Anyone Want To Guess...

...just how I spent a few hours on one recent afternoon and evening? One look at the pic should give you a pretty good idea. (I actually did not use the oven cleaner although I had thought I would need it.)

What a pain in the behind it was too, especially because once I was done I found out that the gas tube on my newly acquired SKS did not fit right. Yep, that means I finally got a replacement Yugo SKS from SAMCO after returning the one they initially sent me as 'new' but that had repaired damage on it.

This one was supposed to be 'new' too, but I noticed right away that the price was about $20 or $30 less, and then saw the serial numbers on the stock and handguards did not match one another, nor did they match any of the serialized metal parts! No wonder the gas tube did not fit properly. Then there is also the gas valve that has corrosion on it, blued over corrosion at that. Otherwise it is in very good condition maybe even excellent (mind you I said otherwise), albeit refinished condition. It just ain't new - no way - not even 'new' for an arsenal refinish.

I do not understand exactly what is up with ordering from SAMCO - but I am wondering if they have a problem with the word 'new' when they describe their products, or if they think I am a moron, or are they simply inept! I sent em an email requesting either a refund, or a replacement gas tube and if that fits told em I would keep the SKS - but if not then they have to give me a full refund and I'll return it. I don't know if I want to go through this a third time, so if I get a refund this time around I may just cancel the whole order. Then again third time could be the charm. Decisions, darned decisions!

All the best,
GB

C&R Firearms Availability Blues

It certainly sucks to see how the available stock of C&R guns is declining and not being replaced with other types of C&R guns. Several months to maybe even a year ago I recall having read something at one of the C&R dealer's sites about how the Bush Administration had made deals with foreign governments not to offer up surplus arms in exchange for favorable status as to joining NATO. It was hard to swallow then because I still held out hope that Bush was truly a Republican; however now that he has pulled all of the other socialist crap he has rained down on us, I can look back with hindsight and see it fit his agenda well.

As for the C&R guns, it is virtually to find new conditions SKS rifles, Mosin Nagants are becoming quite scarce, with M-44s virtually gone from dealer's shelves and only other and usually less desirable models are left over, and they are not in that great a condition. Many of the Mausers still are available, but also seem to be in shorter supply. Same thing with most of the C&R surplus pistols. As far as prices go, well the inability for dealers to replenish stock, already had prices going up. Then to add insult to injury prices skyrocketed after election of George W. Bush's socialist first cousin Barack H. Obama. This also badly effected C&R firearms availability.

What really sucked for me is that I ordered a new Yugo SKS from SAMCO and they sent me some piece of junk gun with stock repairs and gouges and dings, scratches on the metal and at least one bent part. I sent it back for an exchange, but only after waiting well over a month for them to send me a return mailing label. I finally got it sent in at the end of last week, and was expecting an exchange from them - but then came the bomb. I had contacted American Express about the charge asking a hold to be place don it until they made the exchange since it was taking so long to get any reply out of SAMCO in the beginning. They said okay. After a month they called me to ask what was up, or I called them, and I told them SAMCO said they would do the exchange so please don't take any further action unless they heard more from me. So what does American Express do - they get me a refund from SAMCO - the ineptness in that riles me badly. Since I ordered mine on the night of election day, the price has gone up substantially, and I suppose if SAMCO even offers and exchange now they will want to charge more for it because AMEX got me a refund. Maybe it was just not in the cards for me to have another one, but it would have been nice to have father and son Yugos.

Of course, I may get very lucky and SAMCO may still send an exchange that is in as advertised condition - which was NEW, and they will charge the same price. Time will tell. If they do not offer an exchange at the same price I can assure you I am done dealing with SAMCO. Their customer service was terrible until I spoke to a supervisor and even then it was not great. Over a month to get a return label is pretty poor service at that. In addition I ordered a Spanish Mauser from them about 6 months ago. I still have not seen that one. Oh well, there are always other C&R dealers, I can only hope there will be a continuing supply of C&R firearms available to us.

All the best,
Glenn B

SKS Cleaning - it was a chore

I expected to get a few of my guns cleaned and lubricated today. I sat down this morning with the Yugo SKS across my lap and commenced to take it apart. After a few minutes of this and that, I realized I forgot a step and I had to resort to my video on how to field strip it. Yes it has been awhile since I cleaned it. No problem though, a quick trip up to my PC, a fast view of the video, and the issue was resolved. Piece of cake to field strip it once you remember how to do it. While I have the instructions for disassembly and reassembly on disc, you can also find those instructions online for free. If you need such info you can find it here: http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/index.asp.

After that I went at getting it clean. Once I had it apart, and I had gotten a look inside of it, I thought - 'Oh my gosh that 7.62x39 Wolf Ammo sure is dirty shooting ammo". There was black fouling just about everywhere. I cleaned here, cleaned there, then cleaned here and there again, and again. Finally after using about 20 cleaning patches, and about 25 double ended cotton swabs, and a brass brush, and a steel brush, and about an ounce of Hoppes, and a pipe cleaner or two, it looked almost clean. As you may have guessed, that cleaning took me some time, I'd say at least an hour and fifteen minutes. Heck it never takes me more than about 15 to 20 minutes to clean one of my rifles thoroughly, so while I was taking all that time cleaning this one I had lots of time to think about why it was so dirty. The consensus of my little gray cells, both the lively healthy ones, and the slower dying ones, and even the totally pulverized ones all came to the consensus that maybe - just maybe - it was not the fault of the ammo so much as it was that I had not cleaned the darned thing after having shot it several times on various range trips. It actually took me a moment or two to remember I had been testing it.

Now there is an important point in knowing that my SKS could be fired at the range, and in between trips to the range that it could sit in my basement without having been cleaned, then be taken out again and fired again, then stored without cleaning again, then fired again, then stored without cleaning again, and on and on over the course of at least several more range trips. That point mind you is not that I am lazy about cleaning my SKS, but rather that it can and will fire when very dirty, and that it fires reliably despite the fouling. As a matter of fact, the carbon deposits on the face of the gas piston was probably as thick as two sheets of 20 lb. computer paper. That is darned thick. Yet the SKS has functioned flawlessly throughout having hundreds of rounds fired through it, then being stored, then fired again, and so forth on and on without cleanings. My guesstimate is that at least 750 to 1,000 rounds have gone through it since I last cleaned it.

Of course I do not recommend that you neglect cleaning your firearms. I only did it because I wanted to test it; I wanted to see about how long it could go without a cleaning and if it could go up to 1,000 rounds without cleaning. Somewhere in there though I lost my tally sheet. I do recall I was close to the 750 mark, and I also recall I shot it once or twice after that. It is not a picky rifle, and the gas vents stayed open and not fouled badly although things like the gas control valve, and the front face of the gas piston, and parts of the bolt were fouled almost beyond belief (yes the Wolf ammo is dirty but not excessively so, the excessive fouling was due to no cleanings). I like the fact that is can handle some dirt and still keep firing like a charm. From now on though it will get properly cleaned right after each time I fire it.

Now you may remember that I began this piece by saying: "I expected to get a few of my guns cleaned and lubricated today"; but the truth is it just did not happen. There was no time, what with all the time it took to clean the one SKS, so that is all I got done in the gun cleaning department. With relatives coming for a belated Christmas celebration, and with me needing to go to a few stores, especially to the beer distributor time was tight. Those Franziskaner Hefe Weissbiers I picked up were great, but my guns had to be put away before I could enjoy even a sip, and there is always tomorrow to get some others cleaned and they just need a routine light cleaning having been in storage. Once I get them done, I just may have to have another bier or two.

All the best,
Glenn B