Tapco SKS handguard/gas tube question: did I screw up??

E

Elliottsdad

New member
So, first of all, I kept all the original SKS wood/vintage parts in case this all went awry, so I'm not panicking. However, I'm afraid I might have screwed up this tapco upgrade!

The tapco stock fit perfectly, but the tapco handguard/gas tube needed A LOT more fileing than the instructions recommended (filing was necessary so that the gas tube lever could swing into place and lock it down). It required so much filing, in fact, that I began to file past the piston hole on the rear of the gas tube. It is minimal, however.

Now, once the lever locks into place, it covers this diagonal cut in the piston hole from above. I'm not sure if gas/pressure can escape/cause some kind of malfunction in the rear portion like this, but I'm not sure. It looks as if the piston can still move freely, it's just that I shaved a little too much so that toward the top of the hole, some of the hole's rim has recessed.

I guess what I'm wondering is, is this in some way unsafe to test-fire? And also, should I go into this assuming it's not going to work? I don't want to buy another handguard/gas tube just to have this same problem again..
 
Yeah, it does, but the rear block (where the Piston comes out to chamber a new round) is WAY more stout than the original, so it required a lot more filling than was recommended in the Tapco instructions.
I'll post a photo of that over filed rear hole ASAP
FYI: the fit is incredibly rock solid. But to get it there, it required this much filing
 
Sent that photo to Tapco with a little write up on fit, amount of material removed, concerns about gas/piston movement/position in relation to recoil spring assembly, etc.
Tapco customer service (admittedly very fast) complete response e-mailed back:
"It will be fine."
Cool, then.
 
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