Nasty-
I oiled, and lightly steel wooled any friction area that might hang up the mag follower. ONe fixed 20 wasn't much good. The other worked almost all the time. Almost. I finally took it off after it disapointed me one or two times too often. We used to go through cases of ammo...those wonderful tuna cans....
I wonder if my Russian will take a Chinese fixed 20? Probably. They make a big deal out of the Russians, but I've avoided them until now. Yes, better looking metal, but one Smith told me many of the Russians were actually softer than the Chinese. I imagine hardening on the Chinese was 'hardly' standardized, though.
Anyway, paying premium price for a SKS defeats the purpose. But my friend will sell his Russian for a good price, and I'll own an SKS again. Yippee?
Here's two stories from the Gun store:
Guy buys a cheap Norinco AK. Comes back two weeks later and buys the next step up- I don't remember what that is, now, you remember the Eastern Europe models, the Egyptian, blaa blaa blaa. With this type of weapon, much is made of having a 'milled' forged reciever. Yet for what the weapon does, chuck bullets downrange, the extra time and weight of the reciever being forged hardly matters. I'd like to see someone prove the older recievers more accurate than the stamped ones every nation who used the AK finally turned to. (and Hell, EVEN I like the old milled and forged...go figure- you can't help but like 'stronger stuff' with more man hours and finishing) Anyway, this guy would come into the store once a month and buy a new AK. He kept buying up until he got the best availble at that time- a little under a 1000 bucks.
He must have had 2500 to 3000 in AK's by that time. And at the end of his journey- did his super AK really shoot better than his cheap one? Well, I know there are high quality recievers out there today, and some of the more expensive AK's the owners say are more accurate. If you want to spend a 1000 bucks on an AK, I'd buy a AR or M1A or FNFAL,though.
I have a NMH 90 that 15 years ago might do 2" at a 100 yards with iron sights. (there's a story to this rifle- it went away and then came back to me- Nasty- I can't get rid of some of these AK's and SKS's- they return like Salmon.) I paid 190 bucks new for that stamped aborted stock designed ugly duckling, yet it chucked bullets like all in the Clan do- admirably.
Another AK buyer: at some point in the 90's, attempts were made to legitimize the weapon by adding sporting features to it- we know about the stock, and the derivative Hunter models, but there was also a long heavy barreled model. They even had them in 308 and 223 if you recall. Anway, Guy comes into the shop and wants to hunt Elk in Colorado with a plus 20" barreled AK in the Soviet Short round. Please don't do this, I tell him. No go; he's convinced the extra barrel length will turn the round into a Beast Killer. I sell him the rifle with regret. I figure the extra length will do well when a Colorado local wraps the rifle around his neck.
There are two AK varients I've always wondered about but have no personal experience with- the Valmet and the Galil. Both have Cults built around them.
The AK with it's rotary bolt recoils better than the SKS. It really is a nice feeling shooter. But the good ole SKS will always have a place in my ...er...heart? and cannot be said to recoil hard, just different.
If you or Spectre know of any way to insure a fixed 20 to work, let me know. Certainly, the 20 was the only conversion that looked promising to me, but as I said, it failed for me and many others in the High Desert in Ca.
One more anecdote- I load for the 35 Whelen. I pick the 250 Speer as best all around choice. Sierra advertises the 225 gr as being the best choice for longer range shots. Except if you look at the BC's for both bullets, the 250 retains more energy and actually flies flatter at the longer ranges the 225 is advertised for. But it makes no difference. Gun writers take up the 225 as THE long range choice. Guy comes into the gunstore, and buys a box of 225 Sierra's- why? "Long range," He says. "Then you should try the 250 Speer," I say, it will actually outperform the smaller bullet." He looks at me with contempt. I'm just a gun store clerk, sweep a floor or something, buddy, and get out of our way. He looks to his friend, obviously the Gun Guru, and the guy shakes his head no: I don't know what I'm talking about.
My hero, Ken Waters, writes the 35 whelen in Pet Loads. What does he do? 225 Sierra for long range, he says.
Anyway, Guns are neat. I've learned and enjoyed the hobby-sport-way of life- political position for many years now. No matter what I know, other's may have different experiences, and now and then I have to take a step and remember humble is better than bluster.
If we listened to reloading manuals and Gun writers, the 45 Colt would never have been loaded up in Ruger revolvers. They told us the cases were too thin, and even if the gun could handle it the brass couldn't. They told us the guns couldn't. This went on for many years. Now is it meat and potatos the 45 Colt handloaded is a wonderful round, in many instances out performing the 44 mag with less pressure and easier shooting recoil.
I go to the Old Marlin lever forum- no longer in existence, btw, and since I can't find a 375 Winchester chambered rifle I get a Marlin Cowboy in 38/55. I'm going to load it to 375 speeds, I let everyone know.
They wanted to hang me. They quoted Speer as saying never do this. Their resident Guru went nuts with disbelief and outrage, and his cronies followed suit. I kept insisting this was going to happen and was going to be safe, besides. The Guru finally relented, and turned out to be a pretty good guy too- he sent me photos of his wonderful collection of levers. He really loved them. When someone loves something, and puts that much care and interest into it, you ever notice you can't help but take a little of that love yourself?
There are many more things under the Sun, than meet your philosophy- I gotta remember that.
munk