-=> Quoting Dan Arico to John Lewis on 06-18-96  10:19 <=-
 Re: Sks
 JL> Also, I called a couple of gun shops around town, and one does have
 JL> them for sell...it is the Russian version - the clerk said they also
 JL> come in the Chinese version, but he doesnt carry them...
 JL> Is there any difference between the two?  Are there more than two
 JL> versions?
 DA> Last Christmas I got each of my sons a Russian SKS. We've had them out
 DA> to the range to try them out and they were fun. Both rifles performed
 DA> flawlessly and accuracy was decent. Joe, my oldest, was firing from
 DA> the  prone position and didn't have any problems holding three to four
 DA> inch  groups.
 DA> I've compared the Russian version to the Chinese and one thing is
 DA> noticeable right off. The Russian SKS is machined while the Chinese is
 DA> mostly stamped. The Chinese version also appeared to be a little more
 DA> lacking in fine details. For instance, there's a latch that holds the
 DA> gas tube assembly in place. On the Russian model, there's a place to
 DA> grip it with your thumb. On the chinese, it's a flat piece of metal
 DA> that  you have to pry with a tool.
There are both milled and stamped Chinese rifles - mine is the former.
No, it doesn't have a tab on the gas tube assembly latch. It's not quite
flat (there's a dimple to keep it from sliding accidentally), but it's
close enough. Then again, I haven't seen such a tab on the Russians I've
examined, it may not be on all of them.
Two years ago - while there were still a lot of Chinese rifles being
imported - the major accuracy factor on the Chinese seemed to be whether
or not the barrel was pinned (and generally, it was the stamped receivers
which had pinned barrels). Apparently when they went to mass production
for export they simplified the manufacturing process with stamping and
pinning. But an older surplus military SKS would be better.
Another change is supposed to be a chromed bore on the pinned/stamped
version of the Chinese rifles.
Steve
... CCW: Because 911 is too, too late (22 L8)
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