Author Topic: SKS Paratrooper 16" Carbine (Read 1626 times)

lgm270 · « **on:** March 23, 2005, 09:33:46 AM »

I love the handling qualities of the Nornico SKS 16'" Paratrooper carbine. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Reliablility? Accuracy?

Does anyone know of a replacment barrel (preferrably stainless steel) for this rifle?

1911crazy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2005, 11:00:37 AM »

Yes, I have one that i shot not too long ago. Its a Chinese Norinco Paratrooper SKS and we benchrested it @ 100yds with Chinese Norinco 7,62x39 ammo it it averaged 1 1/2" to 2" groups on the paper thats with my son shooting it and he's new to shooting. I was pinging small rocks with at 100yds on the berm before he shot it. It was the salesmans gun at a local dealer. I went back after we shot it and asked him about it and its all orginal with nothing done to it. He also said all the sks's are that accurate when benchrested. The only other one I have benchrested is my scoped Chinese Norinco and it shot about 1" or less groups. I don't expect it to shoot snake eyes but if i played with it with reloaded ammo I'll bet it could. Now why change the barrel? The orginal is chromed lined and should last a longtime. The only way to ruin an sks barrel is by over heating it otherwise i have heard of them lasting a longtime I believe some guys have 40,000rds thru them. We figured at least 10,000rds but maybe a little more but who knows with reports comming in that high maybe the chrome lining is lasting longer. I still think the heat is the key if you over heat it, its not going to last lets face it. I'm very happy with the accuracy out of my Chinese Norinco Paratrooper so far. I have heard the Wolf 7,62x39 150gr is equal to a 30-30 in power too. That puts that little sks out in deer country for sure. The Paratrooper is one neat little sks and i think every sks lover should have one!!! BigBill

lgm270 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2005, 11:39:25 AM »

Bigbill: Thanks for your help. I enjoyed reading about your experience.

Best,

lgm270

R.W.Dale · « **Reply #3 on:** March 26, 2005, 02:31:56 AM »

I have one of these as well much handier than the 20" barell very reliable although mine does rather poorly in the accuracy department for some reason.

1911crazy · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2005, 06:31:09 AM »

Quote from: Krochus

I have one of these as well much handier than the 20" barell very reliable although mine does rather poorly in the accuracy department for some reason.

Have you benchrested it down solid using two gun rests front and rear? To be honest I never thought they were that accurate because i was always too busy blasting away just plinking with them at empty soda cans. I just never got down to business with them till recently to see how accurate they were. Now my next question is what brand ammo are you using? Some of the american made stuff is .308" diameter while the russian surplus is .310" to .311" and maybe up to .312" with the sks barrel having the larger bore the larger diameter ammo maybe more accurate. In my experience with bought over the counter ammo you may have to try different brands to see which one is more accurate in your rifle. While they all maybe close maybe one will zero in and be more accurate for you. I've been shooting the orginal Chinese Norinco ammo that i have purchased many cases years ago when it was for sale here in the US. I do have some East German, Russian Wolf, Russian Barnaul and Russian hollow point that i haven't compared yet against the Chinese stuff. I have shot under 1 1/2" groups with my scoped 20" barreled sks but as my last shots were on the "X" ring my scope came loose but the groups I seen were just around under 1" so it did get better. This was my first sks and with open sites I would pepper a 15" target at 100yds all the time blasting of course. I did loctite the scope screws since then but i haven't had it back out to try it. Everyone puts these sks's down in accuracy but I think there much better than most think they are too. I found it hard to stop blasting away and start settling down and shooting seriously to see how good they can be. BigBill

I also found myself from not shooting that often anymore I would rush to shoot a few guns rather than focusing on being accurate with one gun. Now that the warmer weather is here I'll shoot more often.

R.W.Dale · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2005, 02:09:27 PM »

Yes I have tried using a benchrest, also i have shot factory and handloads and believe it or not the handloads with 150 gr hornady spire points 308dia were the most accurate. So next came a spring kit and trigger job didn,t help much. I am shootin this rifle with a very rare sniper scope mounted to a dovetail on the reciever. Still she won,t group any bertter than 5" at 100 yds.
When the weather warms up I'll give the old girl another try with a diffrent scope and see if that helps.

1911crazy · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2005, 03:30:23 AM »

My first question is did you try the larger bullets at midwayusa? The hornady .310" #260827 ? My second question is how is the crown and was it ever hit or banged? You could try recrowning it too. Is the reciever tight in the stock? It should shoot better than 5". Try the orginal iron sites with no scope too. BigBill

SGTUSMC · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2006, 07:37:49 PM »

I also have a Chinese made 16 incher...It shoots very good. I used to use it for deer hunting back in Wisconsin. I once shot it from a bench at 100 yards in very heavy rain, I could hardly see my target it was coming down so hard. If memory serves me right it was a five shot group, I do remember though that all the bullets were within one inch. It put a huge grin on my face that day. It might be the only thing that I like, that I own that is made in China.

SGTUSMC · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2006, 07:41:25 PM »

One more thing.....If anyone knows were I can find a new/used stock for this rifle it would be appreciated..I've only seen "paratrooper" stocks advertised once before and that was many years ago, thanks

1911crazy · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2006, 03:36:11 AM »

Quote from: SGTUSMC

One more thing.....If anyone knows were I can find a new/used stock for this rifle it would be appreciated..I've only seen "paratrooper" stocks advertised once before and that was many years ago, thanks

Does your stock need refinishing or do you want to save your orginal stock from damage when you go in the woods with it?

1911crazy · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2006, 03:39:42 AM »

I like the 16" barreled paratrooper sks too but there is a new love in my life right now too its the 16" barreled Saiga's in 308win and 223rem these are as much fun as the para's are to shoot and just as accurate too. They are just hitting our dealers shelves right now and you may want to take a look at these awesome new russian guns they are very affordable right now too.

SGTUSMC · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2006, 11:21:50 AM »

D MAN, the original stock has some damage already, it doesn't cause any problems, I just want a better looking one, and besides I like to have extra lumber for all my toys.....

1911crazy · « **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2006, 12:01:40 PM »

Quote from: SGTUSMC

D MAN, the original stock has some damage already, it doesn't cause any problems, I just want a better looking one, and besides I like to have extra lumber for all my toys.....

Go to; www.globaltrades.com/sks_stocks.html

Sorry it took me so long to post this i lost it and had to find it again.

I just remembered were I purchased a box of sks stocks from this place and all the stocks were in awesome condition. There were chinese & a russian stock in the box. It was 5 for $40.

go to; www.hoosiergunsworks.com/ then go to "catalog", then to "Odd lots" then go down to number 11S sks stocks 5 for $40.

Now some stocks will fit and some don't they may need fitting because there is a difference in threaded barrels and pinned barrels the way they fit into the stocks. They did send me a new looking russian refurb stock and some good looking chinese stocks too.

I found out that the Behlen MASTER Solar Lux stain in Yellow Orange matches most of the stock colors like the chinese, albanian, swiss k31's and some mosins too. Its good stain the best i have ever used just make sure you wear gloves.

SGTUSMC · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2006, 03:43:29 PM »

D MAN, thanks for the reply, sounds like you know your stocks...I have ordered some stuff thru Global Trades before and liked what I got... Thanks again for your help...By the way a buddy of mine has a Saiga in .308 and I got got a chance to shoot it awhile back. It's a tack driver and that's no lie, I just think they look alittle strange. But hell, as long as it shoots good who cares.

alpini · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2006, 02:16:10 AM »

i had one once a long time ago. It was a rebuild with used milled parts. I liked the handiness of it, I remember the short sight length took some getting used to.
Bad thing: it went full auto when I tried to chamber even with the safety on. I did get rid of it. A few years down the road, I read an article that described the different SKS firing pins. The oldest model pin had to be placed in only one way or it could be locked forward and go auto as according the article.

The rifle I had was a Navy Arms import made in China. I don't think I've ever seen another SKS para that had that same type of pin since then. Might be a good thing to know.

alpini · « **Reply #15 on:** February 24, 2006, 02:18:25 AM »

i had one once a long time ago. It was a rebuild with used milled parts. I liked the handiness of it, I remember the short sight length took some getting used to.
Bad thing: it went full auto when I tried to chamber even with the safety on. I did get rid of it. A few years down the road, I read an article that described the different SKS firing pins. The oldest model pin had to be placed in only one way or it could be locked forward and go auto as according the article.

The rifle I had was a Navy Arms import made in China. I don't think I've ever seen another SKS para that had that same type of pin since then. Might be a good thing to know.

1911crazy · « **Reply #16 on:** February 24, 2006, 03:03:42 AM »

Quote from: alpini

i had one once a long time ago. It was a rebuild with used milled parts. I liked the handiness of it, I remember the short sight length took some getting used to.
Bad thing: it went full auto when I tried to chamber even with the safety on. I did get rid of it. A few years down the road, I read an article that described the different SKS firing pins. The oldest model pin had to be placed in only one way or it could be locked forward and go auto as according the article.

The rifle I had was a Navy Arms import made in China. I don't think I've ever seen another SKS para that had that same type of pin since then. Might be a good thing to know.

The sks bolt needs to be disassembled and the firing pin taken out and the firing pin & the bore in the bolt needs to be cleaned, squeeky clean so slam fires won't occur. Believe it or not even if you soak the bolt without removing the firing pin like most do, even though the firing pin feels loose
and free it still can jam at anytime because there is no way the crude(cosmoline) can come out of the bore without disassembling it. The sks can slam-fire by just closing the bolt letting it slam shut while loading a round if it isn't cleaned properly. Also using the proper ammo made for the sks was a factor at one time too I read at first the american made ammo had regular soft primers and the sks would slam fire too. The military semi-auto's with floating firing pins need the thicker wall primers so slam fires won't occur. For reloading CCI offers these primers for small and large rifle calibers. On the other military guns with adjustable gas systems you must adjust the gas valve to the ammo your shooting and everytime you change to a different brand of ammo you must readjust it. The different powder charge(raising the breech pressure)
in the ammo can upset the cycle timing plus a different bullet weight in
the semi-auto rifles. Its good to research the info on all these different semi-auto guns and to understand how they function and adjust before we shoot them. Once we understand then we can adjust them and shoot them safely. Plus when they are adjusted correctly they will last for many years of shooting pleasure.