So, my father got in a couple of matching Albanian SKS's (one for him, one for me)...

Oh my $DIETY, what a pain in the ass to clean. Actually, cleaning it wasn't so bad (brake cleaner, acetone...and a lot of rubbing wood (and STOP THINKING THAT RIGHT NOW. ) )

It was re-assembly. I had to literally use a padded vise to get the trigger group locked in. Real pain in the butt.

Gotta say tho...for future use:

Get a couple of boresnakes...one for cleaning rifles, and one for cleaning cosmoline. I took one of the old boresnakes that I have and ran it (soaked with brake cleaner) exactily 3 times down the barrel. IT WAS SPOTLESS after that. I ran down 2 patches of Hoppes after that...not a thing. A couple of dry patches followed by one soaked in CLP finished the job.

Course, the boresnake was completly caked in the grease Had to hand-clean it between each run, but the 3rd run, it came out almost as good as it went in.

This was all after the rest was de-cosmolined, of course. Lots of q-tips and rags went into that. And brake cleaner.

Just a (somewhat) useful tip for those who use a lot of patches...

Thanks for the cleaning tips!

So since you have now had a hands on with the Alnanian SKS. Is the only different about these is the Gas Tube Handguard is longer? Do these have chrome lined barrels?

These rifle look like they were made by drunks.  Machine marks everwhere.

Seems to shoot ok.

Dennis Jenkins

Quoted: Thanks for the cleaning tips! So since you have now had a hands on with the Alnanian SKS. Is the only different about these is the Gas Tube Handguard is longer? Do these have chrome lined barrels?

I just bought a few from AIM, we'll see how they look when they come in.

I got my Albanian SKS's in.  The wood is in bad shape, but I ordered new stocks with the rifles.  The metal on them looks decent, definately a good shooter grade rifle.  I will tinker on the new wood stocks a bit, re-stain a couple of them in Black (maybe one in OD).  I plan on sending the metal to a shop for refinishing.  It looks to be a fun project.