So I purchased a u-fix-em Yugo SKS from Century

[bkraft]

EDIT: ADDED PICS OF TEAR DOWN BEFORE CLEANING BELOW 10/6

I know, I know... I should know better than to post this when I haven't taken pics yet, but I've got a lot of work to do today. No time for more than a quick field strip and inspection at this point.

So far, I'm feeling really good about the $199 price tag.

I was surprised when unpacking to find that the $199 included the sling, ammo pouches, oil pouch, ect.

Initial inspection revealed a chamber flag sticking out of the bolt, which, upon pulling the bolt back, was broken off with the plastic strip stuck up the barrel. Nothing a cleaning rod won't push out.

The front sight pin is missing.

The spring on the mag has very little tension. (When you pull the release, it barely falls out of the way.) This could just be cosmo in the spring gumming it up. The whole stock is sticky with it. All in all, I don't care as I bought this to fit into a Tapco stock w/ Tapco mags and make 922r compliant.

Fieldstripping revealed that someone had put the bolt return spring in backwards.

The trigger needs some attention. Sometimes it will engage the sear and trip the hammer, sometimes it simply clicks over it without engaging. I haven't removed the trigger group yet so not sure whats going on here. I suppose it could just be completely gummed up with cosmo, but I have a feeling I might need to do more work there.

The wood is better than I expected. It has good color/grain and only a few dings. Probably clean up to VG. (Though I won't be using it.)

No cleaning kit in the buttstock. Grenade launcher, bayo, night sights and grenade sight all intact and in place.

Gas piston and valve appear to be in good shape. Though I won't really now till I can do a little work to it and get it to the range.

Don't know what the bore looks like yet. I need to get a cleaning rod and push the broken chamber flag out and then have a look. From the cosmo on this thing, though, my gut feeling is that the bore is probably going to be dark and I'm not going to be able to see much until I have time to go through this thing and really do some cleaning.


All in all, I'm feeling like it was $199 well spent at this point.

I'll follow up in a few days with pics and anything else I find.

 

[km04]

You got it from their website?
Can't wait to see before and after pics. Don't keep us waiting too long.

 

[bkraft]

Yes, order was placed totally through their website. They've already have a copy of my FFL03 for some time. I added the rifle to my cart and checked out. Processing took two days. Delivery two more. So four days from ordering to my door. Century has posted that there is a $2 fee on u-fix-ems. But they never charged me this.

Shipping was $12.95 UPS Ground.


I will get pics up as quickly as I can. I'm anxious to tear it down, clean it and really see whats going on with it. Just busy as heck with work today.

 

[KMK1862]

I hope it goes well for you. I once purchased a Mauser in rough shape for the cost of a M91/30. I knew it needed some work, but it ended up costing me a bit more than I had hoped to restore it and bring it back to a safe firing condition.

 

[Markp]

My yugo you fix it needed minimal work and has been a great little shooter. These are usually decent deals.

 

[j8064]

Looking forward to pics and further updates.

Sometimes the Century U-Fix-Em's can be good deals. A while back I bought a CZ-82 from them cheap. All it needed was a slide stop and spring...easy to get and install.

 

[ETH092]

i figure you may have to chip out a few bucks to make it like new, but good deal overall

 

[fivepointstar]

a project SKS....I like the idea!!

 

[Half-cocked]

Wow, I just looked at C's website... $300 for a "Good" M59/66!!! I should have stocked up back when they were $180 for unissued ones!

 

[bkraft]

Haha, yeah, you and me both.

Thats why I'm feeling good about the $199 for this parts gun. I'm fairly confident I can get it back in working original military configuration for a lot less than $100 if I wanted to, which makes this a good deal.

Of course, my reasoning for buying a u-fix-em gun was that I have a Tapco stock and mags and want to go the route of removing the bayonet, grenade launcher and sight and building a 922r compliant rifle. Thus, I thought it better to start from a u-fix-em type gun. I'll probably have more than $300 in this rifle when it's done, but that will be from choice, not from necessity.


Pics are coming, I promise

Depending on how this work week is unfolding, I'll update with pics either on Thursday or Saturday if not before.

 

[QuebecoisWolf]

Fieldstripping revealed that someone had put the bolt return spring in backwards.

File photo of the last soldier to be issued your rifle:

 

[bkraft]

OK, as promised, pics below. This thing is so sticky, I feel like I just field stripped a pine tree. All of these pics are before cleaning. I was tearing it down to start the cleaning process.



With the lighting and angles it was really difficult to get a bore pic. But, as I expected, it is dark, somewhat shiny, and appears to have good dark rifling.

Totally broken down and ready to begin cleaning.

You can really see teh accumulation of crud in the spring of the gas valve.

Sight pin is missing.

As I mentioned, it arrived with a Chamber flag broken off in the barrel.

This picture is, again, before cleaning. It shows my other Yugo that I posted a thread about a couple weeks ago on top with the Century U-Fix-Em Yugo on the bottom. The dark line on the end of the stock looks to be where someone dripped some varnish.

Otherwise... Blueing looks like it's probably going to clean up to about 80%. The only other thin I found during disasembly was that the cleaning rod, though present, was bent. Made it a little difficult to get it removed.

I don't see anything immediately wrong with the trigger group. That may be a good thing. I'll give it a thourough cleaning to remove the cosmo, then retest it for function. If it's still giving me trouble, I'll tear it down completely after that.

 

[bkraft]

And after the initial cleaning...

Both the problem with the mag and the problem with the trigger group I found on first inspection of the gun were caused by cosmo simply packed into every spring and mechanical grouping.

A soaking for 2 hours in mineral spirits followed by a liberal spraying of break free loosened everything up. I was then able to brush it all clean and lube with some Rem Oil. Both mag and trigger are 100% now.

So, after a good cleaning, I see no wear of the gas valve or piston and everything seems functional. Obviously I haven't gotten to the range yet, but it looks to me like I have a fully functional rifle minus the front sight pin for $199.

Looks like it was arsenally refurbished and force stamped to numbers matching at that time. All parts seem to have the same serial number stamped on them, but they also all have differnt numbers that don't match. (Unlike my other Yugo that had a second set of matching numbers).

So all thats left is to go to the range, try it out, and then start tearing it down for fitting to the Tapco stock.

 

[garber38]

Told you so!! we coulda had a whole crate of consecutive #'s. Har-de-har-har-har

 

[Half-cocked]

Sweet! By the way, flip up the "night-sight" in front of the front sight post, as well as the one on the rear sight, and you can use that mode to shoot reasonably well.

Told you so!! we coulda had a whole crate of consecutive #'s. Har-de-har-har-har

 

[bkraft]

Thanks, I knew of the flip up sights. I'm probably going to be installing a Tech Sight on the rear when it gets in it's new stock and some form of filament front sight anyway, so no biggie there.

 

[BLACKTALON]

Wow, I just looked at C's website... $300 for a "Good" M59/66!!! I should have stocked up back when they were $180 for unissued ones! [/QUOT
I did lol got 3 when they were 100 pc.