On the Fri. after Thanksgiving, I bought an SKS at Dunham's Sporting Goods in Elyria, OH for $119.00. It was an open-at-6 a.m.-first-come-first-serve deal.  I was in line at 5:30, and I got the last SKS they had.

The hitch was that you couldn't see the rifle at that time. You had to make your commitment. Later in the day, they'd phone in the yellow paper, etc.

I picked it up that evening. Got it home and discovered the bore was very dark--and probably bigger than 7.62 mm.

I checked this site, and tried the 50/50 ammonia water & Brasso idea.

Didn't touch it.

I have an idea, but I thought I'd run it by you guys because chances are someone has tried this and discovered that it either works or destroys the barrell.

Anytime I have a rusted up piece of metal I need to restore, I soak it in Prestone.

After a few hours, it looks brand new.

I was thinking of running a swab through the barrell soaked in Prestone--or any brand of anti-freeze.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?

As it is, this rifle wouldn't hit the broad side of an anti-gun billboard, so I'm not sure it's not worth trying.

Any ideas?

This is kinda goofy, but one time [in band camp]...

I had an old Enfield that couldn't hit better than 6 inches at 100yards.  Just for the hell of it, I scrubbed the bore with "Fast Orange" pumiced hand cleaner.  Just a bit of the old "in/out, in/out."

It shoots 2-3 inches now, and it's shiny.

hmmm.

Fire lapping.  NECO makes kits are brownells sells the bullets pre-coated.  Do not know if it will be worth it for a 100 buck rifle.

I hit the same sale myself here in MI for my first Swiss K-31.

The line was long and slow-moving up-front, but the gun counter was totally empty, and the guys wprking back there let me hand-pick from the three they had.

A good day.

Why don't you try one of the various bore pastes first? J-B Bore Cleaning Compound or USP Bore Paste are two brands I know of. They are mildly abrasive and work very well.

Try using an RCBS Foul Out 2. If that doesn't work, aqua regia solves most problems.

I second the suggestion for JB.  It might take more time than fire-lapping, but should do OK if you're not in a rush.

I would suggest that you give it a good overnight soak in Hoppe's, then push out as much as you can.  Dry the bore.  Then give it a good scrub (back and forth, moving an inch or so farther down the bore each stroke) with JB.  Push out as much as you can to clear the bore.  

At this point, either soak it with Kroil if you've got it, or more Hoppe's.  Continue alternating the same way, with Hoppe's in the bore for overnights.  When the bore feels smooth to a gentle touch on the cleaning rod, the time for JB is over, and it's time to just use Hoppe's or a copper cutter for a while.  

If you suspect corrosive salts in the bore, alternate in some Windex or Simple Green, or mop it out with hot water.  Any of those should be immediately dried out though, followed by reapplication of a protective soak of Hoppe's.


I had really good luck doing this with a Turkish Mauser.  Looked like a sewer pipe inside, no visible rifling at all, after I pushed out the tar/cosmoline.  I spent three weeks cleaning it, each day pushing out the stuff loosened by the Hoppe's, then soaking with Kroil, doing something else for a while, then a quick patch to get the excess Kroil, then the JB scrub, then push out the remainders, then resoak with Hoppe's for the night.  Came out nice and shiny, with sharp rifling and a smooth mirrory bore.

Of course, 80 rounds of Turk 8mm ammo, with the silvery looking gilding metal on the bullets, and it was all nasty again, requiring another two days' cleaning on this regimen.  From now on, it gets only Greek surplus ammo.  

I was under the impression that SKS’s other than the Yugos had chrome plated bores, but maybe not.

Anyway, I’ve never heard of using antifreeze.  I wouldn’t think it would be corrosive since it’s used in engines, but I plain and simply don’t know.

The problem with a corroded bore (as opposed to a dirty one or one with copper in it) is that making it genuinely shiny again involves enlarging it a bit, which you definitely don’t want to do.

J-B Bore Paste should clean it up a bit without hurting anything.  (Or you might want to consider Remington Bore Cleaner, which you can probably get at Wal-Mart and is a little less messy to use.)  

While I seriously doubt it’s abrasive enough, you might even try toothpaste!  Probably a waste of time though.

Keep in mind that any chemicals or abrasives you put in the barrel may get into the gas port. When you’re finished, you might want to remove the handguard/gas cylinder tube assembly and clean it, the gas piston, port and such.

Other possibilities include using a stainless steel bore brush, which should clean out any rust pretty nicely.  It will scratch the bore, but it sounds like you’re past worrying about that.  This is probably what I’d try.

Supposedly even badly pitted barrels can shoot accurately when they are clean.  The problem is that they foul quickly and then become inaccurate.

Also, SKS bore diameters vary a bit as do the bullets loaded in 7.62X39 ammo.  If you experiment with different ammo, you might find something a bit more accurate than what you’re shooting now.  However, SKS’s aren’t generally tack drivers in the best of conditions.

Good luck in any event.  If you find anything that works well, let us know.

My first Yugo Mauser that I bought had a dark bore but good rifling. I used Sweets 7.62. I soaked the barrel and let it sit for about 10 min then run 2-3 patches thru then repeated.  It took some time ~50-60 patches but it finally came out clean and shiney.

Odds are the darkness is from someone shooting corrosive ammo and not cleaning it. Good luck.