SKS

[Aaryq]

Howdy, folks.
Everywhere I look there are Yugo SKS's. Everyone that sells milsurps sell Yugos. Where can I get a non-Yugo SKS? How much am I looking to pay? HALP!

 

[RTFM]

Needed to be posted in Rifles.

 

[Technosavant]

The Yugo ones are the only ones currently being imported, so they're available in volume. Distributors have them (for now), and most gun shops may have at least one in stock. Others that are out there are Chinese, Russian, Albanian, and maybe a few others, but they won't generally be available in quantity. They will be offered up by individuals modifying their collections, and as such they are very much a "catch as you can" proposition.

I would check anyplace milsurp firearms are sold by private individuals, such as classified ads or the like. Prices will vary depending on the nationality of the gun as well as condition, but in general you will be looking at more than a Yugo, since they aren't as readily available (good old supply and demand). While I am not up on the exact prices of them, a ballpark would likely be between $300 and $500, with the Russian ones being on the higher end of the scale.

 

[sarge83]

If you frequent pawn shops you can come up with some gems. Last year I found 3 norinco's at the local shop, paid $150 for each one.

Prices are going up though. They had a norinco that had been bubbed on the shelf for 6 months. Synth. stock and duckbill mag, they wanted $220. Two yugo sks sat for months before finally begin bought for $230.

As for the russians, can't tell haven't seen one around here in yrs.

 

[trashpickinman]

The Cabelas in my area (Kansas City) recently had a run on SKSs, They had about 6 Russian and I think 1 Chinese. If I remember correctly, the Russians were going for about $450 give or take about $50 depending on condition, and the Chinese was about $300 or so.

The Yugos they usually sell are about $249.

 

[Sulaco]

Find an original Norinco. I wish I had never sold my first one. There's something about the SKS that really sucks me in.

 

[chris in va]

Yeah, if you can't find a non-Yugo SKS just get a Saiga. I had a Yugo and wasn't happy with it.

 

[RNB65]

Then there's the age old question -- if I cut the grenade launcher and bayonet off the Yugo am I going to go to jail for violating Section 922?
-

 

[Aaryq]

RNB65, that's a very good question. Is there any difinitive from the BATFE about removing the GL adapter?

 

[travmsns]

I'm a huge SKS fan and have done more reading that I care to mention about the laws. Based on what I've read, if you make ANY modification to a C&R gun (adding or removing parts) it automatically voids the C&R status, which is totally legal to do. However, because it's no longer a C&R gun it falls under 922r and must have no more than 10 imported parts. Basically you have to make it a non-imported gun by swapping in American made parts so as to get the total count of imported parts to 10 or less. As per the ATF, here is a a complete list of parts they recognize

(1) Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings, or castings.
(2) Barrels.
(3) Barrel extensions.
(4) Mounting blocks (trunnions).
(5) Muzzle attachments.
(6) Bolts.
(7) Bolt carriers.
(8) Operating rods.
(9) Gas pistons.
(10) Trigger housings.
(11) Triggers.
(12) Hammers.
(13) Sears.
(14) Disconnectors.
(15) Buttstocks.
(16) Pistol grips.
(17) Forearms, handguards.
(18) Magazine bodies.
(19) Followers.
(20) Floor plates.

There are some parts on that list that are not applicable to the SKS so you don't need to worry about them:

Barrel Extensions
Mounting Blocks
Operating Rod
Pistol Grip
Floorplate

So here is the parts list you need to go by for your SKS...

1. Receiver
2. Barrel
3. Muzzle attachment
4. Bolt
5. Bolt carrier
6. Gas piston
7. Trigger housing
8. Trigger
9. Hammer
10. Sear
11. Disconnector
12. Buttstock
13. Forearm/handguard
14. Magazine body
15. Follower

So this brings us down to 15 BATFE recognized imported parts and if you change anything about your SKS, you need to get that number down to 10 or less. Adding a domestic magazine will get you two parts (the follower and the mag body), Adding a new stock will get you 2 parts (the butt stock and the forearm), removing the grenade launcher and/or replacing it with a muzzle brake will get rid of another imported part thus getting you down to 10. There are other parts you can replace with American parts too, it just depends on what you want to keep and what you want to replace.

 

[cornman]

More than $300 for any country SKS is too much. BTW I will take an SKS over any AR.

 

[BUGUDY]

Just bought a yugo. Only thing we haven't liked so far was all the cosmoline. It was everywhere. The only thing I will change for sure is the firing pin, I'm going use the one from www.Murraysguns.com That thing is fun to shoot!

 

[Neo-Luddite]

Then there's the age old question -- if I cut the grenade launcher and bayonet off the Yugo am I going to go to jail for violating Section 922?

No, provided you don't 'cut' the launcher off. The rifle can still be a C/R if you:

1) remove the bayo but leave the mount. ATF ruled this a temporary change.
2) the launcher can go, but the threads MUST stay to potenially re-mount the launcher; the catch-22 of this is that it CAN'T have that threaded muzzle (per 922). To make this work, a cover or muzzle break must be temporarily soldered in place to cover the threads and thus prevent you from attaching something naughty (other than your grenade launcher). One could arguably just put a fat gob of low-temp melt solder all over the threads and that would be OK, too.

You CAN do as above, and even add optics, and be C/R compliant.
No to tapcpo stocks, mags, etc---but their optic mount would likely be OK.

Murray's firing pin mod was ruled OK for c/r, too.

I've left mine plain-jane--my father in law gave me the idea that the bayo makes an OK mono-pod at times---why not.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

Oh, BTW--I wouldn't expect to see many Yugo's coming in after what happended there yesterday!! If you want one, grab one NOW!

 

[NC-Mike]

More than $300 for any country SKS is too much. BTW I will take an SKS over any AR.

A few months ago I gladly paid 400.00 for a cherry Norinco SKS-M. That's the model that takes AK mags. It is a thing of beauty and functions great.

I sold my Russian and Yugo 59/66 the other day. Don't miss them. That Yugo had a horrible trigger.