Questions about my "new" Norinco SKSS "Paratrooper"

[David Sinko]

I just bought a lightly used and in excellent condition Norinco SKSS "Paratrooper." It came with four "duckbill" magazines - two 30 round, one nine round and one that appears to be five round. All the magazines are of unknown origin, except the five rounder which is stamped Made in Detroit, MI. Though I do have a Yugo 59/66 that performs flawlessly, I don't know a whole lot about the SKS in general and the "Paratrooper" in particular.

Can somebody please explain the duckbill magazine? Is it an American innovation? What was the original magazine for this rifle? I have a feeling it's not any of the four that I have.

Also, how is the bayonet supposed to be retained? My spike bayonet appears to be retained by a screw that has a slot and is threaded, but there are no threads in the lug. This screw can be pushed out with minimal force and the bayonet will be launched. This can't be normal... or is it? Or is something missing.

Nice little rifle, though I'd like to have a proper magazine and properly retained bayonet.

 

[brbdwyr]

The "proper" mag is a fixed 10-round mag, same as what is in your Yugo. The duckbill mags were made by folks who wanted an AK. They are not that reliable IMO.

Pics would help on your bayo question. Some were threaded, some were riveted. Sounds like you have pieces parts.

 

[Cee Zee]

They are not that reliable IMO.

Some of them are "very" reliable. I have at least half a dozen duckbill mags that I've had for over 30 years and I've fired thousands of rounds through them and they have never had one single issue of any kind. Not one. It mostly depends on the brand of the mags. The ones everyone bought way back when are "USA" brand mags. Not made in USA. USA brand. They are made in the USA of course but they have USA as their brand name. I actually had several more at one time and I sold some of them because I figured I didn't really need so many.

That's not to say that the original mag is bad. Far from it. If you learn to use stripper clips those mags can work faster than the detachable duckbills and you can carry more ammo without all the extra weight of the mags themselves. Those large mags are bulky and heavy. Stripper clips are much easier to carry. There's a common chest pouch around that holds 200 rounds on stripper clips. To carry 200 extra rounds with the extra mags too would be way more heavy and awkward. It's easy to carry that many with the chest pouch.

BTW the Paratrooper model was made for the US market by Norinco because of the popularity of the mil-surp SKS's being sold here. They are thought to be slightly less durable than the mil-surp models but that still leaves a lot of room for incredible durability. Those rifles just work for a very long time. The Paratrooper generally was shorter and had a thumbhole stock but neither was always true. I've seen Paratrooper models that were just as long as the normal Norinco SKS and some that didn't have the thumbhole stock.

Whatever model you have you should have a fine rifle. If the detachables don't work well for you find one of the original mags and switch it back. They are around and don't generally cost a lot.

 

[easy]

Go over to Survivor's SKS boards - get all the answers you'll ever need.
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php

 

[VA27]

What barrel length? Does it actually say 'SKS S' on the reciever? Pix would help.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

My paratrooper uses a rivet to attach the bayonet.

 

[brbdwyr]

..."USA" brand mags. Not made in USA. USA brand. They are made in the USA of course but they have USA as their brand name.

I'll agree with that. I have one of the USA mags and it does work well. However, I'll argue that the best set-up is the original 10 rnd fixed mag.

They are thought to be slightly less durable than the mil-surp models.....

I hope you are making this up.

I've seen Paratrooper models that were just as long as the normal Norinco SKS.

No. Para is 16.5". Period.

Whatever model you have you should have a fine rifle. If the detachables don't work well for you find one of the original mags and switch it back. They are around and don't generally cost a lot.

Agreed. Should be able to find a fixed mag for under $20.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

A rivet? Mine [a paratrooper] uses a screw. So many SKS's out there. Only Mao can tell us for sure

 

[jimmyraythomason]

A rivet?

Yep, a rivet. I no longer have the rifle but I still have the bayonet and attaching hardware. The rivet was not braded but the end is hollow to allow for it. So, I guess, technically, it's a pin.

 

[Cee Zee]

I hope you are making this up.

No I'm not making it up. The models that were made for the US market have a well known reputation for being "slightly" less robust than the milsurp models. The main reason for this is that the made for US models were put together from parts left over from various other production runs of the SKS. So usually you got a very good model but sometimes you got parts that didn't work quite as well together as they should.

However, I'll argue that the best set-up is the original 10 rnd fixed mag.

A couple of things here. Some Paratrooper models came with a 5 round mag as the stock mag as they were considered sporting rifles and not military type rifles. And a big concern with switching a Paratrooper over to the familiar 10 round mag is that some of them were put together with bolts that came from the M models, which of course were made to work with AK mags. The thing about this is that there is no hold open feature on the M models just like there isn't one on AK's. AND there is no slot for loading from a stripper clip in those bolts that came from the M models. Like I said sometimes the parts weren't exactly matched the way they should be. You have a bolt that was never intended to be loaded with stripper clips on a rifle that was never intended to use detachable mags. That's the kind of thing that makes people think the made for US models were slightly inferior although it goes far beyond this one point. Trigger assemblies and the like could have problems working with receivers designed for a different production model and things like that.

So before switching over to a 10 round mag I would check to see if the bolt is designed to work with stripper clips. Yooper John has photos showing the difference but it's pretty easy to spot. Either the slot is there or it isn't. And without that slot there will be no way to load rounds other than one at a time. Like I said some Paratrooper models were designed to be sporting rifles and loading rounds one at a time wasn't considered a big deal for a sporting rifle. That's how most all sporting rifles work.

So going to the original 10 round mags found on most SKS models is not always a good idea.

 

[David Sinko]

Yes, it does say SKSS on the receiver. It has all matching parts, from what I can tell, and looks like '92 vintage, if the year is the first two digits of the serial number. And it has the slot for stripper clips. It has a short gas piston, obviously shorter than the one in my Yugo 59/66. I believe that's what the last "S" in SKSS represents?

A friend gave me a fixed Chinese 20 round magazine to try. It seemed to fit but it choked to death when I tried to both load and hand cycle live rounds through it. Perhaps this magazine is junk that was intended specifically for the American market?

The two 30 round magazines seem to be reliable. I can not see any markings, so how would I know if they are USA magazines? Only time will tell just how reliable they are. I tried the five rounder, and the floorplate fell off when the fifth round was fired.

The bayonet lug does not appear to have been modified. I'm guessing it was originally made to accommodate a rivet and I don't know how the screw ended up there. My gunsmith is proposing drilling and tapping the lug to take a set screw to hold the first screw in place. Or would it be best to disregard all the screws and re-rivet?

The camera is out of town for the moment. When it comes back I'll try to take some pics.

 

[Cee Zee]

Some did have the shorter gas piston. And if you have the bolt with the slot for stripper clips you should be good to go to switch over to the standard mag. But the 5 round mag having a floor plate at all indicates that it was the original mag that came with that rifle. I've never seen one that came open after firing the last round though. But there were a lot of variations of the SKS made in China.

As for telling if you have a USA brand mag there really is no markings on mine that say that's what they are. I just remember what the original packaging said when I bought them. They were about the only brand available back then in the early 90's. If the mags you have work I wouldn't worry about it. I'd just keep using them since you know they work. You could get a 10 round OEM mag and see how it works if you want but I don't see a big reason to switch unless you're just interested in carrying the most ammo possible. I haven't switched my Norinco back to the OEM mag because all my mags work fine. And I've learned to swap them out pretty quick too. There are some tricks to working those duckbill mags. There are some mods that can be made too (like being able to swap out mags that aren't empty by grinding off a particular spot - it's been a while since I looked at that info) but I wouldn't mess with the setup you have to be honest. If it works, it works. But putting the OEM mag on is a 5 minute job at most. It may be worth the effort and expense if you really want to go that way.

People like the Paratroopers and a lot of them came with those 20 round mags BTW. They have a Chinese star on the side of them if they are the ones that came with some Norincos. I think people always had some issues with those to be honest even when they came on the Paratroopers as the original mag. My cousin had one that had some problems and he swapped it out for a 10 round mag and hasn't had any more trouble.

 

[easy]

All SKS S that I've seen are '92' prefix. The 'S' is obvious by the gap between the front sight block and the gas block, about 3/4". All 'S' type are also paratrooper length at 16.5" barrel. The theory is that it was a test run to wring out the short gas system ahead of the D and M models.

 

[VA27]

From what I've read the 20 round fixed mags are sometimes problematic. A 10 round standard mag should be cheap and easy to find.