SKS Mods

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bbwolf

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Since purchasing my Chinese SKS I have discovered a huge aftermarket of add-ons. I have also learned that there are a wide range of opinions on what should be done to your SKS. Mine is, you own it, do what you want! so long as it's legal and safe.
For me I like the look of the Tapco & ATI stocks, so that is what I put on the 3 I own. I also added Tapco detachable mags ( the only ones, out of the 3, I bought that worked. I added a Tapco mag release, NC Star muzzle breaks and replaced the free floating firing pins with a spring type from Murrays to prevent any chance of an auto fire incident. I refinished & stored the original stocks, after many hours with a heat gun slowly melting away the cosmoline.
I enjoyed modifing these firearms, for me it's a hobby.
Thanks for reading & be safe.:canadaFlag:
 
bbwolf said:
Since purchasing my Chinese SKS I have discovered a huge aftermarket of add-ons. I have also learned that there are a wide range of opinions on what should be done to your SKS. Mine is, you own it, do what you want! so long as it's legal and safe.
For me I like the look of the Tapco & ATI stocks, so that is what I put on the 3 I own. I also added Tapco detachable mags ( the only ones, out of the 3, I bought that worked. I added a Tapco mag release, NC Star muzzle breaks and replaced the free floating firing pins with a spring type from Murrays to prevent any chance of an auto fire incident. I refinished & stored the original stocks, after many hours with a heat gun slowly melting away the cosmoline.
I enjoyed modifing these firearms, for me it's a hobby.
Thanks for reading & be safe.:canadaFlag:
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At some point i may do the same thing and Modify one of mine but i really like the natural look of these Rifles and i love collecting them..my goal to to eventually own different types, i have 2 Chinese now soon to get a Russian then i want to get a Yugo. If you do decide to Modify however the options are endless.
 
bbwolf said:
Since purchasing my Chinese SKS I have discovered a huge aftermarket of add-ons. I have also learned that there are a wide range of opinions on what should be done to your SKS. Mine is, you own it, do what you want! so long as it's legal and safe.
For me I like the look of the Tapco & ATI stocks, so that is what I put on the 3 I own. I also added Tapco detachable mags ( the only ones, out of the 3, I bought that worked. I added a Tapco mag release, NC Star muzzle breaks and replaced the free floating firing pins with a spring type from Murrays to prevent any chance of an auto fire incident. I refinished & stored the original stocks, after many hours with a heat gun slowly melting away the cosmoline.
I enjoyed modifing these firearms, for me it's a hobby.
Thanks for reading & be safe.:canadaFlag:
Click to expand...

In my experience the SKS is a cheap, easy to use, easy to maintain and perfectly re-liable firearm which is what it was meant to be. The more "mods" you do, the less and less reliable it becomes. They didn't invent the term "tapco####ed" for no reason!
 
Mantis said:
In my experience the SKS is a cheap, easy to use, easy to maintain and perfectly re-liable firearm which is what it was meant to be. The more "mods" you do, the less and less reliable it becomes. They didn't invent the term "tapcof**ked" for no reason!
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Could you explain in a little more detail how modifications to the SKS makes it less reliable. Makes no sense to me unless you are a " Hector the Collector "
 
Actually mods like the spring loaded firing pin and doing a good solid trigger/sear job make the sks a lot safer. I don't know of any "mods" that make an sks "unsafe" 99% of unsafe firearms and firearm issues are a result of a wannabe gunsmith or lack of maintenance
 
there are some good mods

The ejection port mod is excellant as are the wolf springs and smoothing the trigger mechanism. bayonet removal and glass bedding also good
 
Changing the stock and mag on an SKS do not in any way change the operation of the firearm and the spring loaded fp makes it safer. BTW what does tapcof and ked mean? never heard those terms before.
 
bbwolf said:
what does tapcof and ked mean? never heard those terms before.
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:p

Let's just say some/most prefer to leave the SKS in its original fashion, and not go for the whole tacti-cool conversion.

Spring loaded firing pins are not really making it safer, keeping the bolt clean and free of dirt and debris will keep the OEM FP setup running safe. I've myself thought about changing my firing pin, but I decided against it. I just take it apart every now and then and keep it cleaned up to prevent any sort of slam fire incident.
 
There is a "dress up barbie" school of thought where you add ###y bits of plastic to your gun so you can pose in the mirror, but which certainly don't make it shoot better. Not that there's anything wrong with that, each to his own.
The SKS is one of the most tried and tested mechanical systems going, so most changes are going to be detrimental. If you are a better designer than Simonov, you can improve on it.
If sticking doodads on your rifle makes you happy, go for it and enjoy.
 
I own several firearms I would never change. The SKS however is cheap enough, with an endless after market, and easy enough to return to original, that modifying them is enjoyable for me. None of the mods I mentioned interfer with the operating system which is very reliable.
 
The reliability issues arise from the fact that a good portion of accessories for the SKS are cheaply made. Its a cheap rifle so very few people are going to buy expensive parts for it. Alot of duckbill mags cause feed issues, the Tapco seem to be the best. Some have found that the spring loaded firing pin to be too soft for corrosive ammo and can eventually LEAD to slamfires. They dropped the spring from the design for a reason and kept making them that way for many years. Maintenence is the only thing that makes the SKS safer, stop doing it and bad things happen. The trigger has copious amounts of creep and the grittiness together prevent unsafe operation. Correcting sear angle is only necessary when removing creep from the trigger. Again, to each his own but IMO the SKS doesnt need a single mod to be reliable and safe as it can be.
 
I really don't know why the spring loaded firing pin issue is such a big deal. If you clean normally you won't have problems. Some people make it sound so bad. There are so many military gas operated rifles with free floating firing pins that don't have problems. I reload for my SKS and have never had a pierced primer or slam fire.
 
Hey, I HAVE to mod my SKS's. The stocks are at least an inch too short and I get WAY better accuracy out of a longer stock. I also need a scope these days and when you get one of these scope mounts (they all have "see-through" mounts) you have to build up the comb in order to get a decent cheek weld. A nice aftermarket monte-carlo stock works for me.

And, OP, you had it right...it is yours...do what you want with it.

Just don't expect anyone else to like what you have done. One guy on the EE had spent 5 or 6 hundred dollars on accessories making the rifle (a 10-22, I think) to be what HE wanted it to be and then was upset that no one wanted to pay for them when he tried to sell the rifle. He thought it was beautiful but I never in my life saw an uglier rifle.

Mod all you want, but it is your taste you are satisfying.
 
For me, the important thing is to not fall in the trap"more is better" You can load the sks full of aftermarket parts and so on but too much add on will make it unnecessary bulky. The sks handle fine the way it is. Somes load their sks with lot of add on and we see them later for sale on the EE..... My two cents.
Jocelyn
 
supernova said:
The reliability issues arise from the fact that a good portion of accessories for the SKS are cheaply made. Its a cheap rifle so very few people are going to buy expensive parts for it. Alot of duckbill mags cause feed issues, the Tapco seem to be the best. Some have found that the spring loaded firing pin to be too soft for corrosive ammo and can eventually LEAD to slamfires. They dropped the spring from the design for a reason and kept making them that way for many years. Maintenence is the only thing that makes the SKS safer, stop doing it and bad things happen. The trigger has copious amounts of creep and the grittiness together prevent unsafe operation. Correcting sear angle is only necessary when removing creep from the trigger. Again, to each his own but IMO the SKS doesnt need a single mod to be reliable and safe as it can be.
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+1

IMO a lot of so-called upgrades and such just feed an aftermarket - often having more to do with looks than function. Looks meant very little apparently on the Russian front. Keep 'er clean and shoot it like you stole it. I'd say that's what Simonov would say too.
 
Agreed, the SKS is a fun & affordable gun to fix up or customize, thats why we created a website with almost all the SKS accessories in a one stop shop. We are also the western Canadian distributor of Tapco products. Check it out HERE.
 
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Mantis said:
The more "mods" you do, the less and less reliable it becomes.
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With all the mod's i made on my SKS is still working and reliable like all SKS ...

Photo_193.jpg
 
I never implied in my original post modifying my SKS rifles would improve the function. I only was stating my preferance for how "MY" SKS looked. And what's wrong with feeding aftermarket! we're not commies on the Russian front. LOL
 
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