Is the Sks Bolt Locked Back With Tapco 20.rd

Tapco 20-round Intrafuse SKS Magazine

An SKS with a detachable magazine does not make it a Kalashnikov AK47, but it sure as hell improves a great rifle!

I haven't tried a removable magazine for an SKS rifle since the early '90's, so when LJ126 sent this one out I was EXTREMELY skeptical if the thing would even work. That had pretty much been my experience with ALL after market magazines for the SKS.

WOW! TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

Historically, the SKS is a great rifle with a solid performance history and economical price to let the common man buy these rifles.

The SKS design comes from the 1940's era rifles with about 15 million made. Imports into the USA in the 80's came in at about $90 for the Chinese Type 56 rife, with the Russian's running about $129 back then. Even over the years, the SKS has found popularity as a "tinker" rifle and a solid hunting rifle using the same 7.62x39mm cartridge of the AK47 series rifles.

Personally, I've always been fond of the SKS for it's stripper clips to reload with. Using a 10-round stripper clip, these rifles serve the civilian marksman and hunter well. I say "marksman" here because these rifles and their 10-round magazine capacity present themselves (by nature) as an "aimed fire" weapon. For this service, the SKS excels when compared to just about anything available to a civilian marksman with the exception of the large capacity magazine assault and battle rifles.

The Magazine
I was actually in mid project on a Yugo SKS conversion when I got this mag. (Note the wood still on the upper hand guard and the universal bipod clipped on it.) My experience with these mags hasn't been good, but I have not tried the more recent offerings like the Tapco Intrafuse 20 round mag. For this project I wanted to build a companion "marksman's rifle" for my AK's. For the "sniper generation," that's a rifle the you can do "more precise shooting" verses "accurized target/match shooting." Think hunting verses sniper here folks.

I wanted to use a full-size scope instead of the compact ones that will let you still use the stripper clips. This means I would have to "hand load" each round into the rifle or commit to at least TRYING one of the current external magazines for this rifle. I had in mind of using the 10-round Tapco mag as the rifle would have a bipod too and the 10-rounders are a little better for prone shooting.

This month's package came in with a new 20-round mag. It took me about 5 minutes to take the internal magazine off the rifle and install the Tapco mag.

Easy!

You don't even have to permanently modify the rifle in ANY way and you can return it to original condition by reinstalling the internal mag back to the rifle – again in about 5 mins.

WOW! The Tapco mag was solid! Fit was right on the money.

Most important thing to remember is written right on the side of the mag – "Bolt must be open to insert or remove the magazine". This part takes a LITTLE getting use to, but it's not a big deal. It's just ….different from an AK or other "push button mag release" rifle!

Here's a better pic of what you have to do. (and no, I don't have a sexy assistant! lol!)

Bolt stop can be engaged with your finger to hold the bolt back, which was my preferred "starting" method. I just used a bullet to illustrate where it is.

Once this bolt stop is engaged, the bolt is held back and the mag goes right in and locks up solid. Release the bolt and you're ready to go.

To remove the empty mag (and the bolt does hold back after the last shot), you have to use two hands to remove the mag. No this isn't as easy as an AK or AR, but this is MUCH faster than the original SKS reload using stripper clips.

Note the red arrow pointing at my index finger from shooting hand as it engages the mag release on the right with one hand while the other one pulls the empty out. Both of these actions are "light tension" as the release is easy and the mag will ALMOST fall out, so it only takes grabbing it and it comes right out.

If you are familiar with the "Russian AK speedload" you can do this with the loaded magazine already in your left hand as the empty will fall free with just a touch. Just takes a little practice.

The point here is that the reloading of the rifle is ALMOST as fast as an AK, but it's (I'm approximating here) – 4 times faster than a stripper clip and with the 20 round mag, you're getting TWICE the firepower, as you're getting twice the number of shots from the original fixed integral mag.

Testing:
I actually stopped on the way to test this mag at a local shop and bought a SECOND one before I even tried it! That's how good this mag looked!

At the "farm" I put 100 rounds down range through this mag without a hitch. I put another 40 rounds through the new one I purchased too.

Both worked great!

Final Analysis:

Tapco did their homework well in designing their SKS mag.

If you really want to improve your SKS, then get one of these! You double you're firepower and speed your reloads without requiring gunsmithing or modification of the original rifle.

Rating: 5+

Buy it!
Buy several! : )

Ironhand

Is the Sks Bolt Locked Back With Tapco 20.rd

Source: https://www.zombieprepwiki.com/tapco-intrafuse-20-rnd-detachable-sks-magazine/