So I "Bubba'd" my SKS (pics)

ColumbusJBR · Jan 23, 2014

Received a Norinco SKS this past Christmas as a gift. Since I can never leave anything alone and didn't particularly care for the orangish shellac/varnish/whatever factory finish, I decided to strip it all off, stain, and refinish. I used CitriStrip to strip the finish (good stuff), Minwax ebony oil wood stain, and birchwood Tru-oil. I also took the opportunity to clean out the mag well slightly so that it would accept the 20-round Tapco mags.

If, in your opinion, I've committed blasphemy by "bubba'ing" a mil-surp, well I'm sorry I've offended you, but I had fun learning how to refinish a stock!

Not many "before" pics, but I'm sure you've all seen a stock Norinco.

Right before I began stripping

Did two treatments of the Citristrip, then sanded and sanded and sanded.... 180 grit, 220, 400, steel wool. Then pre-stain conditioner, and finally stain. Then wet sanded it to fill the grain, and finally tru-oil. Put 5 or 6 coats of tru oil on. Only a few progress pics, this was right after oiling.

Let her dry a couple of days, and here we are:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, not perfect but I think it looks pretty cool. I was originally going to buff it down to a satin finish, but the gloss is really growing on me. I'll keep it gloss for now, I can always knock it down later if I want.

Thanks for looking!

EDIT: Took out the first picture of me. I had edited out my face and cropped all the photos in photobucket, but I guess those edits didn't translate over. To those who had to briefly witness my ugly mug, my apologies!

300xc · Jan 23, 2014

So you've got the before picture holding it, but what about the after? I was thinking wearing a bandanna and pointing it at the camera sideways. Or at least out the side of a '64. I mean, come on now.

71firebird400 · Jan 23, 2014

That looks great! Cool project.

Nframecollector · Jan 23, 2014

Not an SKS fan..................really, how can they be bubba'd? Now if it was a 1903 springfield, or a 98 Mauser, Swede or a Swiss K31..............that's a different story! You didn't hurt the "collector" value of that SKS at all IMO!

moosedog · Jan 23, 2014

Wood working is rewarding.
Got to say, that first picture has to go.

ColumbusJBR · Jan 23, 2014

Nframecollector said:
Not an SKS fan..................really, how can they be bubba'd? Now if it was a 1903 springfield, or a 98 Mauser, Swede or a Swiss K31..............that's a different story! You didn't hurt the "collector" value of that SKS at all IMO!

I agree completely, it's not like I Duracoated a Colt SAA, but there are always the grumps that wanna moan whenever someone alters a mil-surp.

Thanks for the replies!

steelslaver · Jan 23, 2014

Nframecollector said:
Not an SKS fan..................really, how can they be bubba'd? Now if it was a 1903 springfield, or a 98 Mauser, Swede or a Swiss K31..............that's a different story! You didn't hurt the "collector" value of that SKS at all IMO!

Thats what they said about 03 Springfields and 98 Mausers and Enfields when they where stacked in piles at every discount store in the country. Thats also why my brothers and sisters all have nice sporterized Springfields and Enfields. 50 years ago there were tons of them and they where just ugly military rifles. Ours our collectors too. Still collecting deer and elk.

SASABERANGER · Jan 23, 2014

Much improved Bubba.
Thom Braxton
SWCA #1474

kamloops67 · Jan 23, 2014

ask this question again in 40 yrs. remember all the 50 dollar lee-enfields and mausers that used to crowd the used rifle racks?
i think that the tokarev is a sleeper too, theyll never be big bucks but collectors will be looking for them one day.
your sks looks WAY better than it did before, nice job. what would you do differently next time ,if anything?

kamloops67 · Jan 23, 2014

ahrgh, steelslaver beat me to the punch

CatSnipah · Jan 23, 2014

It's all good!

Mine, which I purchased recently, is in a Tapco stock. Love it. I may eventually pick up another that is in original getup.

ColumbusJBR · Jan 23, 2014

kamloops67 said:
ask this question again in 40 yrs. remember all the 50 dollar lee-enfields and mausers that used to crowd the used rifle racks?
i think that the tokarev is a sleeper too, theyll never be big bucks but collectors will be looking for them one day.
your sks looks WAY better than it did before, nice job. what would you do differently next time ,if anything?

Thanks! If I do it again, I'll make sure to use a sanding block. I inadvertently rounded off a few edges slightly. Doesn't affect any functionality, luckily.

I also tried to do 2 coats of stain, and the 2nd coat didn't take very well. I ended up losing most of it when I wet sanded. So next time I'd just do one coat of stain and leave it alone.

Other than that it really went pretty smoothly. Just follow the directions and, most importantly, be PATIENT

mc5aw · Jan 23, 2014

That's not close to a Bubba SKS. What you've done is simply refinish your rifle stock to your liking, then adapted it for AK magazines. The official SKS Bubba process is to swap out the original wood furniture for some cheapo polymer junk, and mount a bunch of useless tacticool accessories to make the SKS into a grotesque AR-like abomination. There's plenty of SKSs which have been converted to accept AK mags, and they look darn good. Just like your SKS.

Shoot it proudly.

LVSteve · Jan 23, 2014

Trouble is this means the price of all the untouched ones just went up a bit.

ColumbusJBR · Jan 23, 2014

The mags are actually the duck bill SKS mags. I had heard of people modding to accept AK mags, but I didn't want to get in to that. I just lightly sanded and smoothed out the mag well, that's all it took for the tapco mags to fit. Good news is that the original metal box mag still fits and functions perfectly, so I can swap it back whenever I want. I actually prefer the look of the original mag. I just took pictures of the new mag, because it's new

billwill · Jan 23, 2014

If it was "bubba'd" it would show the dings from using it to beat the tire iron on the lug nut that was frozen on da truck. Probably see a few 'juice stains' too.

Nice job though.

Shooter6br · Jan 23, 2014

My SKS -modified but not Bubbafied

Added a peep sight -Mec-tec and added a new stainless steel spring loaded firing pin to prevent slam fires.

Have tons of stripper clips so no new mag

islamoradamark · Jan 23, 2014

i can see the grain awhole lot better now congrats nice job

pineappleshooter · Jan 23, 2014

Nframecollector said:
Not an SKS fan..................really, how can they be bubba'd? Now if it was a 1903 springfield, or a 98 Mauser, Swede or a Swiss K31..............that's a different story! You didn't hurt the "collector" value of that SKS at all IMO!

Of a Norinco - no. If the OP gave this treatment to an old Russian or Albanian he would have peed about $500-$700 out the window. I traded a 95% 2.5inch model 19-4 for my Norinco paratrooper - pretty much an even up trade cash wise believe it or not. SKS's are going nowhere but up.

Fishslayer · Jan 23, 2014

That's not Bubba. Bubba is usually considered a mod that is irreversible.

And that looks kinda nice.

Don't worry about haters. There are those who think we should drag our 1911s behind our trucks to give them "character."

So I "Bubba'd" my SKS (pics)

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