SKS - Yugo or Chinese?

Well, the wood on the Milarm/P&S rifles is not exactly of the greatest quality. It seems to be commonly referred to as "chinese mystery wood". I couldn't tell you exactly what it is. Once again, it's not great stuff but it does the trick. My biggest beef was with the finish as it wasn't very tough or durable, but that is easily fixed by refinishing it.

If your biggest concern if over fit, finish, and quality then the yugo SKS may be a better option as they reportedly have better wood quality and are a little better made overall. I don't have one so I personally can't verify this.
 
I have a Yugo M-59/66AB1. I do not have any regrets or complaints about the rifle but the accessories that came with it I am not crazy about. basically junk. I bought mine as a collection piece than a let us go out to have fun on the weekend kind of an item. That is why I have been looking for something to play with on the weekend but still would like to find something that looks good and shoot well.

I am not a wood expert either. I just would like my pieces to look good enough to show off at the range or when I am playing show and tell with friends and family. I do not like being embarased you see.
 
The SKS's from Milarm or P&S would do just fine for that. The standard finish sucks but that is easily replaced. They work just fine and once refinished look quite nice.
 
Happydude,
When you sanded down your SKS did the wood have any nice grain to it, or was it pretty plain--I used to work in the forestry industry making hardwood veneer, but we didn't get much call for chinese mystery wood.
 
I sanded mine down (SKS-D) and after a coat of primer, I spray painted it black. It looks much better than the orange chinese beach wood.

That being said, I ordered a Draganov stock (made for the D model).

I know that a lot of you think that the SKS is just crap and no matter how much you dress it up, all you got is dressed up crap but it isn't meant to be a precission sniper rifle.

It is a rifle that will shoot two to five inch groups at around a hundred yards (depending on your skill level). That is more than enough if you intend to use it as an MBR in case the SHTF, or as a weekend plinker, or as a coyote gun.

The best feature of the rifle is the fact that it's a tank. The loose clearances will allow it to function after you crawled through mud, sand or snow, which can not be said about most $2000 AR's or other designer rifles out there.

It's a functional rifle, easy to shoot, easy to repair, with a #### load of parts and accessories to be found locally ( Canada) and cheap to feed.
 
Millar said:
Happydude,
When you sanded down your SKS did the wood have any nice grain to it, or was it pretty plain--I used to work in the forestry industry making hardwood veneer, but we didn't get much call for chinese mystery wood.
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The grain wasn't too bad actually. The rear part of the stock is rather nice, but closer to the front the grain is a little bit duller. Mine also had a mysterious dark spot immediately behind the receiver on the handguard that wouldn't quite sand out completely but the cheap 'walnut' stain that I put on it covered it nicely. If I had a digital camera I'd take pics, but since I don't, perhaps some other gunnut will come along and show you pics of theirs.
 
happydude said:
FWIW, when I ordered from Milarm the gun got to me the next day (~24 hours).
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I am not sure what part of the country you live in but I doubt they will be able to ship it to me here in quebec overnight. Besides I just tried emailing them. My email was returned because their mail box is full. I will have to reach them by phone in the morning.
Are you certain that Milarms and P&s carry the same rifle? Do you have P&S's website address? I have not been able to find it.
 
I have owned yugos and norincos, and i havn't noticed much of a difference in performance at all (thats with well made norincos mind you... if you know what to look for when you buy norinco you can get a good quality gun).
I dont like the wood stocks on either of them though; the butts aer just way too short, and the grip is uncomfortable; I always put aftermarket stocks o mine, the dragonov made buy choate is probly my favorite so far, the para isn't bad either, and it allows you take out the trigger assembly without having to unscrew teh pistol grip (on the choate the grip fits snuggly against the rear of the trigger guard). the fibre force is a nice one too.
As for re-finishing wood stocks, my sks's are carry guns, while I do take good care of them, they do get beat up and i simply dont concern too much about cosmetics on carry guns. I like them to look mean and ugly, but work like a dream.

when it comes to ordering from Milarm, I've had both very good and very bad experiences with them. one thing about them is it is by far best to actually go to the store (I realize it may not be possible for those of you across canada) you just can't personaly pick and choose for quality, and it being largly surplus, quality varies greatly from gun to gun. I once bought 12 SKS's from them as well as a few thousand rounds of ammo (it was a bulk buy between me and a couple friends) They dropped their prices through the floor and gave me all kinds of deals, it was great dealing with them. (I was at teh store to buy them)
on a different occasion, however, I ordered an 8mm mauser from them and it took 5 months of @$#king around to get it mailed to me

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die standing and go down swingin
 
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