Welcome to G&G Letsgo. Moose is right. If you dont mind spending $100-$200 more, try to find yourself a Russian. If you are going to "bubba" the gun get a Norinco(Chinese). Either way you will enjoy the SKS. Oh ya and uhhh.... Lets go Islanders, I believe they play the Sabers tonight. :-)
Well lets see you have a lot to choose from when it comes to the SKS rifle,basically it comes down to four countries of origin you will find in the US,
Russian,China,Yugoslavia and Albania.
Russian are the Grandfather of the SKS they were made at two Russian arsenals Tula and Izhveshk, The Tula is the most sought after of the two versions and the earlier production date the better but either Russian will make a fine rifles in it's original or refurbish condition.
The Chinese SKS rifle has the most variants,you have the standard 20" rifle,the 16" paratrooper,the SKS D meaning Detachable box mag and the SKS M meaning magazine which takes the AK magazines. Unlike the other SKS rifles the Chinese used different production techniques during the rifles production life in the 40+ arsenals. These would cover areas like all milled parts rifles,then stamped steel parts even one version with a stamped sheet steel receiver rare,Chinese rifle also come in either screwed in barrels with a barrel locking lug in short and long version or the barrels are pressed in and pinned in through the receiver.
The first Chinese rifles were built out of surplus Russian parts to train the Chinese how to build the SKS rifles. These are know as Sino-Soviet and are highly sought after but rare. The Chinese used both blade bayo's early versions then switched to spike bayo' in the mid 60's. The SKS D and M's that take the detachable magazines are not of Chinese designs,the technique or conversion was originally developed by Midwest Ordinance and copied by the Chinese.
The Yugo rifle are produced in the former Yugoslavia they had two versions the M59 which looks like your standard 20" SKS an the M59/66 and M59/66A1 which had night sight either Phosphorous or Tritium vials inserts a radioactive gas that glows in the dark which is the rarest of the two types. the Yugo M59/66 or the A1 version has the grenade launcher spigot and sight. I think the Yugo's get a bad rap in a lot of case mainly because it a heavier built rifle than the other SKS rifles are and no chrome lined bore not an issue if the rifle was maintained properly or you shoot corrosive ammo and don;t clean your rifle,also the Yugo's had a steady diet of corrosive ammo fire through them through there entire service life except the few new never fired ones that accidentally got shipped into the country,once caught the ones that were sold were grandfather in and the remaining rifles were broken down into parts and sold. My brother has a 1987 version of the new in box never fired and never been in cosmoline.
Proper maintenance is the key to what condition you will find most Yugo's in,thats either mismatched parts pitted and corroded bores and gas blocks and gas valves selector to a very good or excellent examples or even new in box version are still floating around. the main thing with the Yugo is to know what you looking at and what to look for,but thats the case with any SKS. There are enough quality rifles of each version around and for sale you don't have to buy junk or somebodies project that went wrong,also all the cool add on junk is pretty much that. If you want a rifle that take large capacity mags get and AK otherwise you SKS works best like it was built,about the only two modifications I know worth doing is a smaller front sight pin and having the trigger group reworked to smooth it out and get rid of the creep.
Check Gunbrokers for some examples of whats out there,prices will be higher on there but they have some nice rifles from time to time,The Russians will normally be the most expensive but a Chinese D and M new in box will be pretty close the paratroopers then the standard Chinese and the Yugo's. Price really comes down to Make/Model and condition and what your willing to pay to get a good to excellent example.
res45 thanks for the info man. As you put it the chinese ones are not all that bad. Any time I hear chinese made gun I just turn around and walk away without even giving it a chance but reading this maybe I'll take a look at them. I imagine I'd want one of the "M"s as it takes ak mags which sounds good to me. You say they will b e close in price to the russian ones. I supose ifi can't find a russian one I'll take this. The russian ones though just have the 5rd fixed clip correct?
Nothing wrong with the Chinese SKS at all,wish I could have afforded a whole crate like the on I have it's a fine weapon. The standard fixed magazine SKS regardless of country has the 10 rd.fixed magazine. Magazines are where the ammo is held in the firearm and ready to fire. A clip or stripper clip used in the SKS is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit outside of the firearm,ready for insertion into the magazine.
I have a Norinco, the only thing I didnt like was it had to short a length of pull so I ordered a Monte Carlo stock for it, I paid $325 for mine about a year ago or so. I've put probably in the ball park of 8,000+ rounds through it. I love it, I also took the bayonet off and put a bipod on it. Nice rifle, even my stepsons like to shoot it. A few folks I know use them as their deer rifle, though they don't use it much past 150 yds. All in all you'd be hard pressed to find a better rifle in the price range, the only exception I can think of would be a Mosin ( those are a lot of fun too ). Oh and welcome to the forum
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Welcome LetsGo_Sabres, good luck buying a SKS. I hope you have as much fun as I did, searching,buying, finding accessory's and best of all SHOOTING this fine, fun and accurate gun!
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I just cruised gunbroker for Russian SKSs. There are some nice ones. Even a couple of 1950's made rifles that included the import box. The boxes are very cool. They have "SKS-45" and the evil hammer and sycle on them.
I've got a Yugo. I think they are underrated. Good Luck!!!
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Welcome to the forum friend. As far as what kind of sk to buy, im not exactly an expert, but my 59 Romanian has NEVER given me a reason to complain. I love that rifle, best of luck in findin a good shooter you'll never wanna let go!!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________ "Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War." Plato
I just cruised gunbroker for Russian SKSs. There are some nice ones. Even a couple of 1950's made rifles that included the import box. The boxes are very cool. They have "SKS-45" and the evil hammer and sycle on them.
I've got a Yugo. I think they are underrated. Good Luck!!!
I got lucky with my Yugo. I ordered one in VG condition from J&G Sales. I swear they screwed up and sent me an unissued one.
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People think I'm paranoid because I own guns. If I own guns, what do I have to be paranoid about?
Yeah, my Yugo has a very nice bore, too. I just wish I'd gotten a sling for it before deer season. It does get heavy after awhile of walking. Bought mine off of Gunbroker last fall. Price, shipping, and FFL fee came to just over $300. From some of the prices others have reported, I got pretty lucky on this one.
If I had the extra dollars, I might scout rifle a Norinco.
