My buddy picked up a Yugo SKS today and after degreasing it of cosmoline and cleaning it up a bit we took it out to the range. Put 40 rounds of Wolf through it, as well as 20 of a similar "green" steel cased brand. The Wolf failed to cleanly extract about 30/40 shots, with the cases being caught in the action and having to be manually removed. With the brandless "hunting hollowpoints" it properly extracted 15/20 times. The cartridges fed perfectly and went bang when they were supposed to, but the extraction issues have rendered it a bolt action. Any one else have similar problems or know of any solutions? Thanks for any advice.

My buddy picked up a Yugo SKS today and after degreasing it of cosmoline and cleaning it up a bit we took it out to the range. Put 40 rounds of Wolf through it, as well as 20 of a similar "green" steel cased brand. The Wolf failed to cleanly extract about 30/40 shots, with the cases being caught in the action and having to be manually removed. With the brandless "hunting hollowpoints" it properly extracted 15/20 times. The cartridges fed perfectly and went bang when they were supposed to, but the extraction issues have rendered it a bolt action. Any one else have similar problems or know of any solutions? Thanks for any advice.

I'm going to guess here that you meant ejection (kicking the case out of the action) rather than extraction (pulling the case from the chamber), other wise it wouldn't work as a straight-pull bolt action...with no extraction, you'd have had to knock each empty out with a rod from the muzzle or pried it out with a hook.

IF I'm right, and the extraction and ejection happen fine when worked by hand...then one of two things is happening when fired to cause it to fail to eject.

First: The gas system may be gummed up with old cosmoline. Complete cleaning. What many SKS owners forget is that there is spring loaded rod runing back and forth under the rear sight...the gas piston pushes against this rod...can have a clean gas assembly and a clean action, but if this rod is gummed up or jammed, it won't run right. Take it apart and see if that rod (which is actyually waht connects the gas piston to the bolt) moves.

On a Yugo...take apart the gas cut off...and clean the gas vent. That's the hole that goes from the taop tube to the barrel (it taps into the barrel itself). Just be sure it is clean with nothing blocking the vent. When puttig it back together, be sure the cut-off allows the gas to travel to the piston head.

Second, the gun my be short cycling when fired semi-auto...the bolt doesn't go back far enough to eject or load a new round. That could be from a gas leak tapping off the energy needed to run the bolt. Yugos have the added complication of that gas cut off button. One simple test: Cover the whole gas assembly with clean white cloth and fire a round or two....if it's leaking, it will leave evidence (ther is a vent hole that is supose to leak...but it's back on the gas tube and won't leak until the piston has traveled far enough to cycle).

Is also possible that the piston isn't making a very good seal with the inside of the gas tube...or the Yugo's gas cutoff is assembled wrong and it's not allwowing free gas travel.

One last check...if the etractor is weak or well worn, the case heads could be slipping out before full travel...but usually that will just make a feeding jam, with the new round trying to chamber before the fired round clears.

Need to add one more simple one: the chamber could be a bit rough. You'd think that would apply to both manual operation and semi-auto operation, but it may not. The case expands while it contains pressure and contracts after that pressure drops...it may not be contracting at the time the bolt tried to extract it (there is still some pressure in the system until the case has been moved back a little bit).

So, fired semi-auto it may be being "stuck" by a rough chamber, but hand cycling when there is no doubt the pressure is gone and the case contracted.

Check the chamber for roughness, fouling, or pits from past corrosive ammo use (which by itself is no big deal...but failure to clean correctly after corrosive ammo use is a big deal).

Ha! I can't believe I mislabeled the problem, I'll just blame it on the time posted. The casings come out with severe neck damage, but I am unaware if this is common with steel cased Russian.

Ha! I can't believe I mislabeled the problem, I'll just blame it on the time posted. The casings come out with severe neck damage, but I am unaware if this is common with steel cased Russian.

Suspect that the round is being extracted part way, and then being rechambered...and movement out and then back in (perhaps getting crunched a bit) seems like the best bet. IF they were damaged on the way in, seems like they wouldn't fully chamber becasue of the damage...so am betting on the partial extract/rechamber idea.

Bolt can't be getting blwon all the way back or you'd be picking up a round from the magazine and ramming it into the non-ejected case.

The Yugos are the ones seeming to give more trouble about this than the other types...and the only differnce in a Yugo is that gas cut-off button. Take her apart...gas tube out...check that spring loaded rod that runs under the sight base and through the reciver (it fits flush on both sides...but you can see it and push on it to see if if moves). Check that gas cut-off...is pretty easy to get out once the gas tube and piston are removed...turn it to vertical (which is gas cut off...to cycle, it should be in the slot to the right)...with the gas prison and tube removed, can prss it down and move it to the back, where the locking button is free to pop up and out.

With the gas cut off in hand, can see the vent running into the barrel (it's at an angle, and kid of hidden under where the gas cut off sits). Be sure it is clear.

If it was like most Yugos, it was well coated with cosmoline in the past and put away for years...that stuff gets thicker and thicker with time. Usually the importer just cleans off the outside a bit, but doesn't get into the insides to remove that nasty hardened cosmoline (lets assume it's comsomline...it's a brown thick shine-o-la type substance...and is supect that Yugoslavians can't tell shine-o-la from other brown products).

Might try changing brands of ammunition, I have problems with the Wolf brand 9MM not having enough power for my Lugers, and causing the same types of jams.

Lee L.

I have had similar issues with my yugo. A good cleaning helped, but didn't cure. It happends once every 100 or so rounds, so i can deal with it.

Found a decent deal at a show and walked out with a nice Yugo of my own. Took it home, disassembled it and dropped it into mineral spirits and took a toothbrush and rags to it. Gas switch is in right position, but the gun extracts the spent case from the chamber but doesn't have enough power to shoot the case all the way out. I heard that I can wrap some thin wire around the nipple of the gas assembly and this is an effective solution to my problem. I've got the assembly taken off and the inner tube taken out, but I'm not sure what I need to wrap really. At the least I'd like to try it out before I spend the money on a new gas assembly. On a side note, my friends' functions now, and he's convinced it has to do with the heavy oil job he did to the bolt and interacting parts. Any advice on what to wire up? Still an excellent purchase even if I have to use the gas cutoff and make it a bolt gun, so far its been hitting everything I aim at. Thanks for any help.

Found a decent deal at a show and walked out with a nice Yugo of my own. Took it home, disassembled it and dropped it into mineral spirits and took a toothbrush and rags to it. Gas switch is in right position, but the gun extracts the spent case from the chamber but doesn't have enough power to shoot the case all the way out. I heard that I can wrap some thin wire around the nipple of the gas assembly and this is an effective solution to my problem. I've got the assembly taken off and the inner tube taken out, but I'm not sure what I need to wrap really. At the least I'd like to try it out before I spend the money on a new gas assembly. On a side note, my friends' functions now, and he's convinced it has to do with the heavy oil job he did to the bolt and interacting parts. Any advice on what to wire up? Still an excellent purchase even if I have to use the gas cutoff and make it a bolt gun, so far its been hitting everything I aim at. Thanks for any help.

Test first. Ugly as the devil, but enopugh wraps of thick old-style friction tape will last long enough to either proove or disproove the gas tube's fit as part of your problem. IF it helps, then try to thin wire ring (kind of like a piston ring...should be one lap, cut so the ends butt up). There is a definate "race" machined into the system where the gas tube mates with the bas block...got to figure that machine work was for a reason, but NONE of the Yugos seen so far have any kind of seal on that race as delivered.

Personally, I'd clean it again (you'd be surprised how long after a "complete" cleaning, old dry Cosmoline continues to liquify and work it's way out of the action's nooks and mating surfaces) and then shoot it again.

Thanks for the reply. Which part of the gas tube am I to wire though? The metal to which the outer holder of the gas tube latched onto, near the end of the barrel going away from the trigger? Or one of the ends of the wood topped gas assembly itself?

Edit: In my opinion, its over oiling, but I put a good amount on the bolt and interacting parts and went through 120 shots with only five jams total, compared with nearly the opposite the other session. I am still interested in wiring the gas tube if that might force more gas towards ejection. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. Which part of the gas tube am I to wire though? The metal to which the outer holder of the gas tube latched onto, near the end of the barrel going away from the trigger? Or one of the ends of the wood topped gas assembly itself?

Edit: In my opinion, its over oiling, but I put a good amount on the bolt and interacting parts and went through 120 shots with only five jams total, compared with nearly the opposite the other session. I am still interested in wiring the gas tube if that might force more gas towards ejection. Thanks.

If you think you must, then where the gas tube meeds to gas block on the barrel...the gas block is the part with the cut-off button. May notice a groove cut in the part that the gas tube slips over...that groove is a race for some type of ring, none of which have come though with that ring in place.

Got it, and it sure does look like an O ring of some sort should be there. Thanks a lot. This was an excellent buy, even with the problems experienced. At about 75 yards it hits my targets everytime offhand. Once I figure out the sights I may try something with a higher level of difficulty.

Got it, and it sure does look like an O ring of some sort should be there. Thanks a lot. This was an excellent buy, even with the problems experienced. At about 75 yards it hits my targets everytime offhand. Once I figure out the sights I may try something with a higher level of difficulty.

Wonder if an "O" ring would last very long....I did place a copper ring, cut to just butt up and compress to allow the tube to go into place (stripped wire...tried several and do not remember the gauge used)...but it was just a little project, the rifle worked without that ring in place and still works with it in place...didn't notice any changes in extraction, ejection, or how far the cases landed.

Mine did come with the operating rod (that's the part that is spring loaded and runs under the rear sight...the end of the gas piston pushes on it, and it pushed the bolt back) clogged with old thick grease. Some soaking, blowing it out, and soaking again, got it freely moving...from then on, no problems.

Whats the purpose of the hollowed out hole in the rear of the stock, with the little "door" that is visible through the rubber buttpad?

Whats the purpose of the hollowed out hole in the rear of the stock, with the little "door" that is visible through the rubber buttpad?

Originally there was a two-picece metal contatiner...kind of like a big capsule. In it were some cleaning tools...a jag and brush for the cleaning rod and a pin pounch/gas port cleaner. At the bottom of the hole is a spring...idea was the trapdoor woold push the capsule against the spring, just allowing the trap door to relase the capsule...at rest, the spring kept the capsule from rattling around.

Think these are availble sperately if you've the urge to put one in there....in real life, the cleaning rod is a bit too short for full stroke.
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To your original post: take a good hard look at the fired cases (so long as they were not reloads) to see if they give you any clues...looking for rub marks, scratches, gouges to indicate there they are drab\gging on something as they try to extact and eject.