I took my new Yugoslavian SKS, the one I picked up at auction on Saturday, to the local indoor range last night. Yeah, I know, I must be slipping out of my role as The Great Procrastinator. Shooting it that soon after buying it must be a new speed record for me, at least in recent years.
Last night, I put 100 rounds through it. Most of the first 20 rounds, all Wolf Military Classic 124 grain HP ammo, did not go where I thought I was aiming. I fired 10 rounds using my weak reading glasses, the ones I wear for distance vision. Then switched, for the next 10 rounds, to the glasses I use for reading - 3.00 magnifiers. What a difference in vision but it did at all change the point of impact for my shots.
As most shooters do, I also did - I refused to think it was me causing the errant shots. So, I tried some Brown Bear 124 grain FMJ ammo on a new target. I fired 10 rounds, checked the target and saw everything was going just about where I was aiming but a little too spread out. I was convinced it had been the Wolf ammo that caused the other shots to be so far off their mark or maybe me getting my eyes used to focusing on the front sight with the right pair of glasses.
As I was shooting the Brown Bear ammo though, I noticed something I had not seen before - what looked like a burr on the front sight that I had not noticed before then. Before firing another 10 rounds of it, I stuck my booger picker under the sight hood to see if it was indeed a burr and wound up with a small blob of dirty gunk on my finger tip. Ah- ha! I fired the next ten shots with much improvement and they were all pretty much going where I was aiming. All I can think as that the blob of gunk had been causing me to shift my sight alignment a bit and was throwing off my aim. My guess is it may have been bigger when I started shooting and can only think it may also have been larger and more formed to the front sight and some had come off, due to recoil, allowing me to see it was there. I am 99% certain that was most of the problem because I then went back to the Wolf ammo and they too were now hitting the mark. Of course the glasses may have had something to do with it but I changed back and forth between them on that second target. I shot another 50 rounds for a total of 60 rounds into that second target. This was the result:
After that, I fired another 20 rounds out of it, this time Wolf Performance 154 grain SP on a third target. They went down range well too and wound up where I was aiming.
The only issues I had, other than for the first 20 shots being off seemingly due to that blob of gunk, was that there were three or four instances of the last round failing to feed properly. That could be a magazine spring issue. It happened when I shifted my hold with my left hand that had been under the mag and thus pushing up on it. I had it centered on the bottom of the mag for most of my shots but changed it a few times and while my left hand still supported the rifle it was not on the center of the magazine and that is when it failed to feed the last round. When I moved it back to the center of the mag, the problem stopped.
It is possible the magazine or its spring could use some tweaking. Since it was always on the last round and since my supporting the gun with my left hand centered on the mag pushed the magazine up a bit when all rounds fed, and then when my left hand was not centered on the mag the last rounds did not feed, I think the likely culprit is the magazine follower spring not having enough oomph. I may have to research this a bit and buy a new spring to see if there is any improvement. If not, then back to square one. Now to find one.
Anyway, I like it, it is a shooter.
All the best,
Glenn B
Last night, I put 100 rounds through it. Most of the first 20 rounds, all Wolf Military Classic 124 grain HP ammo, did not go where I thought I was aiming. I fired 10 rounds using my weak reading glasses, the ones I wear for distance vision. Then switched, for the next 10 rounds, to the glasses I use for reading - 3.00 magnifiers. What a difference in vision but it did at all change the point of impact for my shots.
As most shooters do, I also did - I refused to think it was me causing the errant shots. So, I tried some Brown Bear 124 grain FMJ ammo on a new target. I fired 10 rounds, checked the target and saw everything was going just about where I was aiming but a little too spread out. I was convinced it had been the Wolf ammo that caused the other shots to be so far off their mark or maybe me getting my eyes used to focusing on the front sight with the right pair of glasses.
As I was shooting the Brown Bear ammo though, I noticed something I had not seen before - what looked like a burr on the front sight that I had not noticed before then. Before firing another 10 rounds of it, I stuck my booger picker under the sight hood to see if it was indeed a burr and wound up with a small blob of dirty gunk on my finger tip. Ah- ha! I fired the next ten shots with much improvement and they were all pretty much going where I was aiming. All I can think as that the blob of gunk had been causing me to shift my sight alignment a bit and was throwing off my aim. My guess is it may have been bigger when I started shooting and can only think it may also have been larger and more formed to the front sight and some had come off, due to recoil, allowing me to see it was there. I am 99% certain that was most of the problem because I then went back to the Wolf ammo and they too were now hitting the mark. Of course the glasses may have had something to do with it but I changed back and forth between them on that second target. I shot another 50 rounds for a total of 60 rounds into that second target. This was the result:
 |
| It can shoot! |
After that, I fired another 20 rounds out of it, this time Wolf Performance 154 grain SP on a third target. They went down range well too and wound up where I was aiming.
The only issues I had, other than for the first 20 shots being off seemingly due to that blob of gunk, was that there were three or four instances of the last round failing to feed properly. That could be a magazine spring issue. It happened when I shifted my hold with my left hand that had been under the mag and thus pushing up on it. I had it centered on the bottom of the mag for most of my shots but changed it a few times and while my left hand still supported the rifle it was not on the center of the magazine and that is when it failed to feed the last round. When I moved it back to the center of the mag, the problem stopped.
It is possible the magazine or its spring could use some tweaking. Since it was always on the last round and since my supporting the gun with my left hand centered on the mag pushed the magazine up a bit when all rounds fed, and then when my left hand was not centered on the mag the last rounds did not feed, I think the likely culprit is the magazine follower spring not having enough oomph. I may have to research this a bit and buy a new spring to see if there is any improvement. If not, then back to square one. Now to find one.
Anyway, I like it, it is a shooter.
All the best,
Glenn B
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