I want to get an SKS to finish off my collection. (Yea like it will ever be complete)  I do not know much about the SKS.  I was at a recent gun show and one or two of the dealers made a point to say that all numbers matched.  What is the benefit to this?  They also said that the gun can directly from the armory?  Again what good is that?  They were both Yugo.  They seemed to be in great shape.  I am guessing that matching numbers means that the gun has not been rebuilt.  Should I be looking for another SKS manufacture?  What are the differences between the Russian SKS than the Yugo.  I though the Yugo had all milled parts?  What are some of the more common problems that I should look fer in the gun.  Like cracked stocks, stamped machined parts, etc.  And how do you clean that god offal gunk off of the stock?  I want to keep the gun stock and clean it up.  Any suggestions.

Firstly I think the Yugo is the nicest SKS varient out there.  The stock is teak, use teak oil.  Gunk, use keorsene, outdoors careful of flame, or gun scrubber.  matching mnumbers means some ordnance dude didn't take parts off one rifle and put them on another.  Far more desireable.  just get the gunk off before shooting.  The Russians are nice too and are highly collectable.  If you plan to shoot it, buy the Yugo and enjoy.  

Besides the nifty grenade launcher assembly, some Yugos have flip-up night sights (my bet is most won't glow anymore).  The barrels are not chrome lined though.  Rumor has it the Yugo SKS was also made in the same factory as the Yugo car.  At least they got _something_ right in that place ;)

I've seen several of the Yugos and I have to agree that they are nice rifles as far as the SKS goes. I haven't had the urge to buy one simply because I have a Norinco SKS in a prime condition that I bought off of a friend for really cheap. But if I didn't have an SKS already, I'd probably get one of the Yugos.

The Yugo SKS's are very nice rifles.  The wood on them are just beautiful.  There are one of the best deals around right now for around $150.