Yugoslavian SKS

[Little-Boy]

Plaese give me some information or your personal thoughts on the Yugoslavian SKS, i am just wondering because i might get one sometime soon, there was a Chinese SKS used for $249.00, looked like it went though a war or two!
Thank You!

[bbgun]

Well made, heavier than Chinese. Bore & chamber not chrome lined, so I would get one that is either unissued or excellent condition.

Use the "Search" feature (see upper right hand toolbar). Just type in "Yugo SKS" & it will give you many threads to read about this rifle.

One of the best buys right now would be Centerfire Systems (call Tara):
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4471

bbgun :ak47:

[Andy]

May I ask you Little-Boy, what shall you do with your rifle? You asked some days ago about mosins same kind of things. It is much easier to tell you right things about guns, if one knows shall you use gun target shooting, collecting or hunting.

[Little-Boy]

Andy, i only entend to collect, and mebe hunt with it, if it is possible, a friend of my dads has a SAR-1 and said he hunts with it all the time, or i will just shoot it at the range, just because i am a young boy, doesnot mean i want to pull of a columbine, love guns to much! i just want to make sure what i am getting is a good deal and that i do not get screwed over on something. I have many firearms i want, mainly SAR-1, Mosin-Nagant(dont care witch model), and Yugoslavian SKS.
All the information will be helpfull for me!

[Andy]

Sorry. I didn´t mean that there´s something bad in your interest. But it´s easier to give advices if knows what shall you do with your gun. For example a superb accuracy is not so important in moose hunting than in bird hunting etc.

Unfortunately I don't know very much about Yugo SKS's. But I can say that both SKS and Mosin are quite heavy guns to carry, if you hunt with them.

[Little-Boy]

well ok, i did not know what you ment by that,Andy. I Can Not make up my mind between a $340-SAR-1, $159-SKS, Or a Mosin

[Texas Patriot]

Yugo SKSs are very good guns. I have a 59/66 with the grenade launcher. It is well made, quite accurate, totally reliable, and was new/unissued when I bought it.
If there is a down side it is the lack of a chrome bore and chamber. Other than that, tho, its a wonderful way to spend a few $$ and enjoy your investment for a long time.

[Andy]

No hard feelings. I know many much worse hobbies for young man than shooting but not many better.

For Your use I´d say it´s best to buy SKS for several reasons.

It´s easier to handle and carry than full length Mosins. I understood that you don´t need the power of 7,62x53R cartridge for big game, so there is no need for that. SKS is also much easier to shoot than Mosin. Especially it is much better than carbine-mosins that produce a huge fireball. Many of M91-30 mosins are also Russian wartime production and quality is not so good. Also if you want to use gun for plinking, self loader can be more fun. Some people say that bolt action is more safe than selfloader, but I don´t believe that. Safety doesn´t depend of gun, it depends of a gunner. Both guns are equally collectable I think. That´s why I think SKS is better than Mosin for you.

How about SAR-1? AK-variants are not so good to shoot. Recoil is not heavy, but because of long stroke gas piston it is not very pleasant. Heavy parts strikes back and forward and that is not so funny. Also if you want to hunt with your gun, SKS is better. There is reasons why stocks of hunting guns are like SKS´s, not like AK´s. I think also that surplus Yugo SKS is much more collectable than romanian commerical rifle. There is no much use for 30 rnd. magazines if you don´t shoot some IPSC-like sportshooting. Perhaps it is funny once to fire 30 rnds round after round, but nobody does it very often. It's expensive and feeding magazines is not as funny as shooting. But the most important thing is a price, if your budget is limited. It´s much better to buy 159$ rifle and ammo with 200$ than buy 349$ rifle and ammo with 10$. That's why I think SKS is better than SAR-1 for you.

But you do your own decission and I think you will got enough bang for buck if you buy any of these alternative rifles.

[matt]

The primary thing that a potential Yugo mod59 or 59/66 SKS buyer should be concerned with is the condition of the weapons' bore. I've seen Chi SKS's
that although beat-have chrome bores that redeem them!

[TA]

The SKS is a great buy. To avoid bore issues, get an unissued condition one. It will most likely have a mirror bore and will stay that way if you keep it clean. I bought a shooter grade 59/66 a few months back. The bore is slightly pitted, but it shoots well. The unissued 59/66 and my recently purchased 59 both have excellent bores.

Another great buy out there is the Swiss K-31. You can find these for <$100.00 and they are typical Swiss quality. The stocks tend to be chewed up a bit, but most are all matching, mechanically sound and have excellent bores. The 7.5 ammo is somewhat pricey though and it is bolt action, straight pull.

[jollyroger]

I've heard good things about the yugo's. Many people swear by them, to me however, it looks like it went through the factory with the crap magnet on. I'm sure for your purpose or any purpose really it would be fine.

[hologram]

You can get an un-issue yugo from AIM (www.aimsuprlus.com) for $169+SH. I have seen these guns in person, they are pristine. The non chrome linde bore will not make any difference if you clean your rifle regularly, and use non corrosive ammo. The yugos have a grenade laucher, so the extra weight of this acts as a muzzle break for even less recoil than the regular ones. Plus the fact that its beefier made makes it for an almost recoil-less rifle. I have one myself and its an awsome weapon, I love it. I dont think you can find an un-issue for less than that.

[Little-Boy]

I found a 1958 yugoslavian SKS for $150(On Sale, Reg is $200) when i got to the store they had sold out of the only 3 they got in the day befor. I had to fill out a raincheck. If you have a Drunk Driving on your criminal record that happened 30 years ago is there any chance the background check will go bad?? This is my mother, she wants to buy an SKS for me as a gift.

[6526]

Depends on your state and if it was a felony d.u.i., if it was a felony offense,it sticks with her for life,if it was a first time offense or a misdemeanor,she's prob. ok

[bsn]

My son has one ,really nice. Get one while you can. If the bore is good when you get it the the chrome bore debate is moot as it will last forever with good care, and non corrosive ammo. The unchromed ones tend to be more accurate.

[Little-Boy]

I suppose to get a Yugoslavian SKS in a week from Big5 Sporting Goods for $150. The guy said it is a 1959 Yugoslavian SKS without the launcher. Do you guys have any information? I can not find anything, i only get M59/66 to come up.

[withergyld]

The Yugo M59 SKS is similar to the Russian/Romanian/Chinese SKS. It does not have the grenade launcher or night sites.
In the picture below the M59 is second from the bottom.
http://users.cableaz.com/~mjbvrb/Albanian%20SKS%20Project_files/SKScollection.jpg

I forgot to add that I estimate ~50,000 Yugo M59 rifles were produced
~700,000 Yugo M59/66 rifles were produced.
The M59 is more rare then the M59/66

[allesennogwat]

I have a Yugo M59 SKS.Another reason that they are fewer than M59/66's is that most of them were converted to M59/66's.

[uzitiger]

The Yugo SKS is a nice shooter. I got a shooter grade and it's nice. It took a couple hours to clean out the cosmoline from most of the rifle. Make sure you take it apart and clean it if you want it to function right.

It's cheaper than a Ruger 10/22 and fun to shoot.

[Nobby]

I've got several Yugo 59/66s, need to add a 59 before they get insanely pricey. For your first one of either type I'd go with an unissued/excellent condition one. An interesting thing about these is there are a number floating around with carvings on them, most likely from use in that region's most recent period of unrest (last ten or so years). If you want a decent 'shooter grade' that has some neat carvings on it, go to www.dansammo.com and send him an e-mail (he doesn't have them posted on his site) and he might be able to find one for you.