I have a confession to make, I used to think the Albanians were "not so nice looking guns"!
That's outright blasphemy Danny!!!!
Albys got a reputation as crudely machined, crudely assembled, & crudely finished. They are the same as any other SKS in my opinion though, there are some good ones and some terrible ones. It was exacerbated by the poor refurb and storage policies of the Albanians (that we also see in the current Sino-banian imports!) Blicero won't want to hear this, but there are some Russians that I've seen that don't quite pass muster, and weall know that there were tons of Chinese guns that look to have been cut with a dull butter knife. I think it's just the nature of the beast in just-barely-above-third world communist countries.
The charging handle and magazine are my two favorite features. I could take or leave the longer stock & handguard, but the charging handle is