Month: March 2020

Life in the time of CoronaVirus

Image courtesy of krishna arts at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

None of us had ever thought or imagined that one day life would come to a standstill, it will force us to lock ourselves up from friends, family and loved ones, it will instill fear in our hearts the likes of which were previously not known, it will discourage social contact, disrupt businesses, close down schools, shatter the stock markets, shut down eating places and force us in to self imposed confinement. Could it be the start of an apocalypse? Is it a sinister plan of some evil mind? Is it some large and grand conspiracy? Thanks to the social media we now get news (both wanted as well as unwanted) from around the globe in almost real time. And when you’re grounded as bad as this, negative news starts hitting you real hard. And so it happened to a lot of us. Self quarantine as it is called places at our disposal time, something which we had started running short of. The daily routine from 9 to 5, well actually from 5 to 9 was taxing, it was tiring, mentally and physically, and there would be days I wanted and dreamed of a break. In some tender moments of life I wished for a recluse, for peace, for confinement perhaps. Lo and behold it was granted albeit in a scary and disturbing way. So now its been a lock-down generally all over the globe as the virus has spread all corners of the globe thanks to unchecked international travel.

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Something about the SKS Siminov Rifle

The SKS Siminov is a semi auto rifle chambered in 7.62 x 39 mm. It is a Russian weapon and like all Russian weapons it is very reliable and robust. It has a 10 rounder clip, in the local Pashto lingo it is commonly called as the “las dazzi” literally meaning “the ten rounder”. I have always been fascinated by Russian weapons and the SKS is no different. It came to Pakistan through Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, though it had largely been replaced by the AK 47 in 1950’s still it remained as a second line weapon. It is a simple gas piston operated weapon. If you disassemble it you will notice the similarity between an SKS and the AK 47. However, it is a very very accurate weapon as compared to the AK 47. SKS was produced in bulk, some estimates say over 2.7 million rifles. It is simple to operate and fun to shoot. If you surf the net you can find 20 rounder magazines for the SKS. I have even seen lots of accessorizing of the SKS, such as scope mounts, synthetic stocks and red dot sights or scopes. The SKS is a very inexpensive weapon here in Pakistan. You can find one from Rs. 35 to 60k range depending on its condition. There are also the Chinese variants of the SKS available in local market, though these rifles were excessively produced in the eastern block countries. The stock in the Chinese are dull brown on yellowish in color. One good thing about the Chinese SKS is that their barrels are chrome lined, hence they give better protection against rust. With iron sights I have found the SKS to be an excellent shooter, very accurate. Although the rifle SKS is semi auto. With a 20 inch barrel and an overall length of 40 inches it is compact and easy to carry. The weight is around 3.8 kgs , and if you remove the bayonet it can further be reduced. Some time back SKS were also given to LEAs in Pakistan, mostly the police and FC. A number of times I have seen SKS in dilapidated conditions with the police, a sight which can bring tears to my eyes. In my opinion it is a very good weapon for hunting, but sadly here in Pakistan since the 7.62 x 39 mm ammo is prohibited or falls in the prohibited bore category so getting its license made isn’t easy. Still it doesn’t hurt to get one of these in your collection and boast about it 🙂