I can remember when Russian SKS's were very rare in the United States, then they were imported with gusto in the early 1990's, then the Russian imports were pretty much stopped again. My unissued Russian SKS is dated 1954 and I paid $75.00 for it at a gunshow in Memphis.

Almost as soon as the SKS was brought into service in 1949, it was rendered obsolete for Soviet purposes by the new AK-47, which was adopted by the Soviet military later that year. However, it found a long second life in the service of other Soviet-aligned countries.

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Live long and prosper

As a war trophy authenticator for my Wing in Vietnam I must have seen 5-10 SKS's a week that the GI's were bringing in to get their certificate to allow them to take home. Nice rifle.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I loves me an SKS

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Forum consigliere

A $79 Chi-Com I own may be my favorite shooter. Thousands of rounds through it.

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" I don't recall, senator."

I have a Yugo that was still coated in cosmoline when I got it. Not sure why it wasn't broken out during the Balkan War.

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Psalm 27:2

I like them. I have a Norinco from the early 80's, back when they were sold new, complete with spike bayonet, packed in grease, for like $69.00. Couple cases of ammo thru it without a malfunction, and certainly combat accurate.

When the laminated stock Russian version became available, bought a couple of them as well, but sold them when people were paying crazy prices during the "ban". Should have kept one...

Larry

Bought my un-fired Russian example 25 years ago for $149, complete with all the accessory doo dads. Have never been motivated much to shoot it because of the awful trigger. I marvel at the fit and finish. The internal parts are smooth finished and fine blued. With a proper fitting, long engough stock and better sights it would make an interesting sporting rifle, essentially a semi-automatic .30-30, a decent woods deer rifle.

I have never owned an SKS, but sort of wish I had bought one when they were dirt cheap. Going rate for them at gun shows in this area was $69 back in the early 1990s, and there were some fairly high condition examples to be had. Closest I came to buying one was in the late 70s when I ran across a Vietnam bringback that the owner wanted $175 for, which was too much for me. At that time, the ammo wasn't so easily come by, and that was also a consideration.

I bought a Russian one in 95. It had been arsenal refinished as had most of them back the, I guess to keep workers busy. So had the Chinese. The way to tell back then on the Russian one was the safety; when the rebuilt them, they didn't replace the spring on the safety. It worked just fine, just didn't have the "click" when you engaged/disengaged it. The Chinese made ones did replace the spring and had the click. At least this is what I read in a gun mag at the time.

It was a good-enough rifle, but I never loved mine. Why, I don't know. When I was in VN, 1969, we didn't see them in the field very often, they were near obsolete by then replaced by the AK. We captured caches of them, but members of my unit couldn't bring SKSs home. I didn't want to. anyway.

I still remember on the flight from San Fran to in intermediate stop in TX, I think, a vet in the back of the plane had a Moisin Nagant in the cabin with him. Different times in 1969.

Yeah, I had one for a while. Replaced the stock. Didn't shoot it much. Gave it to one of my sons who lusted after it. He likes it.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

I had a couple of the unissued Yugos but sold both when I thinned out the herd. Also had a few Russian 91/30's and M44's, which I also sold. All I have left is a Chinese SKS and Type 53.

Bought mine on Obama’s Inauguration Day. Later sold it because I got a good deal on a mini-30 for the same price as I got for the sks. It’s a hearty, decent weapon. In my opinion there are better options but I liked it for its simplicity and robust construction. They’re a great value in their old price range. A little over priced these days in my opinion. If I had bought mine for $89 bucks I’d probably still have it. I preferred the Ruger. Lighter, handier, mag-fed. I no longer have that, either.

I have a ChiCom, Yugo, and Soviet. All were bought when they were first imported and they were cheap. The ChiCom one is the most accurate. I like them all!

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Thread Killer.

Definitely an honest rifle. I wonder how long they served with Iron Curtain countries. Kinda remind me of the M 14 in terms of a short service life although I don't know how long that service life was. They saw service in Korea but apparently rarely. For some reason, it appears nowadays there is far more interest in collecting M-N 91s than SKSs. Back when I bought mine, they were $125, and the week before, about $100. Excellent rebuild. I think they had chrome bores, which our M16A1s did not in 1969.

I like my SKS’s, a Russian, a standard Norinco and a Sporter model that takes AK mags. If I ever have to choose I would keep my AK’s and AR’s over these SKS’s, just sayin.

Attached Images

SKS's.jpg (111.2 KB, 30 views)

I have a Soviet refurb with the blackened bolt. It looks unfired since rebuild.

ChiCom and Soviet guns have chromed bores, Yugos do not. Can't speak to Albanians. Popular opinion on the Web has the Chinese guns as the most accurate. I still see them at online estate auctions, but they either go for silly money or I have my eye on other things at the time. I would like to snag a Chicom at some point.

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Release the Kraken

I always try to keep an sks around. Very good utility carbine; useful farm gun. My go to is a cutdown Chinese 16" barrel. Handy and deer capable. They have gone up in price but still a bargain at around 400.00 in my area.

I bought two new SKSs and a 500-round can of ammo when all that stuff was really cheap about thirty years ago. I worked with the guns extensively developing many jackered and cast bullet loads. Despite coarse sights and bad triggers, these guns actually shot cast bullets as accurately as they did jacketed.

Handloading the cartridge, however, taught me about slam fires and the occasional full-automatic fire that these guns were capable of. A firing pin spring kit from Brownells was installed in each gun and the potentially dangerous problem was corrected.

Some guns may never slam fire or fire full-auto, but there are a number of documented cases where they have. The AMERICAN RIFLEMAN published a safety bulletin on this about twenty-five years ago. Use only military-type
(hard) primers if you handload the 7.62x39 cartridge for an SKS, not standard CCI primers or similar primers like I was using. Better yet, have a spring kit installed.

After testing and verifying I no longer owned dangerous firearms, I sold my SKSs and miss neither one. While fun to work with for a while, these are incredibly crude guns and I can afford better.

That’s a nice example OP and those Russian guns are bringing real money now. I have a 59/66 Yugo that I picked up a number of years ago when they came in in the early-2000s.

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Some Might Say.

I never warmed up to them.
But wish I'd bought a case of them cheap.

I'd sell them off now, if I had them and
buy something I really liked with the money.