Armory Sponsor
Posted: 6/29/2006 5:50:36 AM EDT
|
So i bought a Yugoslavian SKS a while back and i want to do a little bit of upgrading to it. What should i try to do / not do. The stock's in pretty bad shape but the reciever and all the parts look just fine. The whole thing was packed in cosmoline. Here's what i was thinking. Composite stock remove the grenade launcher attachment (somehow...) Extended magazines.? i've heard they suck. |
| Removing the grenade contraption may be more trouble than it's worth, just my opinion. If the stock is junk ditch it, you can get replacements pretty cheap. If it's salvageable at least put a rubber butt extension on it, for about $5 it makes it a lot more comfortable. Other than that I wouldn't mess with it, don't do the mag thing, you'll regret it! The fixed mag is easy to load and dead reliable. You may decide you want some sort of peep sight, Williams makes one to replace the sight and tech-sights makes one of AR style that attaches to the back of the reciever. |
|
I'd try the Maytag trick on the stock. After removing all the hardware, a cycle through the washer can lift out all kinds of ding and gunk. Just be prepared to hit it with some 1K grain sandpaper and some tung oil to refinish. As for accessories, I might look into a bunch of stripper clips  . Most often folks tapco the shiza out of an SKS and ruin them IMHO. Clean it up and shoot the heck out of it.Stay away from ext/removable mags. They are trash. Surplusrifle.com has an article on removing the grenade laucher muzzle device. I think they used a MAP torch and unscrewed it(may have reverse threads so do your research first) HTH Blitz |
|
If you really don't want the grenade launcher, buy a Yugo M59 from Classic Arms for $159. They don't have matching #s, but if you're considering replacing the stock, removing the grenade launcher, and adding an extended mag, you likely don't care about originality and matching #s anyway. I would try to restore the original stock, leave the grenade launcher, keep the fixed mag, and save my money for an AK if I wanted any "upgrades". The SKS is a fine, beautiful rifle as is, I don't know why so many people try to turn them in AKs, that's why someone invented the AK. That being said, it's your rifle, it's not especially rare (you won't be ruining a collector's item), so you should feel free to do with it whatever makes you happy, but I would encourage you to give the SKS a chance to win your heart in it's original configuration, and consider getting an AK for you high cap desires. I do recommend getting a bunch of stripper clips, I found a decent deal for 80 of them on EBay for around $20 or so. (The aftermarket replacement mags all stink anyway, I've seen 1 guy get one to work, and about a dozen or so not able to even feed 1 round.) |
|
Leave the fixed mag. I personally like the stock that comes with it but have shot other guys with the monte carlo type cheaper plastic stock and it wasen't that bad. I might consider getting an SKS with one. The best accessory I can offer is ammo and stripper clips. The sights that mount to the back of the reciever are a cool idea too, but I like the regular sights well enough. |
The SKS in it's stock configuration is one of the best rifles ever made, it is very reliable, decent accuracy, and just damn fun. If you do much more than refinish the stock and MAYBE add the peep sight you will be disapointed and want to go back to the original set up. Save your money for ammo instead and get a bounch of stipper clips
|
|
Here's a great "upgrade" for the SKS: www.cdnninvestments.com/sks76stcl20p.html |
|
+1 for the trigger job... SKS rifles are notorious for terrible triggers...I am on my 3rd SKS and haven't bought one with a decent trigger yet. Leave the original mag alone...it never did anything to you! Why spend money making a $100 rifle pretty? It's like putting lingerie on a pig. |
|
Better rear sight (Tech), trigger job, stripper clips, ammo. Maybe a synthetic stock. Check out the stocks at simonov.net before you buy. |
|
I picked up a $100 Yugo myself the other day and it turned out to be a great shooter. The finish is beat and the hood on the front sight is bent, but the part numbers all match, it functions perfectly and shoots sub 2" groups at 50 yards with iron sights and whatever steel cased ammo it was that my buddy had in a plastic bag when we went to the range. Inside, the parts look nearly new, so my guess is that it probably got carried and beat around by a lot of trainees, but was rarely ever fired. The trigger does suck though. Anyway, it got me to thinking the same thing, that this rifle has some potential for improvement. The same guy that sold it to me has another one in better condition for $140 and I was thinking of picking that one up too and leaving it stock. This one however I was thinking of attaching a scope mount to the receiver, altering the receiver to use AK mags and reworking the trigger. I'm not much of a machinist, but I've got a mill and lathe and I think I can manage to make it work. The main reason I'm thinking of going to AK mags is because it looks like a properly placed scope with a brass deflector will make it dificult to load from the top. Hey, It's a $100 rifle and the only thing I really need to buy to do any of this is the scope mount, (Choate about $40 or about $65 for a siderail and mount from Kalinka), so I can do it all pretty cheap and even if I f--k the whole thing up I'll probably get as much enjoyment out of doing the work as I would out of shooting it. I figure any kind of project like this is mostly about playing around. If I really just wanted a cheap, practical rifle I'd go out and get a used bolt action. |
| I'd study up on the legalities of doing heavy mods to an SKS. For example, lots of them were imported as Curios and Relics. I doubt anyone would quibble with an easily reversible Tech-Sight or composite stock, but modifying one to accept AK mags might get you bound up in the whole domestic parts-count thing. I'm no lawyer, but I think it would be a good idea to do a little research before embarking on major mods on SKSs. YMMV. |
Maybe it's just my SKS but mine actually seems to have a fairly good trigger.  It's not a clean break (it's a long and hard pull) but it's a really smooth pull too. |
That's an interesting point that I'd never considered. High capacity SKS mags are quite common though even if they aren't much good. My understanding of converting an SKS to fit AK mags is that it involves four significant mods to the gun. 1) You have to widen the opening a bit. 2) You have to attach a piece of metal that will serve as a mag catch. 3) You have to remove a little metal from the bottom of the bolt in order to make it narrow enough to function with the new mags. 4) You have to fabricate a new mag release and properly drill and pin it in place. I suspect that the real tricky part of the whole thing is making sure that a mag intended for a completely different rifle sits in just the right location so that cartridges will feed and the action will still cycle. |
Armory Sponsor