What happens when you combine an old-school SKS with the magazine system from an AK? Apparently… a lot of machining. In this episode of Stanley and the “See” Can, we dive deep into our SKS AK magazine adapter prototype, including the good, the bad, the mistakes, and the tiny details that make the difference between “it fits” and “it works properly.” Because apparently making old rifles do new tricks is harder than just cutting some metal and hoping for the best
What happens when you combine an old-school SKS with the magazine system from an AK? Apparently… a lot of machining
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What happens when you combine an old-school SKS with the magazine system from an AK? Apparently… a lot of machining. In this episode of Stanley and the “See” Can, we dive deep into our SKS AK magazine adapter prototype, including the good, the bad, the mistakes, and the tiny details that make the difference between “it fits” and “it works properly.” Because apparently making old rifles do new tricks is harder than just cutting some metal and hoping for the best
The problem with this kind of mod is, if it doesn't work or produces an unreliable feeding rifle, there is no going back. If it doesn't work, the rifle is toast or at least garbage.
As much as I don't like the SKS magazine, it is 100% reliable and maybe a limited number of reliable rounds is better than a much larger number of unreliable rounds.
And then in Chinada, an AK mag conversion doesn't actually give you more rounds, it is all for looks ... which honestly is a poor reason to spend a ton of money and risk ruining your rifle.
As much as I don't like the SKS magazine, it is 100% reliable and maybe a limited number of reliable rounds is better than a much larger number of unreliable rounds.
And then in Chinada, an AK mag conversion doesn't actually give you more rounds, it is all for looks ... which honestly is a poor reason to spend a ton of money and risk ruining your rifle.
Yup, they were fussy about after market type mags, but never had any issues with surplus mags.
Over the years I've owned six of them. I found even with some of the steel surplus mags they would had a hard time loading/feeding. Out of maybe 25 mags I had at the time, each of them would load and feed reliably from 3-6 of them, and not the same mags. That's why I sold them all and bought a m10x.
I owned several of them at one time, and like you, lots of mags.
Which models did you have? I bought a crate of them very soon after they first came into Canada. All of them had "steel" butt plates, none of them had povisions for selector switches, and all had Chu wood stocks.
I don't know, and neither did the distributor I bought them from, whether or not they were intended for Chinese military issue or for sale to some other nation, such as the US, Africa, etc.
I sold them all, except one, which I kept until it looked like they were headed for restricted classification.
I was very early, to sell, but in truth, I wasn't using it much, because I preferred the stock, fixed mag, model.
I cleaned the cosmoline out of all of them and tested them with a mixed mags and mixed manufacturers of ammo.
I never had any issues with the magazines that came with each rifle (two).
I bought two boxes of ten each, aftermarket mags, and they were so unpredictable that I just gave them to the folks purchasing the rifles. They were informed of the unpredictability.
I never had any complaints from anyone I sold the rifles to, but I will admit I have heard complaints about the later "commercial" variants.
Which models did you have? I bought a crate of them very soon after they first came into Canada. All of them had "steel" butt plates, none of them had povisions for selector switches, and all had Chu wood stocks.
I don't know, and neither did the distributor I bought them from, whether or not they were intended for Chinese military issue or for sale to some other nation, such as the US, Africa, etc.
I sold them all, except one, which I kept until it looked like they were headed for restricted classification.
I was very early, to sell, but in truth, I wasn't using it much, because I preferred the stock, fixed mag, model.
I cleaned the cosmoline out of all of them and tested them with a mixed mags and mixed manufacturers of ammo.
I never had any issues with the magazines that came with each rifle (two).
I bought two boxes of ten each, aftermarket mags, and they were so unpredictable that I just gave them to the folks purchasing the rifles. They were informed of the unpredictability.
I never had any complaints from anyone I sold the rifles to, but I will admit I have heard complaints about the later "commercial" variants.
Yes, but many had different variations of "wood" stocks, including rubber butt pads and thumbhole pistol grips, in an effort to make them look more sporting. These usually gave all sorts of problems for their owners/users. The wood was usually very blonde, almost white, and very soft. They supposedly could use AK mags, but the couple I had anything to do with, would only use the plastic five round mags the rifle came with.
Id be more restrained from doing this not in fear of reliability issues, but rather the potential existence of a not so far off Liberal Firearms Bill that prohibits the use of detachable mags in a semi auto that was originally designed to be an internal mag fed. I could totally see hairy Gary and his ilk drafting something arrogant like that up as an SKS " work around".
I would be completely satisfied with the SKS as-is if the fixed mag was legal at full capacity. Outside of a gunfight stripper clips are extremely handy and cover pretty much everything I would think to do with such a rifle.
cut the charger strips in half, so they only hold five rounds, or just push as many off the strip as the mag will hold.
PItB, but it works, with a bit of practice.
Except
Except mount a scope - you know...for those long range sniper shots you do with an SKS
