Shorten SKS barrel

[Moondog1]

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.)

I hacksawed a mosin barrel and it shot as normal as it did before I cut it. Like 12" targets at 250 yards with a scope was very easy with very bad ammo.

Is it a pain to get to the gas port hole? I wouldn't be afraid to just drill it a little bit and reassemble and see what happens?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Yeah, I've hacksawed only one rifle barrel before,
and it turned out OK. I went from 22" down to 16.2" on a Glenfield model 25.

Although my average group size did go up a little bit after the cut,
I cannot tell whether that was due to how I performed the cutting and finishing and re-crowning of that muzzle,
or whether the issue was simply barrel harmonics.

Every rifle barrel has some oscillation as the bullet slides through it,
and this whipsaw effect will change with barrel length or when extra weight is added to or removed from a gun's muzzle end.
Removing 6" of steel barrel could have changed the harmonics & the node points of its movement and thus induced a slight loss of accuracy.

It was still worth it, though.
That 22 rifle became a lot handier to carry in the woods and just to transport around in vehicles. I'll accept the fact that it went from a gun capable of head-shooting a squirrel at 50 yards to a gun that needs to do body shots on squirrels and crows at 50 yards.

 

[BEREZKA]

Sell me your fsb lol

 

[Wudee]

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.

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

 

[ROTAM]

Not sure it’d work the same on an SKS but shortening the barrel after the gas block will reduce dwell time like on an AR. I’m also not sure if Paratroopers had larger gas ports to make up for this.

Cool project though.

Why would it be any different?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

From what I'm reading from various internet range reports, videos, and gun chat sites, it's pretty risky to chop the barrel on an SKS. Many guns so modified need the gas port opened up, and/or the recoil spring weakened.
So that you get MORE pressure working on that piston, even if you get it for a shorter duration of time.

I'm probably not going to pursue this.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

How's this idea for a concept gun:

Factory built pump-action / slide action version of the SKS.
15-round internal magazine (non-detachable, only sticks out 1.5" more than the standard ten-round internal mag.)
Has a folding ghost ring rear peep sight, a short scope base welded or screwed to the barrel just forward of the receiver, and a fiber-optic front sight that folds down.
Barrel would come in two options
1-- a 13" rifled barrel with a 3" long permanently attached flash hider or muzzle brake.
2-- a 16" barrel, threaded for suppressors or other muzzle accessories.

 

[jeffdt]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2171531815

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

You'll still need to crown the barrel if you want any semblance of accuracy.

Tell that to Colt... that their Pythons could not possibly have a semblance of accuracy
for lack of a muzzle crown.

 

[jeep78]

The crown serves to protect the end of the battle and rifling from handling damage.

A properly cut and dressed barrel does not need a crown for accuracy, but it is very easy to ding the muzzle and lose the accuracy.

The Mann device was usually fitted to uncrowned barrels.