Ah, I was waiting months for this part of the story to occur. Based on past history. No, not telling details.
Anyhoo, back to the Old Man Murray Firing Pin Vs. The Original.
We caught ALL of the cases. We were meticulous about this. MOST ended up in the canvas bag. A few we had to chase, including one that comically burst forth and flew 10 yards straight downrange, for no reason I can figure.
Brown bear and Ulyanovsk. 20 rounds of each. No popped primers.
The original Soviet firing pin strikes perfectly. Not too deep, not too soft. Just right.
Ah, but what about the Tula, which is notorious for being cheaply manufactured bullshit ammo, assembled by starving peasants in Mother Russia?
Every single one went bang, and no popped primers. (Also, I’ve been shooting Tula in various calibers for years, and think they get a bad rap for no reason.)
So. What does this mean?
I am not installing another Old Man Murray firing pin in my SKS, and I will be asking for a refund. And if Murray offers me a chance to pound sand on that refund, then hey. So be it.
Was this a scientific test? Nope. Too many variables were out of control. Could I have somehow gotten a batch of bad ammo that caused the spring to melt from popped primers? Definitely.
But that’s just it. I tore the bolt of my rifle apart upon returning home from the test. No melted pieces of primer or spring. The pin channel and pin itself were barely dirty (although the chamber and mag well of the rifle are positively filthy from this Russian shit. Then again, this was 80 rounds, an amount of ammo I would never need to blow off in a “real life” situation unless I decided to grab my SKS, head to a police station, and unlock the Five Star Spree Killing Dickhead achievement, which is about as likely as me deciding to nail my foot to the side of a pissed off walrus). No detritus at all. Why? Because the original Soviet pin is free floating, and has no spring to melt.
The OMM pin apparently popped primers on the same kind of ammo I normally shoot. This caused the spring to melt. Bad ammo or not, there was no problem with the original floating pin. The melted spring literally caused my rifle to not function any more. That, to me, is kind of a big fucking deal. Reliability, more than accuracy or sturdiness, is the mainstay of what I expect from my firearms. The OMM spring totally stopped a rifle from working. I’m not okay with that. If you click this link, OMM claims that this “upgrade” will “Make your SKS safer and more reliable!” That’s the exact opposite of what I experienced. What the spring-loaded pin did was fail, and fail in such a way that my rifle was neither safer, nor more reliable. Well, I guess that’s not 100% true – the rifle was VERY safe, because it would no longer function properly at all. And it was reliably unable to fire in that regard.
TL;DR: The Murray Firing Pin pops primers, and this causes it to fail. Save your money, and just stick with the floating pin that your SKS comes with. Unless you LIKE digging melted spring steel out of your bolt.
Arguments below.
….For some reason, I’m not surprised.
Well at least she’s going to hear it from Mick. Normally this would still cause a massive shitstorm (to our amusement), we’ll see how it goes with Alex. After all she does consider her boots up the rectum to be a valid form of I.D.
Alex seems to have her shit in one sock – unlike Mick. But he’s trying… and I suspect hell get a few points for that at least.
Still think he’s going to wind up paying a heavy price.
“I already know you fucked up because Heidi emailed me a video of it.”
Hey, let’s talk about Grand Theft Auto V! 😀
Glad he’s being a man about it!
I considered a spring loaded firing pin in my SKS for a while after reading stories of gunked-up firing pin channels causing uncontrollable-full-auto-until-empty scenarios, but the way I always looked at it is: Clean your freakin’ rifle, you won’t have any problems. Looks like that’s really the advice to live by. Be meticulous about cleaning. Don’t try to take shortcuts and fix something that isn’t technically broken. Thanks for the test results! I’ll definitely keep my free-floating pin just the way it is.
duck and cover! duck and cover!!
Better question. Did he cover his dick. Remember, he wasn’t going to fuck.
My life is lived at the worst case level.
Hopefully he’s got condoms in his emergency bag, next to the toothpaste and extra pair of underwear.
Then again, if he’s bringing his overnight bag to go see his ex, it’s hard to pass off as an accident.
I think his Overnight Bag may be standard equipment in his vehicle. I know I carry one, depsite almost never having needed to use it. ‘Cause you never know, and once or twice, I *have* needed it.
a decent 72 hour kit should be standard issue in your car. It’s not hard to toss a change of clothes, a first aid kit and a few MRE’s into a bag, along with a water purifier of some kind.
Never know when you could get stuck or in a wreck in the middle of no where, among other SHTF scenarios.
Bingo. I keep exactly that in my trunk.
Add a couple ‘space blankets,’ some signaling devices, an entrenching tool (well, that’s technically not *in* the bag), a hundred yards of para-cord, and some fire-starting materials, and yeah, you have my kit.
I can live out of my car for a week.
Fates! Be kind to Mick.
This cannot end well. I’m envisioning Alex unlocking the Five Star Spree Killing Achievement, followed by nailing Mick’s dick to the side of a pissed off walrus.
You’re right – not a scientific test at all, and you’re making claims that don’t appear to have hard evidence to support (popped primers – did you see any during the original event? Did you even look? You only have OMM’s assertion that popped primers caused the melting).
That said, you certainly have evidence that the OEM pin is entirely adequate and 100% functional. And equally hard evidence that for whatever cause, OMM’s part failed horribly and made your weapon malfunction. Badly. Indeed, I avoid as much as possible ‘drop-in’ ‘upgrade’ parts for that very reason; they’re almost always less-thoroughly tested than the OEM parts. My weapons are largely bog-standard straight-from-the-factory vanilla. Because that means they work.
“Working” is the bottom line.
OMM claimed the problem was not bad material in the spring, but popped primers from bad ammo. This test showed that under normal conditions (i.e. the numbers-matching firing pin) this is not an issue that is likely to be a problem.
So if there were popped primers, it was because of the OMM spring and pin. The failure could still be due to popped primers, but the popping is most probably a result of the OMM gear, not the ammo.
End result is the same – the OMM firing pin made the weapon unusable. Whether it is due to shitty material used in the manufacture of the spring, or the firing pin being seated too far forward and causing popped primers is entirely unimportant at this point.
Well, yes – OMM’s part is the common factor in the failure – that *is* the conclusion, as I noted above. You just don’t know *why* it’s the point of failure.
*shrug*
As previously noted, I’m a dork for complete answers. But whatever – it’s clear that the OEM firing pin is everything the rifle needs.
I know this is a very simplistic question to ask, but were you able to compare firing pin protrusion between the original and the Murray? I’m wondering if it might have needed a shave or to be “blunted” a bit. Either way – I was also going to mention that even the Soviets started with a spring and ditched it. I’m sure it was a cost savings move, but obviously they felt they didn’t need it. Makes you wonder if they had similar failure mechanisms.
I have had three SKS’s come through my collection and all have been fanatically reliable without any mods at all. Absolutely love those little terds!
Since Alex is somewhat of a paleface, I’m envisioning a red-white-and-blue threesome.
Correction — MICK is a paleface.
I don’t remember anything about Alex and Mick being a couple. I think that Alex is just having fun with Mick and he is reading too much into it. I don’t see her in a committed relationship unless it’s an open one.
Indeed, Polyamory FTW.
This is true, but you gotta give the boy props for being open about it in a situation where he might be as unsure about things between them as we all seem to be. If Alex ends up being cool with it, awesome (though I see her maybe giving him a bit of a hard time about it). If not, then he won’t have the guilt weighing down on him if things were to get more serious between them.
That’s what I thought. That, and she invited Mick to that party – she was going to go anyway, she just invited him to come along, so what were her plans that night if he said no?
Even if you rule out “you had sex with someone besides me, ergo I am pissed off out of jealousy”, you’ve still got to factor in “you had sex with HER, AGAIN, ergo you are demonstrably stupid and I am pissed off out of contempt”. 🙂
Yeah, pretty sure she’s going to berate him for sticking his dick back in the crazy, fail to see what the BFD is since he used a condom (because Mick isn’t *that* dumb), and then berate him again for thinking their relationship is committed/monogamous/whatever.
exactly. remember her introduction at the coffee shop??
“I’m poly, so I wouldn’t have thought you were cheating on me. But you did think so, and did it anyway. Thanks for letting me know how much I can (not) trust you.”
Kudos to Mick for being honest bout this mess anyway. You weave an evil web for there poor flies.
Dittos about Mick being honest with his dumbassery. This seems like one of those fusterclucks that we all have to do ourselves, there’s no way to learn this from watching someone else’s mistakes.
I think the problem with the SKS is that folks try to turn it into something it’s not by modding the hell out of it (altho the slamfires from the upside-down ChiCom firing pin is related: not paying attention to detail when you took it apart, then throwing the pieces back together). Instead of shoving a 30-round mag into it and a folding stock, get yourself an AK; similar with slapping a scope on it to pretend you’ve got a sniper rifle. Leave it alone, as Comrade Simonov intended, and it’ll work just fine; monkey with it beyond normal cleaning, and you’ll have trouble. I have no idea if my Sino-Soviet SKS has that easily mixed-up firing pin or not, because I’ve never felt the need to take apart the firing pin assembly for that level of cleaning.inspection, since it works just fine for me. (It probably does, all the more reason to leave it the F alone.) If I ever want to clean that, I’ll drop it into boiling water (I suppose I could do it GI-style, use a canteen cup), then a little oil once it’s air-dried, but that’s it. I’m not a qualified armorer, nor do I play one on TV, and I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Isn’t is amazing how many aftermarket “upgrades” we buy simply because it seems like an improvement? Your whole process with the firing pin has clearly been a PITA, but I’m glad you have it ironed out now. Hopefully OMM will politely issue a refund for the parts, whether errant or simply unlucky.
Likely outcome: Alex feels betrayed after ‘opening up’ to Mick and throws a tantrum.
Good outcome: Alex says they were casual anyway and had never agreed to an exclusive relationship.
Best outcome: Alex suggests bringing Heidi along next time for a threesome.
Amazing. The original designer made the best compromise for long term functionality using craapy dirty ammo without spare parts depot nearby… (insert sarcasm tag here)
That’s not an uncommon thing in old Eastern block hardware.
http://www.m1-garand-rifle.com/ivan-chesnokov.php
SURE, IS ONLY YUGOSLAV COPY TYPE BUT IS STILL PROUD DESIGN OF SERGEI SIMONOV. THIS IS LIKE SENDING HIM BIRTHDAY CARD WITH SEVERED OFF THUMB OF DAUGHTER IN ENVELOPE. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERGEI! I PISS ON ALL YOU CREATE!” LARGE MOUND FORMS OVER SIMONOV’S GRAVE BY CONSTANT TUMBLING OF HIS ANGRY CORPSE. IS FAULT OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU.
That is quite possibly the greatest gun-related writing ever written.
That is hilarious. Thank you.
Kudos to Mick for manning up. I actually predict Alex will be relatively ok with it, but we’ll see. Also, kudos to whoever wrote the message on the chalkboard. Finally, I actually LOLed at the mouseover text.
Since this storyline started, I have had the “Who put the dick on the snowman” song reworded as “Don’t put your dick in the crazy” running through my head
RIFLE IS FINE.
Annnnnnnd… The Cavalcade of Fuck-Ups continues
I’ve got two SKSs. The Norinco has been Bubbafied, and I’ve left the Yugo in the wood.