The SKS is not by any means an AK-47 knockoff anymore than the M-14 is a knockoff of the M-16.
The SKS predates the AK-47 firstly. The other thing is the AK-47 fires automatic by design. Every SKS is made to fire only semi-auto. To fire fully automatic the SKS has to be re-engineered. Also the SKS is a tilt bolt design. The AK uses a rotating bolt. They share a gas piston, sight block design, and calibre. The similarities end there.
The chinese ones aren't the most accurate because it uses a pressed barrel but a decent Yugoslavian or Russian is as accurate as any carbine of it's day.
I don't own one, but I have plinked with one. I suppose they would make a good brush gun, but I would much rather have a mini for that, or even a 30-30.
Not all of them. The early imports did not. Those were probably made to Russian military specs, except for the change to the Chinese cruciform bayonett, vice the blade version on the Russian and other nation versions.
It may be cheap but it is effective. I took down a white-tail with my chinese paratrooper SKS about 10 or 12 years ago. I wouldn't do it again. It left a nasty wound on the animal. It was a heart/lung shot.
I can hit a pie plate at a 100 yards with open sights all day long with my SKS. All it takes is practice.