SKS, now what?

[JeffD]

So I recently acquired a large amount of ammo. Some of which is 7.62x39. My dad had an SKS in his closet for years. He has never shot it and I'm not sure exactly where he got it. Its a Norinco and it has some rust and stuff on it. I have not had time to shoot it yet. I took it apart and cleaned it and am going to take it out this weekend.

I see a lot of stuff for these guns online. I am wondering if anyone has some insight on what, if any, mods are worth while? I know it's old and made in China, is it worth spending money on it or just shooting it the way it is? Thanks for your input!

Jeff

[Stradawhovious]

Leave it as it is, and shoot it 'till it breaks. If cosmoline isn't seeping out of the furniture and smoking, you aren't shooting it enough.

[Shipyard]

all depends how tacti-cool you want to get with it. they're really solid old guns. as strad said - if it ain't smokin' and weeping chineese grease from every pour, you ain't doin it right

leave it bone stock and ride it. dress it up and ride it. either way, it'll do what it was designed to all day long.

FWIW...

[JeffD]

Cool, thanks guys! I think I will just shoot the sh*t out of it and see what happens! I have 2 spam cans so I hope that's enough to clean it out.

[Sammichman]

most SKSs could do with a bit of a trigger mod,,,but I love shooting mine

[Squib Joe]

On an older SKS, I would take the time to take the bolt apart and detail clean it. They are notorious for slam firing with a gunked up bolt.

[yuppiejr]

On an older SKS, I would take the time to take the bolt apart and detail clean it. They are notorious for slam firing with a gunked up bolt.

+1

Plenty of directions on how via Youtube, etc...

Also, another vote for leaving it bone stock... as long as the trigger is safe (again, Google-fu to determine this, not all of them are out of the box) and doesn't suck completely it's generally a highly reliable gun. Start messing with the magazine and failure rates seem to go up at an alarming rate. Stripper clips are light, quick to reload way to carry a bunch of ammo once you get the process down (and some quality clips, beware anything from eBay - check "Old Sarges Drop Zone" online for the good ones).

[2in2out]

On an older SKS, I would take the time to take the bolt apart and detail clean it. They are notorious for slam firing with a gunked up bolt.

Werd. It took me a while to finally figure out how to tack the pin out that holds in the firing pin. Once my firing pin was clean, the slam fire problem went away automagically.

Awesome gun, very easy to shoot and care for. I miss mine....

[RangerTim]

I'm a big fan of leaving military rifles as is and enjoying them for what they are. The SKS is a great little carbine and won't let you down.
Having said that, one of the SKS rifles I purchased over the years came with a scope mount and cheap scope. It wasn't really accurate and didn't hold a steady zero, but it made for a fun plinker. Best part of it is that the scope mount doesn't require permanently modifying the rifle (it is a replacement dust cover over the rear of the receiver).

[Doc Harvey]

Just remember that if you do choose to modify it, that 922 compliance comes into play. I modified the Chinese SKS I had because I wanted it to look tacticool, AND I wanted to have the option of swapping magazines instead of loading the box magazine from stripper clips. I used the Tapco stock, Tapco magazines and ground the lower rails off of a spare bolt (so I could swap mags with the bolt colsed). The bottom line is that its your SKS and you can do whatever you want to it. There is a TON of info over at sksboards.com about modifying the SKS. I was so gung-ho about mine that I planned to pay for the Kiivari trigger job, buy the spring-loaded firing pin from Murray's and was even going to shorten the barrel to the "para" length, but I sold it to a buddy before I could get to all of that. Another great resource is a local guy (I think he's a member here) named Dunamis ( http://trulytactical.com/ ). Lets see some pics!

Here's mine before I sold it:

[photogpat]

Leave it in its original configuration and buy an AK if you want folding stocks, detachable mags, etc....

[BemidjiDweller]

On an older SKS, I would take the time to take the bolt apart and detail clean it. They are notorious for slam firing with a gunked up bolt.

Werd. It took me a while to finally figure out how to tack the pin out that holds in the firing pin. Once my firing pin was clean, the slam fire problem went away automagically.

Awesome gun, very easy to shoot and care for. I miss mine....

How did you do it? I've tired to take mine out, hasn't moved a bit.

[acerpower]

Plastic stocks with pistol grips, and detachable, high-cap mags can be fun, and can be much cheaper than buying an AK like someone already suggested.
But, if you do decide to get all "tacticool" with your SKS, do yourself a favor and don't do any permanent mods and keep the original furniture safe and sound.
If you ever decide to sell or pass the rifle down to future generations you'll be glad you did. Permanent "tactical" modifications definitely hurt the resale value.

[Doc Harvey]

Plastic stocks with pistol grips, and detachable, high-cap mags can be fun, and can be much cheaper than buying an AK like someone already suggested.
But, if you do decide to get all "tacticool" with your SKS, do yourself a favor and don't do any permanent mods and keep the original furniture safe and sound.
If you ever decide to sell or pass the rifle down to future generations you'll be glad you did. Permanent "tactical" modifications definitely hurt the resale value.

+1

[JeffD]

Heading out to send some down range tomorrow. I think this will just end up a plinker. Going to save the cash for more AR stuff. Thanks for all the tips!