I purchased an SKS several months ago and finally took it to the range yesterday for a test fire. It was my first experience with an SKS and my impressions were *okay*. I liked the heft and the action seemed very reliable; I didn't like the trigger pull weight and travel (duh) nor did I like the rear notch sight. Front sight was easy for focusing but alignment with the rear notch was tough...maybe it was poor range lighting or simply due to my eyes not being as good as they used to be.
This SKS is not a collector's item IMO. It has been re-armored, the gunmetal has several gouges, the stock is a scratched and slightly gouged, and the butt plate is trashed. I spoke to a local gunsmith/SKS restorer and he could make it all shiny and pretty for $150, excluding any trigger work that I would also ask him to perform.
The question I'm asking myself is whether to gussy this SKS up or convert the whole thing to a pseudo-scout rifle with a TAPCO Intrafuse kit. With the latter, I would be gaining a whole lot of real functionality but of course any resemblance to the real SKS would be gone. Mechanically, the SKS action seems very reliable and tough, so turning this into a trunk/scout rifle would be advantageous from a usability and reliability standpoint. I think the TAPCO kits run about $150, the same as the gunsmith work.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else wrestled with the same SKS decision. I am sure that there are devotees of the SKS look, which I am neutral on and could take or leave...
This SKS is not a collector's item IMO. It has been re-armored, the gunmetal has several gouges, the stock is a scratched and slightly gouged, and the butt plate is trashed. I spoke to a local gunsmith/SKS restorer and he could make it all shiny and pretty for $150, excluding any trigger work that I would also ask him to perform.
The question I'm asking myself is whether to gussy this SKS up or convert the whole thing to a pseudo-scout rifle with a TAPCO Intrafuse kit. With the latter, I would be gaining a whole lot of real functionality but of course any resemblance to the real SKS would be gone. Mechanically, the SKS action seems very reliable and tough, so turning this into a trunk/scout rifle would be advantageous from a usability and reliability standpoint. I think the TAPCO kits run about $150, the same as the gunsmith work.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else wrestled with the same SKS decision. I am sure that there are devotees of the SKS look, which I am neutral on and could take or leave...