Which SKS ?

[selector67]

My question is performance wise, which SKS comes out on top. I guess it would be between the russian, chinese, and yugo's since these are the main ones you see out there. The main factors would be reliability, accuracy, and durability. I own a chinese and I have had no problems with it, but I never had the chance to shoot a yugo or a russian SKS to compare the three together. Price range the yugo's and the chinese are about the same with the russian model being a bit more expensive. To be honest I like the looks of the yugo's with its grenade launcher attachment, but I know its pretty much useless on the rifle, but it looks cool anyway.

 

[MikeH]

Yugo M59/66 probably suffers a little in the reliability side because of the gas cutoff switch. But having a non-chromed barrel would give it a slight edge in accuracy. In real life, the difference is probably too small to matter.

 

[Thin Black Line]

A chrome barrel is great for all the old corrosive chinese and east german
ammo that seems to be surfacing again at the gun shows.

 

[vmfrantz]

i have a chinese sks. i never had a problem yet. had it since 93. and for $79 it seems accurate enough.

 

[possum]

I have a chinnese and it has been great to me. I like it alot but need to get rid of it soon, to make room in the u-haul for the pcs move comming up in a few months. I have never had any feeding, or malfuntions of any kind and it actually shoots pretty good at 100yds! The reason i bought chinnese was because i already had a mak-90 and was very impressed, so if you go chiniesse i don't think you can go wrong!

 

[BoySetsTheFire]

Chinese Norinco.

 

[Caseless]

No difference on reliability and durability among these. Unless you feed the Yugo 59/66 a steady diet of 22mm rifle grenades.
Chrome bore isn't a factor since all commercial ammo is non-corrosive nowadays.
Condition of the bore is the biggest factor for accuracy.

 

[Thin Black Line]

Chrome bore isn't a factor since all commercial ammo is non-corrosive nowadays.

Buyer beware when it comes to gunshows and dealers selling old corrosive
East German ammo in Wolf Crates........

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

I've got a M59/66 Yugo, and I've yet to have any problems with the rifle itself. Just stay away from aftermarket magazines. I tried one of those 30-round "banana clip" mags, and I could only cram about 15 rounds into it. It also had some feeding issues with the 30-rounder. And yes, the Yugos are by far the coolest-looking SKS.

 

[Limeyfellow]

All of the SKS are rather similar with a few differences.

I find the Russian ones the most well done. You have the finer stocks, good metal, chromed barrels and so on. All really good.

Chinese are not so good quality as the Russian ones but for most people the difference shouldn't matter. The Chinese also created SKS' for sale to just exports and have that neat like paratrooper version they made for the US public. Its advantage comes in the cost that its much cheaper than a Russian SKS.

Yugos come in two flavours. The 59 and 59/66. They are beefier than other SKS with a thicker reciever, much thicker barrel and built to last. Metal quality is comparable to the others but lack a chrome barrel. They are also by far the cheapest of SKS' nowadays. The 59s however are usually more wornout and its hard to find them in the quality of the 59/66 so a very good barrel is not an easy thing to find. The 59/66 can be found in as new or unissued condition. Thats a good thing. However the design does suffer from the grenade launcher and sight making it a tad front heavy and the gas valve on well used versions can sometimes leaking. This can usually be fixed by one of the many newly made and fairly cheap stainless steel valves being sold on the market.

The other SKS one tends to see is Albanians, but nowhere as common as the last three. There hard to get much data on them, the design changes with them such as the handguard length doubling in size, the bolt handle to cock the rifle is a different shape, different shape stock and storage in the butt of the rifle. Some nice and some not so nice features. Of course you'll pay for it. Slightly heavier than a Russian version but not as heavy as a Yugo 59/66. Some of them the quality is not as high on the metal and woodwork.

The other SKS carbines are so rare such as the East German, North Korean, Vietnamese that its unlikely you able to ever find an authentic one and if you do it cost an arm and a leg, of course that doesn't stop people making up stories to try and pass them off as these, but a little common sense and a demand to see the paperwork to proof it should solve that problem.

 

[EvisceratorSrB]

Beware of the balance point of the 59/66 model. It is very front heavy! I really only shoot it from the bench, but when I used to off hand shoot with that thing it was really no fun at all. I would opt that the accuracy of the 59/66 model is more likely better due to the condition that they are usually found in: good. It's a pleasure to shoot her though and I love her!

 

[rugerdude]

I've shot a norinco SKS and my tugo 59/66 side bt side not too long ago, and here's what I found.

Accuraccy: Both of these rifles shot about the same, very well. Had no trouble keeping them in the black. Probably something like 5-7" groupings at 100 yards (bench) with cheap brown bear ammo and me behind the trigger (and honestly, at 16, I still have a lot to learn about shooting a rifle)

Offhand: The Norinco was far more comfortable to shoot offhand but has more of a "hoppy" recoil, due to the yugo's weight at the front it is easier to keep it generally on target at long ranges, but it's hard to be as precise as the norinco offhand. However it was quite easy to hit a torso sized target repeatedly with both of these rifles.

Reliability: Both were 100%

I personally prefer my yugo because I like the looks and I don't shoot offhand often but I may be buying a norinco soon. Both of these guns are absolutely fantastic and provided they're in good condition when you buy them you can not go wrong with either.

I have no experience with the other sks models.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

The SKS rocks

I recently purchased a yugo 59/66 SKS a couple of months ago. Mine is in very good condition, I bought it for $150. I really like this rifle, its a lot of fun to shoot. The recoil is very mild and the ammo is cheap. I can shoot mine off-hand just fine, I don't feel the muzzle heaviness like some of the others here. Its a stout rifle, built like a tank, its heavy, but really durable. Off-hand at 50 yards I can keep my groups at about 6", considering the inherent accuracy of this rifle, thats not bad.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The Russians are the best, but it's still an SKS and accuracy will be mediocre at best (with a few exceptions), regardless of which country made them. But metallurgy and overall quality of the Russian rifles is superior to the Yugo's. The Chinese models have, in my experience, been better made than the Yugo's. But you can buy 2 Yugo's for the price of a Norinco and 3 for the price of a Russian.

 

[rustymaggot]

i have whats been refered to as the 'sniper edition' russian sks. i dont know what its really called the bolt and carrier are black and the barrel and gas tube are longer than usual. i was letting some old guy who claimed to have been a sniper in ww2 shoot it at the range and he hit the steel plate at 315 yards 14 out of 15 shots(he missed first shot but the rest were dead on). i cant do that with my gun, im a medeocre shot. he said he was very impressed with it.

ive shot some other sks's. none of em have come close to the accuracy of mine.

i vote russian. they just seem better than the rest both the feel in the hands and the way they perform.

i hear he russian barrels have a number system. the lower the better. 1-10. mines a #2.

 

[mainmech48]

I have several examples from Albanian to Yugo. The one I shoot the most is Chinese, manufactured for commercial sale. It averages more accurate than the others by a not-insignificant margin, and will put five rds of its favorite Norinco ball inside of 2.5" at 100 yds when I'm up to it. To be fair, my bring-back M-21 Chinese is in with the rest of the pack at 4-6".

With mil-spec ball and stock magazine, all of them are about as reliable as gravity, function-wise. I do much prefer the chrome lined bore and chamber and the flash-chromed piston rod head no matter what the ammo. While most of us won't shoot them anywhere near enough for throat/barrel erosion and wear to become a problem, I like the added "insurance" against corrosion and easier clean-up it gives.

IMO, the Chinese commercial model in standard military configuration would be the best dollar-for-dollar buy. Most seem to be assembled and finished a cut or two better than your average surplus/issue example, and all of them came here NIB. If you're looking primarily for an artifact, buy surplus - especially a Russian. If you're more interested in utility than history - buy commercial. If you want inexpensive fun, buy any of them.

 

[Pilot]

I have two Russian Tull arsenal SKS's. I've been veyr happy with them in the 10 or 12 years I've owned them.

 

[ID_shooting]

I am turned off by the extra hardware of the Yugo SKS rifles. It may be cool to a collecter, but I don't see me launching any grenades in the near future so I choose not to have to deal with it. YMMV, some like it, some dont. For me, I went with the Norinco SKS. Lighter, quicker sight alignment and chromed bore. Like was states, there is some corrosive ammo still floating around and since I am cheap, I may end up with it someday. Corrosivness asside, the last batch of Wolf I ran through was very very dirty. Breakfree wouldn't cut through the fouling, Hoppes wouldn't cut it, Reminton Bore Shine barely touched it, I ended up using a bore paste to get the fouling out.

I may be off base, but using harsh cleaners like that would not be the best thing for a non-chromed bore.

 

[Cosmoline]

The SKS-45's from Tula are by far the best, and worth the most.

 

[rbernie]

I've never shot a Tula - only handled one. It didn't seem any better fit/finished than a Norinco, but they are certainly worth more due to their relative scarcity.

I've never touched an Albanian, and don't know anyone who has. Between the Yugo and the Norinco, I vastly prefer the Norinco. While the Yugos look cool, they don't handle nearly as well and all that extra junk just seems to detract from the whole thing that makes the SKS what it is - light and handy and 'just enough'.

But the best one, the one that you absolutely have to have, is this one.

 

[possum]

While the Yugos look cool, they don't handle nearly as well and all that extra junk just seems to detract from the whole thing that makes the SKS what it is - light and handy and 'just enough'.

I agree totally with you there! The yugos i handled when searching for an sks, just seemed to be bulky, and the grip was to girthy for my small hands, i would have never been able to shoot it comfortably.

 

[soul_rapier]

vote russian

i got 5 Norincos and 1 russian i would vote russia never seen a yogo around here but they are all the same i would say

 

[American By Blood]

I've never shot a Tula - only handled one. It didn't seem any better fit/finished than a Norinco, but they are certainly worth more due to their relative scarcity.

You didn't notice that the Tula was heavier? The Norincos are fine and I'm thinking of getting one as a shooter, but they're just not built as tough as the Tulas. Noticeably so.

The Yugos are built like tanks, but living in as humid a climate as I do I've gotten a little crazy about rust. No chromed bore = no go for me.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

I had a 1954 Russian in good condition with all matching serial numbers. I loved that thing. It was accurate, reliable, and just plain out fun. I had to sell it to pay utilities. Regretted it the moment I did it. I even got ripped off. Still hold out hope that I will find another one in that condition someday, because I would love to have another one, but who knows. It was well built, and I liked the chromed bore. I can't remember ever shooting it on paper, although I imagine I must have. I just know it was never much of a problem to hit anything I wanted to shoot out to 200 yards or so. I shot the heck out of a five gallon bucket from the cross-legged sitting position at what I later ranged at 280 yards, if that gives you any idea how accurate it was.

My grandpa has a Chinese rifle. It is still solid, but didn't strike me as well built as my Russian. I know I have never shot it at paper, but I also know it is minute of tie plate at 100 yards, offhand.

My bro has a Norinco carbine. Cute little thing. Handy and lightweight, accurate enough for his uses, it is like the rest of em in that it is 100% reliable and about as delicate as an anvil.

My current SKS is a Yugo with TechSights. The TechSights are awesome. I wish I had them on the Russian. The Yugo is definately the heaviest. It is a beefy rifle. Even without the chromed bore, I get the impression it could survive the end of the world. Humans could nuke the planet nearly to oblivion, kill every organism on earth, and turn its surface into sulfurous acidic smoke, dust, embers, and ash, and that rifle would still be there waiting for someone to start the revolution with it. Plus, it is more accurate than I had any right to expect it to be. It probably averages around 3 to 4 inches at 100 yards with Wolf ammo, esp from field positions, but I've got several 3 shot groups from the bench that came in at just under 2 inches with the same stuff. I attribute it mostly to the TechSights.

All the SKSs I've ever had the experience of shooting, including not only these but others from friends and such, have been 100% reliable, durable, and accurate enough for anything we asked them to do. If I had to list my favorites, it would be the Russian, followed by the Yugo, then the little Norinco, and finally the fullsize Chinese rifle.