SKS Carbine

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WALKERs210

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I bought my first SKS way back in the 80's for a whopping $59.00. Over the years I have owned several and have never been disappointed with any of them in any way. Yesterday I made a trade at a small Pawn/Gun shop for a SKS with 16 1/2 " barrel which I believe is called the Paratroop model, took it down today expecting to find tons of gunk and other nasty left over stuff. Instead this thing is so clean, it looks like it was brand new. It is from Norinco and so far all serial # are matching and I really love it. It came with one metal 30rd mag and I had two of the synthetic 30rd but they didn't fit worth a darn so pulled out the dremel tool and sanded the mag well so it would fit easily. Wound up putting a fixed 10rd mag I had and think I will keep it that way Guess you can still get a good rifle at times, and at same time I picked up a Winchester Model 70 in 300WM with the B.O.S.S. system on it. I have seen these before but this is first time I have had one in my possession. According to manual it is suppose to adjust to a sweet spot so you can really get tight grouping and it stated that it can reduce recoil from 30% - 50% but will be extremely loud because of the way the BOSS is designed. Will see by this weekend.
 
I really like this SKS only thing about it is the color of the stock. I know that's how it came but giving thoughts of sanding and staining or at least break out the camo spray paint.
 
The original 10 rd fixed mag is the way to go. Or a 20 rd Chicom Star fixed mag.
 
tyeo098 said:
Norinco uses a special wood that is called Catalpa. Its neat stuff. Verrrrry soft.
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Yeah the original milsurp rifles that came here were all very nice in the furniture department. In the last couple of years though there have been some Norincos come in (recently imported) that had really crappy wood on them. They look to have been through several wars too IMO. Too bad. I'd love to find a paratrooper model in the shape the OP described. Why can't I find great deals like that? ;)

dmckean44 said:
Norinco SKS's were new when they were imported 20+ years ago.
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Not exactly. They were mostly made in the 1960's for use in Vietnam and for the Chinese army. Mine is a 1965 model. Some date back as early as 1956. That's when Russia moved all the tools to China along with the people with the knowledge of how to make the SKS. That's why we call the Chicom rifles the Type 56 SKS. Over the years improvements were made and several different designs emerged just in the military versions. Then after the AK became the go to rifle and the SKS caught on in the US Norinco started making models to be sold here. You have the Cowboy Companion and some other models including what we call the Paratrooper. Those were mostly made in the late 1980's I believe.

Some models are more sought after than others. The Sino Soviet model is probably the most expensive version of the Norincos. It was made during the very early years of the factory in China.

There are a whole bunch of different markings for rifles made at different times in different factories all under the name of Norinco. Some were actual military rifles. Some were made for the civilian market. If you want the whole story I'd suggest checking out Yooper John's web site.
 
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Sino-Soviet SKS's are rifles made with both Soviet and Chinese parts during early assembly. Those SKS's in country now come from Albania and often have a mix of Chinese and Albanian parts. They are informally called "Sino-Albanian" models. They have largely been carried and put away tired but some are in remarkable condition.

Those that came in country during the 1980's and middle 1990's were generally surplus - including the pinned barrel varieties. General consensus is that most SKS's - virtually all in wood-stocked, bayoneted configuration (regardless of bayonet, trigger guard, or barrel mounting types) are surplussed military or security force carbines. The Chinese manufactured SKS carbines at the same time as their AK's (called Type 56 Rifle).

They called their wood "Chu Wood" which is a type of catalpa wood.

Here is THE source for SKS knowledge:

http://yooperj.com/SKS.htm
 
A couple months ago I picked up a barreled receiver and stocked Chinese SKS. I had enough parts in the parts box to complete the rifle. 60 bucks out the door with no paper. Excellent shooter.

I was brousing a local gun shop a few years ago and on the discount rack were some Yugo 59s that had seen better days. One rifle caught my eye and I looked at it and lo and behold, it was a Sino Soviet SKS. It is a great shooter.

Now, you can't touch an SKS for under 500 bucks, or more. I should sell a few of the duplicates I have....chris3
 
Added a flash hider to mine to make SURE it was illegal during the Clinton ban. :rolleyes: I probably should take that off, adds and inch or two to the barrel, but it's just a range toy. I gave 115 bucks for mine back around 1990. It's a Norinco and as I understand it, they were built for the commercial market, the paratrooper models. I won't lay a bet on that, but it sure was clean when it got here, like new. Mine shoots great, but for the typical SKS crappy trigger. I've found about 1 in 10 Norincos came in with a decently crisp trigger, the rest were like squeezing mud. :rolleyes: They're kinda like shooting DA, though, and I'm an old revolver shooter from way back. :D

I had a FFL and used to order a lot of the things. I kept one that had a good, crisp trigger, 20" rifle, great shooter, too. I sporter stocked that one, cut off the bayonet lug, put an ambi safety on it with a 5 round magazine, and I've taken a couple of deer with it.

SKSs are fun, but I wouldn't give the money they want for 'em now. 200 bucks seems high for a toy to me. I like 'em at what I gave for 'em, 75 bucks for the rifle, but at 3 or 400 bucks, I can by a real rifle with a single action trigger. :rolleyes:

Just some criticism for you guys to kick around. I ain't sellin' my guns. They ARE fun and the rifle is even useful as a beater truck gun. Don't use it much, got much better hunting rifles, but I HAVE actually used the rifle with the good trigger. :D I think of it as my semi auto .30-30. :D
 
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I have been looking at threading the barrel on this one to add muzzle brake/flash suppressor. I have a die to do threading if 1/2" x 28 but this one is much closer to 14mm so would have to buy another die. Just don't know if it is worth that much in performance or cost.
 
I bought the "paratrooper" model some year ago for under 100 dollars. It had some useless appedages under the barrel which I ground off. I stripped the stock of its original applied by broom finish and inlaid a piece of wood where the once bayonet on the big SKS's would have folded in under the front part of the stock. The wood under the original finish was not bad looking. A bit on the soft side but took some stain and a oil finish pretty good.
 
BearGriz said:
Awesome. I love my SKS.

+1 on the fixed 10-rd magazine.
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Yeah I bought a Romanian one from a buddy in good condition for $100 a couple years ago. I love it and it eats up any ammo I feed it except through the fixed 30 mag I got along with it. I just use the 10 that it had and keep a handful of clips next to it in my truck. Its the ultimate multi-tool, if you run out of ammo it would make a rugged little Sledge-O-Matic if you couldn't fix the bayonet quick enough.
 
I've found about 1 in 10 Norincos came in with a decently crisp trigger, the rest were like squeezing mud.
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You should get to know Kivaari. He makes SKS triggers all work like they were designed to work. The rifles were built with unskilled labor mostly which was fine for everything except the triggers. Those required someone who knew what they were doing. But they didn't get that. So you see a lot of bad triggers on all SKS models except maybe the Russian models. But for a little cash Kivaari will make your SKS trigger as crisp as they can be. It's well worth the cost. I cut my group size in half by getting him to fix my trigger.

BTW if Ash directed his post to me he should know I have him on my ignore list. I don't want to hijack this thread so I'm ignoring certain things.
 
I add a Murray's firing pin with a spring to avoid chances of a slamfire (the original Russian SKS had this as part of the design) and a UTG Buttpad to increase the Length of pull an inch or so to keep my firing hand thumb off my nose. Other than that, I say leave them alone. They work best stock.
 
I just recently purchased a new/unfired Norinco for $425 and have a couple questions.

I have seen some people say that they work best stock but I have two friends who have altered their SKS's and both of them cycle and fire as good as they did when they were stock.

One of them had a local smith do something to the bolt and converted it to take AK mags. I don't know what he did to the bolt but he added a mag release. The bolt also stays open after the last round is spent. I've fired this gun a couple times and I've seen my buddy fire it on many occasions. Never once have I seen him have a problem with it.

My other shooting buddy has a SKS with a Tapco Interfuse Stock and he uses the Tapco 10 and 20 detachable mags. Needless to say, I've never seen him have a problem with cycling or firing either.

I know some people say that when the rifle was designed, there's a reason why it was designed with a fixed magazine. Some say the reason is because the engineer new it would work better with a fixed magazine but I've read that it was designed like that so the soldiers wouldn't lose the magazines.

Wasn't the SKS later on designed to take detachable magazines?
 
What jams? :D

I've heard tapco makes good stuff, but I don't have any. I ain't a paramilitary or militia type, just an old fuddy hunter and kinda like the fixed mags, anyway. And, I have some stripper clips, load faster than trying to fit one of those duck billed things in there. :rolleyes: I have a chicom 20 rounder on my carbine. I did have to do some grinding on it to get it to feed right, though. It works fine, now. It's just a toy, though. My rifle has a 5 rounder on it, what I carry in the truck and bum around the place with. I hunt mostly with hunting rifles and handguns, but have taken a couple of deer and a few hogs with the SKS.

Mine aren't "stock" in that I've done some things that improve 'em for ME. The Norinco comes with a gawd aweful short stock for little kids or Chinese commies. I put a REAL stock on mine, kinda looks cool, too, all camoed. It's a Choate, or however you spell it, better length of pull, fits me. They used to make a thing that bolted to the issue stock to lengthen it by an inch, but it looked stupid. I prefer the Choate and it's MY gun. :D
 
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Handi Man, I am not Greenlion, but I have purchased the Murray's firing pin. Best money I have spent on a rifle. I used to get some double fires on my Russian SKS, and now with the Murry's pin, that issue is gone.

Tapered firing pin going into a tapered hole shooting dirty ammo is asking for a slam fire. The Murry's has a stop collar and a return spring to eliminate that problem.
 
The "paratroop" model with the 16" bbl is probably the best truck gun I ever had. It is durable, reliable, compact, and shoots a pretty good cartridge. I bought one new for $69 back in the day. Picked up nice lightweight Choate plastic hunting stock for it, cut a factory mag down to fit flush and hold 5 rounds. I also cut the bayonet lug off. Nice little package, I killed a couple deer with it. The only problem is that scopes and mounts for the SKS were pretty crappy. They always held the scope too high off the top of the rifle. I've since put it back to original factory configuration and it is still a fun little gun.

Shown below with a Mini 30 on the far left and some of my other SKSs.

DSCF0097.gif
 
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