Yugo SKS with ejection issue

[juniustaylor]

First off, it has been a really long time since I last commented. My last sign in was about 3 years ago. Time flies. I recently looked at a Yugo SKS for a coworker's neighbor. He just said it had issues. What I was noticing was that the fired shell was still in the chamber and I'd have to "mortar" the rifle to get it out since it was kind of wedged in there. A slow motion video showed me it was short stroking and not ejecting. After a little research I concluded it was probably the gas valve (only Yugos had that due to a muzzle mounted grenade launcher). Anyway, I tested it and found it to be leaking gas badly. The first test was a paper receipt wrapped around the valve. One shot turned it into confetti. I then used a rubber o-ring to seal the joint of the valve to the gas/piston cylinder and it was 100% reliable, of course the o-ring can't handle repeat use, but I put a handful of rounds through it. I purchased an aftermarket, machined one off eBay and it seems to have resolved the issue. I wondered how many others have had similar issues with a Yugo SKS?

[GuitarmanNick]

Not really any input except I am happy you got it figured out. My only SKS is Chinese with the National Security Forces markings.