[Borden]

I have been an owner of an SKS Yugo m59/66a1 for about a week ($239). I bought it "new" and power cleaned the cosmaline with brake cleaner, gun scrub, and a tooth brush. I have experienced a few stove pipe occasions with an off-brand 30rnd mag and removed it. I have about 100 rounds with no FTF or FTE in the original fixed mag. It is my first firearm. i have been steadily reading all I can about the SKS. I still have a few questions.

1) My SKS is Etched with " MOD 59/66 A1 C.A.I GEORGIA VT" but as far as I can tell, I have no night sites. My sites do not match pictures I have seen of the night sites. I have read where the Georgia, VT importer misprinted some of the SKS. Any thoughts on this? Does this discrepancy make my SKS less valuable?

2) Ammo. i would like to use some milsurp ammo that is listed as corrosive. It is my understanding that the Yugo lacks the chrome lined barrel and is more likely to be damaged by corrosive ammo. I have no problems breaking it down and cleaning after each use, but i do not want to damage my SKS. Will using corrosive ammo damage the Yugo SKS?

3) Cleaning. I have absolutely no clue what to buy. I have read that a Stainless Steel brush may damage the rifling on the Yugo barrel because of the lake of chrome lining. I've found what appears to be a good, cheap cleaning kit from CTD.com



Again, i do not want to damage the SKS. Any suggestions on good cleaning kit for multiple firearms will be appreciated.

4) Bubba'n her up. It is my understanding that a YUGO needs to have 5 parts USA'd to become compliant once it is modified. I wish to keep the Bayonette and GL. (Mostly because I do not want to bogger her up trying to remove it.) My plans are to buy 5 Tapco items:

TAPCO SKS Operating Rod
TAPCO SKS Gas Piston
TAPCO T6 Collapsable Stock with pistol grip
Tapco SKS Gas Tube
TAPCO 20 round Detachable Mag

Will this configuration produce a compliant SKS?

5) it is my understanding that some legislation recently expired concering "Evil Features." As i read the law, if the firearm does not have a detachable magazine it is not considered an assault rifle. In this case the Granade Launcher, Bayonette, and night sites are of no consiquence. Would it be advisable to purchase a tapco fixed 20rnd mag instead of the removable to avoid compliance issues should Obama reinstate this law?

I apologize for the length of my first post and for my ignorance conerning the SKS.

Any help you can give me will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[hillbilly68]

Congrats on the purchase. I cant help you much, I dont know squat about the rifle. Just dont use stainless brushes on it, or on any other rifle for that matter.
And there is plenty of non corrosive 762x39 out there, although its heading up in price along with every other caliber!
Congrats again. Throw a pic up for us once you get her up and running.
regards

[matt g]

The reason it is listed as being manufactured in Vermont is that the 5 US parts required were added there. You don't have to worry about adding anything else unless you really want to.

[jeepcreep927]

CAI was the importer, Century Arms International. CAI changed their stamp from Georgia, VT to St. Albans, Vermont years ago. The towns are very close, such that they have the same telephone prefix. As far as I know now, most of their business deals are in Florida where their corporate office is. There is still a distribution center in VT.

[Borden]

Originally Posted by matt g

The reason it is listed as being manufactured in Vermont is that the 5 US parts required were added there. You don't have to worry about adding anything else unless you really want to.

So, my Yugo SKS currently has 5 US parts on it and is no longer considered an Imported Semi-automatic weapon and no longer falls under the 922r legislation? What 5 parts have been changed?

[dragunovsks]

Hey Borden congrats on your recent purchase, I remember when I got mine.

Ammo: As long as you clean your rifle when you're done shooting (within a couple hours) you wont hurt your SKS by shooting corrosive ammo in it. Get in the habit of cleaning all your firearms as soon as you can after your range trips, it's a good habit to have.

Cleaning: The cleaning kit you posted is a good start, I have a similar one in a silver plastic case, covers most of the well known calibers- shotguns, pistols and rifles. I wouldn't mess with those patches that come with it though. Outers and most of the other gun cleaning product companies make good patches that work better than those. Also, I keep extra borebrushes in my cleaning kit because you will wear them out. The SKS uses .30 caliber bore brushes.

Compliance: I'm not real familiar with the compliance laws, as mine is currently in it's original wood stock and is legal as is. I would check your state laws, what is legal here in Indiana may not be legal in "commie-fornia" or wherever else you call home.

Also, here's a good website where you can look up some history about the SKS rifle and most of it's variants.

www.surplusrifle.com

Good luck and happy shooting!

[matt g]

Originally Posted by Borden

So, my Yugo SKS currently has 5 US parts on it and is no longer considered an Imported Semi-automatic weapon and no longer falls under the 922r legislation? What 5 parts have been changed?

I have no idea as I'm no fan of the SKS platform or CAI. Strip it down and take detailed pictures (6MP+). E-mail them to me or post them some place that hosts hi-res images. I should be able to tell you which parts were swapped out.

I'd image that it's bolt group or trigger group parts that have been changed though as they're pretty easy to stamp or machine.

Originally Posted by dragunovsks

Compliance: I'm not real familiar with the compliance laws, as mine is currently in it's original wood stock and is legal as is. I would check your state laws, what is legal here in Indiana may not be legal in "commie-fornia" or wherever else you call home.

The compliance laws are dictated by our good friends at BATFE.

[janikphoto]

Originally Posted by Borden

...Does this discrepancy make my SKS less valuable?

I'm not so sure you need to worry about the value of an sks. I'm not saying it will NEVER be valuable as a collectible, but it's no ferrari. It's like buying a ford escort and worrying about it's collector value.

I have an sks and love it, but I recognize that it will never be like my m1 garand. Modify the sks how you want (within legal limits) and have fun with it.

[Borden]

Originally Posted by janikphoto

I'm not so sure you need to worry about the value of an sks. I'm not saying it will NEVER be valuable as a collectible, but it's no ferrari. It's like buying a ford escort and worrying about it's collector value.

I have an sks and love it, but I recognize that it will never be like my m1 garand. Modify the sks how you want (within legal limits) and have fun with it.

Thanks. I am not really sweating the value, nor am I trying to make a fortune collecting SKSs. I am concerned about buying something that was reassembled with incorrect or incomplete parts effecting the perceived "bargain" I got on it.

[gandog56]

About the night sights. I thought mine didn't have them either. But it did. They just flip up behind the normal sights, so look real careful. But they are so old that usually either the tritium is dead or the phosphor painting is dead. You can touch up the phosporous dots with glow in the dark paint.