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The great Cth'osmoline monster is truly a horrifying thing to behold. It's in my...everywhere...

More to the point, it was going fine (if messy) until I found that I'm unable to get the firing pin retainer out of the SKS bolt and the pin is stuck forward in petrified cosmoline, meaning until I can that out it can't be shot or it'll just slamfire through the whole mag.

This is gonna be an adventure

Maybe try putting the bolt in the oven for a bit to melt the cosmoline. Then soak it overnight in mineral spirits.

Yeah, you should be able to heat cosmoline, but I'm not sure if there are any vapor concerns from that stuff.

I've got it soaking in mineral spirits, I'll try the oven route later tonight!

I took the Galil out to the range, it ran without any issues through a couple hundred rounds of mixed brass and steel cased ammo in the rain, but the US made 922r compliance trigger is...awful. It slaps like a beast, has miles of overtravel, the reset takes the full length of travel, the break is unpredictable, and nothing about it is smooth

Cosmoline melts at 110 degrees, but has a flashpoint as low as 325. Do not put it in the oven! What we do is boil the part in water (doesn’t even take that long) and then shake it dry. I use WD-40 after to remove any water/moisture, then lube it (my go to is either rem oil or mobil 1). Been doing this for years.

Fair. Didn’t know it’s flashpoint was that low.

Got the SKS all cleaned up, took a few evenings, bent a couple punches working on the firing pin and retainer, and I think I've got cosmoline permanently embedded in parts of my body. After taking it to the range, it's a pretty enjoyable shooter (and the trigger is infinitely better than on my milled receiver AK), and while the wood is beat up, all the metal parts appear solidly maintained (if well used).


Before


And after

Wow, that's quite a transformation!

No semis over .22RF for us here, an SKS would be on my list if I could, though

Wow, from a chunk of scrap to a well presented machine!

Who needs fiberglass bedding when you have so much cosmoline! I swear I had a surplus rifle packed with whale blubber one time...

That looks great Vaktathi!

I need to get myself an SKS. Atlantic had some spikers recently at a good price.

Definitely pick one up sooner rather than later, at this point most of the large stocks of surplus are gone or locked away behind sanctions, what's available now is pretty much the bottom of the barrel I think. The stuff coming in now is from Albania, their stocks now being old enough for C&R status so they can be sold in the US without running into sanctions on Chinese hardware, but I don't think there's a whole lot such surplus arsenals left that haven't been emptied already, leaving the days of cheap SKS's numbered. Atlantic's always solid to order from.

Wow! Hard to believe that is even the same rifle.

So it's 3:00 AM and I can't sleep. After coming home from a night of gaming with friends, I decided to clean up. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard voices outside my apartment, going to check I found two men attempting to break into my car.

The PD responded quickly, but not quick enough. The perpetrators were in the wind.

Now, I'm sitting here thinking about the fact I couldn't defend myself if someone tried to break into my home. Crime in my city is up quite significantly, every day the paper is full of drug crime and home invasions.

So.

I want to protect myself. I know that home defense isn't about having the flashiest gun, but about having the common sense fire arm. I don't want to shoot my neighbor by accident either.

Any advice?

You want something easy to maintain, reliable, cheap and safe.

Preferentially you also want to regularly train and do safety courses .

Probably a handgun in common calibre.

 Togusa wrote:
So it's 3:00 AM and I can't sleep. After coming home from a night of gaming with friends, I decided to clean up. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard voices outside my apartment, going to check I found two men attempting to break into my car.

The PD responded quickly, but not quick enough. The perpetrators were in the wind.

Now, I'm sitting here thinking about the fact I couldn't defend myself if someone tried to break into my home. Crime in my city is up quite significantly, every day the paper is full of drug crime and home invasions.

So.

I want to protect myself. I know that home defense isn't about having the flashiest gun, but about having the common sense fire arm. I don't want to shoot my neighbor by accident either.

Any advice?

The best firearm is the one you have on you. A single-shot .22 pistol you have on you/you can get to quickly is better than a full-on machinegun that takes 5 minutes to locate and load.

Now, that being said, I'm not sure of the laws in your area so take the following with a grain of salt. If all you want is a decentish gun that will go bang when needed, and not go bang when no wanted, there is nothing wrong with some cheap-o firearms out there. The key is finding the firearm that suits your particular skills, body, and environment. If you are 5'6" tall and 150 pounds, you might not want to get that fancy hand canon.

Gun guys have what we call "closet queens". These are the guns that are fun to shoot, but we rarely actually use them. If you are getting a gun for self defense, do NOT make it a closet queen. Get to know it, in every sense of the word. Shoot it enough times and often enough that you know every quirk. You should know rather instinctively how to pull, aim, shoot, and clear common malfunctions. A personal rule of mine is that I don't even fire a gun until I've basically memorized the instruction manual and can do a basic disassembly and reassembly from memory. Be prepared to shell out a couple hundred dollars in ammo just to "get to know" your firearm. Taking it out for practice every couple months should be enough to keep you relatively in practice for your own safety.


As for the actual gun selection, that is a very personal choice. If I may make some suggestions though: It seems like you aren't concerned with either carrying it or for any "pretty" factor. High Point firearms has a large variety of cheap pistols and pistol-caliber rifles that are extremely cheap. They are ugly, and a tad heavy, but are dependable and accurate. If a shotgun is more your style (Honestly I say one handgun, one shotgun is minimal) I'd recommend a Maverick 88. It's made by the same company that makes Mossberg shotguns, but is more "entry level", even though it is basically the same gun and has the same components.

Anyway you cut it though, remember safety first. Practice practice practice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Something else I forgot to mention: Don't overlook a good, simple revolver. They aren't flashy, don't hold 20+ rounds, and can't be reloaded super fast. But they can be kept loaded and ready to use. Their chances of jamming are almost zero.

 Togusa wrote:
Any advice?

Well, go into this with your eyes open. Getting a firearm is going to substantially increase your statistical odds of shooting someone you don't intend to shoot, as well as increase your chances of successfully committing suicide. I'm obviously not anti-gun, I own around 10 guns. But we have to be honest about what gun ownership entails - expense, responsibility, and danger.

Better than getting a firearm - if your schedule allows for it, get a dog. Nothing will deter burglars faster than a barking dog, and you don't have to worry about the vagaries of using lethal force where you live (in most states, shooting people breaking into a car would be murder since you can't use lethal force to defend property, but of course there are many exceptions like Texas).

Lets assume that you can't have a dog or whatever, and a firearm is the best choice.

Since you said this was for home defense, there probably isn't a great reason to get a pistol. It's hard to shoot well with a pistol without a lot of experience, and poor shooting grip will substantially increase your chance of the pistol jamming ("limp-wristing").

For home defense I think it's pretty hard to beat a AR-15 "pistol", that is, an AR15 with a short barrel and a brace, which legally counts as a pistol.



I think it's a superior choice over a shotgun for home defense for a few reasons:

Ammo capacity. You have 30 rounds, not 5

.

Overpenetration - .223 won't penetrate as many layers of drywall as buckshot or slugs will (and if you're not using buckshot or slugs, you shouldn't be using it for defense).

Easier to get around corners - I own a full length shotgun and it's terrible for going around corners, nothing stopping someone from just grabbing it. A tucked short barreled AR is shorter length than a pistol with arms extended.

More intuitive controls - while every weapon can jam, cheap shotguns can be short-shucked by the inexperienced and leave you weaponless.

Being able to easily mount a light on the rail is incredibly useful for home defense. Shotguns can do this too, but in my experience, the placement is awkward.

The shotgun isn't a bad pick, I just don't think it's the best pick. I also want to point out that contrary to popular belief, shotguns do need to be aimed just like any other firearm. You won't see any significant pellet spread inside home defense distances without some kind of choke.

If you are on a tight budget, Hi-Point pistols are very reliable and inexpensive despite being hideous. As was previously said, the best gun is the one you actually have available.


Regardless of which route you go, remember that your life can depend upon this gun - train with it, learn it well, and keep it clean.

Don't forget to factor the cost of secure storage (a safe or what have you) into your budget. Nothing will stop a dedicated thief, but lots of things stop casual or impulse thefts.

 Ouze wrote:
Getting a firearm is going to substantially increase your statistical odds of shooting someone you don't intend to shoot, as well as increase your chances of successfully committing suicide.

While this is true over having no gun at all, according to the CDC and Keck's Florida State University study on the matter, between about .5% and 1% of the US population uses a gun defensively per year, but only 40,000 people died of gun related injuries in 2017, the most recent year for which we have data. And that's from all causes including murder, suicide, accident, being shot by LEO/Military, and 'other'. That's about 50 people saved to every one lost. I'll take those odds.

Regardless of what you get,consider getting insurance such as that offered by USCCA.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com

It covers you in the event you do have to use your gun. I know I pray I never have to use mine against a person, but if I do, I am sure I'll have decent lawyers, bail, and other costs covered.

I own a standard infantry Mosin Nagant from 1943 and will soon (but it seems so far away :( ) acquire an SVT 40 from the same year.

I'd also like to pick a handgun in 9mm (which I can't yet due to how gun laws work in France).

I use them all at the range, for fun, and as a soviet union fanboy, it has something of a collector's work to me.

 cuda1179 wrote:

 Togusa wrote:
So it's 3:00 AM and I can't sleep. After coming home from a night of gaming with friends, I decided to clean up. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard voices outside my apartment, going to check I found two men attempting to break into my car.

The PD responded quickly, but not quick enough. The perpetrators were in the wind.

Now, I'm sitting here thinking about the fact I couldn't defend myself if someone tried to break into my home. Crime in my city is up quite significantly, every day the paper is full of drug crime and home invasions.

So.

I want to protect myself. I know that home defense isn't about having the flashiest gun, but about having the common sense fire arm. I don't want to shoot my neighbor by accident either.

Any advice?

The best firearm is the one you have on you. A single-shot .22 pistol you have on you/you can get to quickly is better than a full-on machinegun that takes 5 minutes to locate and load.

Now, that being said, I'm not sure of the laws in your area so take the following with a grain of salt. If all you want is a decentish gun that will go bang when needed, and not go bang when no wanted, there is nothing wrong with some cheap-o firearms out there. The key is finding the firearm that suits your particular skills, body, and environment. If you are 5'6" tall and 150 pounds, you might not want to get that fancy hand canon.

Gun guys have what we call "closet queens". These are the guns that are fun to shoot, but we rarely actually use them. If you are getting a gun for self defense, do NOT make it a closet queen. Get to know it, in every sense of the word. Shoot it enough times and often enough that you know every quirk. You should know rather instinctively how to pull, aim, shoot, and clear common malfunctions. A personal rule of mine is that I don't even fire a gun until I've basically memorized the instruction manual and can do a basic disassembly and reassembly from memory. Be prepared to shell out a couple hundred dollars in ammo just to "get to know" your firearm. Taking it out for practice every couple months should be enough to keep you relatively in practice for your own safety.


As for the actual gun selection, that is a very personal choice. If I may make some suggestions though: It seems like you aren't concerned with either carrying it or for any "pretty" factor. High Point firearms has a large variety of cheap pistols and pistol-caliber rifles that are extremely cheap. They are ugly, and a tad heavy, but are dependable and accurate. If a shotgun is more your style (Honestly I say one handgun, one shotgun is minimal) I'd recommend a Maverick 88. It's made by the same company that makes Mossberg shotguns, but is more "entry level", even though it is basically the same gun and has the same components.

Anyway you cut it though, remember safety first. Practice practice practice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Something else I forgot to mention: Don't overlook a good, simple revolver. They aren't flashy, don't hold 20+ rounds, and can't be reloaded super fast. But they can be kept loaded and ready to use. Their chances of jamming are almost zero.

I live in the southwest, in a state with basically zero gun laws, open carry and so on. I own a 12ga Shotgun, but it's currently with my folks back east. I'm having them ship it to our local store next week so I can at least have that.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Getting a firearm is going to substantially increase your statistical odds of shooting someone you don't intend to shoot, as well as increase your chances of successfully committing suicide.

While this is true over having no gun at all, according to the CDC and Keck's Florida State University study on the matter, between about .5% and 1% of the US population uses a gun defensively per year, but only 40,000 people died of gun related injuries in 2017, the most recent year for which we have data. And that's from all causes including murder, suicide, accident, being shot by LEO/Military, and 'other'. That's about 50 people saved to every one lost. I'll take those odds.

i wish there wasn't s so much deep, fudgy bs around all firearm related statistics. It's very difficult, probably impossible, to determine what is really true. 3,000 defensive uses a day sounds really, really high to me - I don't think I believe it, but I also know it's kind of impossible to prove either way.

Either way it's kind of a moot point; we're in the same camp. Having a firearm adds some personal danger to yourself and others, and gives you a nonzero chance of using a firearm to defend your life. So each person needs to decide for themselves. You can mitigate both of the prior issues with training and diligence, but as gun owners we need to be honest with new people looking to own guns (which turns out Togusa already did, anyway).

The only way that level of firearm defense makes any sense (and the studies I've seen have been self report, so keep in mind there might be some "motivated" reporting) is to think of virtually any conflict that ended positively while a firearm was involved. We don't have good data on firearm injuries vs. deaths, but I just don't see that ratio of injury to death to support that level of actual gunfire.

Anyways, buying a gun for self defense can make you safer in a few instances. If you practice very high gun safety, if you have no mental illness, and you have nobody in the household likely to borrow the firearm. Even then, you are trading the very real safety of simply not being in a household with a firearm for the risk of having the weapon.

One of the joys of being an American is that you can decide if it's worth it to you, but the bleak reality is that a gun is far more likely to kill it's owner (or even a loved one) than it is to kill a "bad guy."

I definitely agree with Ouze on what to get for home defense.

A semi-auto rifle of some persuasion. You'll want to be able to mount a flashlight on it. Pump shotguns are much more manually complex to operate in an extremely stressful situation. Having to remember to *pump* *fire* *pump* *fire* is more on your plate than you need in what is going to be the scariest moment of your life, and you really do not want to bank on the first shot finishing the job.

Shop around. Go to all the different gun stores and look for what feels comfortable. ARs, AKs, etc... try them all out.

Once you've got your chosen weapon, keep at least 1 magazine that you nominate as your "bump in the night" magazine and keep it loaded at all times. Practice getting your weapon out from wherever you keep it secured and getting it loaded. Then have a plan on how to clear your house room by room. For ammo, use hollow points. This will further minimize the chance of over-penetration and increase lethality.

If there are any available in your area, take a live-fire self-defense firearms course.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Getting a firearm is going to substantially increase your statistical odds of shooting someone you don't intend to shoot, as well as increase your chances of successfully committing suicide.

While this is true over having no gun at all, according to the CDC and Keck's Florida State University study on the matter, between about .5% and 1% of the US population uses a gun defensively per year, but only 40,000 people died of gun related injuries in 2017, the most recent year for which we have data. And that's from all causes including murder, suicide, accident, being shot by LEO/Military, and 'other'. That's about 50 people saved to every one lost. I'll take those odds.

Aye. And really suicides and any type of legal self-defense/law enforcement shootings should not be counted in that number. If you eliminate those, the number becomes so small it is statistically insignificant. Suicide is its own thing, what it was done with is irrelevant.

 Ouze wrote:


i wish there wasn't s so much deep, fudgy bs around all firearm related statistics. It's very difficult, probably impossible, to determine what is really true. 3,000 defensive uses a day sounds really, really high to me - I don't think I believe it, but I also know it's kind of impossible to prove either way.

Either way it's kind of a moot point; we're in the same camp. Having a firearm adds some personal danger to yourself and others, and gives you a nonzero chance of using a firearm to defend your life. So each person needs to decide for themselves. You can mitigate both of the prior issues with training and diligence, but as gun owners we need to be honest with new people looking to own guns (which turns out Togusa already did, anyway).

Its a big country. 3,000 per day doesn't seem unreasonable. And when you consider how under-reported stuff like this will be it gets more reasonable. Lots of people don't trust the police, rightly so in many cases. So if someone who has that point of view is accosted by someone trying to rob them, they pull their gun, the robber flees, and nothing else happens how likely is it that it will get reported? Especially since this is a situation where catching the suspect is usually impossible, so what is even the point of calling the cops?

 Polonius wrote:

but the bleak reality is that a gun is far more likely to kill it's owner (or even a loved one) than it is to kill a "bad guy."

A misleading statement, since its implying that owning a gun makes you more likely to commit suicide. Owning a gun does not make you more likely to commit suicide in any way. We need to ditch language like that, its terrible for the perception of gun owners. The proper statement is "a suicidal person with access to a firearm is more likely to be successful". Which is not really relevant unless we are dealing with a specific scenario. It doesn't apply to the general population, so IMO isn't really any type of argument against gun ownership.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Polonius wrote:
The only way that level of firearm defense makes any sense (and the studies I've seen have been self report, so keep in mind there might be some "motivated" reporting) is to think of virtually any conflict that ended positively while a firearm was involved. We don't have good data on firearm injuries vs. deaths, but I just don't see that ratio of injury to death to support that level of actual gunfire.

I suspect that in the vast majority of those incidents the firearm was never fired. Most of the time, the attack will be defeated simply by producing a firearm. Be it because they run away or surrender. The % of incidents where the firearm actually gets fired and it results in injury is probably a very tiny number of the overall number of incidents.

Possibly noobish question, but, wouldn't keeping a mag loaded at all time wear out the spring it and make it less reliable?

 Bobthehero wrote:
Possibly noobish question, but, wouldn't keeping a mag loaded at all time wear out the spring it and make it less reliable?

Technically a spring under tension does wear out, but only if the spring is being held under tension beyond its elastic limit. The springs in magazines will never be beyond their elastic limit because that could never happen through normal use(being fully loaded). So the only thing that can wear out a magazine spring is repeated motion.

Yep, a spring wears out when being worked, not when under stress (unless, as mentioned above it's beyond its intended tolerance).

RE: Togusa

Minor rant here, I suppose, but here goes:

If you do wish to carry a firearm, or have access to one for self-defense, it's a very "all or nothing" approach. If you get a firearm and expect to rely on it in a self-defense situation, you cannot half-ass it. Lack of training, lack of knowledge of laws, lack of willingness to actually employ it, etc...all of these things will end up with you dead or in jail. If you're even remotely skeptical about using it in a life or death situation; don't get one. Get wasp spray or bear mace instead. While I'm 100% behind people purchasing guns, there's nothing more dangerous than a person who owns or carries a defensive firearm and has zero idea how and when to functionally employ it. Do, or do not. There is no try.

Do not purchase a firearm to wave it around, or "scare off" the bad guys. If you're not going to employ it, you've just introduced a firearm to a already hostile situation. There is every chance it may be taken from you and used against you. Same goes for the bs "well, just rack a shotgun and it'll scare them away..." nonsense. Congratulations you've just given the other party advance warning of what you're about to do, etc.

Having said that, if you're 100% sure you want to own and possibly employ a firearm in self defense; LEARN YOUR STATE LAWS...top to bottom. If you have a family lawyer, see if he has any advice or anyone he can recommend for legal advice in the event that you employ a firearm in self-defense. You can consider buying CCW insurance, etc. If you're in an apartment you're in a bad place already for deploying a firearm safely. You'll need to identify in what directions and from what positions you could engage a hostile threat. As usual, you're responsible for every single round fired.

Simple bits of advice:

1) You use a firearm to STOP a threat, not to "kill someone". Everything you say on the phone or to police officers, etc. will be twisted to make you look like an overzealous gun-wielding maniac.
2) Do not glitz out your defensive firearm. Functional upgrades are fine, everything else will help an attorney accuse you of being the "overzealous gun nut" mentioned above. You don't have to use a race gun, or a Glock with "SHOOT EM ALL, LET GOD SORT EM OUT!" etched into the slide, etc.
3) Never state to anyone how many rounds you fired, because you're unlikely to know...and if you got the count wrong it becomes a point of accusation for the other side. "I'm not sure how many rounds I fired". Let the forensics folks determine that.
4) If you use a firearm in self-defense it'll be seized as evidence in most cases for 6-18 months, if not longer if it becomes a big case.
5) Find reliable and functional defensive rounds (or at the very least a simple hollow-point). If the time comes to stop a threat with a defensive firearm, you want to stop that threat immediately with efficiency.
6) Learn all of your state laws regarding carrying, storing, and transporting firearms. You don't want to be thrown in jail during a traffic stop because you don't know the laws of transporting firearms in your state (or other states you're passing through).
7) The most important part is remembering you're not Rambo. A lot of stupid and unnecessary shootings occur over stuff like vandalism, petty crime, car theft, etc. To deploy a firearm in a self-defense scenario you or another party must be under significant threat of grievous bodily harm, up to and including death. Most states will allow you to interact on behalf of others - but again, do your research.
8) Ignore all of the Hollywood bs. No warning shots, no shooting through a door, etc.

One option I've not seen mentioned yet is a pistol caliber carbine.

A lot less recoil in a 9mm carbine than a .223/5.56. Wider variety of ammo which can stop a threat but not blow through 3-4 walls and hurt someone else.

My Sig MPX controls are the same as on any AR15. Very easy to use, you can mount lights/sights whatever you want on it. Still has a 30 round capacity. Ammo is cheaper.

Just something to consider.

 Bobthehero wrote:
Possibly noobish question, but, wouldn't keeping a mag loaded at all time wear out the spring it and make it less reliable?

As was already mentioned, it's only actuating a spring that kills them, not storing them under "load" - many people have reported 1911 mags in excellent working condition that were loaded WW2 bringbacks.