Sorry this is late, I was at a neighbors commiserating, he had to have his dog put down due to cancer

anyway, tonight's discussion is about the SKS rifle.

My first introduction to the SKS came in the early 90's shortly after getting my FFL. A distributor/importer in San Diego contacted me about buying some SKSs, at the time I didn't know what an SKS was, he assured me I would be impressed, and for the $59 wholesale price, I figured it wasn't much of a risk

This is what he sent me, one of the nicest SKS rifles I have ever seen. Chi-Com triangle 26 rifle, in mint condition



After about 8 months he offered me a SKS paratrooper for $69, those two guns sold many guns, but none of them looked as good as mine, he hand selected my guns...

Anyway, I have come to love the simplicity and accuracy of these handy little carbines, what about you guys, any good stories regarding the SKS?

I bought a Yugo at the wac for 175. Bedlined. Had fun cleaning that royal clusterfuck off of it.... It does well. Not super accurate, the bore isn't awesome.
Have a Russian iirc. I think that one's pretty accurate. Not a sniper rifle by any stretch.

Then there's the M paratrooper
385 at a wac show. 2 mags. One didn't work.
None of my other AK mags worked.
That thing was the bane of my existence for a summer.
Got a few mags to work. Mostly.
Then hung it up for a while.
Then finally I decided it was ok to make mods to the gun too make the mags work.
Less then hour and all the AK mags for and cycled cartidges. I know I can chase cans with it at 75-80 yds give or take. Net accuracy I can't say.

I bought an SKS off Craigslist back in 08. It was the first rifle and second gun I ever bought. I paid 100 bucks for it, minus the factory mag and it had a dumb rear cover with picattiny rail on the back. Not the type with tension screws. Mounted a small scope on it and shot a 10 inch group at 50. Sold the cover for 25 bucks, bought an original one and a factory 10 rounder off eBay for 45 I think. I have come to believe the SKS is the best all around gun. It does few things great, but does everything good enough. Cheap, accurate enough, powerful enough, simple, low recoil, dependable, cheap to shoot. What’s not to love. No collection is complete without one. I ended up with another Norinco a few years back for the same price. A little rougher, but decent shape. The only thing I have ever wanted to do to my original is make the trigger a little nicer.

I loves me a little bit of SKS!

I love semis with wood! My favorite on has to be the one i have that takes the AK mags. Its shorter than the others but no pokey on the bizz end.

A while back I was at one of the yearly yard sales in my community.
Looking over stuff in the driveway and eventually into the garage. What's that?!? Ooohhh, a Liberty safe.
"'er, selling anything from inside the safe?"
"Nope but I'm willing to sell the safe. It's just too much to move".
"Well I don't have enough $$ for it but hold on a minute".

Ring, Ring... "hello?"
"Hey Foothills, have I got a deal for you..."

Long story short.
Foothills bought the safe and the entire contents.
Now, what does this do with any SKS discussions?
Inside was a perfect LAMINATED SKS.
What made it special? It had the same birth date as me.
Don was so happy of his major buy that he offered the SKS from the safe in a straight across trade for my plain jane model.
Still have it.

That's funny Rick! I thought about that very scenario while I was reading Casey's first post.

You still have the SKS...and I still have that safe.

Another good Friday thread, Casey!

My SKS story also starts with foothills. I kinda miss the days when he was my go-to "dealer," he kinda got me rolling in this game.

I bought this Yugo M59/66 SKS from Don. Cool gun, kind of a run-of-the-mill Yugo:



Gotta love the grenade launcher and sight . . . and night sights! (Long-dead night sights....)



However, a few years ago I traded it for a VZ-52. No regrets.

My current SKS collection looks like this:



From left to right:

- A Russian, made in 1956 in the Tula arsenal. It's a very nice rifle.



- A Chinese Norinco SKS Sporter, made in 1993. I was excited to buy this, four years ago, because I really wanted an AKS that takes AK mags. Unfortunately, I don't think I've shot it yet, so maybe I wasn't as excited about it as I thought i was. As I was pulling it out for the photo, today, with Rix86's post in mind, I tried a plastic Magpul mag in it . . . wow, that's tight. Yeah, I'll stick to the steel mags in it.

- A Romanian M56, made in 1958. Looks pretty modern for a 1958 rifle, doesn't it? The original stock is on the right side of the photo above, but now the rifle is in a Shernic Gun Works bullpup stock. I pre-ordered that stock when they first came out, and that was a lot of drama . . . I waited over a year for it, as I recall. It's a fun alternative to the original!



One hard lesson learned with the bullpup SKS . . . I had it out for a group shoot once, at a local pit. There was a guy there with a couple of teenagers, not part of our group, and they were kinda eyeing the SKS. I offered to let them shoot it, gave the basic instruction, and then one of the teenagers took the first shot . . . and immediately stopped.

Yep, the kid was left-handed. And the SKS has a steel, reciprocating charging handle. And with the bullpup stock, that charging handle is a whole lot closer to your mouth than it would normally be . . . .

I was horrified, and that lesson really stuck with me. The dad told me that the kid's tooth was cracked, and they left immediately to go find a dentist. I don't know what happened after that.

I like SKSs . . . but honestly, my feeling is that anything an SKS can do, an AK can do better. Thus, while I like the few that I have, I'm not looking for more.

No good stories, other than I thoroughly regret letting go of an SKS-M I got in trade for a Marlin model 66 way back way. It took AK mags from the factory, but this one wasn't looking it's peak. Surface pitting everywhere, stock needed a refinish. Sold it to a guy for $250, along with an unmolested Saiga 12, another sale I regret. Should've kept both, should've gotten that SKS restored, which is what the buyer did with it. Looked fantastic.

I have three, one Yugo I got at cabelas when they first opened for $179. Should of bought 4 of them. Just got two from classic, both Chinese, one milled trigger group and one not. Have not shot either of them yet. One is still in cosomline.

I owned one once, years ago. Was eventually stolen.

Didn't shoot it a whole lot. Was decent.

Obsolete design, as a fighting rifle. The mod that allows it to take detachable mags improves on this, of course.

Solid operating system.

Does have a place in history, of course. Chinese human wave attacks in Korea come to mind.

ETA: I always laugh, when someone says they've got one, all tricked out, with a synthetic folding stock, VFG, some kind of RDS, yet it's still rockin' that 10 round fixed mag that loads by the 10 round stripper clips...and think they're prepared.

But Madpick, that bullpup setup looks awesome, like a perfect evolution of the design (yes, if you're not left-handed)!

Is it pretty rugged? Any reliability issues? How's the trigger (I ask as most bullpups have lousy triggers)?

I sold literally hundreds of them in the early 90's...I could buy the Norinco units from RSR in Seattle for $59.95 if I bought them 12 at a time.

Came ENCASED in Chinese cosmoline in a wooden crate.

Every farmer I knew in NE Washington had 1 and half a dozen boxes of ammo on their tractor. They were great for chasing Coyotes across a hayfield.

It's actually pretty nice. I haven't had any non-dental issues with the stock, though I admittedly don't have a lot of rounds through it.

The trigger feels good, nice and clean, not gritty. It breaks at about 5.5 pounds. I'd say that it's actually nicer than some of the newer production bullpups . . . I'm lookin' at you, Steyr AUG and pre-Geissele Tavor!