I have a chinesse paratrooper that I am thinking of turning into a dedicated truck gun. I know everyone preaches to keep SKS's the way they came from the factory, but this is a para and I have a 20" Chinese in my safe that is staying stock. My goal is to keep it reliable, but decrease the weight and improve the sights at least. I'm considering looking for a fiberglass "jungle stock" and ditching the bayonet. I'm also considering going to tech sights or a krebs peep sight or a MI sks optic mount and running a small red dot. Any one have options on these mods? Recommendations for other mods?

Sell it or trade it for an AK or AR.

Yup

I'll play Bubba with ya!
I committed the ultimate sin and intentionally chopped my 20" down to 16" and I don't regret it at all.  It's not perfect yet, I still have some things to work out but, it handles so much nicer. One unforeseen consequence though was the effect on my Tech Sites.  While still a huge improvement over stock, the shorter sight radius requires a taller front site fixture.  Serviceable but it'd be nice it I could find a way to stretch that a bit.
I tried a Scout Mount with the thought of going with a PA red dot but I found the mount was so tall I had to by-pass cheek weld and go to a chin weld. Meh, I may still fool around with that since I never returned it.
One thing I can absolutely recommend, especially for a truck gun, is the butt stock clip pouch from Strike Hard Gear.

Damn!  My copy & paste isn't working. Go to www.strikehardgear.com and you'll find it.  It holds 3 stripper clips very securely and easy to access. It comes with shock cord or 550 cord to lace it on but I wanted it more secure so I got some 1/2" brass screws and screwed it right to my stock. Rock solid.  Put a swivel on the right side of the stock toward the butt to attach a Vickers 2 Pt padded sling and she's my go to piece for stomping out in the woods.

I know some here will accuse me of sacrilage but, it's a rifle I paid $100 for 20 years ago and, although I sincerely love it, it has much more value to me as a tool and a fun gun than does as a masterpiece or a collector's item. Let the chips fall where they may.


P.S.  Almost forgot, I sent the trigger group out to Bill Springfield at www.triggerwork.net  He did a really nice job cleaning it up, smoothing it out, and had it back to me in one week.

 
Thanks!

As long as you don't do any perminate alterations you will be fine.. but i think it would make more sense doing it to a rifle designed for optics. (AR/AK)

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This is my thinking. You pay $200-$300 or more for an SKS, then pay another $200-$300 or more in parts and accessories.  By the time it's all said and done you have more into it than a new AK or AR.
Also, you will not be saving on weight going from a Chu wood stock to a Fiberglass one.

 Academy Sports sells DPMS Sporticals for $499.00 another $150.00 or so gets you a Nikon P223.  Everyone I know that has a Sportical loves it.  Its a great entry level gun.  I wouldn't got to war with it and have better stuff for SHTF but if that's what I had, I'd feel ok.   I love my Para but there's no way in hell I would pay what one brings today.  At $100.00 it was a bargain and my first mil surp firearm and I keep it as a trunk gun.

If I were in your shoes, I would personally look into this optic setup.  

This is a fixed 4x power prismatic optic with a very useful reticle designed to take into account ranging and winds while giving you a bullet drop compensation calculated for the 7.62x39 round.  It's been very popular since its release and is perfectly suited for the type of shooting I believe you'll end up doing.  Like an ACOG, it's effective at short distances but shines in its ability to perform at longer ranges.  It will be about as quick as the red dot you're thinking about mounting on a MI mount, but will be easier to use out to any real distance.  

https://www.primaryarms.com/product_p/pac4xak300bo.htm

I would mount it on one of these.  It's a very well thought out design that gives you the ability to mount traditional optics requiring normal eye relief, all without permanently modifying your rifle or making it look ridiculous like some of the top cover mounts on the market do.  The optic uses a standard ACOG mount, so any low ACOG picatinny mount should work well with this rail to keep the optic at a non-Beowulf X height.  

http://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/rings-mounts-amp-bases/rifle-bases/wartak-sks-scope-rail-prod71934.aspx

That scope looks interesting for the price given the properties it has for the 7.62x39 round.

I have a bubba as hell Chinese SKS para myself....it was a "rescue"....but generally I'd advise just buying a different rifle over investing a bunch of money in an SKS......

Mine? I paid $60 for it out of a pawn shop about a year ago. They had it in the back in their "junk gun" pile. Someone had bought it there, took it out and tried to shoot it and it didn't work....The 30 round retardo mag they had in it probably had a lot to do with that......Gun had a few other issues, crown looked like someone had used it to hammer nails with....Lucky for me a local gunsmith owed me a favor and cleaned it up for no investment on my part. It had a crappy side folding stock- old school Combat Exchange model, on it....I sold that off on Ebay for $40 and was able to find a good "take off" Yugoslav stock for $5.....and luckily for me a standard 10 rd box mag, also $5 at the pawn shop where I bought it.

I cleaned the hell out of the rifle, it was filthy and dropped it into the Yugo stock, added the 10 round mag. Took it to the range...shoots great, accurate and reliable, no issues at all. A good $30 truck gun when it was all said and done.

"Tony" is in a so-called jungle stock I altered for giggles for my SKS-M that takes AK mags.



No need to remove the bayonet as most of those "jungle stocks" are cut for a spike bayonet. You will just have some extra channel left or you could simply get a full sized spiker and switch it out.  It would be a simple drop-in installation for you other than drifting out the pin on the upper hand guard.

I'm not a big fan of optics on a SKS unless it's a D&Ted type mount that secures to the receiver. Moot point as I suspect you would not do that to a paratrooper anyway.