Make that OLD SKS Rock!!

Although Not necessarily dogged on to the degree that the AKM Variants are the SKS still has its fair share of gripes against it. Mainly being that "If you are going to get a cheap 7.62x39mm rifle you are better off with an AKM variant". Realistically If you were going to buy something for defense and the 7.62x39 was the cartridge that you liked I would tell you to get an AKM any day of the week. Now, for the sake of 2nd kind of cool lets say you have some spare cash (psh.... right) or you wanted a rifle that you could practice your home gunsmithing skills before you embarked on the path of modifying a more expensive rifle lets look at the SKS.

So brief history lesson for those who are unaware of this rifles history. In TL;DR fashion the SKS rifle was simply the precursor to the AK-47/AKM Variants. The Rifle Was Designed in 1944, and put into production in 1946 which puts it just out of reach of WWII as far as deployment goes. The Rifle was actually Designed to mimick the American M1 Garrand. The Soviets for most of WWII did not have an effective Semi-Automatic Carbine and of the designs that actually made it into the war none were ever very successful. (SVT, GEW-43, ect.) For the most part the mainstay of the Soviet Red Army was the M91/30 Nagant Rifle (Mosin-Nagant), and the PPSh-41 SubMachinegun (SMG). Seeing the Success of the American M1 and the German GEW-43 the Russians Realized they needed a Semi-auto just to keep up. The First attempt at a semi-auto mass production was a more direct copy of the M1 Garrand called the SVT. It fired the 7.62x54R but the rifle was not mass deployed due to production costs. During the War the Soviets had design Trials where in 1945 Sergei Siminov Submitted the SKS for the New 7.62x39mm cartridge (which there was no rifle for at the time) against an earlier Variant of Kalashnikov's Semi-Auto Rifle. Needless to say Siminov's Rifle won out over the early Kalashnikov design and the SKS entered full production in late 1945. Of course in 1946 Kalashnikov resubmitted his patent to the USSR as a SMG and the soviets liked it enough that they quickly replaced the SKS with the AK-47 SMG. Afterwards the Soviets helped newer Communist Satellites arm themselves with the SKS as it was cheaper to produce early on. (i.e. China, Romania, Yugoslavia, N. Korea, ect.)

The SKS saw heavy use in against the US in Korea, Vietnam, and Kosovo. Since Vietnam SKS rifles have flooded the US market and have been heirloom guns for most newer generation shooters here stateside. with the flood of SKSs means that there is a large aftermarket presence which in the US means that they legislated the crap out of it. with the Section 922(r) of the US code it basically makes customizing a sks variant an international incident (pun intended) to customize.

With that We decided lately that one of the main reasons that the Siminov Carbine is falling out of popularity is due to the fact that in its stock format that It isn't ..... how do we say.... tacticool...

I know, I know... but whats the fun in shooting a gun if its not fun right? So we decided that we are going to embark on a grand journey to make the most tacticool SKS imaginable!! This transitions into the second part of this article where we will talk about the concept. So instead of making the tried and true BF3 tactical SKS we want to embark on another path and create something virtually undone to our knowledge. we want to build the SKS equivalent to a semi-auto RPD. Now we will not be making this a belt fed sks... THAT WOULD BE RIDICULOUS!! xD

Instead we will be going for asthetics only. Now to make this somewhat Canonically correct fir a Russian Squad weapon we will need to start with a strong base. What better than A Yugoslavian M59/66:

  Notable Features are:
> Built Mostly to Russian Specs
> Longer/Heavier Barrel
> Threaded/Pinned Muzzle Brake/NATO Grenade Launcher device
> Heavier receiver
> Gas Shutoff Switch
> Newer Production than Russian Counterparts

Basically we wanted a heavy gun that would feel robust with all the aesthetic modifications. Plus it makes it easier to attach muzzle devices and with the longer barrel will make it look more convincing as a squad serviced weapon.

For the Stock we wanted to go with the Tapco Intrafuse T-6 Stock. Makes the platform a little lighter but will also give us more options for mounting equipment later. **This stock set is sold as a 922(r) compliancy Kit**

We want to go with a Tapco Vert Grip... because its cheap ;p Also It helps give you a better grip on the weapon while shooting.

We will be running a couple Tapco Detachable Mags:

Can't be an RPD knockoff without the SKS Drum Mags

Bayonet Lug Mounted Bipod

AKM Night Sights

                                                    

AK Muzzle Brake

 This will be the initial Build for the Tacticool SKS, after which we will test on the range and see how she performs. This is a build in progress. we will be updating the board here with pictures as parts come in and we get closer to finishing. At a later point we have even considered adding a Russian POSP mount with a 4x scope. Prices Variate on parts over time so We will give a total cost after the build. More to come we should see a build similar to this: