PSA grade 2 help

[IndyColt]

Hello, my first SKS is a grade 2 from PSA. It's currently disassembled and soaking...will get pics later. I'm new to the SKS platform and rolled the dice on one of these. At first glance, it appears all numbers matching but the stock on mine is pretty well shot. It has a big crack near the cross bolt towards the muzzle end and even missing a chunk above the "split".
I watched some videos, did alot of reading, etc...while awaiting my arrival so Id be ready for a good cleaning.

  I initially sprayed pretty liberally with mineral spirits and wiped it down good before I started the takedown.

Now, after getting it apart...bolt, firing pin and all...I noticed my safety flopped around like it wasn't attached to anything.....

Now this thing was covered well with cosmoline and the only thing I actually worked was the safety ....put the safety on before I removed the trigger group....I'm pretty sure I did anyway as I read and watched quite a bit before I attempted anything...

Anyway, it wasn't until I had the rifle apart and started cleaning individual pieces when I noticed the safety.....so who knows...but either way...it's a floppy lever, lol....

I've read a bit and it appears my safety spring is at least there...I can see the "fork".....and if I apply pressure to the top of it....like with a qtip...the safety works both ways and stays put...but without that....yep, gravity will let the lever go up or down..

I haven't gotten any farther yet, haven't tried to work the trigger or anything as I'm still decosmolining the thing....

Does this sound like a safety spring that came out of place maybe??? Lost its "springyness? ....or what?

I'll get some pics soon but it's a Type 56 from arsenal 26? ....with a serial number of 112xxxxx.

[running-man]

Could be that the grease in there is seizing up the spring as well,  Get her fully cleaned and then you'll be able to assess it and make sure you're replacing only what needs replaced. 

You night wind up needing a new spring.  Luckily they are available new from Murrays: https://murraysguns.com/product/sks-safety-spring/

[Justin Hell]

I haven't had this issue before personally, but it sounds like the safety spring might be broken, it may still be in place...but it doesn't sound like its doing it's job.   It probably was broken by someone trying to install it with the safety off, which is known to cause this. I dunno if removing it potentially can be a problem too...but it wouldn't surprise me.

On the bright side, you get to learn about taking apart a trigger group to replace it. Most of us don't encounter that privilege. 
They generally are available, and aren't too spendy....but are about as deep into complete disassembly as you can get aside from replacing the trigger itself.

Since it is an 11m it should have a normal take down lever, making your stock choices vastly broader. Avoid blade stocks, aside from the obvious, the recoil lug won't play nice with your short barrel lug, the hardest part is avoiding a pinned barrel stock which will absolutely not work for the same reason.

Out of curiousity, what is the thousands of the PW Arms serial?  My recent 11m from Classic showed a big jump from 11k from a previous 12m to a 17k. This leads me to think that there are a bunch more recent imports that we have yet to see.

[owenj492]

SKS trigger group disassembly, reassembly videos if you need help, not the best but not bad either:

[IndyColt]

Just a quick response to the above asked PW serial #...

looks like this one is an 18K....



Oh, and thanks for the above advice...

[auskip07]

hey Indy,   got any pictures of the crack?  Or the gun in general?    Just interested in what you're working with.

[IndyColt]

I'll try to get some pics today...busy work schedule this week...it's all currently apart soaking in a tub, but yep, I can try to snap some pics this evening if  I don't get stuck at work to late...

[Phosphorus32]

Since you left a hint of uncertainty by saying "pretty sure", I'll add that the safety lever should be up, next to the stock, when it's on safe and ready for the trigger group to be removed or installed. 

"...gravity will let the lever go up or down..." is definitely not normal function. 

[IndyColt]

SKS https://imgur.com/a/rGP1PNV

Test...trying to add some pics.....





Oh, and yep, I know how the safety works, just don't know if the cosmoline "held it in place"...or for whatever reason, I didn't notice the flopping until after disassembly....but the SKS platform is new to me...so...yeah, not ruling out brain fart...


Disregard the sexy Crocs in the one pic..

Haven't hosted pics in awhile...trying to figure it all out....I used to use Photobucket, but looks like it's a pay site now???

[auskip07]

Looks pretty good minus the stock.   your bluing is better than mine.     

Images:
Also  if you look in the lower left hand  of the reply function you will see (upload image to post)   you can just grab and drop your photos into that window that appears when you press that.

[Justin Hell]

Wow, do you think that is a gunshot wound in the stock?
When you said it's pretty well shot, I WOULD SAY SO. 

I am sure you can find a replacement from somebody selling theirs off from this current influx, that probably will match the handguard closely.

[IndyColt]

Sorry, testing pic hosting.........

[Bob_The_Student]

Indy Colt, this site it real easy to add photos. You can add them all at once and then upload. They made it super simple on here.

[echo83]

Could be that the grease in there is seizing up the spring as well,  Get her fully cleaned and then you'll be able to assess it and make sure you're replacing only what needs replaced. 

You night wind up needing a new spring.  Luckily they are available new from Murrays: https://murraysguns.com/product/sks-safety-spring/

My SKS from Classic had the same problem after I cleaned it off, the safety should make an audible click and definitely snap into place. If there's any play in it, you'll want to replace it.

I went with the spring from Murray's, they had free shipping. Brought it to my LGS, who fixed it for free. He said the spring had snapped because some conscript had probably tried to jam the trigger group back in with the safety off.

[IndyColt]

Could be that the grease in there is seizing up the spring as well,  Get her fully cleaned and then you'll be able to assess it and make sure you're replacing only what needs replaced. 

You night wind up needing a new spring.  Luckily they are available new from Murrays: https://murraysguns.com/product/sks-safety-spring/

My SKS from Classic had the same problem after I cleaned it off, the safety should make an audible click and definitely snap into place. If there's any play in it, you'll want to replace it.

I went with the spring from Murray's, they had free shipping. Brought it to my LGS, who fixed it for free. He said the spring had snapped because some conscript had probably tried to jam the trigger group back in with the safety off.

Wow, that's a heck of a deal getting your LGS to do it for free. I ordered a spring from Murray's too and while I was there decided to grab his firing pin/spring as well for peace of mind...although my bolt, and really all the metal is in pretty good shape...much better than my stock....

...I think my carbine was used as a Billy club rather than fired with ammo, lol...


..anyway, yep, I have started the process of tearing into my trigger group to fix my safety and let's just say......if I had an LGS tell me they'd fix it for free, I'd be stoked.....

..I like doing my own work...and learning...but these pins are a BEAR to remove......

Well, it really wasn't bad, until I got to where I'm at....the disconnector pin.its not wanting to cooperate...it's already turned my 3/32" punch into a short starter punch, lol...

So I've got to buy a better 3/32" punch (Starett?)...and do some micro dremeling...even with the right size punch, I've mushroomed the pin a tad bit...so I stopped to reassess...broke my punch anyway....it slightly bent too many times and finally snapped...

..I've been going slow but yep, this is probably the hardest pin I've ever ran into ( in general, not just firearms)....

I might end up taking it into work and use the press on it.

Oh, haven't got quite far enough to remove my safety spring yet, but it's still in place and looks to be all there...gonna compare it to a new one and see if for whatever reason it's just flattened out...I can put minimal pressure on it and it works as intended....so seems like mine lost its tension one way or another...

[Greatguns]

I have found with SKS pins that re-grinding a broken punch to size making it a "stubby" works a lot better to get the pin to make it's initial move, then take a regular punch to finish the removal. You can just whack on it the much harder when the punch portion is short.

[IndyColt]

Ok, finally got her together. I ended up sending out the trigger group to Murray and letting him work his magic on it.

In the mean time I found a new stock and hand guard on ebay....it was my intention to keep it "as is" but my beat up stock really was gone....kinda sucks because it is all numbers matching including the stock...well, except for the stock now, lol..

Don't think it turned out too bad. I'm really happy. The stock and hand guard is a "new NOS"? Chinese type 56....doesn't look bad, has a couple of dings...one of was me when I went to seat the action into the receiver and the takedown lever was  out of place...DOH!!!....and both pieces needed quite a bit of Dremel love to get to fit.

Anyway...finally "done", now need some range time.

[Greatguns]

Very nice IC, looks like you found a really nice stock too.

[Phosphorus32]

Glad you got all the issues resolved. Looking good! 

[carls sks]

nice work, looking good. liking that stock too.