SKS?

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Through my history of research and general gun loving I have stumbled upon this website countless times, and decided today that I was going to finally sign up. I hope I can be a beneficial addition.

Anyway, I'm in the process of purchasing a firearm - particularly something affordable that spits out a decent amount of lead relatively accurately in a semiautomatic mode. After searching out my options for a couple of months, I've finally settled on the SKS and, God-willing, this Friday I'm going to go check her out for myself.

So here's the question:

I've been reading up on it as much as I can about the piece (and have found a lot of really helpful information) but, seeing as a lot of you guys have been around the block, I was wondering if you could help point things in particular that I should be looking for or staying away from when I hit the shop Friday?
 
Ugh, sorry. I didn't mean to screw up on my first post :uhoh: .

I just figured it was a research question.
 
its ok. they try to keep this forum of technical talk, identifying models,design discussions. like, scientific research type research. not so much, consumer reports type. but hey, welcome to THR! glad to have ya
 
You didn't screw up.
I just think you will probably get a lot more SKS results in Rifle Country.

This seems to be more "really hard to answer" questions on very old firearms.

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I had my heart set on a Yugo, but apparently the only ones this store has are Chinese. I don't know the differences of either one (if they exist I presume they're internal, seeing as there is really no outside appearance), but am excited on getting one either way.
 
SKS is a very interesting firearm, many differant models, countries of origin, variants, etc, usually pretty inexpensive. The Yugo is a heavy long rifle, and if you get the "unissued" grade, an excellent peice. If you can only find the "shooter" grade, make sure to check the gas valve - corosive ammo may have burnt it, meaning it may not seat correctly, causing gas leakage. Spare parts are available for an inexpensive fix.
Get stripper clips and a Chinese "bra" carrier, and you have a good "bug out" SHTF rifle, as well as a fun plinker, but ammo prices/availability is NOT what it used to be. Darn it. My Yugo is a great rifle.
 
I had my heart set on a Yugo, but apparently the only ones this store has are Chinese. I don't know the differences of either one
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If you are looking at a yugo specimen check the gas valve since they are often corroded from old ammo used ahwile back. Check for missing parts in the rifles. The main difference between the yugos and chinese ones are yugos were made to launch grenades, hence the reason behind the gas valve and gren launcher/sights up front. Some people don't like chinese ones because of their appearence my self included, they will function fine though. A good price on a yugo is 150 and below. Two weeks ago i got a yugo for 160 and its in good condition. I will be posting some pics later for you to take a look.
 
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Be prepared for a crappy trigger.

I suspect the SKS would be far better known for its accuracy if Simonov had designed a rotating sear for it operating from behind the hammer with some leverage instead of in front of it.

As it is, the sear is a block of steel which rides on two rails machined (or pressed) into the inside of the trigger group housing and has to be pushed along these rails and out from under the hammer for the hammer to be released. This pushing is done through a long bar from the trigger to the front of the trigger group.

The SKS trigger mechanism can be "nice-ified," but it takes a lot to do it.

I also suspect, but cannot confirm, that the Yugoslavian SKS 59/66 shoots more accurately with the gas valve shut off --that is, basically using it as a straight-pull bolt action rifle.

And keep the firing pin and its channel in the bolt clean and free of grease and fouling.

The Yugoslavian 59-66 is a fearsome looking thing, what with the grenade laucher, its sights, and the folding bayonet (which only protrides 7 3/4 inch past the grenade launcher.)

And I strongly suspect, but again cannot confirm, that the mechanism was designed for nothing but steel-cased ammo. If you look at the 7.62 X 39R case, its neck is far shorter than any other .30 caliber or .303 caliber case neck.

Ne'erthless, this ugly hunk of machinery has a beauty of its own, and it's one of my favorite "lookin' at" long arms.

The stripped-down Norinco I purchased for next to nothing would not fire more than one round without a Failure To Extract (FTE) until I diligently cleaned out the chamber, the gas piston, the gas cylinder, the operating rod (tappet) and its spring, the bore through which the operating rod operates, and the gas port.

That's how come I got it for next to nothing. It now runs pretty good. Watch where the springs go when disassembling any firearm. Look under and around the grease spot on the wall where the spring hit it.

They say the 7.62 X 39R cartridge is equivalent to the .30-30 cartridge, but my ballistics tables tell me different. Compare the ~2400 f/s with a 150 grain bullet of the .30-30 (~1920 ft-lb) with the ~2400 f/s with a 123 grain bullet of the 7.62 X 39R (~1570 ft-lb).

The sights on both are far too fine for battle sights, but are perfect for paper punching in a north direction on a partly cloudy day at noon.

It is a heck of a fun gun, though, and the Norinco is light, handy. reasonably accurate, can be fired by just about anyone without discomfort yet still gives an adequate impression of ballistic authority.

There.

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I have owned and shot several SKS's over the years. I had a Russian,a Chinese,and several Norinco's including a 16'' barrelled carbine version. The Russian had milled parts(as all old Soviet bloc Simonovs were)with better metal finishing and nicer wood than the others. The stamped parts of the Chinese and Norinco's made them look cheap and fragile but looks are deceiving. ALL of the SKS's that I've owned were GREAT shooters. I've used the original 10rd magazine,a flush mount 5rd mag , a 5rd detachable mag,a 10rd detachable,detatchable 20 and 30 rd mags(polymer and metal). They all worked fine. Pick the one that looks best to you just be sure you strip it down when you get it home to clean out any remaining cosmolene (get it ALL)also clean the gas tube and clear the gas ports. Lube VERY LIGHTLY. If you scope it be sure to get a bolt cover with a scope mount already attached so that the original can be reinstalled later. Have fun with your new SKS!
 
I have owned several sks rifles from russia, yugo, and china (norinco) and to tell you the truth, there is not a dimes worth of difference between them, other than the launcher on the yugo (makes the rifle feel like it is too long, thats just my opinion). They are all good guns, and highly reliable. I have some guns that I paid in excess of $1000 dollars for, but if the chips were down and I needed to grab just one, I would be grabbing a sks. Reliable and fairly accurate, that's what its all about.

The triggers are alittle sloppy, and the spent cases eject straight up (and back down in your collar) and the wood finishes are not always the best, but adequate. You can shoot them clean or dirty, it doesn't effect the weapon either way. Accuracy is average, but consistant.
Not a whole lot of moving parts either, so cleaning them is a breeze. The one thing that I would watch out for is the numbers. I know of several people that have purchased sks's that the numbers didn't match(frankenstein) and headspace was a problem. Just check it out real good and make sure that the numbers on the bolt and receiver are the same. I prefer to only buy rifles that have matching numbers. Less problems it seems.

I hope you find a good one and have as much fun as I do when I shoot mine.
 
I have a yugo. They're easy to spot. Grenade launcher attachment, flip-up grenade sight, and a gas-switch. I actually load ammo for my SKS, and have gotten pretty good accuracy with it. Shutting off the gas switch is a must for target shooting, as you'll never find the brass. I've always believed that the SKS threw more brass than bullets at the target.

An incredibly fun plinker if you have a tree or washing machine as a target.
 
+1 for a yugo SKS. Mine was unissued grade and surprisingly accurate - but WAY bigger than I expected, longer even than my M1 Garand.

If the weapon you are looking at is not unfired, make sure you take the time to field strip it and get a sense of the condition. I recently had a friend that was buying a russian SKS that looked pretty good; when I field stripped it there was major corrosion inside.

Good luck!

jw
 
I have a Chinese and a Yugo SKS. They both function all right, but the Chinese one seems to be built much more precisely than the Yugo one. Tighter. I don't know how else to describe it. It's also more accurate in my hands, but that may have something to do with the fact that the Yugo SKS is heavier and bulkier. In addition to the grenade launcher attachment, the Yugo has a heavier wood stock. The Chinese SKS seems to handle more naturally to me. You should also consider the fact that the Yugo SKS doesn't have a chrome lined bore like the Chinese SKS does.

I say... the SKS is a fine weapon no matter where it's from, but you'll see a wide variety of prices based on how old the weapon is and where it came from. If I had to buy another SKS today, I'd look for another nice Chinese/Norinco one, personally. I'm not saying it's the finest of all the SKS carbines, but it's a great balance between price, quality, and performance in my experience. I usually see Yugo and Chinese SKS carbines priced very similarly.
 
The triggers are alittle sloppy, and the spent cases eject straight up (and back down in your collar)
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I haven't had this problem with either of mine, but my girlfriend says she got hit in the forehead once. She's little, though, so she can't shoulder the SKS properly.
 
I like my Norinco better than the Yugo's. Better balance and feel.
It's a individual thing. Not the best semi auto by any means but I like them.
Check the gas switch for corrosion, also gas tube, bolt and bolt carrier, chamber. Check the rifle over carefully for metal and stock condition, sights and trigger.
 
I have a Chinese made norinco and love it. 1 suggestion...leave the cleaning kit in the stock that damn trapdoor on the stock will bite your finger every time, like one of those Chinese finger puzzles.
 
chipperi is RIGHT. The trapdoor in the buttplate of my Norinco has bitten my finger a few times. I finally decided just not to mess with it anymore. I don't use the cleaning kit that came with the rifle anyway.
 
I bought 2 Yugo SKSs just because of the price...$159.00 and $179.00 (I think). Both are nice, accurate enough. The trigger. Well, the trigger. :)
 
Rare?

How rare are the Albanian SKS's. Don't know if this is true: There were only 18,000. Albanian SKS's made and 15,000. of those were destroyed during the peace talks / cease fire. Any truth to this?
 
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