SKS upgrades and disassembly vanity

me ^ | 2-28-09 | Wobbly Bob

[hiredhand]

As for getting the old mag out of your SKS... I just located all the SKS manuals I have in PDF format and put them at -

http://www.rc4systems.net/Downloads/GunDocs

Also... I can tell you this. Pop the magazine OPEN. Then find the little pin sticking out on the rear of the trigger group floor UNDER the rifle, behind the trigger. Make sure the select switch is on FIRE (unloaded of course!), and push the little pin forward with a plastic pen or something. I use a Sharpie marker with the cap on it. Once you push the pin forward and it releases the trigger group, the trigger group will literally fall out. After this, the rifle pretty much falls apart. You won't need to take the rifle from the stock. But at this point, you can remove the original magazine.

[WOBBLY BOB]

looks cool. wonder if it will work with aftermarket sidefolder stock I have on it now.

[MileHi]

Thanks! Hope that helps the poster.

FReegards

[Charles Martel]

...magazines aren't my most serious criticism of the SKS. We've got TWO requirements here for individual PDWs (personal defensive weapons). One is that it has to have some "decent" electronic sight. The other is that it has to have a good weapons light. We like the Pelican M6 (light). HOWEVER... In order to put any sort of decent electronic sight on the SKS, you have to violate a fundamental premise of military weaponry...which is to NEVER do anything to the weapon that will require special tools to field strip/maintain.

I agree that stripper clips are the most effective may of using the SKS. I do wish that the 20-round fixed magazines were more common - and that they worked better. Still, 10 rounds is 2 more than the Garand holds (and you can squeeze an eleventh round into the chamber, IIRC)

As for sights, LaRue Tactical is working on a version of their IronDot sight for the SKS. The AK version been well-received; I don't believe it interferes with field-stripping. Kind of pricy relative to the cost of the SKS, but I suspect that cheaper knock-offs will follow.

[El Gato]

The Norincos were (are?) junk.

Mine, which I got around 1980, seems to shoot just fine. But I think mine is one taken out of their "militia" inventory, not a "made for export" one.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The big difference between the Russian and Chinese SKS is that the Russian receiver is milled from a solid block of metal, while the Chinese receiver is made from stamped sheet metal.

Even if a Chinese SKS shoots OKAY (one of the three I owned did), the milled receiver is going to stand up to a lot more shooting than the stamped receiver.