The SKS rifle was once the most popular surplus rifle in the USA, but various import laws and regulations put a damper on its importation. Regardless, these rifles are still quite popular around the country and in this video we show you how to rip yours apart.

Transcript …

– [Voiceover] Hey guys, it’s Alex C with TFBTV, and for today’s field strip we’re going to be stripping an SKS rifle.

The SKS was definitely the 90s surplus darling, you could buy these for 30 and $40 out of giant barrels at pretty much any gun show.

And, at that price point they really were a great value, however, today a nice example would set you back over 500 bucks which, to me, is just absurd, and the value is no longer there.

I really don’t know why you’d buy one of these, at that price, but that kind of besides the point.

This is a Chinese SKS.

There actually were some commercial SKSs made in the 90s, but maybe that’s for another episode of TFBTV.

Let’s go ahead and make sure this thing’s empty, by checking the chamber, see, there’s nothing in the chamber of the magazine.

Next up, to begin the field stripping process, pull this little lever up, 90 degrees and then pull out.

This will allow you to remove the dust cover from the rear.

At this point, you can pull the carrier to the rear, lift up and out, and separate the bolt from the carrier.

You’ll notice it kind of looks like an STG 44’s bolt and carrier arrangement.

From here on out, you’re going to grab this little doohickey here and pull it up.

I actually use the firing pin to help, ’cause they can be a little stubborn, sometimes people use a bullet tip or a flat head, but I’ve always found this is pretty easy to do.

Pull that up and then pull the top hand guard off, and pull the piston out from the front.

Set those aside for cleaning.

Now, again with that little lever, grab it and pull it all the way up.

Then, you can pull the op rod out from under the rear site, and separate the spring from the op rod.

Now, there you go, you have a fully field stripped Simonov carbine, or SKS rifle, as they’re sometimes called.

These are fun shooting guns, I remember when 7.62×39 was very cheap and it was imported from China.

It was the business, these things were, like I said earlier, a terrific value.

However, it’s just not the case anymore, unfortunately they’re just not being imported anymore.

They’re still quite a good buy in Canada, where there is no 89 and subsequent Norinco import ban.

It is what it is here in the States, and it kind of sucks but, anyways, I hope you enjoyed this video and we hope to see you next time.

(gun fires multiple times) (removes magazine) (replaces magazine)