I just got a chinese sks as a gift. It does not have the original magazine it only has poloymer 30rd detachable.  I have never taken it out to shot it yet. I simply haven't had time.  I have a friend that is some what into guns. He says the detachable mags all fail and are infact very dangerous. So this had me wondering if I should wait to get a stock fixed mag on it before attempting to put a few rounds through it. Now my friend has been known to speak alot on things he has no idea about. So this is where my question comes in. Should I take it our this weekend and fire it to just test it or order parts and wait? at any rate I will end up going with the stripper in the end. But I'm just ichen to fire this thing.

while I have your attention. He also said that if I add a pistol grip to it it will be very illegal! is this true? I have to admit I tried to read through the post above on this issue and I could not follow it enough to figure it out. Please forgive me I'm a product of good old public school system LOL!

The thirties (actually any of the aftermarket mags) are crap, but I don't know about "dangerous".  The only "dangerous" I've heard about regarding the SKS is the possibility of the firing pin getting gunk-stuck in the forward position and causing doubling or complete mag dumps.  30 rounds would be more than I would like to hang onto with a runaway gun, but the mag itself has nothing to do with the issue.

Disassemble the bolt completely and clean the pin and pin channel thoroughly and you'll be fine.

I agree clean it and shoot it. Don't put more than 20 rds in at a time and it should do ok.
With the ban gone there should be no trouble converting to a pistol grip stock. I like mine makes it more fun for me than the original wood one.

I didn't really want to get into the legal side as I'm no lawyer, but I think the problem with a p/g involves 922 parts count issues if you go to a "non-sporting" config.  You may need the detatchable mag to get ugly there though, I'm not sure.

I've shot a few of the aftermarket stocks out there and I vastly prefer the original setup with rubber buttpad on my Yugo. Length is just right, the plastic ones didn't do it for me.