As has been said, I disagree strongly with whoever steered you away from the Chinese models. Polytech Legend AKs for example fetch a premium for good reason, and they make fine SKSs.
I deal in a lot of "commie" weapons including a lot of SKSs and AKs. In SKSs the Norincos are good, accurate weapons. The Russians are the most desirable but the Norincos are still great shooters. In AKs the Arsenal Bulgarian or Saiga are usually the highest regarded along with the Polytech Legends. The Yugos are the only ones with a significant inherit design difference in the SKS, they have turn off valve for the gas tube so you can launch rockets from the barrel of the gun. lol.
In AKs its more about milled versus stamped receiver than a country in particular, so the Chinese Polytech legends fetch a premium as do the milled Arsenals from Bulgaria, whereas stamped from either country will of course fetch much less.
These guns were designed from the ground up to work with great reliability with stamped parts and loose manufacturing tolerances. They can be pretty cheaply made and still work great. Some are better than others perhaps, but in general they are all pretty tough guns.
I have a slight preference for the SKS myself, it's generally considered a tad more accurate but a tradeoff with weight. To me it's a good SHTF weapon b/c it's accurate enough to be a hunting gun in a pinch but still has "assault rifle" firepower. As a compromise you can look at the SKS "paratrooper". It's a 16" barrel SKS by Norinco that was never issued to paratrooper troops but was made for export with the just legal barrel. You get a little bit less weight and length, maybe a hair better accuracy than the AK even with the 4" less barrel. Some feel that way at least, they go for a premium over full length. You can also get the Norincos that take Ak mags, a few different options out there.
The SKS does have a free floating firing pin which can lead to slam fires if it gets jammed. It's pretty unlikely but it is good to keep it clean and they sell aftermarket spring loaded pins as noted above if it worries you. Personally it doesn't worry me, I've shot them and don't change the pins, but I do make sure it's clean and moving fine when I put it up.
I don't want to sound "salesy" but if you're interested I have a number of SKS/AKs in stock at any point in time if you're looking for something in particular. I guess I have an affinity for them, I really respect how they designed guns to be functional and reliable knowing they had a pretty primitive manufacturing base to build them. Takes a lot of ingenuity to come up with something so simple that can be made and maintained so easily.
