Educate me on the SKS

I went with 1950 Russian I like the spring return firing pin as my wife and kids will be shooting it. If you can look for 50 refurb with a spring firing pin and chrome lined barrel. There rare but out there.
 
cyclone said:
"The SKS is horribly inaccurate and should never have any aftermarket parts"....:rolleyes:....unless :stirthepot2: , of course, someone actually cares enough to use $60 Tech-Sights and non-bulk ammo....:wave:


Because - somehow, acc. to some :nest: - the SKS is the only milsurp rifle that doesn't benefit from even slight tweaks to its sights and the ammo it's fed.....f:P:


(Sigh)
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I get good enough groups as is with my reloads and battle accuracy with surplus after all that's what it was meant to achieve. I like guns plain I don't tend to mod milsurps but I'll take sonny puzikas approach here and say things like tactical stocks fancy sights and all kinds of crap hanging off your rifle will only prevent you from using the rifle the way it was intended you need to have a eastern bloc mindset for eastern bloc guns
 
kennymo said:
All work just fine and are of decent quality except for the Norinco commercial models that were imported in past years. Not to be confused with the Norinco military surplus rifles that are currently available from some site sponsors, those are actually quite decent. Never held one myself, but the workmanship on the Yugoslavian rifles is supposed to be a bit higher quality possibly justifying the higher price they command. For the ruskies, Izzy arsenal finishes are slightly nicer than the Tula stuff. Better blueing mostly. The more collectible stuff seems to be anything that hasn't been arsenal refurbished (no x'd out serial number on the stock, lack of refurb stampings all over the receiver, matching part numbers) and early years of manufacture (started about '45?). And the better Yugo's go for more money as mentioned. There's also a couple other commie makers that you don't see much of in Canada.
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How would one identify a "Norinco commercial model"?
 
Polar_Hunter said:
How would one identify a "Norinco commercial model"?
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I have a Norinco commercial model from the eighties that still shoots flawlessly after 30 years and cases upon cases of ammo through it. Its the only consumer model I have, certainly for decades, when someone says these models are inferior, my evidence says otherwise. They came from the same factory as the military ones.
 
cyclone said:
"The SKS is horribly inaccurate and should never have any aftermarket parts"....:rolleyes:....unless :stirthepot2: , of course, someone actually cares enough to use $60 Tech-Sights and non-bulk ammo....:wave:


Because - somehow, acc. to some :nest: - the SKS is the only milsurp rifle that doesn't benefit from even slight tweaks to its sights and the ammo it's fed.....f:P:


(Sigh)
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I have the Tech-Sights on my first SKS, a Tula 1951, refurb'd with lam stock . I had a custom trigger job done, taken off the bayonette, added a rubber slip-on recoil pad for the extra length.
For it, I have a box of 50 Hornady rounds if I every want to hunt again. I have posted to the "sticky" about how I mounted the Tech 200 sight with a slight alteration using a lock washer on the X bolt.

I also have a Tula 1953 refurb, also lam and left as-is for the Milsurp shoots.

And enough of the "toxic" ammo.:)
 
"...SKS has several variants..." More about being made in several communist countries. Some of 'em are more scarce than others. That enhances the collectabilty but currently, there is little collector interest or value. The SKS is a stop gap rifle that was issued to illiterate conscripts who could be taught to use it with a little training as possible. They're big kid shooting toys. Mind you, despite the issue sights being low end(illiterate conscripts don't need good sights), the cartridge isn't bad for close range deer. And the SKS will very likely out shoot a stock Mini-14/30.
"...Side mount scope mounts..." As daft as it is scoping a carbine.
 
A lot of people are saying on here the after market stuff is crap, but I have a russian one, and I set it up in a tapco stock, with the detachable 20 round (pinned at 5) tapco mag and I love it. Give the rifle a updated look, and I have had no problems with the 20 round mag feeding into the rifle. The only down side is the stripper clips wont feed into the rifle with the tapco mag.
Furthmore, a friend of mine has a Chinese models and it does shoot more accurately than the Russian ones.
 
I used to load the tapco mag thro the rifle with stripper clips before i put the magwedge on.
 
Polar_Hunter said:
How would one identify a "Norinco commercial model"?
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I'm going to edit myself a bit here. I have not owned a commercial one, the only one I have seen and used was utter crap and couldn't hold a candle to the Russian refurbs the rest of the group had out that day. Haven't used the Chinese military version yet, but everything I hear about it is good, I'm trying to do the M305 combo at Marstar before it dries up.

I think the quality on the Norc commercial models was hit and miss, much like many of their products today. I didn't mean to imply that all of them are bad, but some seem to be. Apologies.
 
Never had a problem with my Russian SKS.
It's a great introductory rifle for those only having shot a .22 before as it doesn't have as much kick as the larger caliber rifles we take along on an outing (Enfield's and Mosin's).

Chinese, Russian, Yugo, Romanian, etc., they're usually all fantastic if they are taken care of properly.
 
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The only cool, well done, modifications I've seen on any SKS is the tech sights, an extended recoil pad, and that vented handguard that looks like the vented barrel shroud on the SVT-40. I've done the Tapco stock on my 1950 Tula. The safety didn't work anymore, the gun would pop out of the stock every few shots, the Tapco mag didn't hold the bolt open on the last round, the mag was a pain in the ass to remove and put back in, and I couldn't use stripper clips to reload it with out getting "Garand Thumb" or now in this case, "SKS Thumb" as I would have to hold the bolt handle back with one hand, well I push the rounds off with the other. Other than it looked cool, I couldn't get it to function better than original. I'm not sure if its the Tapco stocks very in size spec, the SKS very in size specs, or both and that being the reason why my set up sucked well others say they've had good luck. The choices for putting optics on an SKS is almost retarded. Putting a scope or red dote on the hand guard will hold zero for 5 shots, the railed dust cover holds zero for about 10 shots, removing the rear sight for a rail and pistol scope is pretty good, will hold zero. However, what ever scope is on it must be removed to be able to fully clean the gun. Corrosive ammo = full clean every time. The people who don't understand why other people hate the aftermarket stuff is for this reason. Its not because we've never tried it and are purists. Its because we have tried it and found out that the updated looks didn't update its function. I'm sure they're purists out there that have never tried the tactical stuff and bash it, but most of us have tried it and the aftermarket stuff always ends up being taken off almost right away. People complain about plastic gun parts all the time yet people are replacing there wooden stocks for plastic ones and metal magazines for plastic tapco mags.
 
Here's all the education you need: It's one of the best built semi-automatics you'll ever find. It doesn't break, goes boom every time, is very accurate with decent ammo, and sufficiently accurate with milsurp ammo, it's not trying to be something it's not, it has an interesting cold war history, and is far cheaper than just about any new, modern made rifle. You would have to pay a significantly larger sum of money to find something of comparable quality... and I personally don't think it's out there. I'm a bit of an SKS snob, and much prefer the Russians, but the 1960's military Chinese variants, while much cruder in overall finishing, seems to shoot about the same. You can spend far more on a plastic bb gun!!
 
The single WORST thing about the poor little SKS is that Bubba thinks that because it uses the same ammo as the AK, it has to look like an AK or like what an AK SHOULD have looked like were it designed by a prop master for a sci-fi movie. And that is too bad, becuse the SKS is a decent little semi-auto rifle which deserves better than what Bubba is giving it.

It is a nice, handy, little, lightweight semi-auto carbine which fires a true medium-power cartridge. The ammo actually is about th power of a low-level handload for a .30-30. It is NOT the Hammer of Thor, nor is it a Buck Rogers space-age machine-gun. The name says it all: Samozaradniya Karabina Simonov: Simonov's Self-loading Carbine.

It has a gas-oprated mechanism run by a short-stroke piston and a tilting-bolt system derived from the original Saive patents of 1936, the same patents which gave rise to the PTRS anti-tank rifle, the SAFN and the FN-FAL. It has a built-in Magazine which is loaded through the top of the rifle with Chargers. The Magazine my be emptied at any time by pushing the "dump" button, releasing the floorplate to hinge downwards and forward. The stocks either are Arctic Birch or a laminate. The Birch is so tough you would not believe it, the laminates last forever and do not warp.

The WORST thing about it is the ammunition. The ammo which is on the market now is ancient, for the most part, and it is corrosively-primed. It was decent ammunition when it was made, but it now is 20, 30, 40, 50 years old..... and corrosive primers AGE and, before they start dying on you, they give you erratic performance, which is what all these guys are complaining about. Best thing to do if you want cheap ammo is buy a crate of the stuff and a couple hundred rounds of good brass, change-over the factory loads into fresh-primed brass casings. The life of modern stybnate/resorcinate-based primers is not known because they have only been in use for 75 years or so. They LAST very well.

If you don't mind a nice-looking small rifle which is almost totally trouble-free and will last forever, then an SKS is for you.

If you want a Buck Rogers Space Cadet Machine Gun, go buy one of those.

But don't try to turn the decent little SKS into the Buck Rogers model.
 
Opinions are like a$$#0lEs. Everyone's got one, and most of them stink. Especially regarding aftermarket SKS furniture.
I'm not about changing stubborn people's minds, but I will say that I enjoy the SKS in all it's forms.
I own a bone stock 54 Izzy, a Tapco'd Norinco and a Monte Carlo'd 50 Tula.

I love 'em all.

They all feed and shoot flawlessly. Original fixed mag and Tapco 20/5 mags.
Stripper clips feed and the bolt hold operates properly after minor filing on the Tapco mags.

The black or white outlook about accessories and aftermarket stocks tells more about the person complaining then it actually educates about the rifle.
That's all I really hear too, grown men whining and complaining about rifles that aren't even theirs.
 
EL34/6L6 said:
Opinions are like a$$#0lEs. Everyone's got one, and most of them stink. Especially regarding aftermarket SKS furniture.
I'm not about changing stubborn people's minds, but I will say that I enjoy the SKS in all it's forms.
I own a bone stock 54 Izzy, a Tapco'd Norinco and a Monte Carlo'd 50 Tula.

I love 'em all.

They all feed and shoot flawlessly. Original fixed mag and Tapco 20/5 mags.
Stripper clips feed and the bolt hold operates properly after minor filing on the Tapco mags.

The black or white outlook about accessories and aftermarket stocks tells more about the person complaining then it actually educates about the rifle.
That's all I really hear too, grown men whining and complaining about rifles that aren't even theirs.
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I'm old and known to whine:) and my experience with aftermarket SKS stocks is actually quite positive, however in the end, I always opted to return them to original config or sell them. I try not to judge as I went through the Buck Rogers Mall Ninja phase, but if I can help some newbies save their money for other things, I will.
 
The Kurgan said:
I'm old and known to whine:) and my experience with aftermarket SKS stocks is actually quite positive, however in the end, I always opted to return them to original config or sell them. I try not to judge as I went through the Buck Rogers Mall Ninja phase, but if I can help some newbies save their money for other things, I will.
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..and of course mileage will vary from user to user. One shouldn't assume that because one tried it and went back to original form that everyone else will eventually do the same.
What is a mall ninja anyways? I keep seeing this term used but no one seems to know why it's used. It's quite the far fetched exaggeration. I take it that the person who coined it was significantly scorned or jilted regarding aftermarket accessories? Or they were the "get off my lawn" type? I'll assume the Buck Rogers reference also reveals a somewhat crusty yesteryear outlook as well?

Kurgs, you are wise and educated on the topic of SKS', and I wish all longtime SKS users possessed your viewpoints and open mindedness.
 
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