SKS newbie with some questions

bill c68

bill c68

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I never really cared for the SKS but after shooting a VZ58 this weekend and having a blast (well many blasts) I saw an SKS listed for $125 and said ahh what the hell? cheaper than a case of ammo.

Anyway...

What are the Nroinco SKSs like?
Are they interchangeable with other SKSs?
Accuracy?
What kind of accessories are there?
Feel free to post some pics of custom SKSs!
Am I in the right forum?
And finally and this I am very interested in... what is the history of the SKS?
Have they seen action? I heard they were an early Klashnikov creation.. that true?
 
Yes your in the right spot, Some Anti-SKS people might not want you in the Black Rifle Forum but Doodie to them, here's a background on the SKS

The SKS is a Russian semi-automatic carbine, designed in 1945 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. It is formally known as the Samozaryadnyi Karabin sistemi Simonova, 1945 (Self-loading Carbine system, Simonov, 1945), or SKS 45. It was originally planned to serve as the new standard issue weapon for the Soviet military forces, alongside Mikhail Kalashnikov' new AK-47 design to replace the Mosin-Nagant series of bolt-action rifles and carbines that had been in service since 1891. As mass production of AK-pattern rifles increased, the SKS carbine was soon phased out of service. The carbine was quickly replaced by the AK-47, but it remained in second-line service for decades afterwards, and remains a ceremonial arm today. It was widely exported and produced by the former Eastern Bloc nations, as well as China, where it was called the "Type 56" (and, in modified form, the "Type 68"). It is today popular on the civilian surplus market in many countries.

The carbine was chambered for the then-new 7.62 x 39 mm M1943 round, an intermediate cartridge which went on to become a standard for the subsequent AK-pattern rifles.

My Norinco SKS is Cool, a little rough around the edges but It goes bang and hits Pumpkins at 25 yards.

interchangable as in how? fitting a aftermarket stock? I figure it would work.

For more on the history of the SKS copy and paste this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKS

Lots of info for you. And since you asked so nice here's a pick of my factory SKS no modifications.

SKS001.jpg


Big Picture of Rifle CLICK

PumpkinShoot004.jpg
 
The Norinco SKS's are OK, some of them need a little TLC in the fit and finish department but they go bang when you pull the trigger. Most of the parts on the various SKS's (Russian, Chineese, Yugo) will interchange, others might need a little field expidient file and hammer gunsmithing!

Accuracy varies a lot among different models and different rifles. Most can be made more accurate or at least more consistent with a little TLC.
This is a Russian SKS
SKSRussian.jpg


Fit and finish on the Russian ones is a little better than the Chinese.

And this is a modified SKS-D
SKSD.jpg


This one will hold under 1.5" at 100 yards with Norinco Silver box ammo, when I finish playing with it I am hoping for under 1" with handloads.:D
 
These are fun guns, the cheap Chinese are a great value for the money and uber-reliable - they go 'bang' every time.

You can dress them up in all sorts of way and there's plenty of accessories floating around at very reasonable prices. Having said that, these are never going to be very accurate no matter what you do to them; adding a scope's not really gonna enable you to do much more then the iron sights.

Most of the non-receiver-drilled scope-mounts you see will NOT hold zero; most of the others are gonna end up costing you as much in parts and labour as the gun itself.

There's a wide variety of websites out there, try also www.sksboards.com/forums for all sorts of inspirational pictures, good advice and general BS.

There's a wide variety of SKS's out there too - you've gotten in on the low-end of the spectrum but you can spend significantly more for an 'new-unissued' milsurp Yugo M59(/66) (like mine, see below) and even more for a Tula-arsenal original Russian (which have beautiful stocks and an amazing finish).

Mine came complete with a grenade-launcher, tritium night sights (which no longer glow due to the fact that while my rifle was new it was still significantly older then I am - it sat in cosmoline in an arsenal for 30 years before Marstar was good enough to import and sell it to me for $329 + shipping) forged, not stamped receiver and all-matching serial numbers.

Here's mine...
Yugo%20M59-66%20SKS%20action-closeup.JPG


Yugo%20M59-66%20SKS%20full-length.JPG
 
There are detachable magazines made for standard SKS rifles. These are the so-called duckbill magazines, because of the large projection which engages where the standard magazine would hook in at the front of the receiver. The SKS -D is a commercial rifle, made for export sale. Some folks like them, some don't. If the 5 shot magazine restriction is ever listed, they will become a lot more popular. 5/30 steel magazines are a pretty awkward way of loading a rifle with 5 shots.
 
bill c68 said:
There is a slightly used Yugo at the local shop here, what is a reasonable price?

Also Would it be a big deal to turn a SKS into an SKS-D should I ever want to?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's very difficult to convert a standard SKS to a D version. There's a whole lot of machining to the magazine well that has to be done. If you're a machinist with a bunch of time on your hands who enjoys doing such things then it might be worth doing the work.

Personally with the 5 round max capacity rules I just don't see the advantage of having a D model, I find stripper clips just as fast as a magazine change. Stipper clips are also super cheap, more reliable, lighter, and less bulky than AK magazines.
 
The SKS D is specially modified to use AK mags. It will work and have the bolt hold open on last shot work.

There is a conversion kit for a normal SKS to use the Mag's but I hear they are no good, no last round hold open, and usually break somehow.

SKS-D is a good idea, mag holds more rounds opposed to the box mag, Think what they were going for. Never mind the fact that it only holds five rounds. Same thing goes for those $3,000 PE-90 rifles they only hold 5 rounds.

My Dad is After a SKS D and I wouldn't mind one either. If does increase the Look Cool Factor.
 
My SKS-D did not have last shot bolt hold open. I could not load it with strippers. I like my cz858. but if i were to go between the two sks's, i would go with the non-D model.
 
The D, as mentioned does NOT have last shot hold open. Not worth the extra money in this country IMHO. There is nothing wrong with a Norinco SKS, and it's a good "gateway gun" to a healthy SKS addiction. And you can make 'em look cool...
100_0034.jpg

This is not a D, I just added a 30/5 rounder and some other dress ups...
 
Accuracy is aboot the same as a good pistol. The only ones I had seen were captured from the enemy, so I bought 2 whan I saw them in Canada.
So they are klumsy stocked pistols with cheap ammo, what's not to like :)
 
MasterPython wrote: "Did they make five shot and ten shot SKSs or do ten shot SKSs get modified before comming into Canada?"

Five shot mag is for Canada, ten is standard (legal) in the U.S. I believe. However, you can easily change the internal mag on your sks from a five round to a ten or 30 round etc., but they will all be pinned at five rounds to be legal in Canada. (Hopefully that law will change soon!) It isn't really the sks itself that changes, it's just whatever mag is put into it. You gotta whip the thing in and out when you disassemble/reassemble the rifle anyway so I think it would be easy to change it.

By the way are you any relation to Monty Python? ;)
 
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