I had been thinking about getting one for a while and decided that now was as good a time as any. I haven't shot it yet but hope to soon. I intend to keep it original with no after market modifications. Just need to find a worn out sling, the new one just doesn't look right.

thats a early one with the blade bayo.what is the arsenel mark on the left side of reciver?I can tell you something about it.

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God save the SOUTH

Ive got one myself, mine has a 6 digit serial its from the peoples glorious arsenal 26


Sorry no photos, its all apart and trying to clean up the stock and remove grease.

That looks like the Paratrooper Model carbine. Pre-assault weapons ban, a buddy of mine knew a FFL that got us each one of us one of those and a case of Chinese 7.62x39 steel case ammo to split. We each paid right around $100.

When the guns came in we went out to a creek on my buddies property to test fire them. My buddy's worked fine. Mine fired a three round burst and the trigger stuck back. I pushed the trigger forward and the gun fired again. I pulled the trigger again and another three round burst came forth and the trigger stuck back. From there I unloaded the weapon.

I ended up disassembling the thing using a nail as a pin punch, and found a loose piece of metal wedged in the trigger group. Removed the metal, reassembled, and everything has worked fine since.

There is nothing like an experience like that to reinforce the rule that guns should always be pointed in a safe direction. SKSs do not have modern safety mechanisms, so you need to be doubly careful with them.

I love mine, it has the same length of pull as my 45 year old Daisy BB gun. Although the sights on my Daisy are far superior the SKS has a power advantage.

Completely break down the gun and clean it well.

Take the bolt and with a punch remove the firing pin holding pin. Remove fire pin and clean well inside. (It's easy)

If there is any dirt or cosmoline in there the pin can stick and slam fire.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Thanks for the advise gentlemen. I will definitely take the firing pin assembly out and make sure it's clean and operating properly.
SW44spl......It is an early one, it has an arsenal 26 stamp on it, and all the numbers match. With a prefix of 2, I make it a 1958 model from the Jianshe factory, Russian equipment and supervision. I don't think it is a paratrooper, the barrel would have to be shorter.

Click on the right side column and you can print a pdf of what ever you want.

Collecting and Shooting the SKS Carbine - Disassembly and Reassembly

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Still Running Against the Wind

That is not a "paratrooper". The barrel length beyond the gas block is the clue and that looks standard length to me. Look at items 3 and 4 on this page to see a Paratrooper. http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-11.htm

Here's what I was astounded to learn. The darn things shoot better than any near-junk commie gun ought to shoot.

I put one together several years ago on a sorta weird project to assemble a 'loanout deer rifle'. I had several acquaintances that at times would want to borrow a rifle to hunt with. I, not wanting to hand out something that I really valued and meant much to me figured I'd fix that.
Got a Chinese SKS, had about 5" of barrel cut off and re-crowned. Drilled and tapped, bases installed. Installed an adult size polymer stock with cheekpiece, put on a Tasco 4X scope.
With Russian steel case HP ammo the darn thing shoots almost 2.5" groups at 100 yards! How can that be?
And it must have come with an internal horseshoe - it has taken MANY deer and never lost one.

MIGHT have $225 in it. Who knows, these days I might could triple my money by selling it!

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

SKSs are dropping out of the sky onto the consignment rack at my LGS. They used to be the best kept secret, but no more. The days of picking through crates for the nicest of the $79 lot are long gone. I just paid $650 for a mint late model Norinco, but it was at least 1/2 of anything comparable. It shoots 7.62 x 39 ammo, which is a lot cheaper and more plentiful than .223, and is a great rifle to work on. Still a fine bang for the buck.

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I'm with the banned ...

i had a slam fire SKS (1956 Russian Tulsa Star) and even after cleaning and polishing still did it. Murrys makes a sprung firing pin kit that works great, solid primer strike, recommend...

SKS Owners

The Chinese SKS rifles are considered the most accurate of the breed. Pretty much any SKS is more accurate than the AK clones with the exception of the US built models and the Bulgarians with the milled receivers.

Second that suggestion on the firing pin spring kit. These guns can be incredibly dangerous with slam fires and unexpected full auto fire. Cheap surplus ammo has relatively hard primers that are less susceptible to the problem, but it's still possible. I had two of the Norinco SKSs years ago. One worked fine, though I didn't trust it. The other was dangerous. A kit installed by a competent gunsmith (in both guns) solved the problem.

Great feedback, I'll check out the firing pin kits from Murray's. I've read about them recently and they appear to be highly recommended.

Williams make a replacement rear sight that has an apiture (Peep) and made mine shoot like it was scoped.

I picked up a Romanian SKS several years ago when you could get them for around $200. The only modification I made was to install a Murray firing pin and Wolf spring. I’m not a big fan of the free-floating pin.

The SKS is accurate, fun to shoot and the ammo is cheap. I use my SKS in the brush when hunting wild pig.