It is widely believed among gun control nuts (and more than a few gun owners) that the various"assault weapons" are easily converted to full auto. Except for wiring the sear back, a really stupid and sometimes lethal move, it really isn't. (A few years back, an idiot did that with an SKS at a range in the Bay Area. A total of 29 rounds were fired, most of which ended up in the shooter. One the gun starts firing, releasing the trigger does nothing.) Some readers indicate the incident was a frozen firing pin, not illegal conversion; not surprising, SKSs then came thoroughly soaked in Cosmoline.
There's both statutory and case law that clearly states that any gun that can be readily restored or converted to full auto is already a machine gun, even if you don't do it. (A few semiautos have been reclassified as machine guns by BATF because of this.)
I see the gun control sheep make this statement often. If you can give me pointers to such statements, and even better by politicians or leaders of the nuts, all the better. Yes, there's a law review article I am writing on this myth.
The only SKS mishap here in the Bay Area (at Los Altos Rod and Gun Club) that I'm aware of was a new SKS that went uncontrolled full auto, back in the 90's. The owner loaded a full mag (unknown to me count), in contravention of proper limited ammo to prove the action, and when he cycled the action, it ran away. He dropped it on the bench in surprise, it slid backwards off the table and continued traveling behind him until exhausting the ammo. He took at least one round through his back (liver?), probably when it fell off butt first, and died shortly after. I think the problem was a frozen firing pin, jammed in the forward position, but I'm not positive.
ReplyDeleteAs a consequence of this mechanical failure (and bad gun handling), There was a recall for a parts upgrade for that particular brand. IIRC, there were ads running in various publications about this, and businesses advertising parts kits for the SKS to eliminate this potential problem. I just ran across an old Shotgun News ad for parts, that I had torn out and saved.
As far as I know, the SKS was never available for any military service as a select fire weapon, only as semi-auto. It was only ever issued with an internal mag. That's why the AK-47 supplanted it as a front line issue weapon for most all nations that used Warsaw Pact military gear.
The condition to which you refer is called a "slam fire." It has to do with the crappy firing pin on the SKS. There is a improved firing pin available to correct this problem.
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