Chinese "Paratrooper" SKS, add high-capacity/high-capacity detachable magazines?
The rifle in question is a Chinese "paratrooper" SKS with a spike folding bayonet, factory.
Question 1:
Is it legal to put a fixed 30 round magazine on it? Are there any 922(r) issues with doing that?
Question 2:
Would it be legal to use detachable 20 or 30 round magazines (tapco, etc.) in it? Are there any 922(r) issues with doing that?
Such a rifle would be very nice in stock configuration with the ability to use high-capacity detachable magazines.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Is it already milled to accept AK mags?
If it's a type 84 I believe you're GTG.
No, it's just a regular SKS with the factory 10 rd. magazine.
(30) The term `large capacity ammunition feeding device'––
`(A) means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device
that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to
accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition; but
`(B) does not include an attached tubular device designed to
accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire
ammunition.'.
Based on the above, a fixed magazine with a 20 round capacity would be considered a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
ATF letter re: modifying a chicom sks:
This refers to your letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF), Firearms Technology Branch, dated September
24,2003, asking about the modification of an SKS rifle to permit
acceptance of a detachable "duckbill-style" ammunition magazine.
Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C.), Chapter 44, Section 922(r),
states, in part, that it shall be "unlawful for any person to assemble
from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is
identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under
Section 925 (d) (3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable
for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes….”
Currently, SKS rifles capable of accepting a large capacity
ammunition-feeding device are prohibited from importation. Therefore,
modifying an SKS to accept a large capacity ammunition-feeding device
would be a violation of 922 (r).
We thank you for your inquiry and trust the foregoing has been responsive.
Sincerely yours,
Sterling Nixon
Chief, Firearms Technology Branch
We thank you for your inquiry and trust the foregoing has been responsive.
In light of that letter is there a way that I can make the gun 922(r) compliant but still keep the gun original looking? Or do you have to turn it into a Bubbafied Tapcoed-out Franken-rifle if I want to make it 922(r) compliant?
Any modification to Chicom SKS' is a possible 922(r) violation. Since the Chinese government won't release info on production dates, we have no way of knowing if a specific rifle is allowed to even have a bayonet. It is almost impossible to determine when a Chinese SKS was made or imported without digging through decades of records with the importer. If you modify anything, it takes away the plausible deniability that it is a legal configuration.
One special note is that no one has been prosecuted for 922(r) violations alone. It would be damn-near impossible to prove in court.
If you modify anything, install the required US parts. They're pretty cheap including a US magazine. But if you want a high capacity, reliable carbine in an SKS, you will be sorely disappointed. Especially with US made mags.
Paratrooper SKS models are commercial imports and would require US parts to modify after the '86 ban.
".......is there a way that I can make the gun 922(r) compliant but still keep the gun original looking?"
Probably not. But keep in mind, there is no such thing as "constructive possession" of a 922r violation. This means if you can swap the original 10 round fixed for a high cap mag, the only time you are in violation is when the hi cap is installed. Conversely, even though the easily swapped hi cap is in your pocket, gun bag, etc. you are not in violation as long as the original is installed.
The exception clause to a 922r violation basically requires you to convert an otherwise banned IMPORTED firearm to a pseudo-USA made firearm. You accomplish this by swapping out the required number of foreign parts for USA made parts. How the ATF came up with what parts are "922r" is a mystery. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth....without the exception clause we would not have ANY of our foreign made toys (arbitrarily) deemed to be non-sporting by the ATF.
HTH
