With an SKS, "just go shoot it!" isn't as good an idea as it might be with, say, a bolt-action rifle.
Why?
If there's goop in the firing pin channel (note: spray Breakfree CLP in there, it'll blast/wash most of the crap out), the firing pin will stick forward, and will slamfire. If you're really unlucky (or lucky, depending on how you look at it), it will ripple off the entire magazine slamfiring.
This is
not as cool as it sounds—slamfiring is different from "going auto", in that "going auto" implies that the bolt has actually gone into battery and the problem is with the trigger pack. Slamfiring means that the bolt has NOT locked, and you are firing the weapon in
blowback mode. Too much of this will destroy the receiver, and possibly fling chunks of the receiver cover/bolt/bolt carrier at your face.
So, for the children, please make sure the firing pin channel is clean before you try to shoot your SKS.
***
"Slowly" isn't what will keep it from chambering a round as it closes—pushing down on the top round (so the face of the bolt doesn't push on it) will keep it from chambering as you close the action. (I do this before going to sleep, so my bedside SKS is sort-of-but-not-really loaded.)