I've owned various SKSs for probably 20 years, and always liked the classic look of them. Sure, I stuck a couple of them in Tapco stocks back in the day, and added duckbill mags to make them look more tacticool, but (with the exception of a couple modded permanently for stanag mag adapters and others for T81 mags) I've always came back to the factory configuration.
Problem is, if you want to add a full-length optic rail, loading with stripper clips is no longer an option, and loading rounds one by one is a pain. Sure, you can flip the rifle over upside down, open the mag base from the bottom, and stick rounds in that way, but it's not ideal. So, people usually end up going with some kind of aftermarket removable duckbill-style mag.
Well, if you'd prefer to have the detachable-mag thing without changing the appearance of your rifle, you can do what I did.... get a couple of extra factory mags and make them removable. Takes maybe a half-hour with a bench grinder, file, drill, and rivet gun. A bit longer if you don't have a grinder. Could use a dremel, I suppose...
So, how to:
1/ buy a couple of magazines on the EE from someone who doesn't need theirs anymore (probably someone who has already bubba'd their rifle to take a stanag magwell). Don't use the magazine that came with your rifle, with the #s matching your rifle. Don't be 'that guy'.
2/ with the mag mounted properly, drill a small hole on the side of the mag about 1cm from the back of the mag, and 6mm+- from the bottom (see pics). Drilling it when the mag is in place is vital, to make sure the inner sleeve and outer shell of the magazine are located properly in relation to one another when you're done.
3/ remove the mag, and grind the lug at the rear of the mag that prevents the rear of the mag from sliding down past the two front arms of the trigger assembly. This is the time-consuming part.
4/ when you think you've removed enough material, test whether the remaining bit of the lug will pass between those two arms on the front of the trigger mechanism. When you've removed JUST enough that it will slide freely, you're good.
5/ without the stock in place, reattach the trigger assembly to the rest of the rifle
6/ check to see if the magazine will insert properly into the rifle... odds are, the upper rear edge of the mag'll bind a bit when you try to rotate it into place.... it seems that tolerances are a bit loose between rifles especially, in my experience, if you're using Russian mags in Chinese rifles. If it goes in smoothly and doesn't bind, skip step 7
7/ to allow it to insert smoothly, you can do either or both of these things:
A/ file the tab at the front of the magazine, where it attaches to the magazine lug, a tiny bit. I'm talking a fraction of a mm, and/or
B/ file the top cm or so of the back of the magazine (again, fractions of a mm) so it can rotate past the very back of the magazine well.
8/ once you can insert it properly, line up the holes you drilled in step 2, put in a rivet, and you're good to go.Like most things, using it takes practice... when inserting it you have to take care to make sure the front of the mag engages properly with the lug. Removing it with the dinky little SKS mag release is a bit of a pain. But once you've got the idea, it works pretty well. Same as any duckbill mag, it can only be inserted or removed when the bolt carrier is locked to the rear.
Haven't tested the ones I made recently yet, but I made a couple of these for a rifle probably a decade ago and ended up selling them with the rifle... they worked perfectly.
Good luck!
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