Shorten SKS barrel

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I think I'd like to chop the barrel of my SKS rifle down.
Bob the barrel to 16.1', or maybe even less if I then weld on some steel muzzle accessory that brings the length to 16 inches or longer.
(Currently the SKS has the standard barrel, 19.5" or whatever a middle 1990's Norinco Chinese SKS had from the factory).

BUT, I want to retain the use of iron sights, so I'd need to replace the front sight, OR fabricate some other sight, or modify a front side made for some other kind of gun to serve on the end of this SKS' newly-shortened barrel.

I want this to be a D.I.Y. project, in my garage workshop with common tools, not a machine shop. But I have access to an electric arc welder.

How difficult would it be to save & reposition the front sight post?

Are there other kinds of front sight units I could buy and force-fit onto this gun?

And, how much do you think I could shorten the barrel before the gas port gets too close to the muzzle and thus the gas pressure won't last long enough (in time) to properly cycle the action? Reliably is important. Not looks, and not preserving the rifle as a collector's item.


The goal here is to create a rifle that is hardly any bigger than a Daisy BB gun (though heavier, of course), with a short and slim stock (standard issue, wood), the compact internal fixed 10-round magazine, and open sights. No optics. No laser. No tactical flashlight. Nothing big or bulky or snag-prone hanging off any part of this gun. Except a sling. I'll probably have that.

 

[patracy]

If you're wanting to retain the front sight as is with bayonet lug, this isn't going to work without a lathe. The barrel profile is stepped at the end for the bayonet/sight. Then there's the crowning for the barrel after you've cut it.

If you didn't want the bayo lug, you could chop down the front sight/bayo assembly into just the front sight. Then profile the barrel down to have the same shoulder. I'm not sure if there's enough meat in the front sight to bore it out to fit on the rest of the barrel OD.

There's probably some other front sight that could be used though. A clamp on style of sorts. Or maybe ream out the front sight section to the rest of the barrel profile OD. Then split it at the bottom and TIG/weld in a nut on one side and washer to the other to allow a screw to clamp it on.

There's some ghetto ways of recrowning a barrel too, I assume that you're not able to get the barrel out into a lathe.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

No, no lathe, so i can't turn down the barrel to match the inside diameter of the front sight / bayonet assembly.

I don't need a bayonet lug. This will be a light, handy little gun with no accessories attached to it.

Maybe I could cut off my front sight post from the sleeve and bayonet lug portion and just WELD it on the barrel, just forward of the gas tube? Perhaps combined with WELDING some steel bird cage flash suppressor on the end of what otherwise might be a 15" barrel.

 

[patracy]

I'd only even slightly consider that if you're talking TIG welding it. That's a lot of heat to affect the temper of the barrel in a localized section. How do you plan to re-crown the barrel?

I'd say the idea of removing the front sight, reaming it out to fit the barrel, split the base, then weld a nut and washer/plate to make a "clamp on" sight would be best. A square nut would probably fit well on it. Maybe two of them, the second drilled out to allow the screw to pass through on the other side.

 

[rumrunner55]

You should spare the poor sks and buy a paratrooper length one so you don’t have to Franken murder that one

 

[3clicks_Off]

This is gonna be a $700 plus build.

I'm a pro welder and googlized gunsmithing.
Trust me, look at my feedback bruh

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Some more info and specs.

The barrel is 20.5 inches long.
The 16 inch point on that barrel
(as measured per ATF's specifications
of dropping a dowel down the bore on
a closed chamber to strike the bolt face)

is approximately halfway between the gas block and the muzzle.

The barrel O.D. at a point just in front of the gas block is 0.63 inches
and gradually tapers to 0.61" at the 16 inch mark, before being
stepped-down to 0.56" in the area where the front sight assembly slides over it.

And, the front sight post sits 1.32" (or 33.46 mm) above the center of the bore.

 

[patracy]

Cheapest way is to mod the front sight like I mentioned. Mainly only costs time that way. How do you plan on cutting and crowning the barrel?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I'd only even slightly consider that if you're talking TIG welding it. That's a lot of heat to affect the temper of the barrel in a localized section. How do you plan to re-crown the barrel?

I would prefer to permanently attach (weld, continuous seam, steel on steel) a muzzle break like this. It's 2.75" long, so if it overlaps the factory barrel by 0.7" it will "add" over 2 inches of BATF- compliant barrel length.

With a muzzle accessory on the end, I would not crown the barrel at all.
I would leave it perfectly square after cutting it and cleaning up any burrs or tool marks. If the gun were to get dropped or banged into something muzzle-first,
my brake or comp or flash hider would take the impact, not the gun's true muzzle.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

... How do you plan on cutting and crowning the barrel?

If this were a shotgun or a 22 rifle made with normal steel, I'd use a hacksaw.

BUT, considering how hard Norinco barrel steel is, I think I would use a metal cutting blade in my chop saw. ( After building a wooden support for the barreled action so that the gun's barrel would be completely perpendicular to the cut and held steady during the cut.)