Matt_S: I don't think the Romanian SKS is chrome-lined. The 3 I have are not. Most Chinese and the Albanians are. Are you sure yours is chrome-lined?
I have 3 Romanian SKS. One is near-mint and does not go to the range. The other two I built up from "U-Fix-Ems" One has (what looks like) a perfect bore and crown. It shoots 12"-16" patterns at 100yrd. The other has a brite bore but well used with an ugly muzzle crown do to aggressive use of the cleaning rod (I believe). This one shoots 5"-6" at the same 100yrds. Go figure.
The SKS and AK are comparable in quality and reliability with the slight nod going to the SKS. JMHO based on the samples I've seen. I am assuming you are talking about the Semi-Auto ONLY AK's. The Romanian, Yugo, Russian, Albanian and SOME Chinese SKS are mil-spec. as issued weapons. The semi-auto AK's recently imported were manufactured for commercial sale in the U.S. and have the requisite number of domestic parts to be compliant. That means they have not been subjected to the same quality control measures as the mil-surps (at least when they were produced). However, I have owned 4 of the AK semi-autos (3-Roms, 1-Chicom). All have been excellent performers with just a little bit of tweaking.