SKS D conversion

ReverendX

ReverendX

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Remember when Kodiak used to mill receivers out to accommodate AK magazines?

I think someone should continue to offer that service as many of our semi auto choices seem to suck. I'd rather pay a couple hundred dollars to have an SKS modified than drop $1300+ on one of these crappy 180s.

Thoughts?
 
ReverendX said:
Remember when Kodiak used to mill receivers out to accommodate AK magazines?

I think someone should continue to offer that service as many of our semi auto choices seem to suck. I'd rather pay a couple hundred dollars to have an SKS modified than drop $1300+ on one of these crappy 180s.

Thoughts?
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I second your opinion, and I would rather have a modified sks then any of the T81 offerings also. I think there would be a huge market for this service.
 
ReverendX said:
Remember when Kodiak used to mill receivers out to accommodate AK magazines?

I think someone should continue to offer that service as many of our semi auto choices seem to suck. I'd rather pay a couple hundred dollars to have an SKS modified than drop $1300+ on one of these crappy 180s.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

when kodiak did it last time, they used russian sks cos it was plentiful. i refused to buy one cos sks-d means chinese not russian.

i cant see why kodiak cant do it now especially when there is a new shipment of chinese sks. down side is they are unissued and expensive so probably on a smaller scale run which add more to the cost. i wonder how much of a demand there is at $1000?
 
Curtton said:
when kodiak did it last time, they used russian sks cos it was plentiful. i refused to buy one cos sks-d means chinese not russian.

i cant see why kodiak cant do it now especially when there is a new shipment of chinese sks. down side is they are unissued and expensive so probably on a smaller scale run which add more to the cost. i wonder how much of a demand there is at $1000?
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Kodiak wants to sell their 180's, they make a much larger profit spitting them out than modifying sks. Don't ever expect them to restart the kd project.
 
bigmouth said:
Kodiak wants to sell their 180's, they make a much larger profit spitting them out than modifying sks. Don't ever expect them to restart the kd project.
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i wont be suprised if they dont. they gotta do where the bottom line is larger.
 
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Curtton said:
when kodiak did it last time, they used russian sks cos it was plentiful. i refused to buy one cos sks-d means chinese not russian.

i cant see why kodiak cant do it now especially when there is a new shipment of chinese sks. down side is they are unissued and expensive so probably on a smaller scale run which add more to the cost. i wonder how much of a demand there is at $1000?
Click to expand...

What I'm suggestion isnt that Kodiak provides the SKS's already milled out, my suggestion is for someone with a milling machine to provide the service on the SKS you send to them.

Say $300.00 to mill your bolt and receiver for AK magazines.
 
ReverendX said:
What I'm suggestion isnt that Kodiak provides the SKS's already milled out, my suggestion is for someone with a milling machine to provide the service on the SKS you send to them.

Say $300.00 to mill your bolt and receiver for AK magazines.
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done individually? $300 sounds too low (imho) plus mailing to and from.
 
ReverendX said:
Remember when Kodiak used to mill receivers out to accommodate AK magazines?

I think someone should continue to offer that service as many of our semi auto choices seem to suck. I'd rather pay a couple hundred dollars to have an SKS modified than drop $1300+ on one of these crappy 180s.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

well sks russians are scarce now ... better buy a t81 when they are/were available ...
 
I remember those...SKS-KD was the proper designation.

Here is the thing:
This conversion is a pretty invasive surgery and I remember them to be a hit and miss as far as reliability is concerned.
Once you start trying to fix something that isn't broken, you are asking for trouble.

For that reason I would take the real SKS-D any time over the one, that was converted.
 
i second that. when the sks-kd was available, i thought it would knock the real sks-d price down. it didnt, its now $1250. incredible.
 
grumpyguy said:
There’s a member here that has done the conversion himself with minimal tools. Dremel, file etc. He’s also done a type 81 mag conversion.

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/2299996-Another-SKS-that-uses-Type-81-magazines
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not quite a dremel, he actually used a die grinder. however he believe it can be done with a dremel but that is coming from a person who had been working on his project for several years. its a piece of cake for him. btw: he failed to mention you will need a welder. this is what he actually said.

WmMcLeod said:
I use a die grinder with a 5/16" ball-nosed carbide burr for the bulk of the material removal. Operating this tool is a sort of cross between free-handing a router, and using a Dremel. I wouldn't recommend it to someone didn't have a lot of experience with rotary tools - it has all the liabilities of a dremel, but with a significantly more powerful motor.

Obviously you don't need to use a tool like this, because you don't need to complete the milling in 15 minutes.

A minimum standard of tooling to accomplish this conversion in a reasonable timeframe would be a dremel-type rotary tool, with a selection of carbide cutting burrs, sanding drums, and a disc type grinding stone to cut the front magazine notch.
There are far too many considerations to list here, but I do consider the process to be straightforward enough for someone who is reasonably handy.
If you can carve a duck out of wood with a rotary tool, you can cut a magazine well.
I can probably make a forum post detailing the process and considerations that I follow
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The two major downsides with the D's is that many parts are often not interchangeable due to varying specs between factories, and not just by a few thou of an inch. Russian sks are usually plug 'n play. The other issue is they are notoriously finicky with their mags. Some rock in perfectly, others don't fit. And that's with the original steel mags, don't get me started on the plastic ones. And this is with factory original D's. I can't imagine that newly converted ones will be any better. I used to own a dozen of them once. Now I own none. That should tell you all something. Wink, wink, nudge nudge.

You want a D, stick with an original sks and get Tapco or Bauer mags for it. Much cheaper now and equally reliable.
 
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Yep, SKS-D are not easy peasy as people are thinking. It depends on the magazines and even then, there is a reason why they build in a magwell into the stock. Plus, you have to move the magazine in quite deep, so the magazine lip and the cut out at the receiver have to 100 % fit. Make sure you have the original SKS-D stock to the rifle when you buy one, I bought a D with a Dragunov stock and tried to modify a regular Chinese stock to work. I somehow succeeded but it was not what I thought it would be and sold it. Especially the short magazines are a problem because of the feeding angle, hence why they come with 30 round magazines. I am not even talking about the magazine release on a D, horrible.

As Curtton mentioned, that member here who modified a regular SKS is a very experienced builder. Not easy at all.

The best really is, and I mention it again, is to use a tapco duckbill mag and the SBI magazine release. I bet you can change magazines twice as fast as you can with a D.
 
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