I may have been the first person in YEARS to take my SKS apart and clean it. And it was quite nasty inside. I watched 2 videos before taking it apart and I thought I had it covered.
Then I hit myself in the crotch with the recoil spring. Be careful of that. I cleaned the grease, dirt, scum, crud off the metal parts off with some acetone, I know, don't do that, there are better cleaners and I won't use it in the future. But it is what I had handy and I didn't have anything better handy. And now the nasty parts are clean dry parts. I ran a brush through the bore and then oiled patches through the bore. I lightly oiled up the parts with Hoppes #9 oil and re-assembled. And back on the rack it went.
The Savage .22 was much easier to clean. But it should be since it is a bolt action.
Then I hit myself in the crotch with the recoil spring. Be careful of that. I cleaned the grease, dirt, scum, crud off the metal parts off with some acetone, I know, don't do that, there are better cleaners and I won't use it in the future. But it is what I had handy and I didn't have anything better handy. And now the nasty parts are clean dry parts. I ran a brush through the bore and then oiled patches through the bore. I lightly oiled up the parts with Hoppes #9 oil and re-assembled. And back on the rack it went.
The Savage .22 was much easier to clean. But it should be since it is a bolt action.