Howdy guys.. Had an interesting (and not in a good way) happening with my new (to me) Yugo SKS, and wondered if any of the great minds out there had any ideas on what, how, and why.. Got the rifle in fair condition and I did an ok job spiffing it up and degunking it prior to it's first outing.  I fired about 300 rounds of wolf FMJ total, including one fired with the gas port switched off for giggles.  The gun functioned flawlessly, and I spent some time marvelling at what nifty popguns were made by communist running-dog lackeys. Took it home, cleaned it out.
 Took it out a second time, and let a friend's girlfriend fire a magazine.  I then reloaded it and proceeded to fire off a mag. On the second shot, I felt something sting my nose. I looked around, checked chamber and spent casing, and shrugged it off as crappy russian unburnt powder flying around.  I finished the mag and tried to safe the weapon, and surprise..The safety lever was broken off where it protruded from the trigger group.  The nub was still in there, I finegled it with pliers to "safe", and haven't fired it since. Thank god it was me and not her.  She's got a big head ;)
 In the interim, I tried to order a new safety lever (and spring too, what the hell) from sksman.com.. Called him regarding the order today, and he told me he was out of the standard, he'd have to send an ambidextrous. Said he hadn't sold many at all 'till the Yugos started coming in, then he sold out but quick.

 So.. My question.  Does anyone have any idea what actually happened?  Is this really a common problem with the Yugos?  The safety seemed ok, and I didn't notice any stress marks.. Hell, I didn't even know the part would be under enough pressure to do that at any point in the firing cycle. Figured it was just a switch.  What gives?