Chinese “Red Star” 20 round SKS mag

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daniel craig

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Rumor has it that at one time the Chinese made a 20 round fixed mag for the SKS. Has anyone ever actually seen one? Have you used it? How were the results?
 
I had one on my Norinco SKS, picked it up at a gun show (obviously a while back) for $5. It worked fine, but I'm sure someone will come along and say they're junk. I sold it with the Norinco, wish I still had both. :(
 
If you mean like can be seen in this post in the Siminov thread, yep I had one back in the early '90s. Got it through a mail order catalog.

I returned it asap and got a 30 round USA brand steel magazine, which I still have.

The trouble I had with my 20 rounder is I couldn't load past about 15 cartridges and the thing wouldn't feed right. I'm sure I could have done some adjustments to the feed lips, etc., but the fact it wouldn't come close to advertised capacity was a deal killer for me.
 
I had one on my Norinco SKS, picked it up at a gun show (obviously a while back) for $5. It worked fine, but I'm sure someone will come along and say they're junk. I sold it with the Norinco, wish I still had both. :(

A bunch of us bought the 20 round fixed magazines in a group buy and yes it was hit or miss on functioning. Mine worked great, others had to tweak theirs to get them to feed.
 
I have one and it worked fine on my Norinco. I last used it in the mid to late 90's, but it still exists my box of assorted "other" mags.

It definitely works better than those awful "USA" brand detachable mags with the huge front extension from the same era.
 
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One worked in my norinco, which I traded but had 200 rounds through without failure. For $20, it was worth a try. Don't know what they cost now.
 
I have one and it worked fine on my Norinco. I last used it in the mid to late 90's, but it still exists my box of assorted "other" mags.

It definitely works better than those awful "USA" brand detachable mags with the huge front extension from the same era.
So, uuuh, you still want it?
 
I have one and it worked fine on my Norinco. I last used it in the mid to late 90's, but it still exists my box of assorted "other" mags.

It definitely works better than those awful "USA" brand detachable mags with the huge front extension from the same era.

I guess all these higher cap mags are hit and miss.

Since my USA 30 rounder would actually hold 30 rounds (with extreme effort to load), I took the time to file and tweak the mag lips and the mag mounting. But mine didn't come readily detachable. I made the mag detachable with more filing, and if I load only 28 rounds the USA mag I have runs great.

Even though the USA mag works well, it is bulky and I only have the one mag. So, I prefer the original 10 rounder. Might have been different if I had several 30 round detachable mags, but good spare mags back then could cost 1/3 the price of the rifle. Hard for a poor young man to come up with that.

Now that I think about it, I also have a flush 5 round mag that mounts like the original 10 rounder. I got it for hunting reasons back in the day. That 5-rounder is painted black instead of blued, but it works fine. It too needed some filing and tweaking to fit into the gun.
 
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I guess all these higher cap mags are hit and miss.

Since my USA 30 rounder would actually hold 30 rounds (with extreme effort to load), I took the time to file and tweak the mag lips and the mag mounting. But mine didn't come readily detachable. I made the mag detachable with more filing, and if I load only 28 rounds the USA mag I have runs great.

Even though the USA mag works well, it is bulky and I only have the one mag. So, I prefer the original 10 rounder. Might have been different if I had several 30 round detachable mags, but good spare mags back then could cost 1/3 the price of the rifle. Hard for a poor young man to come up with that.

Now that I think about it, I also have a flush 5 round mag that mounts like the original 10 rounder. I got it for hunting reasons back in the day. That 5-rounder is painted black instead of blued, but it works fine. It too needed some filing and tweaking to fit into the gun.

All of the above is why my SKS has had it's factory 10 rounder installed since before Y2K. The 20 rounder is cool, but the SKS shines as a compact 10 rd carbine, maybe excluding the ones that take proper AK mags.
 
All of the above is why my SKS has had it's factory 10 rounder installed since before Y2K. The 20 rounder is cool, but the SKS shines as a compact 10 rd carbine, maybe excluding the ones that take proper AK mags.
+1.
I have one of those 20 rd star mags. It will work if you load only10 rounds in, but at full 20 rounds and it is a disaster. The SKS is best left as the late Siminov intended it to be.
 
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