For anybody doing this at home, you can save A LOT of time effort, and cleaning solution by boiling the small parts in water, like the trigger, bolt, bolt carrier etc. No cleaning solution or sandpaper necessary, just hot water. Shake them around to release the cosmoline into the water, and boil multiple times if necessary Be sure to dump the waste water into a gravel pit somewhere that no plants are growing, do not pour down your sink!!
It was very good to see you made a point of showing you cleaning of the firing pin & the bolt, that's a very important safety issue. Hard, congealed cosmoline on the pin & in it's channel in the bolt can cause the firing pin to stick in the forward position, causing the rifle to suddenly go full-auto until the magazine is empty. The original design had a firing pin spring that helped prevent this, but many of the post-Russian manufacturers eliminated it. There's a gunsmith that makes the original spring-retracted design, & it's a good idea safety-wise to install one in an SKS you plan to shoot regularly. At the very least, keep those areas pristinely clean, & slightly moist with a light lube like Rem-Oil or Break-Free.
Soak that bolt overnight in mineral spirits. Let it drain the carbon/cosmoline out. Spray the parts w/ compressed air to get the rest of the carbon/cosmoline out of the nooks and crannies. Repeat until clear. Mineral spirit bath for the bolt-especially after corrosive ammo, is a great way to clean and prevent the slam fire sticky bolt problem. Great restore by the way!
Exactly! The mineral spirits does a great job of removing that stubborn cosmoline. Good tip on using it after firing corrosive ammunition. Thank you for watching!
Just came upon this video, and I got as much satisfaction as you did just by watching . I just bought a old letter series one yesterday, and while I watched your video I laughed because now I remember what I have in store for myself. I have done this before and I know it all depends on how much you want to get into it. Lots of credit to you, that rifle looks beautiful. Good luck with it.
I can remember decades ago where they were selling them for $69 dollars all day long. Can't find one for $69 dollars anymore... And they do make for a nice little hunting rifles if you like open sight hunting.
Hi Gary, I remember an SKS rifle and 1k rounds of steel case for around $100. Those were the days! I like the SKS for its simplicity and reliability. Accuracy is good enough for most tasks and even with the crazy ammo costs as of late, it’s still decently affordable to have a fun day at the range. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I paid a little more at $99 but I hand selected it out of an old oak barrel sitting in the middle of the gunshop. There were about a dozen of them in there. Those were the days. 👍
Yep, back in the early to mid 1990s. Had one and cleaned up the stock and refinished with stain from Lowe's. Took it to the range and it ate any old garbage I ran through it without a hiccup. Sold it for $100 in '95. Argh.
i think it would have looked better stained. Here's a suggestion. If you're worried that staining wood will darken it too much or be uneven then use a sanding sealer first. A light coat of 3 or 4 parts ethyl alcohol to 1 part shellac will keep a stain from creating too much contrast betwwen the dark and light grain and make it easier to even out the color when wiping off the stain.
I appreciate the suggestion! I’ll give this a try on the next one! I really like seeing the natural color and features of the wood, especially the iridescence (which I was unable to adequately capture in my recordings). A slight tint could have been nice however to even the color out. Thank you for watching my video!
@@RestoreThis There use to be a Public Television show called The Furnature Guys. Hardly an episode went by where they didn't extol the virtues of sanding sealer. When I tried it on some pine that was unevenly soaking up stain like a sponge it came out looking like an expensive piece of hardwood. I just found your channel and I'm enjoying watching your old videos. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for the encouragement! The uneven soaking you’re talking about is a really common issue especially with the catalpa wood used in this stock. I’ll have to research the sanding sealer and put it to use in my projects.
Great job! Amazing how precise and well engeneered this construction was. All parts expensively machined from massive steel, no comparison to modern guns so as AK47/74, M16 and others. 👍
Just from looking at this SKS I can tell it was a recent import from Albania, hence the Albanian modded stock. From the serial # it is a 1957 Factory /26\ build. The early rifles did not have the Chinese symbols on the receiver. Originally it would have a blade bayonet.
I’m here 15:35 paused for now. Where did you see the serial number? I need the entire number from the left side of the receiver. Haven’t seen it yet but hopefully I will after I resume. However I can already tell you’re both wrong. It can’t be a 1957 because of the side sling -swivel on the left side of the buttstock which was moved there from its original location in 1958 and not moved back underneath again until the latter half of 1965. My assumption up until now, is that it’s a first year spike bayonet placing it in 1964 with a serial number in the 9 million range. The actual serial number. On the left side of the gun. The entire serial number. Another clue aside from the placement of the swivel and the correct bayonet, is also the correct long barrel lug which was also an early feature which ended in 1964, same year they went to a spike. I’m now going to hit play as soon as I post this reply. I will reply to myself as soon as I finish the video. So far I’m convinced that I’m right.
What a joy it is to own a piece of art. Working on one is both theraputic and gratifying. For sure the SKS does not dissapoint. It is a remarkable beauty. It is also fun to shoot. Thanks for the video, it was well done; informative and entertaining. Subbd.
@@RestoreThis No problem. I restored mine to a certain extent but I did so minimally. Its all matching, with some trench art. It has a neat, battle scarred look, plus I got a vintage canvas sling for it too. 😃😁
I have another Norinco that I didn’t touch at all. It wasn’t as caked in cosmoline so I just let it be. I have a Russian and Yugo as well. Great little rifles!
I remember these bad boys in the early 90’s as kid. Lots of people used them while hunting deer with dogs. Something inexpensive they could toss in a truck bed or 4 wheeler.
Pozdrowienia! Tak, to pierwszy film o broni palnej, jaki zrobiłem do tej pory. Mam jeszcze kilka rzeczy, które mógłbym zrobić, gdyby ktoś chciał je zobaczyć. Hahah, twoja sugestia, aby to przetestować, rozśmieszyła mnie! Dziękuję bardzo za oglądanie i życzę miłego wypoczynku!
Awesome, thank you for stopping by! The SKS cleanup is definitely a fun project! Did you get a numbers matching one from Atlantic? I’m sure you’ll do a great job cleaning it up. There’s a few other comments added here about steaming out dents in the stock. Might be helpful. Best of luck and thank you for checking out my video!
@@damiendoesit3126 I’m in California so I have to wait 10 days to take the rifle home. I didn’t get a chance to do a full inspection of the rifle sadly. But I can only hope mine turns out looking as good as yours! I definitely love the look of the lighter color on the stock after that linseed oil!
Assault rifle Jk everyone should be able to have these . In my country of Australia these are very restricted . If you want to know what a category d gun license is so some research on it . But yeah they’re nice and wouldn’t mind having one of these
Wow! That thing looks great! Love the color of the wood! I have done one SKS restoration with the same products and had the same results. The polished bolt looks awesome! Pretty sure your SKS had the most amount of cosmoliine I have EVER seen LOL. Curious, after you finished it and shot it, when it got warmed up did you have any cosmoline seep out of the pores in the wood?
Thank you for watching! It definitely smoked once it heated up! There was a very minimal amount of seepage. I should have heated the wood up to get more out of the pores before I refinished it.
@@devinaisaican2133 there are a couple of ways that work well. First off, I would only heat up the wood, so I’d disassemble back to just the stock and gas tube cover. If you have a large shop oven that’s going to be your best bet.. I would NOT use my kitchen oven though! There are some nasty chemicals in cosmo and finishes and you don’t want to poison yourself. I don’t have a large enough oven, so my next best method would be a heat gun. You’d have to be really careful to keep the gun moving to try to heat things evenly without burning any one particular area. The last and easiest method would be to set it outside on a black or dark towel or background of some sort on a hot bright sunny day. The sun will heat it up enough to get some of the cosmo to start seeping out of the wood. Thank you for watching and I hope this helps!
I redid my sks, and to get the cosmolene to seep out of the wood, I wrapped the stock and forepiece in lint free towels and placed them on the dashboard of an old maroon Dodge W150 truck I had in 90 degree temperature. In about 3 or 4 hours it was almost all sweated out.
Hello and thank you for stopping by! For the bluing, my biggest tips would have to be spend 90% of your time on the prep, 10 on the bluing chemical part. Do lots lots of layers if you want to try to get anything like a deep factory blue . I was never able to get is as blue as I wanted in just one go. Through bad luck or just my lack of skill I would get weird runs and marks in the blueing. Sometimes multiple dips would fix it, other times I had to start over. This cold bluing seems to be a lot more fiddly than hot blueing. In the end I only blued the dust cover and the gas tube. I would have loved to have a go at the receiver and barrel but don’t have a container large enough to water dunk it. I appreciate you checking out the video!
Thanks for tips....how did you strip, (sand ?) & restore stock to consistent light honey color ?....or is it refinished with honey color stain ?....looks original and a beauty.
@@RestoreThis thank you. What grit sandpaper were u using to remove rust? Did u use mineral spirits for it as well? Im having a hard time removing rust from metal parts with just a nylon brush, 0000 steel wool, and mineral spirits. I even used some hoppe's no 9 with no luck. I thought about using brake cleaner but dont want to strip the blueing. Also there are some parts without blueing or very little. Do i need to strip it and reblue every little piece in the action? Or just the large pieces like u showed in the video?
Thank you for checking out my video. Polishing the bolt was just a little time and elbow grease. I used a multi grit sandpaper pack from Amazon, sanding up to 2500 grit, then switched over to a buffing wheel with white polishing compound until it had a mirror finish.
That was a paint stripped called Citrus Strip. Supposedly an environmentally water based paint stripper. I don’t know what’s in it, but it works great at removing paint and varnish! Thanks for stopping by!
I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it is in great shape except for a zillion gouges in the stock. I left the stock alone except for cosmo removal and one light coat of True Oil to seal it. My bluing was intact enough to leave it alone and after cleaning and a coat of gun oil it looks great. The rifling is near perfect. I wanted to let the rifles history speak so I did not "restore" it I only revived it to shooting condition. It is a 1967 version.
Nicely done! If they aren’t too bad, it’s better to leave them be. One trick I’ve seen for stock dents depending on how bad they are is to strip down to bare wood then get a damp paper towel or clean rag and lay it on the dent. Then run a hot iron over it for a few passes. It puffs the wood back up and can minimize the appearance of dents and minor gouges.
@@RestoreThis I did not want to minimize it's history. I restored the stock on the first SKS I ever owned. I sanded the stock, steamed up dents and applied 14 or so coats of Tru Oil. I rubbed down each coat after it had dried for 24 hours with #0000 steel wool before applying the next coat to allow the Oil to "fill in" any remaining dents with out having a thick coating on the entire stock and ended with a perfectly smooth and pristine stock. It took over two weeks but It looks great. However, I will never do that to an SKS again . I don't mind the work involved but I've realized that I love the original look more than the "pretty". I still have that rifle and will never sell it though someday I will probably give it to a Grandson.
Video was fantastic!!! Amazing you took it this far which is what I’m about to do. Your video will help me immensely as this is the first time I’ve gone this far and done a total restoration. Atlantic Firearms got me good on my last purchase and except for the bore being packed with cosmoline, everything else was ‘dry cosmoline’ as we cal it and rust is present more than I want it to be. Polishing the bolt pieces for me will be difficult. Wish I could fly you to my house shop for a few days and help, lol. I could use it!
Hi Mike! Thank you for checking out my video. Another commenter asked about the polishing process below so there’s some extra info there. Take your time and enjoy the process and it’ll go fine! As for the rust, stripping and reblueing is always an option, but you’ll need a large bin to fit the barrel and receiver. Good luck and have fun!
DANG!!! I gotta do that w/ my SKS too, and also my other 'surps! BTW... would restoring a 'surp like this enhance or decrease it's 'collectability value' or wouldn't it have any bearing on that at all????
Thank you for watching! It would definitely have an effect on the value. It’s going to depend on the collector and the gun. A Vietnam era real bring back rifle or one with some type of significance historically would be better left alone and in its original condition. This particular one really wasn’t anything remarkable and was just another Chinese SKS is crappy condition. There’s a saying that “a gun is only original once” and to some collectors there’s a significant decrease in value once it’s no longer original.
Hi Shane, thank you for watching! Getting the bolt polished was a matter of various steps of increased grit sanding, then finally a polishing wheel. It took a good deal of time and effort. Polishing the bolt should be considered carfefully as the rifle is only original once, and can’t really be unpolished convincingly to look original again. If you are considering the process for a beat up non matching rifle, just take your time. Start with 400 or 600 grit sand paper and sand until all the dents, gouges and machine marks are smoothed out. You only want to see the marks from the sand paper but nothing bigger. Next move on to a higher grit and sand until the previous grit’s marks are gone and you only see the marks from the current grit of paper you’re working with. An easy way to tell is to sand perpendicular to the previous step. Makes the previous steps marks easier to see. Keep moving up in grits but 100-200 each step. Once you get to 1000 grit, jump by 500’s but keep moving up until you hit 2500 to 3000 grit. From there, use a buffing wheel and a good polishing compound and keep working the bolt on the buffing wheel. For the final step I like to use a brand new microfiber polishing cloth. And dirt or dust on the cloth will scratch the finish. Rub and polish the surface to remove all of the buffing compound. That should do it!
@@RestoreThis i have an original and I was going to buy another SKS on gun broker and was going to reverb it depending on how rough it is, I appreciate it!
Got my third SKS from PSA (already had two from back when Norincos were 89 dollars new) Got a pretty nice one, but it did take a lot of cleaning. Took the bolt apart and put it in the ultrasonic cleaner, all good. Good video.
good video, i remember purchasing 2 from classic firearms many years ago, its always good to add the extra, hand pick option because you want a rifle that has matching sn and also the barrel needs to be in usable to excellent condition, my only complaint about the sks in general is the trigger, it horrible, however it can be modded so it can be a better functioning trigger for target purposes, i did have to replace the bolt in my one yugo sks because the firing pin hole enlarging and i was experiencing volcanoing effect and the firing pin kept getting jammed from going to deep into primer and causing primer to blow back out thus causing firing pin to get stuck inside of bolt body.
Hi Chris! That you for watching and commenting! Luckily I’ve never had the firing pin issues you describe. If I ever start having similar issues, I’ll know what the cause is. As for the trigger, I agree... it’s not the best. I might look into tuning it up a little in the future.
@@RestoreThis if you want contact this guy, he modds and enhances sks triggers so they have a MUCH improved feel and function to them, i sent him one of my triggers and its feel and overall function was vastly improved when compared to the typical factory trigger that has a boat load of creep, travel and pull weight: www.kivaari.com/SKS%20Target%20Match.htm
@@RestoreThis you should purchase some lapua 7.62x39fmj, this is what i used to test accuracy in ak/sks based weapons, it will let you know if your ak/sks is a accurate weapon since this is probably the best ammo you can purchase outside of doing hand loads and making you own ammo.
Nice vintage gun. Everything was going great until you started to remove the finish. I wonder if you looked for the cartouches on the woodwork. The blueing looked to be in good shape. Like I said nice looking gun, but old guns are like coins do not shine them up.
Really nice job. I bought one recently and it was way less roached than yours so with only one or two bad dings on the wood that I might sand down so the pulverized wood in that spot doesn't worsen. Other than that i will probably leave it as is...other than cleaning off the cosmoline.
Sounds like you got a good one! For the dings, I’d give the wet rag/hot iron trick to try to puff the dent out then varnish or stain it. Best of luck! These rifles have exploded in value! Thank you for watching!
maybe I missed it but did you just buff the bolt carrier? also were these Chicom's blued from the factory? id like to do this to mine but dont want to effect the historical aspect of the sks
This one was definitely blued. I did buff the bolt carrier. I got a little carried away :) I would not recommend for a matching parts rifle or one with other historical significance Thank you for watching!
Hi Martin, thanks for watching! It’s an old flexible putty knife. The particular one I used was made by Hyde. The flexibility helps it not catch and the biggest thing is watching your angle and the amount of pressure and force you use. Also, watch the grain. You want to apply pressure when going with the grain but not when going against it. You want to avoid catching on the grain and gouging the wood. Best of luck on your restoration! Take your time and it’ll turn out great!
@@RestoreThis at 6:04 how did you take that metal piece off the hand guard so easy? I am having a hell of a time with it and I'm chewing up the wood around it.
Hi martin, I ended up doing over it two times. Once with the scraper to get the most of it, then a second time with a red 3m scrip Uber I had laying around from another project. From there I did sanding to get some of the real stubborn stuff that was still on there
Sorry I missed this comment. At that point I had driven out the pin that held it on. I’ve take the wood out before by rotating the metal part but it messes up the wood. Driving the pin out is a better way to do it.
Thank you for checking out my video! At 7:50 I’m wiping the upper hand guard down with some paint thinner to get rid of any oils/dirt from my fingers in preparation for the finish.
That orange goop is called Citrus Strip. It softens up the old finish and made it easier to remove. It may not be the best way to accomplish that task, but it worked well enough for me. I was then able to scrape it off rather than sanding which really wasn’t working all too well for me. The old finish was gumming up the paper really fast.
@@RestoreThis ahh okay Thankyou. I’m getting a crate SKS and I plan on doing sort of what you did minus the blueing. I plan on putting the stock in a bag and put it in The furnace room for a few hours to sweat out the cosmoline. I’m also thinking of finishing with danish oil and then satin wax maybe, just curious of the reasoning behind using tung oil? Or if it’s just what ya had.
Hi Shawn, thank you for checking out my vid! To polish that bolt, I used this sandpaper set from Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B07DTGP1QT/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_HA84FC6ME5GWG04BTQJR I started with 600 grit and used each grit level up to 3000 grit. You have to make sure to sand to each step until the scratched from the previous grit are all sanded away. Then I used a buffing wheel from harbor freight with this buffing pad: www.amazon.com/dp/B003UOLUQ6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_SBRN59R598D72EZX7FH9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 and this buffing compound: www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD35X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZKF59MR8078MYRR0V2YM this part goes pretty quickly and really gives it the shine. finally I wiped it down with a cotton microfiber polishing cloth to clean off the polishing residue. It worked great!
They are still out there, but the prices are getting a little crazy in my opinion. Palmetto State still has some it looks like if you’re willing to pay up at $429 for one. When I got this one it was $300 I think, which at the time I thought way crazy expensive, but grabbed one anyhow. I’m sure the price will keep going up on these as the supply of what can be imported dwindles, but it’s hard to pay that much for one if you remember seeing these with 1k rounds of 7.62 for $99 back in the day.
@@RestoreThis i do agree man. I actually just got a ak47. It is an old one too. I just can't find out the year it was made. I have done a lot of research. I was reading some people in the ak forms. Mine is different in ways from most wasr-10. I wish I knew more about it.
That looks like the way mine came from the online dealer. I really wouldn't consider this a restoration. It's more of a refurbishing. Nice job though. Fifteen years ago those SKS's were going for a $100.00! I should have bought 10!
Dude I dig the polished bolt carrier. I have a Yugo 59/66 that I did the resto too but I didn't polish the bolt carrier. I guess I'm going to now. Great job bro.
Thank you so much Tim! Some people frown on the polished bolt carrier because it isn’t the “original” finish. I thought it was cool :) I have another SKS that I polished it’s bolt to a mirror finish. Takes a good bit of work but I think it looks nice. Thank you for watching!
The stock was pretty much the same process as the bolt polishing, but I started at 80 grit and went up to 800 grit. The lower grits were a bit of a pain because it was sanding through gummy cosmoline and caked on varnish so it gummed up the paper pretty fast. If I did it again I’d probably use acetone or paint thinner and a green scotch rite pad to get the bulk of the gummy old crud and caked on varnish off. Anyhow, same as on the metal, start at 80 and keep moving up getting the scratches out from the previous grit. Also, be mindful not to press too hard and gouge the wood more than needed to get the varnish layer off and just keep working your way up. Once at 800 or 1000 grit, you have a nice smooth surface for the new finish. I used Formby’s Tung Oil finish, which is tung oil mixed with varnish, straight tung oil or boiled linseed oil work great too and give you a nice finish with less gloss than what I used. If you use a varnish, if it gets too glossy, you can a,ways knock the shine back to a matte or semi-gloss by using 000 steel wool.
If you use the paint thinner to clean things up better than I did, you might be able to just start at 220 grit or so and not have to start so low of a grit as you won’t have all that residue gumming the paper up so fast
My uncle use to sell them at his gun shop he had a pipe filled with kerosene he just drop them in there 24 hours the take them apart and blow them out most the packing oil was gone
You should have heat gunned the cosmoline out of the stock there is still a ton in the stock and upperhandguard. When you heat gun it sweats cosmoline. Then all you gotta do is wipe it up with paper towels.
Good point! I’m sure there was plenty of cosmo still in there. When I was shooting it and it heated up I could definitely smell it cooking off still inside the handguards
I’m not trying to split hairs here: but, if you’re not refinishing it, wouldn’t it simply be conservation, rather than restoration? After all, you didn’t restore it to as issued condition, it’s just a really good deep cleaning.
Fair enough. With all that cosmoline (which I can still smell if I close my eyes and think about it) if was certainly “restored” to firing condition as it certainly wouldn’t have been safe to use in its previous condition. The stock was refinished and some of the blueing was stripped and reblued. I guess it’s a fair argument that unless everything is stripped 100% and redone it’s not a true restoration. I can see that side of it. In any event, I appreciate you checking out my video, and I hope you have a great weekend!
If you want to improve the rifle, safety-wise, you might want to take a look at this video on (slightly) modifying the sear: th-cam.com/video/KMSEWSDeprQ/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Canadian_Tactical I've found the steps suggested greatly improved the operation of mine. Smoothing the grooves in the sear and the rails the sear rides on also helps.
I did the same to mine about 30 years ago. Typical Chinese ska rifle. I probably fired 30 to 40 thousand rounds with out a single jam or miss fire slam fire or failure to eject a spent case. Firing pin rattled from new.
For anybody doing this at home, you can save A LOT of time effort, and cleaning solution by boiling the small parts in water, like the trigger, bolt, bolt carrier etc.
No cleaning solution or sandpaper necessary, just hot water.
Shake them around to release the cosmoline into the water, and boil multiple times if necessary
Be sure to dump the waste water into a gravel pit somewhere that no plants are growing, do not pour down your sink!!
It was very good to see you made a point of showing you cleaning of the firing pin & the bolt, that's a very important safety issue. Hard, congealed cosmoline on the pin & in it's channel in the bolt can cause the firing pin to stick in the forward position, causing the rifle to suddenly go full-auto until the magazine is empty. The original design had a firing pin spring that helped prevent this, but many of the post-Russian manufacturers eliminated it. There's a gunsmith that makes the original spring-retracted design, & it's a good idea safety-wise to install one in an SKS you plan to shoot regularly. At the very least, keep those areas pristinely clean, & slightly moist with a light lube like Rem-Oil or Break-Free.
I’ve watched tons of these sks cleaning videos but this one by far takes the cake. Nice work man.
I’m sure my video rustled a few jimmies! Lol. Thank you for checking it out!
😢T620226T820028TASC😢
😂T620226T820028TASC😂
Thank the gods for the preservative qualities of cosmoline
Soak that bolt overnight in mineral spirits. Let it drain the carbon/cosmoline out. Spray the parts w/ compressed air to get the rest of the carbon/cosmoline out of the nooks and crannies. Repeat until clear. Mineral spirit bath for the bolt-especially after corrosive ammo, is a great way to clean and prevent the slam fire sticky bolt problem. Great restore by the way!
Exactly! The mineral spirits does a great job of removing that stubborn cosmoline. Good tip on using it after firing corrosive ammunition. Thank you for watching!
Just came upon this video, and I got as much satisfaction as you did just by watching . I just bought a old letter series one yesterday, and while I watched your video I laughed because now I remember what I have in store for myself. I have done this before and I know it all depends on how much you want to get into it. Lots of credit to you, that rifle looks beautiful. Good luck with it.
I can remember decades ago where they were selling them for $69 dollars all day long. Can't find one for $69 dollars anymore... And they do make for a nice little hunting rifles if you like open sight hunting.
Hi Gary, I remember an SKS rifle and 1k rounds of steel case for around $100. Those were the days! I like the SKS for its simplicity and reliability. Accuracy is good enough for most tasks and even with the crazy ammo costs as of late, it’s still decently affordable to have a fun day at the range. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I paid a little more at $99 but I hand selected it out of an old oak barrel sitting in the middle of the gunshop. There were about a dozen of them in there. Those were the days. 👍
Yep, back in the early to mid 1990s. Had one and cleaned up the stock and refinished with stain from Lowe's. Took it to the range and it ate any old garbage I ran through it without a hiccup. Sold it for $100 in '95. Argh.
I really like the sks rifle I would like get one again they are hard to find
i think it would have looked better stained. Here's a suggestion. If you're worried that staining wood will darken it too much or be uneven then use a sanding sealer first. A light coat of 3 or 4 parts ethyl alcohol to 1 part shellac will keep a stain from creating too much contrast betwwen the dark and light grain and make it easier to even out the color when wiping off the stain.
I appreciate the suggestion! I’ll give this a try on the next one! I really like seeing the natural color and features of the wood, especially the iridescence (which I was unable to adequately capture in my recordings). A slight tint could have been nice however to even the color out. Thank you for watching my video!
@@RestoreThis There use to be a Public Television show called The Furnature Guys. Hardly an episode went by where they didn't extol the virtues of sanding sealer. When I tried it on some pine that was unevenly soaking up stain like a sponge it came out looking like an expensive piece of hardwood. I just found your channel and I'm enjoying watching your old videos. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for the encouragement! The uneven soaking you’re talking about is a really common issue especially with the catalpa wood used in this stock. I’ll have to research the sanding sealer and put it to use in my projects.
As if it is a piece of musical instrument. Great work!
Great job! Amazing how precise and well engeneered this construction was. All parts expensively machined from massive steel, no comparison to modern guns so as AK47/74, M16 and others. 👍
Agreed! The milling would make a rifle like this more expensive to produce than they could sell it for these days! Thank you for watching!
Both the M16 and AK are still superior platforms regardless
I got one imported by PW Arms as well, all matching numbers.
Just from looking at this SKS I can tell it was a recent import from Albania, hence the Albanian modded stock. From the serial # it is a 1957 Factory /26\ build. The early rifles did not have the Chinese symbols on the receiver. Originally it would have a blade bayonet.
Yeah, it’s a bit of a mutt that’s for sure! Thank you for watching Abe!
I’m here 15:35 paused for now. Where did you see the serial number? I need the entire number from the left side of the receiver. Haven’t seen it yet but hopefully I will after I resume. However I can already tell you’re both wrong. It can’t be a 1957 because of the side sling -swivel on the left side of the buttstock which was moved there from its original location in 1958 and not moved back underneath again until the latter half of 1965. My assumption up until now, is that it’s a first year spike bayonet placing it in 1964 with a serial number in the 9 million range. The actual serial number. On the left side of the gun. The entire serial number. Another clue aside from the placement of the swivel and the correct bayonet, is also the correct long barrel lug which was also an early feature which ended in 1964, same year they went to a spike. I’m now going to hit play as soon as I post this reply. I will reply to myself as soon as I finish the video. So far I’m convinced that I’m right.
This is without a doubt the best restoration of an SKS that I have seen, you inspired me to do my own ! you made Simonov proud !
Thank you for watching!
Best of luck on your restoration!
Wow so awesome! Great video and great workmanship!
Excellent work. She looks beautiful.
Thank you so much for watching Gordon!
Good job.
How did you remove the upper handguard pin? Those are hard and risky to punch out. If it's damaged, really hard to replace.
It wasn’t easy to remove. As opposed to hammering it out, I pressed it out using a vise as a press.
What a joy it is to own a piece of art. Working on one is both theraputic and gratifying. For sure the SKS does not dissapoint. It is a remarkable beauty. It is also fun to shoot. Thanks for the video, it was well done; informative and entertaining. Subbd.
Looks like it just came off the assembly line. Good work!!!
Thank you for watching!
@@RestoreThis No problem. I restored mine to a certain extent but I did so minimally. Its all matching, with some trench art. It has a neat, battle scarred look, plus I got a vintage canvas sling for it too. 😃😁
I have another Norinco that I didn’t touch at all. It wasn’t as caked in cosmoline so I just let it be. I have a Russian and Yugo as well. Great little rifles!
I remember these bad boys in the early 90’s as kid. Lots of people used them while hunting deer with dogs. Something inexpensive they could toss in a truck bed or 4 wheeler.
I remember when they were $69 with 1k of corrosive russian surplus ammo. My how the times have changed!
@@RestoreThis yes sir
Great work man...rifle looks amazing!
Thank you for checking out my video!
Restore This odnawia karabin. Tego jeszcze nie grali. Mogłeś go przetestować na tych co cie jeszcze nie subskrybują(: Świetna robota.
Pozdrowienia! Tak, to pierwszy film o broni palnej, jaki zrobiłem do tej pory. Mam jeszcze kilka rzeczy, które mógłbym zrobić, gdyby ktoś chciał je zobaczyć. Hahah, twoja sugestia, aby to przetestować, rozśmieszyła mnie! Dziękuję bardzo za oglądanie i życzę miłego wypoczynku!
@@RestoreThis Wzajemnie.
Looks like you have an Albanian bayonet on that beauty, also.
Nice resto!
Thank you for watching!
Gorgeous Restoration Job!!!!
Thank you for watching!
Damn thing looked like a goner. Sensational job
Thanks for checking it out!
Good patient restoration. Excellent!
Thank you very much for watching! I appreciate the compliment as well!
Awesome vid! Just bought a chinese SKS from Atlantic. I only hope I do as well a job as you did!
Awesome, thank you for stopping by! The SKS cleanup is definitely a fun project! Did you get a numbers matching one from Atlantic? I’m sure you’ll do a great job cleaning it up. There’s a few other comments added here about steaming out dents in the stock. Might be helpful. Best of luck and thank you for checking out my video!
@@damiendoesit3126 I’m in California so I have to wait 10 days to take the rifle home. I didn’t get a chance to do a full inspection of the rifle sadly. But I can only hope mine turns out looking as good as yours! I definitely love the look of the lighter color on the stock after that linseed oil!
Assault rifle Jk everyone should be able to have these . In my country of Australia these are very restricted . If you want to know what a category d gun license is so some research on it . But yeah they’re nice and wouldn’t mind having one of these
They are great robust rifles. Not the most modern or best handling firearms, but cool as a piece of history. Thank you for checking out the video!
I’d like to have a couple more of these rifles
You and me both! Thank you for checking out my video!
Wow! That thing looks great! Love the color of the wood! I have done one SKS restoration with the same products and had the same results. The polished bolt looks awesome! Pretty sure your SKS had the most amount of cosmoliine I have EVER seen LOL. Curious, after you finished it and shot it, when it got warmed up did you have any cosmoline seep out of the pores in the wood?
Thank you for watching! It definitely smoked once it heated up! There was a very minimal amount of seepage. I should have heated the wood up to get more out of the pores before I refinished it.
@@RestoreThis how would you heat it up?
By the way your videos awesome I have an sks and let me just say I want to take it apart right now lol
@@devinaisaican2133 there are a couple of ways that work well. First off, I would only heat up the wood, so I’d disassemble back to just the stock and gas tube cover. If you have a large shop oven that’s going to be your best bet.. I would NOT use my kitchen oven though! There are some nasty chemicals in cosmo and finishes and you don’t want to poison yourself. I don’t have a large enough oven, so my next best method would be a heat gun. You’d have to be really careful to keep the gun moving to try to heat things evenly without burning any one particular area. The last and easiest method would be to set it outside on a black or dark towel or background of some sort on a hot bright sunny day. The sun will heat it up enough to get some of the cosmo to start seeping out of the wood. Thank you for watching and I hope this helps!
I redid my sks, and to get the cosmolene to seep out of the wood, I wrapped the stock and forepiece in lint free towels and placed them on the dashboard of an old maroon Dodge W150 truck I had in 90 degree temperature. In about 3 or 4 hours it was almost all sweated out.
AMAZING resto work man. Great job! Can't wait for mine to come in
Thank you so much for watching! I hope you get a good one!
This is the best ASMR that exists on the interent.
I like the sanding sound. Thank you for checking out my video!
nice job....did U re-blue all metal or just dust cover ?....any tips U learned on re-bluing this beauty ?
Hello and thank you for stopping by! For the bluing, my biggest tips would have to be spend 90% of your time on the prep, 10 on the bluing chemical part. Do lots lots of layers if you want to try to get anything like a deep factory blue . I was never able to get is as blue as I wanted in just one go. Through bad luck or just my lack of skill I would get weird runs and marks in the blueing. Sometimes multiple dips would fix it, other times I had to start over. This cold bluing seems to be a lot more fiddly than hot blueing. In the end I only blued the dust cover and the gas tube. I would have loved to have a go at the receiver and barrel but don’t have a container large enough to water dunk it. I appreciate you checking out the video!
Thanks for tips....how did you strip, (sand ?) & restore stock to consistent light honey color ?....or is it refinished with honey color stain ?....looks original and a beauty.
What are the chemicals used? Like at the beginning what is that liquid in the jar used to remove cosmoline?
Thanks for watching! I used mineral spirits to help breakdown the cosmoline.
@@RestoreThis thank you. What grit sandpaper were u using to remove rust? Did u use mineral spirits for it as well? Im having a hard time removing rust from metal parts with just a nylon brush, 0000 steel wool, and mineral spirits. I even used some hoppe's no 9 with no luck. I thought about using brake cleaner but dont want to strip the blueing. Also there are some parts without blueing or very little. Do i need to strip it and reblue every little piece in the action? Or just the large pieces like u showed in the video?
Man it turned out to beautiful rifel !!! Did you keep or sale it ? Just curious
Thank you so much Ernie! I kept it, along with everything else from my channel so far! Thank you for watching!
Nice job man! That girl looks marvelous. How did you polish that bolt so shiny?? Enjoy your new, old, weapon. Excellent video my man!!
Thank you for checking out my video. Polishing the bolt was just a little time and elbow grease. I used a multi grit sandpaper pack from Amazon, sanding up to 2500 grit, then switched over to a buffing wheel with white polishing compound until it had a mirror finish.
What did you used to applied onto the wood and scrapped off at 8:11
That was a paint stripped called Citrus Strip. Supposedly an environmentally water based paint stripper. I don’t know what’s in it, but it works great at removing paint and varnish! Thanks for stopping by!
Stunning work. Great video as well
Thank you for watching Kelvin!
I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it is in great shape except for a zillion gouges in the stock. I left the stock alone except for cosmo removal and one light coat of True Oil to seal it. My bluing was intact enough to leave it alone and after cleaning and a coat of gun oil it looks great. The rifling is near perfect. I wanted to let the rifles history speak so I did not "restore" it I only revived it to shooting condition. It is a 1967 version.
Nicely done! If they aren’t too bad, it’s better to leave them be. One trick I’ve seen for stock dents depending on how bad they are is to strip down to bare wood then get a damp paper towel or clean rag and lay it on the dent. Then run a hot iron over it for a few passes. It puffs the wood back up and can minimize the appearance of dents and minor gouges.
@@RestoreThis I did not want to minimize it's history. I restored the stock on the first SKS I ever owned. I sanded the stock, steamed up dents and applied 14 or so coats of Tru Oil. I rubbed down each coat after it had dried for 24 hours with #0000 steel wool before applying the next coat to allow the Oil to "fill in" any remaining dents with out having a thick coating on the entire stock and ended with a perfectly smooth and pristine stock. It took over two weeks but It looks great. However, I will never do that to an SKS again . I don't mind the work involved but I've realized that I love the original look more than the "pretty". I still have that rifle and will never sell it though someday I will probably give it to a Grandson.
Video was fantastic!!! Amazing you took it this far which is what I’m about to do. Your video will help me immensely as this is the first time I’ve gone this far and done a total restoration. Atlantic Firearms got me good on my last purchase and except for the bore being packed with cosmoline, everything else was ‘dry cosmoline’ as we cal it and rust is present more than I want it to be. Polishing the bolt pieces for me will be difficult. Wish I could fly you to my house shop for a few days and help, lol. I could use it!
Hi Mike! Thank you for checking out my video. Another commenter asked about the polishing process below so there’s some extra info there. Take your time and enjoy the process and it’ll go fine! As for the rust, stripping and reblueing is always an option, but you’ll need a large bin to fit the barrel and receiver. Good luck and have fun!
Il restauro del calcio poteva venire meglio così per tutto il resto
DANG!!! I gotta do that w/ my SKS too, and also my other 'surps! BTW... would restoring a 'surp like this enhance or decrease it's 'collectability value' or wouldn't it have any bearing on that at all????
Thank you for watching! It would definitely have an effect on the value. It’s going to depend on the collector and the gun. A Vietnam era real bring back rifle or one with some type of significance historically would be better left alone and in its original condition. This particular one really wasn’t anything remarkable and was just another Chinese SKS is crappy condition. There’s a saying that “a gun is only original once” and to some collectors there’s a significant decrease in value once it’s no longer original.
Oh damn I thought the stock was originally deep burgundy, must be cosmoine red
Thank you for watching! Some of the russian models do have deeper colored wood, but these chicom sand even the yugos are really light colored.
Great vídeo
Thank you!
How did you get the bolt so polished?
Hi Shane, thank you for watching! Getting the bolt polished was a matter of various steps of increased grit sanding, then finally a polishing wheel. It took a good deal of time and effort. Polishing the bolt should be considered carfefully as the rifle is only original once, and can’t really be unpolished convincingly to look original again. If you are considering the process for a beat up non matching rifle, just take your time. Start with 400 or 600 grit sand paper and sand until all the dents, gouges and machine marks are smoothed out. You only want to see the marks from the sand paper but nothing bigger. Next move on to a higher grit and sand until the previous grit’s marks are gone and you only see the marks from the current grit of paper you’re working with. An easy way to tell is to sand perpendicular to the previous step. Makes the previous steps marks easier to see. Keep moving up in grits but 100-200 each step. Once you get to 1000 grit, jump by 500’s but keep moving up until you hit 2500 to 3000 grit. From there, use a buffing wheel and a good polishing compound and keep working the bolt on the buffing wheel. For the final step I like to use a brand new microfiber polishing cloth. And dirt or dust on the cloth will scratch the finish. Rub and polish the surface to remove all of the buffing compound. That should do it!
@@RestoreThis i have an original and I was going to buy another SKS on gun broker and was going to reverb it depending on how rough it is, I appreciate it!
Got my third SKS from PSA (already had two from back when Norincos were 89 dollars new) Got a pretty nice one, but it did take a lot of cleaning. Took the bolt apart and put it in the ultrasonic cleaner, all good. Good video.
Thanks for checking out my video Lewis!
6:50, the video was entirely normal until then....
Lol
good video, i remember purchasing 2 from classic firearms many years ago, its always good to add the extra, hand pick option because you want a rifle that has matching sn and also the barrel needs to be in usable to excellent condition, my only complaint about the sks in general is the trigger, it horrible, however it can be modded so it can be a better functioning trigger for target purposes, i did have to replace the bolt in my one yugo sks because the firing pin hole enlarging and i was experiencing volcanoing effect and the firing pin kept getting jammed from going to deep into primer and causing primer to blow back out thus causing firing pin to get stuck inside of bolt body.
Hi Chris! That you for watching and commenting! Luckily I’ve never had the firing pin issues you describe. If I ever start having similar issues, I’ll know what the cause is. As for the trigger, I agree... it’s not the best. I might look into tuning it up a little in the future.
@@RestoreThis if you want contact this guy, he modds and enhances sks triggers so they have a MUCH improved feel and function to them, i sent him one of my triggers and its feel and overall function was vastly improved when compared to the typical factory trigger that has a boat load of creep, travel and pull weight: www.kivaari.com/SKS%20Target%20Match.htm
@@RestoreThis you should purchase some lapua 7.62x39fmj, this is what i used to test accuracy in ak/sks based weapons, it will let you know if your ak/sks is a accurate weapon since this is probably the best ammo you can purchase outside of doing hand loads and making you own ammo.
Nice vintage gun. Everything was going great until you started to remove the finish. I wonder if you looked for the cartouches on the woodwork. The blueing looked to be in good shape. Like I said nice looking gun, but old guns are like coins do not shine them up.
Really nice job. I bought one recently and it was way less roached than yours so with only one or two bad dings on the wood that I might sand down so the pulverized wood in that spot doesn't worsen. Other than that i will probably leave it as is...other than cleaning off the cosmoline.
Sounds like you got a good one! For the dings, I’d give the wet rag/hot iron trick to try to puff the dent out then varnish or stain it. Best of luck! These rifles have exploded in value! Thank you for watching!
You might also try steaming out the dents by putting a wet washcloth over it and pressing down gently with a steaming iron.
Great job, man! You deserve more views
Thank you for watching Stoyo! I appreciate the comment!
Perfect
Thanks!
maybe I missed it but did you just buff the bolt carrier? also were these Chicom's blued from the factory? id like to do this to mine but dont want to effect the historical aspect of the sks
This one was definitely blued. I did buff the bolt carrier. I got a little carried away :) I would not recommend for a matching parts rifle or one with other historical significance Thank you for watching!
Чоловіче, ти просто почистив його після консервації)
Так, получилось гарно, але реставрація це трохи інше)
堪称完美的一次保养，赋予了它新的生命！太漂亮了？👍
"Perfect for a maintenance, giving it a new lease of life! Too beautiful?"
@@paulpvhl1930 yes😄
What did you use to scrape the stripper off the stock? I am restoring my own SKS stock and referring to your video....
Hi Martin, thanks for watching! It’s an old flexible putty knife. The particular one I used was made by Hyde. The flexibility helps it not catch and the biggest thing is watching your angle and the amount of pressure and force you use. Also, watch the grain. You want to apply pressure when going with the grain but not when going against it. You want to avoid catching on the grain and gouging the wood. Best of luck on your restoration! Take your time and it’ll turn out great!
@@RestoreThis at 6:04 how did you take that metal piece off the hand guard so easy? I am having a hell of a time with it and I'm chewing up the wood around it.
@@RestoreThis How many times did you go back over w the stripper to get the old finish off?
Hi martin, I ended up doing over it two times. Once with the scraper to get the most of it, then a second time with a red 3m scrip Uber I had laying around from another project. From there I did sanding to get some of the real stubborn stuff that was still on there
Sorry I missed this comment. At that point I had driven out the pin that held it on. I’ve take the wood out before by rotating the metal part but it messes up the wood. Driving the pin out is a better way to do it.
@ 7:50 what is it that you are using on the stock?
Thank you for checking out my video! At 7:50 I’m wiping the upper hand guard down with some paint thinner to get rid of any oils/dirt from my fingers in preparation for the finish.
@@RestoreThis I'm sorry I meant 7:58 the goop you are putting on the stock?
That orange goop is called Citrus Strip. It softens up the old finish and made it easier to remove. It may not be the best way to accomplish that task, but it worked well enough for me. I was then able to scrape it off rather than sanding which really wasn’t working all too well for me. The old finish was gumming up the paper really fast.
@@RestoreThis ahh okay Thankyou.
I’m getting a crate SKS and I plan on doing sort of what you did minus the blueing. I plan on putting the stock in a bag and put it in The furnace room for a few hours to sweat out the cosmoline.
I’m also thinking of finishing with danish oil and then satin wax maybe, just curious of the reasoning behind using tung oil? Or if it’s just what ya had.
Can you list everything you used and what you used to polish please and thank you!
Hi Shawn, thank you for checking out my vid! To polish that bolt, I used this sandpaper set from Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B07DTGP1QT/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_HA84FC6ME5GWG04BTQJR I started with 600 grit and used each grit level up to 3000 grit. You have to make sure to sand to each step until the scratched from the previous grit are all sanded away. Then I used a buffing wheel from harbor freight with this buffing pad: www.amazon.com/dp/B003UOLUQ6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_SBRN59R598D72EZX7FH9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 and this buffing compound: www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD35X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZKF59MR8078MYRR0V2YM this part goes pretty quickly and really gives it the shine. finally I wiped it down with a cotton microfiber polishing cloth to clean off the polishing residue. It worked great!
@@RestoreThis what was the liquid you kept putting the dust cover in after bluing
Also thank you so much
It was just a glass of water. It stops the blueing reaction
Good luck if you’re going to take something like this on! Take your time and I’m sure it’ll turn out great!
Just wondering can you still buy sks like this one?
They are still out there, but the prices are getting a little crazy in my opinion. Palmetto State still has some it looks like if you’re willing to pay up at $429 for one. When I got this one it was $300 I think, which at the time I thought way crazy expensive, but grabbed one anyhow. I’m sure the price will keep going up on these as the supply of what can be imported dwindles, but it’s hard to pay that much for one if you remember seeing these with 1k rounds of 7.62 for $99 back in the day.
@@RestoreThis thanks man ill get one from there. I had one and I sold it. I have regretted it since.
I hope you get a good one! As expensive as they’ve gotten, I still think they’re a fun rifle worth owning if for nothing else than the history!
@@RestoreThis i do agree man. I actually just got a ak47. It is an old one too. I just can't find out the year it was made. I have done a lot of research. I was reading some people in the ak forms. Mine is different in ways from most wasr-10. I wish I knew more about it.
Interesting! WASRs are easy to date. They usually have the date stamped right on it.
my 57 numbers matching has a pre ban blade bayonet not a spike
I have one “26” with a spike and one with a blade. My Russian Tula has a blade as well as my Yugo
Great tunes! Good choice!
Great job ..I'm looking to do the same type of restoration myself if I can find one cheap enough
Using Mineral Spirits is much faster, more effective and cleaner.
That looks like the way mine came from the online dealer. I really wouldn't consider this a restoration. It's more of a refurbishing. Nice job though. Fifteen years ago those SKS's were going for a $100.00! I should have bought 10!
I wish I had bought a few cases when they were that cheap! Thank you for checking out my video!
In the jar, is that mineral spirits ? Great video btw
When I’m cleaning off the action, it’s acetone. When I’m blueing the parts the jar just has water in it
Thank you for checking out my video!
absolutely beautiful job
Thank you so much Todd! I appreciate you stopping by and checking out my video!
Dude I dig the polished bolt carrier. I have a Yugo 59/66 that I did the resto too but I didn't polish the bolt carrier. I guess I'm going to now. Great job bro.
Thank you so much Tim! Some people frown on the polished bolt carrier because it isn’t the “original” finish. I thought it was cool :) I have another SKS that I polished it’s bolt to a mirror finish. Takes a good bit of work but I think it looks nice. Thank you for watching!
@@RestoreThis it's worth it I think
Nice
Thank you Ernie and thank you for watching!
I needed this video in my life
Thank you for watching!
Rust in the rear sight plate pass revoked
Ooof good catch! I’ll address and resubmit my pass application. Thank you for checking out my vid!
Nice!!!!!
Thank you for watching Nelson!
It may be more helpful to buy or make a set of woodworking scrapers instead of using so much sandpaper. Little harder to gum up and they last forever
Good suggestion! The paper gummed up really fast with that finish. Thank you for dropping by!
Was that port malabar shooting club?
Yes it was! Fellow member?
@@RestoreThis Yup! I shot in that exact action range the other day. Small world bud!
For sure! Thank you for checking out my video!
Best video so far
Amazing restoration👍
Nice work. Looks great
Thanks Bill and thank you for watching!
Well done!
Thank you for watching!
Great job
Thank you for stopping by!
What was everything you used for your stock?
The stock was pretty much the same process as the bolt polishing, but I started at 80 grit and went up to 800 grit. The lower grits were a bit of a pain because it was sanding through gummy cosmoline and caked on varnish so it gummed up the paper pretty fast. If I did it again I’d probably use acetone or paint thinner and a green scotch rite pad to get the bulk of the gummy old crud and caked on varnish off. Anyhow, same as on the metal, start at 80 and keep moving up getting the scratches out from the previous grit. Also, be mindful not to press too hard and gouge the wood more than needed to get the varnish layer off and just keep working your way up. Once at 800 or 1000 grit, you have a nice smooth surface for the new finish. I used Formby’s Tung Oil finish, which is tung oil mixed with varnish, straight tung oil or boiled linseed oil work great too and give you a nice finish with less gloss than what I used. If you use a varnish, if it gets too glossy, you can a,ways knock the shine back to a matte or semi-gloss by using 000 steel wool.
If you use the paint thinner to clean things up better than I did, you might be able to just start at 220 grit or so and not have to start so low of a grit as you won’t have all that residue gumming the paper up so fast
My uncle use to sell them at his gun shop he had a pipe filled with kerosene he just drop them in there 24 hours the take them apart and blow them out most the packing oil was gone
That’s the way to do it! Thank you for stopping by!
You should have heat gunned the cosmoline out of the stock there is still a ton in the stock and upperhandguard. When you heat gun it sweats cosmoline. Then all you gotta do is wipe it up with paper towels.
Good point! I’m sure there was plenty of cosmo still in there. When I was shooting it and it heated up I could definitely smell it cooking off still inside the handguards
I disagree with you. He did an excellent job of refinishing the stock and the whole gun.
Looks like a Goodyear Employee?
Great video
Thank you for watching!
Good...🇬🇧👍
As always, thank you for watching Glenn! I really appreciate it!
I soaked mine in mineral spirits for a week to get the cosmolin off.
Seems like a faster headstart.
Very nice work
Thank you for watching!
Bad ass video!
Thank you for watching!
I’m not trying to split hairs here: but, if you’re not refinishing it, wouldn’t it simply be conservation, rather than restoration? After all, you didn’t restore it to as issued condition, it’s just a really good deep cleaning.
Fair enough. With all that cosmoline (which I can still smell if I close my eyes and think about it) if was certainly “restored” to firing condition as it certainly wouldn’t have been safe to use in its previous condition. The stock was refinished and some of the blueing was stripped and reblued. I guess it’s a fair argument that unless everything is stripped 100% and redone it’s not a true restoration. I can see that side of it. In any event, I appreciate you checking out my video, and I hope you have a great weekend!
Awesome job!! +1 sub , super educational video
Thanks Caleb! I’m glad the video was helpful to you! Thanks for watching and thanks for the sub! Have a good one!
Private has not been cleaning his weapon
Lol
If you want to improve the rifle, safety-wise, you might want to take a look at this video on (slightly) modifying the sear: th-cam.com/video/KMSEWSDeprQ/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Canadian_Tactical I've found the steps suggested greatly improved the operation of mine. Smoothing the grooves in the sear and the rails the sear rides on also helps.
Great suggestions! Maybe I’ll make a follow up video! Thank you for watching!
PSA RIFLE?
It is, but from the batch before the last one to come in. It was $299 back then. Thank you for watching!
@@RestoreThis the good ole days, with the ammo to go along with it! Hah! How does it shoot?
@SteveVi0lence it shoots great. No FTF, FTE, slam fires, Cycling issues, etc. poa matches poi reasonably well. It’s a keeper for sure!
Dayum!
Thank you for watching! I appreciate your support!
SKS SIMONOV SEMI AUTOMATIC RIFLE 7,62 Χ39
Better than being bubbed.
Haha Amen!
Any operation that involves cold blue on a surplus rifle is being bubba'd
You really didn't need to remove the old blue you could have blued over it
Hi Joe! Thank you for watching! This was my first time bluing so I just followed the directions on the package. They had me go scorched earth on it!
@@RestoreThis haha nice it did come out nice
Thank you!
I did the same to mine about 30 years ago. Typical Chinese ska rifle. I probably fired 30 to 40 thousand rounds with out a single jam or miss fire slam fire or failure to eject a spent case. Firing pin rattled from new.
They are really fun rifles! Thank you for stopping by!
Good job, comrade 🤣
Wanna drink vodka?)
Lol! Thank you for watching!
That's a gorgous bluing job
Thanks! First time trying it and it went pretty well. It’s held up great too!
Where is your location
Hello! Thank you for checking out my video! I’m located in central Florida on the east coast.