sks question

[mikey0086]

my brother in law has a sks, and wants to know if the "sear" wears out and goes from semi auto to auto is it illegal? he's not trying to make it full auto, just curious if it happens what he has to do to stay legal. thanks in advance for your answers

[gold cup abuser]

Havent had that problem yet.....

sears can be bought and replaced but you have to take down the entire trigger assembly group to do it.

There should be enough info out there to do this without too many issues, but go slow and you should be ok.

Biggest issue I have read about is the rifle slam firing since the original firing pin is free floating and not kept in check with a spring. Again, firing pins with the spring are availabe to solve this issue.

Hit this web site up for info on your sks...it helped me out



http://www.sksboards.com/

[DoogieB]

As far as I know, unlike the AK the SKS was designed to only be a semi-automatic weapon. If it goes full auto, it's broken.

Because of the free-floating firing pin, sometimes the gun can slam-fire, which is when the rifles fires through an entire magazine-load of ammo in a uncontrolled fashion. Generally this is considered a bad thing and perhaps this is what your buddy was alluding to. Like the post above mentioned, you will either need to clean the bolt a get the firing pin with the spring.

[Advocate]

people HAVE been prosecuted for shooting an old rifle that broke and went full auto, so be careful.
http://www.jpfo.org/smith/smith-olofson-case.htm

[Emptymag]

people HAVE been prosecuted for shooting an old rifle that broke and went full auto, so be careful.
http://www.jpfo.org/smith/smith-olofson-case.htm

Thank you for answering the man's question.

[DoogieB]

people HAVE been prosecuted for shooting an old rifle that broke and went full auto, so be careful.
http://www.jpfo.org/smith/smith-olofson-case.htm

Well, that's slightly different. I'm glad you posted the link, I've wanted to read the actual paperwork for this case since it's referenced frequently. It seems this guy was buying a AR-15 from another guy. The gun he was to buy was being assembled (kit?), so the seller let him borrow another AR-15 as a loaner. From the actual affidavit from the case in your link

...KIERNICKI then borrowed the Olympic Arms rifle again in early summer. The first time KIERNICKI borrowed the Olympic Arms rifle he noticed that the selector switch went to a third selection...

I've seen AK flats that have the markings for the AUTO selection. Supposedly as long as the gun doesn't work there you are legal, but it's probably pushing it.

...KIERNICKI explained he then remembered the third selection on the selector switch and tried it. He moved the selector to the third position, which was not marked, and pulled the trigger. The Olympic Arms rifle fired in three round burst. He pulled the trigger again and the firearm fired in three round burst. KIERNICKI then pulled the trigger a third time and the firearm jammed. He then switched it back to single shot and continued to shoot single shot...

The above reason is probably why he was prosecuted. Whether this is how it happened or not, what is or isn't BS, I don't know.

Now an SKS never had auto selection or even a selection switch, so either the gun was modified for auto all the time (stupid) or it's defective.

Two links:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...?t-129778.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...1195934AANnBsa

Read the one link, a few posts down is an article that talks about a guy who shot himself in the head when his SKS slam-fired while loading from a stripper clip.

So is a defective gun, in this case a SKS, that shoots full auto illegal in the eyes of the BATF? Maybe... Don't ask me, a semi-rational person, to explain or justify the Byzantine ways of a federal agency. Although from what I read I think a stinky sear or slam-fire are different from the case quoted above.

Is a defective gun SAFE, hell no!

I would be 99% worried about the safety issue and 1% worried about the BATF.