Of all sks's, the russian is the top of the line,but sks are also made by chins,yuguslovia,romania, and more. Although the russian models are the best,remember, sks are usually not of OUTSTANDING quality.But,there are some decent ones out there.They are almost all chambered in 7.62x39,which you can get tons of military surplus for and very,very cheap.got me thinking about buying one now!you can also get lots of cool-looking aftermarket stocks and accesories for em. Hope this helped.