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OVERVIEW: Sometimes people mail me these useful tidbits of random information. Little pearls of wisdom are all over the forums. These can be very useful, but have not official container on the 'net. Until now... Have a good tip?
CLEANING HARD TO REACH AREASHUNTINGREX writes:
At one time I would take the trigger group apart to clean whenever I came home from the range. I have since learned that this is not a good idea. So I began to use clearing spray. Now, the cleaning spray I was using was about $ 8 a can. I read that one could use brake cleaning spray, so I went to the .99 cent store and got Johnson's Brake cleaner. I used it today when I came home from the range and it did a very good job. The bolt and bolt face was clean after being sprayed, I checked them with a Q-Tip, as was the receiver and the trigger group. Since the spray was so cheap, I used a free hand in applying it which is another plus for it. I would not use a half can of $ 8 spray on one rifle.
ELIMINATING GAS TUBE SLOP:DAVID O. writes: I found a simple trick you can use if your SKS gas tube is loose. The best way to tell if it is loose is to pinch the top of the hand guard and wiggle it back and forth. It will make a lot of rattling noise if it is loose. You can totally eliminate this by taking your gas tube off and taking an o-ring (paintball or automotive o-rings work best) and sliding it over the small end of the gas tube which locks into the rear sight assembly. When you put it back on your gun you will have to press down on the hand guard firmly to lock the arm back. Now no more wiggling! [This is a damn good, noninvasive suggestion valid for any Simonov. The same effect can probably be had by putting an o-ring over the nipple on the gas block attached to the barrel. - Dave] Also, I urge people to make sure that the bolt is CLOSED when taking off the receiver cover. If you are directly behind the cover when you take it off, you will only make this mistake once... [The same goes for lifting the lever on the rear sight all the way with the gas tube off... - Dave]
LIMITING MAGAZINE CAPACITYGARRY H. writes:
A couple of years ago, when our state had a five round limit for semi-auto magazines, we came up with an idea for a cheap magazine block that wouldn't disfigure the gun (some guys like to drill holes). Get some self-adhesive Velcro (we used black), two Lego blocks (we used the black ones-the standard size ones with six dots on top). Take a piece of Velcro long enough to cover the bottom of the Lego block and stick it on the block. Take the other side of the Velcro and stick it in the deepest part of the SKS magazine . Stack Legos together and put them in the magazine. Close the magazine and load it-it should only hold 5 rounds. Add or decrease the number of blocks needed to give the capacity you need. 3 lego blocks= 4 rounds I suppose it could vary, depending on gun tolerances and such. A person would just have to experiment. When you don't need a block simply peel it out (it's Velcro!). [A good suggestion, but I'd be careful if your state's laws indicate the magazine can't be "readily adaptable" to accept higher capacities. -Dave]
STABILIZING RECEIVER COVER MOUNTS:FRANK H. writes:
After dropping the plan to bolt on a receiver mounted scope mount due to A) Mounting close to the cover equals can't get the cover off & bolt out for cleaning, and B) Placing a mount high enough to get the cover off or see through to iron sights = the scope up higher than I wanted, I came up with an idea which might benefit everyone with various brands / types of receiver cover scope mounts.
I've got a couple of DC Engineering cover replacement scope mounts coming in this week, from one I used to have I know they stabilize side to side rocking pretty darned well with those strips of silicone rubber they have on the inner walls of those outer stabilizing tab things that hang over the receiver sides. Great ideas have been suggested re: shimming the back, & epoxy bedding the front. From that I got an idea: instead of filing a Leapers / Norinco / Red Star etc to fit as tightly as possible from the front, how about drilling a very small hole in that front cover tab mating area and drip in some high temp tolerant industrial silicone, something with some "give", that will help locate the unit without the concern of some wiggle wear over time losing your tolerances and tightness.
I did a little research and Dow makes a high temp tolerant silicone that hardens but remains "rubbery" per their product description. It's available in 3 oz tubes, it's Dow Corning High Temp RTV Silicone #736 and it sells for around $6 a tube.
Drilling very small and shallow indentations flush with the angled locating tabs in the front of the cover / mount unit, you would drip in enough of the silicone to fill the little indentation, work it in with a toothpick or something, (cleaning surfaces first with acetone or brake cleaner etc), leaving a very modest dimple to be squeezed upon re-assembly compression. If the cover had a sloppy fit to begin with, more of a dimple would be needed, if it was a tight fit you'd want a very slight dimple, it could compress back into the relieved hole even when flush.
This could be done on the sides of those locating tabs, small silicone dimple, to control side to side wiggle especially in non DC Engineering mounts or the original cover with a glue on Weaver or drill tap Weaver bases installed. Then at the BACK, you could do the same thing, at the sides of the retaining pin block back there, with a bit larger drill bit, & maybe 2 or 3 small indentations on those side faces of the receiver cover at that face the pin goes through, where the slight silicone dimple would keep pressure on the adjoining contact point with the sides at the back of the receiver there, keeping everything located with stability.
Done on both sides of that back block, & with some retained pressure pushing back due to the silicone compression in the front, that turkey should be stable and not wandering, and it should be pretty darned re-zeroable, while of course being easy to remove for cleaning etc. One may need to razor blade down the silicone bump if it was too big for clearance etc, but this would be really easy to do.
The drill indentations would keep the silicone located. If you had to replace the silicone in a few years, no big deal. You could likely even move the mount from gun to gun without an act of congress, if the tolerances weren't way far off from gun to gun, this would allow some forgiveness yet assist centering for zeroing stability.
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