what year is your SKS45? looks to me 52-56 . top HG looks different .
Well, I bought it in around '94, if that helps.
In seriousness, I don't know. I am not an afficianado of these things, and the date isn't stamped anywhere obvious. I always figured '53 or '54, but why I figured that I can't say. I'd be happy to look at any markings, if you tell me what to look for.
Did you make those out of 10 rounders? If so, just curious how you crimped the ends?
Funny you should ask. I shot my SKS last Sunday for the first time in years, and as I was packing up to head to the range, it hit me that I had been thinking of cutting down some clips to 5 just to try it. So, I grabbed the Dremel and pliers and made two 10s into four 5s real quick. I tried it, and I liked it. Sunday night I proceeded to make up about 20. I threw away the first four because they were a bit crudely done. As I was doing it, I thought "I wonder if anyone else has thought of this? I guess I know better now. Anyway, in case it was a unique idea I was thinking of doing a CGN photo essay on it, so I took pictures as I did the work.
On the clips I had, the "x" in "bxn" is right in the centre of the clip, so job 1 is to cut the clip in half through the x.
I experimented with crimping in two ways. Method 1 is to cut through the sides of the clip a little bit, leaving the top ridge of the clip undercut about 1-1.5mm. Then, heat the end for a couple of seconds with a torch and pinch the ridge down with pliers.
The second method is to grind away the top and bottom of the clip, leaving only the side in place. Again, heat the end with a torch and use the pliers to fold the sides inwards.
With both methods, I found that bending the clip without heating tended to cause the fine metal ends I was bending to crack and break off.
Also with both, I used a file to thoroughly round off any sharp edges on the cut end. With one of trial clips, the five rounds had stripped off effortlessly, but I had pushed hard, expecting more resistance, and my hand came down and glanced off the newly cut end of the clip and drew some blood. Lesson learned.
The undercut method is by far faster, easier, and more likely to produce a useable clip. But, the cartridges don't slide as far along, so the clips quite often end up a bit short, so that the "latch" doesn't pop up to retain the rounds if you load five.
The side bend method was more work, and I scrapped several for broken tabs, but the end result was neater, smoother and more likely to hold all five rounds positively.
I made up bunches of both and will see if either style turns out to be preferable in use.
