Best aftermarket 5 round magazine for the SKS?

[jimbob86]

I bought a Yugo 59/66 ($199 at Cabela's!) as a plan B in case Daughter Jac does not like the recoil to the new Frontier in 7-08 ......... I figure if she can't handle 150gr at 2400 from a 7 1/2 lb bolt action, we'll try 154 gr at 2100 from 9 1/4 lb semi-auto ...... the only hitch being I need to put a 5 round magazine in it, as there is 6 round capacity limit on hunting rifles in Nebraska.....

Which magazine is the best? I was expecting to spend a bit more on the rifle,, but when I walked up to the counter today, they had been marked down $50 from what they were a week ago...... Bonus! ....Funny thing is, they had some lower quality, dark bored Norinco SKSes on the "Used" racks, some marked as high as $400......

...true, I may be awhile taking the cosmoline out of this one, but at least it is not dried: these were re-arsenalled in 2010 in Serbia..... the stuff is like tan vaseline, as opposed to the asphalt looking stuff on/in some of the other milsurps I have looked at......

What mag and where to get it? Cablea's had none- minor merchandizsing fail.

 

[chack]

Funny thing is, they had some lower quality, dark bored Norinco SKSes on the "Used" racks, some marked as high as $400......


...true, I may be awhile taking the cosmoline out of this one, but at least it is not dried: these were re-arsenalled in 2010 in Serbia..... the stuff is like tan vaseline, as opposed to the asphalt looking stuff on/in some of the other milsurps I have looked at......

I believe you are mistaken on a couple points.

First, All Norincos have chrome lined bores, I've never seen one with a dark bore. I've seen some dirty bores, but a few patches and they're like new.

Second, Norincos are not lower quality. They are much more common than yugos, but they are every bit as well made as a yugo and typically in much better shape. I would go so far as to say that the SKSs have a superior design to the yugos because, in addition to their chrome bore, the Chinese rifles DON'T have a gas valve which is a common failure point for yugos.

I've bought and sold alot of Chinese SKSs and have never had a major problem that a good cleaning and minor tweaking didn't fix, but the majority of Yugos I've had over the years malfunctioned so I stay away from them like the plague now.

Third, and this last point I'm not certain about, I believe that the yugo re-arsonal process consisted mostly of Century re-barreling and refinishing the thousands of malfunctioning Yugos that either got sent back to them or failed their inspection process after importation over the years. Yes, that Century.

As for the magazines, I have played around with USA brand mags, mostly with success. Tapco mags have been less reliable but usually are either not bad or complete crap. You'll know which one you have in 20 rounds and shooting them is the only way to tell.

I use a wooden block inserted into the factory magazine. I've seen folks drill two holes in the bottom of the factory mag for screws to hold it in place, but that isn't legally required and seems like overkill to me.

The wood block has the advantage of being cheapest and most reliable, and if you don't drill the holes it doesn't affect the value or C&R status of the rifle.

 

[jimbob86]

C&R status of the rifle.

Not a concern ..... I've already removed the bayonet and cleaning rod: Daughter said she did not like "that sword thing under there" .......

First, All Norincos have chrome lined bores, I've never seen one with a dark bore. I've seen some dirty bores, but a few patches and they're like new.

Maybe that is the case..... or maybe soembody fired a few hundred rounds of corrosive surplus ammo and threw it in their crawl space for a few years .... dunno: Cabela's salesguy claimed to have lost his borelight.....

First, All Norincos have chrome lined bores, I've never seen one with a dark bore. I've seen some dirty bores, but a few patches and they're like new.

Second, Norincos are not lower quality. They are much more common than yugos, but they are every bit as well made as a yugo and typically in much better shape.

Not these..... most of them had been modified with the 20 and 30 round aftermarket magazines, and did not have the original mags with them..... as for being better shape..... some had splits in the stocks or handguards, dents and dings, bluing gone form edges.... the only plus I could see with going with a used one was not having to clean the grease off them.

 

[jimbob86]

Dimensions of the wood block?

 

[chack]

I just trimmed off a piece with a saw and stuck it in there. I trimmed it to size by rubbing it on concrete. I never measured anything, it was simply trial and error.

 

[Jeff56]

It sounds like someone has accumulated the worst collection of Norincos they could find. As a new gun, unfired since they were imported the Norinco is a superior rifle in many ways not the least of which is the ability to take the duckbill mags while the Yugos will not. That will complicate your search for a 5 round mag since the ones I've seen were designed to work the same way the 15, 20 and 30 round mags around including the venerable USA brand mags. I did have a 5 rounder many years ago but it's long gone because I never intended to use the SKS as a hunting weapon. I have however used the 15, 20 and 30 round mags for 19 years (soon to be 20) without any complaints about their quality at all.

I have seen lots of shot out and worn out Norincos. Most of them weren't taken care of at all. The only reason you see Yugos looking better now is they have recently been re-worked and sold again. But the Yugos have never been the same level of quality as the Norincos. Their treatment since they were first taken out of their milsurp crates is another story altogether. There are quite a few Norincos around that have had very good care taken of them. You wouldn't be able to tell my Norinco from a brand new out of the crate model (as far as they were ever new in this country) and that includes firing thousands of rounds of corrosive ammo with no elaborate cleaning and no adverse affects. My rifle will still fire all day without a mis-feed of any kind and it's more accurate now than it was when it was new due to a trigger rebuild I had done.

I'm posting this to correct some wrong notions about the quality of the Norincos. Only the Chinese continued the development of the SKS after 1956. They made substantial improvements to the rifle in the decade after 1956. They did sell some substandard models after the SKS became popular in the US including the Cowboy version among others. Those rifles are easily recognized by the inferior quality of their stocks and by the lack of certain markings on the barrel. It was the actual milsurp rifles that were great. The later made for the US market versions were inferior in many ways. And again the Yugo models lacked certain features which caused them to not work with the duckbill mags and they didn't have chrome lined barrels and they generally came with the grenade launcher and all of these things were substantial drawbacks IMO. And there are others too.

At any rate don't let anyone convince you that there are no good Norincos left. There are. I have one.