SKS questions.

[grandpatim]

I have been looking to buy an SKS for a while to just have to plink with and shoot the occasional wild hog or coyote. The local gun store has a Norinco Chinese SKS in stock. It appears in good shape with most of the blueing still intact. The stock is the original blond colored wood. The bayonet has been removed but the lug is still in place. It also has a detachable magazine that I believe is a 20 round. It has an adjustable rear sight to 1000 meters. Which I believe is standard. They are asking $199 for it. Is this a good price? Also would this be the paratrooper model or the D model? I would like to put a Tapco stock on but after reading the old posts on them I don't know if it would be legal. Sorry about all the questions but I don't know a lot about them.

Thanks,
Tim

[BobCat]

Had one a few years ago, terrible trigger but printed ok off the bench at very close range (50 yd) with S&B ammo. They were about $100 at that time. Had an integral 10-round mag, was told (but no personal experience) that the add-on detachable mags never were very reliable. Didn't care much for it (no real use for it) but there was nothing wrong with it. Thought my wife would find it comfortable (short stock) but she had no interest.

You can get a Yugo for $160 + shipping + FFL fee from Aim Surplus
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/SKS_ ... Rifle.html
The grenade launcher adds weight, and I think the barrel is longer than the Chinese, so it is more like a rifle than a light/short carbine.

The big draw used to be that 7.62x39 ammo was dirt cheap. No longer. Still, a shootable rifle for a couple hundred dollars is nothing to sneeze at.

Regards,
Andrew

[WarHawk-AVG]

I have been looking to buy an SKS for a while to just have to plink with and shoot the occasional wild hog or coyote. The local gun store has a Norinco Chinese SKS in stock. It appears in good shape with most of the blueing still intact. The stock is the original blond colored wood. The bayonet has been removed but the lug is still in place. It also has a detachable magazine that I believe is a 20 round. It has an adjustable rear sight to 1000 meters. Which I believe is standard. They are asking $199 for it. Is this a good price? Also would this be the paratrooper model or the D model? I would like to put a Tapco stock on but after reading the old posts on them I don't know if it would be legal. Sorry about all the questions but I don't know a lot about them.

Thanks,
Tim

Actually that $199 is a good price for a Norinco, its a bit high priced for any other...but at the going rate they are getting much more expensive


Mine the stock was horrible..so I got a MonteCarlo stock for it, dumped the crappy removable mags and got the stock 10 round fixed and a bag full of stripper clips

It shoots surprisingly well and I could easily kill a deer at 100yards or less with one

I would say for $199 go for it (I got mine for $90 from a pawn shop for doing some computer work for a friend)

You should be able to put a tapsco stock and use the 20 rounder mags on a D model with no problems (from what I hear) but I am more of a traditionalist and dont like to change the appearance of a firearm short of the basics like stock, slings, mags...but to each his own

Make sure the firing pin is clean of cosmoline...or you get slam fires which can really catch you off guard

[ELB]

I think $199 is a pretty good price. They usually go for more on Gunbroker, but 200 seems a likely price from what I saw at gun shows. I just bought a "paratrooper" version for $235 on consignment, which the shop owner said was higher than what he usually charges, but I was willing to pay it because I wanted the shorter barrel version.

The paratrooper" version has a 16 inch (maybe just a tad longer) barrel versus the standard 20" barrel. It was never really a paratrooper carbine, it was made specfically for the US market. I don't know if any of the paratrooper models were ever made with detacheble or fixed 20 round magazines. It may have been "bubba'd" since it was imported.

Speaking of modifications, you get into very headache inducing area if you want to LEGALLY modify an SKS. My recommendation to myself is to leave the SKS as stock as possible - it generally works fine. I did change the rear sight on mine to use a peep sight and I changed out the sling, both of which are legal. Beyond that I ain't gonna mess with it. I have never read of the ATF gettting anyone for illegally modifying an SKS, but I am not volunteering to be the first.

Here are a couple boards you should go spend some time on if you get the itch to start modifying it, or you are curious about the history and the exact model you are looking at:

http://www.victorinc.com/SKS-FAQ.html

http://www.sksboards.com

I find the stock rear sight difficult to pick up quickly -- it is a tiny little notch (somebody was dreaming when they marked it for 1000m). If you decide the sights could use updating, Williams has a WSKS sight (hard to find on their website http://williamsgunsight.com/), which I have on one of my SKS's. It works great, but it kind of sticks out -- if you dropped the carbine wrong, it might get snapped off. I am going to put a Mojo aperature sight on my other one, it looks like a much more robust sight: http://www.mojosights.com/ak47_sks.html.

The Williams and the Mojo sights are direct replacements for the SKS's rear sight (and you can buy new front sights too, of course). Tech Sights ( http://tech-sights.com/sks.htm ) makes one that mounts on the rear of the receiver; it give you more sight radius, and has protective wings similar to a M-1/M-14 sight.

This is probably more than you wanted to know, but since I just grabbed another SKS, I happened to be reviewing my SKS references and looking for a new sight, so you get a brain dump of what I've been looking at the last couple days.

I think it's a great little gun for a couple hundred bucks, very rugged, easy to fieldstrip and clean, short and handy.

Enjoy.

elb

[mr surveyor]

one advantage the Norinco has over a Yugo is the lighter weight chrome lined barrel. The 59-66 Yugo was manufactured in an area that had no supply of chromium, thus the heavier barrel.

As for modification of the magazine to use aftermarket mags.... it's just a matter of field stripping the weapon (the punch in the tool kit is really about all that's needed) and NOT replacing the standard magazine cover. The after markets will snap right in. No harm done to the weapon if you save the stock parts for replacement when you find out that most of the aftermarket stuff is cheaply made junk.

One really nice, non-invasive modification is to purchase the recoil spring dust cover with the attached weaver rail. Quite a while back I was buying them for 10 bucks and adding $25 Leeper's short eye relief scopes. It turns them into 4 inch groupers at 100 yards.

And my running buddies all decided we would leave the folding bayonets on them as originally delivered... they make excellent kick-stands so you don't have to lay your gun down on the ground

[308nato]

A very good place to go for SKS info is http://www.sksboards.com

[mr surveyor]

A very good place to go for SKS info is http://www.sksboards.com

yep

[Texas Armadillo]

$200.00 sounds like a good price. I bought this Chinese SKS back in the 80's for $69.00. This is a pic of it with the removable magazine and the Monte Carlo stock. The bayo is removed and a flash suppressor added.. The scope is on a cheap mount that was really ugly.


This is how it looks with the original stock, mag, bayo, and the flash suppressor is gone. The scope is on a much better "return to zero" mount now. This configuration looks the best to me. The removable mags are a pain in the butt to get in and out so I like the original magazine.


I also have one of the aimsurplus Yugo SKS's, and it is a few inches longer than this Chinese one.

I think I still have the Monte Carlo stock, scope, and a few removable mags laying around that need a new home. I don't think I will ever put them back on it.

[Keith B]

I have been looking to buy an SKS for a while to just have to plink with and shoot the occasional wild hog or coyote. The local gun store has a Norinco Chinese SKS in stock. It appears in good shape with most of the blueing still intact. The stock is the original blond colored wood. The bayonet has been removed but the lug is still in place. It also has a detachable magazine that I believe is a 20 round. It has an adjustable rear sight to 1000 meters. Which I believe is standard. They are asking $199 for it. Is this a good price? Also would this be the paratrooper model or the D model? I would like to put a Tapco stock on but after reading the old posts on them I don't know if it would be legal. Sorry about all the questions but I don't know a lot about them.

Thanks,
Tim

I sold a Norinco SKS and Tokarev 9x19 pistol a few months ago. FTF the value for the SKS is about $200, so that is a good deal if it is in really good ahspe you are buying.

One note, make sure all [abbreviated profanity deleted] the serial numbers match if it has the wood stock. That makes a little difference in value. Mine had a Monte Carlo composite stock, but had the original matching numbers stock and original box and papers.

[grandpatim]

Well thanks for the info guys. I went today to get it and it was sold. They don't know when they will be getting any more. I guess I will just concentrate on building my AR 15. By the way. When you say make sure the serial numbers match, what does that mean? Don't guns just have the one serial number?

Tim

[mr surveyor]

just about every major component on the SKS has the serial number engraved on it - including the original wood stock

[Rex B]

the ft Worth Cabelas has decent Yugos for $159.95 last I looked.
Appeared unissued, still some cosmoline on them.