Sks... I have an SKS sportster with a camo synthetic stock and the 30 rd. AK clip. It is fun, more ammo, but it does go fast.
I wouldn't worry about it man, I've bought 3 of them in the last 2 years and none of them work. The first one worked for a little while and then quit chambering rounds and the other two never did work. Iv'e heard Tapco makes reliable ones, but I haven't tried them, I not wasting anymore money on them.
I was going to start my own thread about this but maybe I'll just tag onto this one and see how it goes... I have one plastic banana clip for my Norinco SKS that works but the lip at the top of the mag is cracked. I bought a 30rd steel mag that fits just fine but it won't cycle. I can get off one round and it stops open. The plastic mag is thin and holds the next round right in the middle - in-line with the barrel, where the steel mag is fatter and the rounds are off-set from each other - one on the right, then the next on the left, and so on as you shoot. Are there steel mags that funnel the rounds to the middle like my plastic one? Or can my SKS be modified somehow so the rounds from the steel mag can enter more from the side instead of straight on?
I've used a 37 round DC Engineering mag in my Chinese SKS for over 8 years with no problems what so ever. I was thinking of buying some synthetic mags, but now I'm not so sure.
You are describing the the difference between a double stack/single feed and double/dual feed magazine. The steel mag I have in my SKS is double stack/dual feed (alternating from left and right) and works fine. I have never seen a single feed SKS mag. It sounds like the bolt stop may be catching on the next round and lifting to stop the bolt. Check to be sure the #2 round is properly oriented in the magazine. There should be a slight lip at the back of the feed lips that prevent the round from moving back in the magazine and catching the bolt stop. There is an area behind the feed lips that allows the magazine follower to push up the bolt stop after the last round is fired. If the #2 round sits too far back in the magazine body, it will catch the bolt stop. Carefully examine exactly what is happening. With the mag removed, find the bolt stop and maybe put a little white-out on it to see if that is what is causing the malfunction. On the other hand, the round could be nosing into the back of the barrel and jamming up. If that is the case, the magazine may not be seated correctly at the front causing the nose dive problem. As each round uses only one feed lip and the next round to orient it for feeding, check to see if it is only happening when the round is trying to feed from one side. If that is the case, then you have a bent feed lip. You can try to correct that by CAREFULLY bending the offending lip to look exactly like the good one. For best results use parallel jaw pliers, not regular needle nose pliers to avoid making the situation worse.
I still have my original ten round magazine on my sks and never saw a reason to upgrade to something else. Get a stock ten round holder again, and just practice on reloading faster. Stripper clips can be faster than changing removable mags, and nothing is more reliable than the stock piece.
+1 - Why anyone would need more than 10 rds. is beyond me! It's not like you have a FA weapon and are under attack by marrauding zombies....
Just to play both sides of the argument, it WAS nice to take the rpk to the range and shoot through 75 rounds without having to change drums/clips... But, I'm glad you both agree with me on the ten rounder and stripper clips. Unless shooting a FA weapon, ten rounds is a nice number to have in the rifle. Large enough number to hit several targets before running out, but small enough to mentally keep track of your number of rounds shot/remaining.
The Chinese SKS M and D's are the only SKS rifles designed to use Hi Cap magazines along with some of the Chinese rifles that came with the fixed 20 Rd magazines. Other than that using anything other than the standard 10 Rd. mag and a pocket full of stripper clips is pretty much a crap shoot. Tapco makes a nice 20 Rd. duck bill detachable mag it pretty much reliable about 99% of the time,but you get your good and bad ones with those also and unless you have done the bolt modification you have to have the bolt open to insert and remove the mag,plus if your going to use it with the original wooden stock you may be required to do a little sanding in the mag well to get a good fit. Changing out the mag also get you in the the 10 or less parts game of the 922 laws. That may be a thing of the past by October when Tapco releases it new SKS bolt. It has the spring loaded firing pin and the easy mag drop built in like the Chinese M & D's not sure about the price yet.
