SKS Type 56 Carbine

[renegadecow]

Thanks. What's even more amazing is that I was able to free myself from playing Fallout all day and got to work some more, on a Saturday no less! More fine fitting and cut out the relief for mag and trigger guard.

Actually, the only reason why I stopped playing was that my brother came home and needed the use of the PC

[Maekl]

This thread is full of win Sir.

[Froztblade]

Your work is simply amazing Renegade. Simply amazing.

[Graeme]

Amazing work! (and thanks for my grips! I shall get pics up soon)

[bankz5152]

Cross Country Five! Wapang!

[renegadecow]

and thanks for my grips!

You got them already? Was expecting another week of waiting at the least.

 

Anyhow, to update this thread:

I've already shaped the stock and is coming out beautifully all except for the fact that the quality of plywood I got is bananas (more like the adhesive they used were stale old bananas). Despite already being a higher "marine" grade ply, I got layer separation on a good 3" of section, I found a lot of gaps and rotten out parts in the middle, and the stock is bent to the right but only by about 2~3mm. I'm still correcting for the bend (pressed against weights while damp) so won't be able to put up any pics until tomorrow when it's dry. Mind, they're supposed to be making boats out of this stuff!

[squale]

No more pics till tomorow noooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................................

[MotoSam]

I cant wait to see this, you are a master renegade cow!

[renegadecow]

Thanks. And, bent stock is bent. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

I know I'm just being OC, but the lines of the laminated stock really exaggerate the bend specially when sighting the gun. Pressing it again with more weights and some more moisture. Plus I've decided to thicken the sides of the stock (around the receiver area) by 1~2 layers more. After looking around for laminate stock pics, I found that the sides aren't flat but a bit curved as evidenced by the laminate pattern, hard to see on solid stocks. Hopefully the added ply will also help in straightening the stock.

[MotoSam]

Thats a pity, try to dry it completely in an oven before checking again maybe, the moisture may be bending it more?

 

I'm not a wood expert, sorry to hear about the problem.

[renegadecow]

Unwanted moisture really is what causes any wood to bend. But you can control it by only wetting parts of the wood and then bending it the other way in a press or with weights and let dry. Before cutting, I already observed that the ply had some bend to it so I alternated the orientation of the planks to counter the forces. But with the reduced thickness of the walls, it looks like it just went bent anyway. This is my best effort in correcting it other than breaking the damn thing in half and starting over.

edit:

the extra 2 layers on the sides already added

[Docv400]

Too late for this one, but you could probably have corrected the warp when you applied the two extra plies.

If you had added the plies, then immediately clamped the stock so it was slightly curved the opposite way to the original curve, it should have come out fairly straight when the glue was dry.

 

Edit: For what it's worth, Marine ply's only real differences to normal ply are that it's treated to resist moisture, and the glue used to bond the laminates is waterproof (which would explain why wetting the wood to form it didn't have too much effect, steam may have been better).

Most plywoods will have imperfections in the inner plies, with just the external two being fairly good quality, for appearance.

The only way to ensure a good finish throughout, when you're cutting/sanding through several plies, is to build up the thickness you require from very thin sheets (1-1.5mm or so), as i did on my RPK hand-guard.

[vorgaphe]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the end result.

[renegadecow]

Marine ply... glue is waterproof

Noted. I didn't know that and was wondering why my methods hadn't worked but does on regular ply. Dunno about making plywood myself out of thin sheets; I don't really have the patience for that and they're not available locally anyways.

 

Progress for today: made the handguard, carved finger grooves and space for the bayonet on the stock, fitted the butt plate, and put on the stock post. Because of the difference in takedown, the post will have to be removed before pulling the stock and receiver apart.

[BigEd]

It's beautiful man, absolutely beautiful!

 

///ed///

[BigAl]

Lookin great, thought the barrel looks a bit on the thin side.

[renegadecow]

Thanks.

SKS barrels really are skinny at the front (14mm), but thicker near the base. Will likely put a sleeve between the stock cap and gas block later. The barrel I used is from an M14 which measures a bit thicker at 15mm. Why it looks extra thin now is probably from the absence of the cleaning rod.

[Docv400]

It's beautiful man, absolutely beautiful!

///ed///

Took the words right out of my mouth, and it's not even finished yet!

 

 

 

[renegadecow]

It's ALIVE!!! Now shoots and feeds reliably (approximately 400fps), and as a bonus can empty the whole 30-round shotshell to the last bb! I modified the M14 hop considerably to take the shells and was able to shorten the feed tube enough for the magazine follower to push all the bb's up.

*chamber turned to the side

 

Also had to make it into a semi-fixed hop because of the low ceiling when the dummy bolt carrier is in place. You have to slide back the metal cover on the chamber exposing the bucking and all you do is change bucking size or add some kind of spacer. Right now it has an insulation tube from an 18g wire. The nozzle is also extended: two nozzles put together. It's holding pretty ok right now, but if it fails in the future I'll be replacing it with a Marui SOPMOD M4 nozzle.

 

With side walls installed in mag holding shell in place.

 

Did a number on the trigger too. You could still see the seam line of the added material.

 

With cleaning rod (non-removable) and vent cutouts on the handguard. Plus I painted the bolt and spike.

[Tom Andrews]

Truely a work of art.

 

If it looks as good as this in the 'rough' the final finish will stunning.

 

 

Would it be possible to file a ramp inside the tube that covers the hop nub? That way by easing the tube section forward or back you would have a slight adjustment of the nub.

[renegadecow]

There's a good 2-3mm clearance left so I suppose you could. Had thought of it before, but when I made the top cover (and found it could slide back) I thought it would just be simpler to change bucking as there wouldn't be any real need to change hop setting once I've dialed in the right bucking size to the bb's used.

[Tom Andrews]

Thought it was too obvious for you not to have thought of it already.

[renegadecow]

Magazine cover. Was a bit of a PITA wanting to make it from a single sheet. Was thinking of learning how to solder sheet metal, but perhaps for a later project; superglue and steel epoxy did it for this one. Can't get the proper wattage for the iron here and would have to buy it from ebay which will take an extra couple weeks.

 

Also got to start painting most of the parts. Tried engraving too, but left out the serial no. from lack of better tools. I was however able to do the "/26\" and the chinese calligraphy of "type 56" which is what's more important in properly dating the replica as likely to have been used during the Vietnam-USA war.

 

All that's left to do now is make the rear sling swivel, recoil spring assembly, front sight post, and sand/varnish the stock.

[Docv400]

Great job RC, fantastic work.

I agree on the fixed hop too, if you're using a solid nub and a good quality rubber, you shouldn't have to touch it for ages, as long as you use the same BBs of course.

[renegadecow]

DONE!

 

Factory new finish, not really a fan of an artificially beat gun. I'll let the jungle do that. So it's just flat black acrylic epoxy and when cured for a day I smothered it in silicone oil.