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You messed with SKS stuff, didnâ€™t you HH? Mine is box-stock rusky and works fine that way.

Ah yes... the SKS. :-) I'm like everybody else when I say that I have an opinion about the rifle. It's a GOOD basic rifle for being semi-auto. Now these are my opinions only, so take them at face value please. :-) I'm not the all knowing authority. I only know what works for us.

First off, we've experimented with a few detachable magazines for the SKS. We've got Yugo M59/66 models and are in (basically) unissued condition. The detachable magazines have the lock tabs extending from the front and can be difficult to stow in ammo vests. One in particular that we tried didn't function with the M59/66 at all. The Tapco magazines function well. Both magazines can require that a little wood be taken from around the area of the magazine on the stock. In the end, our opinion was that it was a much better value to practice good rifleman tactics (fast reloading under stress) and invest in stripper clips. :-) LOTS of them.

But 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. The sad fact is that unless you drill and tap the receiver for a side clamp style mount, you have to violate this rule. For the light, you can simply screw a Weaver rail onto the side of the stock, and Gorilla Glue the male velcro on whichever side your most dominant hand is on. Because you can't get an electronic sight on the SKS without "breaking the rules", you're pretty much limited to Tritium. There's nothing wrong with Tritium sights on the SKS, but you can't swap them around various weapons if you have to. You're pretty much stuck with having them ON the SKS that you bought them for.

What I'm trying to say here is that generally I like the SKS. We had concerns about future ammo availability so ours are currently put away. :-) We standardized on something a little more readily available. But our rules here for PDWs is that one must have sights that function in the dark AND a good light with remote line. The SKS is just a tad too much trouble to make this happen.

I can vouch for Tapco magazines though. They're good and function well. Their stocks for the SKS are also a worthy purchase.