your build? There's just something about the idea of a 1MOA SKS.... I've got no gunsmithing expereince, but I can dream, right?

Gewehr98 · June 26, 2007, 05:28 PM

This particular Norinco had been Bubba'ized well before I got my hands on it, so I felt no remorse in going further with the modifications, the collectibility was gone. Folks conveniently forget that if smiths of olden days hadn't messed with "plain old" military Mausers, we wouldn't have Weatherbys, Winchester Model 70s, or Ruger 77s, either.

1. The front sights and bayonet lug sleeve were removed, and an older muzzle brake was sweated on in place, using acid-free solder.

2. The sling swivel on the gas block was ground off, and the gas block recontoured to pretty it up somewhat.

3. The original handguard and gas tube assembly was replaced with that minimalist finned version you see on the gun. It free-floats a bit to keep tension off the barrel, always a good thing when you're looking for accuracy advantages.

4. The synthetic stock is free-floated from the receiver forward, with an absolute minimum of tension on the forward stock ferrule. The original cleaning rod hole now holds the front sling swivel. The bedding and trigger group do all of the work in keeping the action in place. The receiver is Devcon bedded into the stock.

5. The scope mount is one of the older receiver-cover versions, but they tend to be sloppy. Not this one, it requires a rubber mallet "assist" to get that last fraction of an inch forward before I can insert the receiver cover takedown pin and rotate it into position. Whoever made it left it deliberately oversized in the right places, and I'm tickled with the results.

6. Look up Kivaari on the 'Net. He does SKS triggers, and does them right.

7. Since I took those photos, I've made a couple more modifications. The safety lever has been thinned considerably, so that my trigger finger isn't fighting it any more. The rear sights have been removed, and the block recontoured. I also drilled and tapped the rear sight block, and the brass deflector is now permanently mounted via two machine screws into the rear sight block.

8. No garbage ammo. Start with Lapua brass, and 25.0gr of Accurate Arms 1680 powder. I use CCI #34 primers, and Winchester 123gr .311" bullets, with a Lee Factory Crimp to prevent bullet setback in cycling.

9. The scope is an ancient El Paso Weaver Marksman, steel-tube, much like the K4 and K6 series of scopes. They're solid, bright, and a very good value in this age of big-objective, 50mm bell/30mm tube scopes. I've come to appreciate the El Paso Weavers and Denver Redfields, and have replaced a lot of the newer big-objective scopes with the older classics.

Even with the steel scope, the gun is quite lively in the hands, and is also much lighter than the original configuration. The thin barrel does tend to heat up rather quickly, so I have a 5-round magazine installed. If I can't get a decent group in 5 rounds, or thump Bambi with those 5 rounds, I need to look elsewhere for a new hobby.

Willie D · June 26, 2007, 05:29 PM

That doesn't supprise me too much. My SKS has a good bit of play in the stock. I bought a Tapco T6 but I never bothered to put it on because the original looked so nice once I got the cosmo off.

How hard is it to get the handguard off the gas tube? If it's half as difficult as getting the bolt apart, forget it.

Gewehr98 · June 26, 2007, 05:35 PM

After you knock out the small pin on the receiver end, it comes off with a bit of grunt and torque.

However, then you're stuck with the handguard flange on the front end, and you'll have to grind that off.

That was too much work for me, so I went with the aftermarket finned version you see on the gun.

MuzzleBlast · June 26, 2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

8. No garbage ammo. Start with Lapua brass, and 25.0gr of Accurate Arms 1680 powder. I use CCI #34 primers, and Winchester 123gr .311" bullets, with a Lee Factory Crimp to prevent bullet setback in cycling.

I am sure this makes a difference, but just out of curiosity, how does it group with plain old Russkie stuff?

Gewehr98 · June 26, 2007, 05:50 PM

I have, however, shot some older copper-washed Chinese 7.62x39 through it, and was lucky to break inside 2" for 5 rounds.

I suppose I could disassemble some of the steel-cased milsurp, and weight-sort the bullets and powder charges before reassembling them. That might make a difference.

MacGille · June 26, 2007, 10:11 PM

Nice one Gewehr, I still have a bit of work to do on mine. thanks for the trigger tip, I polished mine a bit but didn't do anything else to it. The groups I shot were with izzy ammo right out of the can. A little more breathing on it and some better ammo and I might get it to MOA. Even if it is just a yugo, it shoots damn nice.

Abndoc · June 26, 2007, 10:15 PM

Yep. I think I like tinkering with my rifles as much as I like shooting them.

jlmurphy · June 27, 2007, 11:54 PM

Lapua used to sell a 123gr. FMJ factory load that shot better than any handload I could assemble. I put a heavy .311" barrel on a threaded Chinese SKS action, changed the gas block and unitized the gas tube and changed the stock to action arrangement. It would shoot sub MOA on occasion, 1.5 MOA all day. Accurizing an SKS is fun, but it is uphill all the way.

Willie D · June 28, 2007, 05:00 PM

I finally got my Yugo SKS out to a 50 yard range. Previously did standing shooting at 25 yards. I only had 20 rounds but I put all into two 1" groups from rest with the iron sights. My Tapco sight tool won't fit the elevation screw so I had to adjust that with the rear sight. Really a pleasure to shoot.

I thought it was thoroughly cleaned but was an exceptionally hot day and I now I think my SKS is going to be sweating cosmoline until the cockroaches die out.

June 26, 2007, 03:43 PM	#1
MacGille Senior Member Join Date: July 7, 2006 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 976	Accurizing an SKS I bought one of the Yugo SKSs a couple of years ago. I didn't like the junk on the end of the barrel so I took off the bayonet and used a cut off wheel on the mount, then I cut off the barrel 1/2 in. forward of the front sight, thereby losing the muzzle brake and the grenade adapter. Then I filed the muzzle square to the barrel and re crowned it using a weldon 82 deg. counter sink. I installed a composite stock and went shooting. I couldn't get a group any better than 5-6 inches at 100 yd. I installed a leapers scope mount and a leapers scope. Groups didn't get any better. So, its time to look at the bedding. I found that the hand grip was too vertical and the stock didn't fit my hand well. When I measured the action and the stock, I found a gap of .379. The action could move in the stock over 3/8 of an inch. It also pinched my hand until I had a blood blister. So, I made a filler block of the correct thickness, glass bedded the stock and cut off the hand grip and made one that matches the grip angle of my FN Mauser. I epoxied the hand grip on and installed a screw in the bottom to fix it in place. Then I painted the stock flat black. The action is tight to the stock now and can't move. I drilled sockets in the receiver for the set screws in the scope mount, and used locktite on the jam nuts. Took it to the range yesterday with my son ABNDOC and after three rounds of sighting in, the rifle now shoots a 10 round group measuring 2" in the center of the bull. I fired 50 rounds thru it to see if anything moved and when I left it was shooting 2" groups in the center of the bull. I am going to cut a thumb groove in the stock ala a sniper stock. It is still a bit too fat for my hand. I was surprised at the accuracy of the SKS and I can't wait to take it pig hunting. I installed the scope because my eyes went and got old on me. I find it is easier to shoot when I can see the sights and the target at the same time.

June 26, 2007, 04:29 PM	#4
Gewehr98 Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2000 Location: Token Creek, WI Posts: 4,067	Go for broke! I did this bona-fide one-MOA Norinco SKS target conversion with bedding, barrel mods, and Kivaari trigger just to piss Mannlicher off... Why? Because you can. Don't let others tell you different. If they don't like it, they can look elsewhere to promote their brand of snobbery.

June 26, 2007, 05:28 PM	#6
Gewehr98 Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2000 Location: Token Creek, WI Posts: 4,067	Ok, first off, you're gonna catch a lot of crap, especially on an Internet forum. This particular Norinco had been Bubba'ized well before I got my hands on it, so I felt no remorse in going further with the modifications, the collectibility was gone. Folks conveniently forget that if smiths of olden days hadn't messed with "plain old" military Mausers, we wouldn't have Weatherbys, Winchester Model 70s, or Ruger 77s, either. 1. The front sights and bayonet lug sleeve were removed, and an older muzzle brake was sweated on in place, using acid-free solder. 2. The sling swivel on the gas block was ground off, and the gas block recontoured to pretty it up somewhat. 3. The original handguard and gas tube assembly was replaced with that minimalist finned version you see on the gun. It free-floats a bit to keep tension off the barrel, always a good thing when you're looking for accuracy advantages. 4. The synthetic stock is free-floated from the receiver forward, with an absolute minimum of tension on the forward stock ferrule. The original cleaning rod hole now holds the front sling swivel. The bedding and trigger group do all of the work in keeping the action in place. The receiver is Devcon bedded into the stock. 5. The scope mount is one of the older receiver-cover versions, but they tend to be sloppy. Not this one, it requires a rubber mallet "assist" to get that last fraction of an inch forward before I can insert the receiver cover takedown pin and rotate it into position. Whoever made it left it deliberately oversized in the right places, and I'm tickled with the results. 6. Look up Kivaari on the 'Net. He does SKS triggers, and does them right. 7. Since I took those photos, I've made a couple more modifications. The safety lever has been thinned considerably, so that my trigger finger isn't fighting it any more. The rear sights have been removed, and the block recontoured. I also drilled and tapped the rear sight block, and the brass deflector is now permanently mounted via two machine screws into the rear sight block. 8. No garbage ammo. Start with Lapua brass, and 25.0gr of Accurate Arms 1680 powder. I use CCI #34 primers, and Winchester 123gr .311" bullets, with a Lee Factory Crimp to prevent bullet setback in cycling. 9. The scope is an ancient El Paso Weaver Marksman, steel-tube, much like the K4 and K6 series of scopes. They're solid, bright, and a very good value in this age of big-objective, 50mm bell/30mm tube scopes. I've come to appreciate the El Paso Weavers and Denver Redfields, and have replaced a lot of the newer big-objective scopes with the older classics. Even with the steel scope, the gun is quite lively in the hands, and is also much lighter than the original configuration. The thin barrel does tend to heat up rather quickly, so I have a 5-round magazine installed. If I can't get a decent group in 5 rounds, or thump Bambi with those 5 rounds, I need to look elsewhere for a new hobby.

June 26, 2007, 05:35 PM	#8
Gewehr98 Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2000 Location: Token Creek, WI Posts: 4,067	You can get the handguard off the gas tube, no sweat. After you knock out the small pin on the receiver end, it comes off with a bit of grunt and torque. However, then you're stuck with the handguard flange on the front end, and you'll have to grind that off. That was too much work for me, so I went with the aftermarket finned version you see on the gun.

June 26, 2007, 05:50 PM	#10
Gewehr98 Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2000 Location: Token Creek, WI Posts: 4,067	Never shot Russkie stuff in this particular SKS. I have, however, shot some older copper-washed Chinese 7.62x39 through it, and was lucky to break inside 2" for 5 rounds. I suppose I could disassemble some of the steel-cased milsurp, and weight-sort the bullets and powder charges before reassembling them. That might make a difference.

June 26, 2007, 04:02 PM	#2
Limeyfellow Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2005 Posts: 1,380	Nice work. Only other thing I can suggest is some work on the trigger group. Perhaps install some wolff springs in it and smoothen and lighten the pull. That might be able to give you another half a moa off and you have one fine SKS with the right ammo. Eitherway 2 inches is pretty good for the majority of SKS' out there and I too was surprised at how well bedding the stock properly helps the rifle. I never bothered scoping mine though. I stuck on a Tech-sight and found that works really well.

June 26, 2007, 04:11 PM	#3
Mannlicher Senior Member Join Date: July 8, 2001 Location: North Central Florida & Miami Posts: 3,239	frankly, I would not bother trying to 'accurize' a yugo SKS. No matter what you do or spend, its still gonna be a yugo. __________________ Nemo Me Impune Lacesset "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.".........Ronald Reagan

June 26, 2007, 05:00 PM	#5
RedneckFur Senior Member Join Date: January 14, 2007 Location: Central NC Posts: 1,424	Gewehr98, would you be willing to post the details of your build? There's just something about the idea of a 1MOA SKS.... I've got no gunsmithing expereince, but I can dream, right?

June 26, 2007, 05:29 PM	#7
Willie D Senior Member Join Date: June 24, 2007 Posts: 1,149	That doesn't supprise me too much. My SKS has a good bit of play in the stock. I bought a Tapco T6 but I never bothered to put it on because the original looked so nice once I got the cosmo off. How hard is it to get the handguard off the gas tube? If it's half as difficult as getting the bolt apart, forget it.

June 26, 2007, 10:11 PM	#11
MacGille Senior Member Join Date: July 7, 2006 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 976	Nice one Gewehr, I still have a bit of work to do on mine. thanks for the trigger tip, I polished mine a bit but didn't do anything else to it. The groups I shot were with izzy ammo right out of the can. A little more breathing on it and some better ammo and I might get it to MOA. Even if it is just a yugo, it shoots damn nice.

June 26, 2007, 10:15 PM	#12
Abndoc Senior Member Join Date: January 28, 2006 Location: Kalifornia Posts: 727	Yep. I think I like tinkering with my rifles as much as I like shooting them.

June 27, 2007, 11:54 PM	#13
jlmurphy Member Join Date: January 15, 2006 Posts: 84	Lapua used to sell a 123gr. FMJ factory load that shot better than any handload I could assemble. I put a heavy .311" barrel on a threaded Chinese SKS action, changed the gas block and unitized the gas tube and changed the stock to action arrangement. It would shoot sub MOA on occasion, 1.5 MOA all day. Accurizing an SKS is fun, but it is uphill all the way. Last edited by jlmurphy; June 28, 2007 at 10:29 PM.

June 28, 2007, 05:00 PM	#14
Willie D Senior Member Join Date: June 24, 2007 Posts: 1,149	I finally got my Yugo SKS out to a 50 yard range. Previously did standing shooting at 25 yards. I only had 20 rounds but I put all into two 1" groups from rest with the iron sights. My Tapco sight tool won't fit the elevation screw so I had to adjust that with the rear sight. Really a pleasure to shoot. I thought it was thoroughly cleaned but was an exceptionally hot day and I now I think my SKS is going to be sweating cosmoline until the cockroaches die out.