Help with Bayonet Lug Please

[BadMonk]

I recently got my hands on a 1952 Tula in very good condition, except for the sagging bayonet syndrome.  The collar that came with the rifle was slant eared and the lug is straight eared.  So, I found and bought a straight eared collar which helped to reduce the amount of sag but there's still some.

Using different collars, springs and bayonets in combination didn't fix it.  The problem is with the lug.  The edge of the lug is slightly angled (no, not enough for a angled/later collar...tried that) and isn't tall enough to reach the collar when the blade bayo is closed.


When the bayo flops open, it looks like this.  Granted it's not too too bad and better than what it was...but it's driving me nuts.


When the bayo flops open, the lug/collar lines up ... unfortunately.  It should look like this when the blade is tight and closed.


Can this be fixed without changing out the FSB or damaging the barrel?  I have a small workshop with tools and can find my way around things fairly well...which is good because I get the impression gunsmiths in this neck of the woods won't touch an SKS.  I thought about peening the lug but not sure if that will do too much damage.  Any help is appreciated.

[Loose}{Cannon]

You have a slant lug and need a slant collar.....  you can then if need be file the collar a bit to fit.

[running-man]

The lug has no lightening cut. On a Russian, this should mean it has square cut ears.  The angle eared collar on it when you got it was likely a replacement as angled eared collars didnt turn up until 1953 (paired with lightening cut angle eared lugs) based on my 1200 gun database.

If the FSB is original to the gun, I'd say someone tried to file it to make the angled collar work or someone tried to force the bayo out w/o pulling the collar.  There is a tiny possibility that the lug is a late Chinese lug that some bubba has assembled onto the gun, but that's pretty unlikely in my book.

If you can get me a shot of the receiver with a S/N, I can match it with my database of known prefixes, dates, & features and let you know what lug was supposed to be on it.  It will at least give you a starting point of what shoukd have been there in the firat place. '52s were a transition year so it could have either a square eared, solid (non-lightening cut) bayo lug (early), or a square eared lightening cut bayo lug (late).

[running-man]

Applogies for locking the thread BadMonk. This is why I don't post from my phone at 11 PM. 

[running-man]

Here's a '52 with a square eared solid bayo lug.  It's much flatter than yours BadMonk:



I really think someone filed a bit on that lug in a misguided effort to make the angled collar fit right...

[BadMonk]

Yes indeed more square than mine which tapers or is curved to the inside.  Thanks for the pic. 

I don't see myself removing and installing the FSB to get a correct lug, if one could even be found.  So I'll try to fix or build up either the lug or the collar.  It's not going to be a shooter. I just started 'collecting' these rifles and this one has been my lesson in what to do and what not to do.

[Power Surge]

I'm betting that is not the original FSB. If you look at the pin, there's a punch tip mark on it. And that mark is right at the edge of the pin, yet there is not a scratch on the FSB there. Plus the bayo screw has been re-staked several times, which could also indicate that FSB has been on more than one rifle.

[BadMonk]

Good eye. All that 'damage' was most likely caused by the current owner, me.  I started to remove the pin at the lug.  After a few whacks, I decided to stop.  Causing any kind of scratch into the surrounding surface would have put me in a bad mood.  The pin at the screw doesn't do anything at this point.  I took it apart  without realizing it was staked...now it's no longer staked.  I can (hopefully) fix that after the lug/collar gets squared away.