A head's up to new SKS owners: When you are cleaning your SKS there is an intermediary tappet between the gas piston and the bolt that is often overlooked. To remove it, over-rotate the handguard retainer up which will release it. Careful, it is under heavy spring pressure and may get lost in the garage if you aren't ready! To reinstall you can use the gas piston to push it back in place and then push the handguard latch down to hold it inside its position.
Cleaning residual cosmoline from my newly acquired 59/66 (thanks Jeff!) reminded me of this feature.
Cleaning residual cosmoline from my newly acquired 59/66 (thanks Jeff!) reminded me of this feature.