I know leon has one and wanted to ask his or others that have one opinion about cleaning the gas piston on the SKS. My question is that I have seen two youtube videos saying to NOT put any type of oil or degreaser on the piston or in the gas tube, and to only clean with soap and water. Wouldn't this cause rust even if a mil of water was left in the tube? Can someone confirm to not put any type of oil on these parts?
The gas piston on a Norinco SKS is highly similar to an AK. Last cleaning I did on my Simanov I did indeed clean out my gas piston, oil it, clean out the cylinder and lubricate all points. It shot faster and better after it. The trick is to apply a very light coating of oil film and leave it pretty dry. You ARE NOT hurting anything by washing it with soap and HOT water. Hot Water at the temps in my house causes the moisture to evaporate within like 30 seconds of contact. The water is hot, does its job, gets the metal so hot the water evaporates off it and when left on a dry towel completely dries off after a few minutes. If you use the soap and water method (completely common) just make sure it is completely dry of water and soap film by rinsing it a second time in boiling water. Remove it from the vessel and sit it on a towel to dry, then oil it evenly with a light machine oil, such as rem oil, and then wipe off the excess with a lint-free cloth and polish it to a drip free, slightly oily luster. Synthetic 5w30 motor oil is friggin awesome for an sks. Synthetic light motor oil performs marvelously everywhere on these things. On the exterior, left in a thin film on all parts or just to rub in as a stock protectant, light synthetic motor oil lasts longer and performs better than most oils and does not smoke until red hot. If you drench an SKS gas piston in oil, it will become fouled easily and gather powder grit until it gets clogged. Make sure that piston is like new or wipe it well and leave it. We don't want any detonation or seizing in that piston. Treat it like an engine piston.
