SKS rifle opinion

[Highwaystreets1]

Hey guys, a couple of buddies at work are planning on buying case of 10 SKS's from a firearms shop and i'm thinking of buying one... i have 0 experiance with these guns but they seem kind of cool, will only cost me 175$ so i thought what the hell.... they are also russian made and not chinese so i've heard that makes a difference

But if anyone owns one please let me know and let me know if you have done any upgrades to it, i'm thinking at least swapping the stock for a synthetic.

I'm not using it for anything other then fun so i'm not to worried about reliability or any other issues

[David Hineline]

They function or can be fixed. The Russian units came with bayonets after we where mad at the Chineese and could not sell them with bayonets anymore. They are more accurate than an AK but only have 10rnd magazines. 20yrs ago the Chineese ones sold for $88 and came with 300rnds of ammo. The latest versions I know of to get imported were the Yugoslav and came with a grenade launcher gas shut off that if used too much will crud up the gas hole and the gun no longer becomes semi auto untill cleaned well.

[XFitKdub]

I have a Yugo SKS that I just use to play and plink at the outdoor gun range. I swapped out the stock for a synthetic and ditched the bayonet.

Not the most accurate of weapons, but they are fun to shoot. Inexpensive to shoot as well. There are several small parts made for them to spice them up a little, but overall its caveman technology as far as semi-auto rifles go.

David is right about the gas shut off clogging on the Yugo model. But just clean it on a regular basis and you're good to go.

Might as well buy one, it'll pay for itself in fun down the road.

[Jere]

Mine is a Norinco. Me and my Dad have the same one. It's a cheap deer rifle and is rather fun to use. I kept mine stock (I like the trapdoor stock) and use the open sights whereas he put on the Monte Carlo stock and a scope. If it's new be sure get all the Cosmoline out of it. The barrel and gas tube should be plugged with it. Dad's was dripping with it and wrapped in wax paper. There are a lot of accessories for it. Even collapsable stocks accessory rails. I even bought some interchangeable 30 round magazines for mine.

Don't forget though that it is half centruy old military rifle technology designed and built by the enemy (back then).

[Highwaylaw]

I have a chinese sks and the thing is a work horse. IMO it is a durable, sufficiently accurate, mid-range rifle. Just be fastidious abouth the cleaning. Lots of the cheap ammo for it is corrosive.

[streetshark394]

I have a chinese sks and the thing is a work horse. IMO it is a durable, sufficiently accurate, mid-range rifle. Just be fastidious abouth the cleaning. Lots of the cheap ammo for it is corrosive.

+1
I have the chinese version and set it up with a monte carlo stock and scope. My main deer slayer. Great bang for the buck.

[FJDave]

I have a Soviet rifle (Russian) with a 1956 date stamp on it next to the star, hammer and sickle stamp. It is reliable, cheap to shoot, and accurate to past 100 yards. It's easy to field strip and clean with few moving parts. Accessories are VERY plentiful. Overall, it is worth every penny (and there are not many pennies in the rifle to begin with....cheap!).

[Highwaystreets1]

yah my idea was it is so affordable then why the hell not? where did you guys get your stocks at?

[XFitKdub]

yah my idea was it is so affordable then why the hell not? where did you guys get your stocks at?

I bought a Tapco stock on ebay for fairly cheap then I bought knock off monte carlo style stock at a gun show for pennies. Stocks are plentiful, if not buying local just use google shopping, seems to be an easy way to find a good price on one.

[reils49]

My Chinese SKS is a sloppy, nasty and inaccurate rifle. I love it! Its probably one of the most fun rifles to shoot because it just rattles around and I feel like a bad***. Its also not prone to malfunctions. Slow fire at 100 yards I can put 10 rounds into a paper plate. Rapid fire.....not so much. But I would say that I can keep 10 rounds in a silouhette target.

I got mine for $200. I didnt like the wood stock on mine, it was this rediculous orange color, so I put a Tapco stock on for about $75. Ammo is cheap and I have quite a bit of it around the house.

I'll say this: if I had to pick one rifle for an "oh ****" situation, it would probably be my SKS.

[gloc_copper]

Just a word of caution. Clean it very well before shooting it, especially around the firing pin. I had a chinese SKS that, upon purchase, I cleaned before shooting, but neglected to clean the firing pin, which had a small amount of packing grease around the pin, causing it to stick out. As I let the bolt go foreward to chamber a round..KABOOM! slamfire! scared the crap outta me.

[gloc_copper]

Just a word of caution. Clean it very well before shooting it, especially around the firing pin. I had a chinese SKS that, upon purchase, I cleaned before shooting, but neglected to clean the firing pin, which had a small amount of packing grease around the pin, causing it to stick out. As I let the bolt go foreward to chamber a round..KABOOM! slamfire! scared the crap outta me.

[willbird]

The only down side to them is they have a TERRIBLE trigger, it literally feels like it creeps and grinds for 1/16" of an inch before the gun fires, just pretend it has a gritty double action trigger. The Yugo's are a C&R gun which makes them more valuable to resell because you can ship them right to a C&R FFL holder, BUT the rifle needs to be in original configuration, that means save the original stock.

Bill

[fdkay]

Get a tech-sights aperature sight for it.
I've take a couple of deer with mine. Acuurate enough to engage man sized targets a fair distance.
One thing I like about the box magazine, you ALWAYS have a magazine with you and reloading with stripper clips is pretty fast. Not as fast as a mag change though.

[Shotar]

Buy as many as you can afford at that price if they are truly Russian ( Tula star on receiver cover ). The going rate for a nice condition Russian is $350 to $400.