So all that work was primarily to better balance the rifle while in an aftermarket stock?
I equaled the weight on my Tapco SKS by inserting a handful of fishing sinker weights wrapped in a rag into the stocks hidden tube compartment. Crude and simple but proven effective.
The AR-15's pistol grip sits approximately 3 inches behind the rifle's centre of balance. The SKS' pistol grip is closer to
8. Even if you added weight to the butt-stock, the entirety of the rifle's action and milled steel receiver is forward of the weapon retention hand. On a rifle with a 20 inch barrel, no less! This, along with the distance between the grip and the magazine, make a modern style of weapon manipulation very awkward. The design and location of the magazine release tab adds another layer of awkwardness. Also, adding weight to the buttstock does nothing to improve how far away from your body most of the rifle's weight is. There are solid ergonomic reasons why an SKS in a Tapco stock feels very long and front-heavy to shoulder.
The benefits of my modification are as follows.
- The weight of the rifle is balanced much better, with the weapon retention grip moved closer to the rifle's centre of balance.
- The re-design of the magazine release means that one need not relinquish fire control to change magazines, even for tactical magazine swaps.
- The overall length of the rifle is shorter, since there is no need to extend the butt-stock to achieve a good length of pull. also, the rifle's weight is now being held closer to the shooter's body
- With the pistol grip attached to the trigger group, tightening down the grip actually helps suck the receiver down into the stock, helping to bed the action (much better than the spring tension in a stock SKS)
I hope to have some action videos up in this thread soon, but I haven't planned any more improvements for this rifle at this time.
