Hey Hoosier (my daughter goes to IU) I am being half sarcastic about the bayonet. Discussions on the legality of the bayonet result in some interesting situations, especially as to the Chinese ones. It seems that few of the Chinese made it here with bayonets, those bayonets banned after a short time thanks to George Bush, Sr., and not Clinton, who is usually blamed. After a time the Norincos were imported without the bayonet with the lug often ground down. If the lug was still there the threads on the one half were also often removed. So, some have argued that it became illegal to re-install the bayonet, I think without 922r compliance, which starts the part count game. And, with any SKS with a bayonet it became illegal to remove the bayonet, or arguably so, but I'm not sure whether this was true with only the Chinese, Russians, or all of them. The whole darned thing is so dang confusing. Probably the best thing to do is make the rifle 922r compliant and be done with it. Heck, I'm an attorney and I have weighed in on these laws researching them trying to make sense of them, and they make my head hurt. In 25 years in the legal profession I have never seen such an utterly stupid body of laws, rules and regualtions. They are arbitrary, ambiguous and often contrary, and that is an optimistic outlook. But, we have to deal with it.
The way that I see it, if you take the bayonet off I think that any federal prosecutor is going to have a very hard time proving that a bayonet was ever on the rifle, at least when it came into your possession. I'd also venture a guess that there are zero federal prosecutors who are going to give a rat's ass whether you take your bayonet off, if it even is a concern under some convoluted reading of the law(s). That is, unless you have used your SKS to rob a bank and a BATFE specialist has inspected your SKS and has determined that it is not in compliance. In that case the criminal count will be added to the long list of others, and in the case of a plea bargain it will be one of the bootstrap counts that will be negotiated away still leaving you in a world of hurt and headed to the graybar hotel where you will become someone's girlfriend. But, taking off a bayonet, that alone, will almost cetainly (unless you are boinking a BATFE agent's wife or something) never result in you being charged.
Pesonally, I like the bayonet on. Zombies hate bayonets, no to mention vampires.
As to being a milsurp purist, well, I am sort, but not to any extremes. I have nothing against someone taking an SKS and sporterizing it or going the tactical route, maybe with a TAPCO stock as I one did with a Yugo. As far as I was concerned the rifle was already Bubba'd by the Yugoslavs with all of that grenade launcher crap. On the other hand, if someone was to take the vet bringback Type 99 Arisaka (with mum inact) that I just put on layaway, and Bubba it, I would want to club them over the head with it. Same with a matched non-Russian Capture K98. I like my Milsurps to be in as close to original condition as possible so that I can as closely as possible experience what those fighting men experienced when they depended on that weapon for their lives. That's to say to experience what they experienced without someone shooting at my 50 year old arse.
I will protect the wood on my milsurps, if need be, but I don't have to use BLO or real 100% tung oil, and will often use Watco's Danish Oil Finish for a quicker drying time, especially on a rifle like a Russian Capture. On the other hand, if it was a matched bringback K98 you can bet your life that I would only use BLO. No new finish will touch my Arisaka, and even though the shellac finish on my 1959 Norinco is just a bit uneven, it will stay as is. The bayonet is consistent with how the rifle was made and used. I just picked up a Savage Enfield No.1 MK4* that needs nothing whatsoever so nothing will be done. When I picked up an Ishapore Enfield that black paint had to come off, exposing a wonderful Parkerized finish underneath. It just depends on the weapon itself, some to remain pristine, while there is a broad spectrum for others, from nearly pristine all the way to Bubba.
I agree with you that an SKS is a candidate for Bubba, but not all of them.