Genuine Chinese SKS

[Recluse]

Many years ago when I was still in LE, one of my partners opened a gun store and range. Lots of fringe benefits to that! :)

Anyhow, we got a hold of a deal to buy two-dozen genuine Chinese military surplus SKS rifles, brand new and unfired, sans the bayonets, for get this. . . . $25 a piece. I bought two--one for me and one for my younger brother who was serving in the U.S. Navy at the time.

He made the mistake of putting the collapsible stock and all the other Rambo stuff on his. Not me. I cleaned all the cosmoline out of mine, fired maybe 50 rounds through it, cleaned and oiled it thoroughly, then put it in one of the gun safes. Once a year since then (almost 28 years later), I've taken the gun out and cleaned and oiled it, checking for rust. Haven't fired it.

A year or so ago, I bought the EH Harrison 160 grain g/c mold from Lee and began working up some loads. No hurry and no fuss. The SKS is what it is--a stable, inherently reliable military caliber platform. It's not particularly accurate at any range over 50 meters, there's nothing "thrilling" about shooting it. It's simply a milsurp gun and for the record, I've never been into milsurp guns all that much--especially the black guns.

So I'm at the range a few days ago with this SKS and testing a few cast rounds out and this guy comes up beside me. Very polite fellow and waits until the cease fire is called, then begins admiring the gun. Asks me if it is for sale, and I tell him it isn't--as I'll never sell another gun again. Learned THAT lesson a long time ago. (I'll also never sell another guitar again, but that's a different and even longer story.)

He asks to look at the gun, I hand it to him and he is obviously familiar with the firearm. He then offers me an amount of money that almost had me reconsidering my stance about "never selling another gun again."

What is there about an original, mint Chinese military SKS rifle that would make it appealing to ANYONE?

Hell, the gun is uglier than a Kenyan beauty queen, is only somewhat accurate and the only thing (functional) is has going for it is that it is as reliable as the day is long.

Any ideas why someone would offer way more than what I paid for it and way more than what the copies/clones are going for today?

:coffee:

[fishhawk]

well no papers to him is one thing or it might be one with the screwed in barrel and not the pinned in ones.

[excess650]

It may be the lack of paperwork, or just the fact that yours is in prisitne condition, or both.

I had one of those back in the mid 80s. Like yours, it was unfired and a mess of cosmoline. I cleaned it and found that mine had a tighter bore than most, and would shoot sub 2" at 100 yards when clean with Chinese milsurp ammo, or with PMC. The Chinese stuff was dirty and corrosive. Luckily it had a chrome lined bore, but it would rust the gas piston.

A friend bought a forged receiver AK about the same time, and he was lucky to stay in 4" at 50 yards., and it was only $800 (Polytech Legend) vs my $80 SKS!

I sold mine in a moment of weakness, but then again, that stuff doesn't have a lot of appeal to me. The only other SA milsurp I had was a Hakim.

I have a bolt action 22LR that was supposed to be a Chinese training rifle or some such. It has the same colored wood, but nicely finished metal. The action appears to be a BRNO knockoff, similar to the CZs they're currently making. Its a shooter, and I've kept it.

[uncle joe]

I bought my sks several years ago for 120 bucks. ever since the obamanation, my bil has been buying guns like they were going to quit making them, he has bought several of these ugly critters, and it seems now that the ugly piece of junk ones are going for 300 bucks what is that all about.

[Recluse]

It may be the lack of paperwork, or just the fact that yours is in prisitne condition, or both.

I have a bolt action 22LR that was supposed to be a Chinese training rifle or some such. It has the same colored wood, but nicely finished metal. The action appears to be a BRNO knockoff, similar to the CZs they're currently making. Its a shooter, and I've kept it.

Maybe he's just a collector or he collects originals. . .

I found a Chinese Norinco JW-15 22LR bolt-action about six months after we bought that bunch of SKS rifles. I got it at dealer cost for something like $60 give or take, and this thing is a friggin' tack driver. I put a little Japanese-made Tasco 4x scope on it, and this little bolt-action 22 will just flat shoot!

Probably the best $60 I've ever spent on a firearm.

:coffee:

[roverboy]

The Chinese SKS is a good little rifle,but I prefer the Russian version. I had a Chinese back around 1991 and had a lot of trouble finding ammo back then. Mine was in pretty good shape too. I agree with the other guys. The guy at the range probably hadn't seen one in a while and wanted to forgo the paper work.

[mike in co]

with no bayonet and no bring back paperwork( it wasn't), it is most likely just a chicom sks...there are mil and export versions, but most are only 250-300 guns in todays market. the akmag sks brings more.

i was able to pick up an all matching russian a few weeks back and now my chicom/like new is to be sold locally. i'd like to keep both but it aint in the budget.

mike in co

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Price jumps and actually finding one from the Vietnam era.. I bought 4 years ago. Each son got one and we gave one to a missionary. The other.. well it stays.
With that 160 grainer try 17 grains 1680 and start up at one grain additions. I would not be surprised if 18 -19 grains gives great function and accuracy. All my SKS´s have been fed that.

[JIMinPHX]

Before the Obamanation, they were going for around $200 here. Now they are around $300-$400. At the height of the craze, some went for around $500.

They are a fun little plinker that is in a big enough caliber to actually have a reliable effect on a 200-pound target & the ammo in that caliber is still cheap & plentiful. They are a bit heavy, but they are usually quite reliable & often pretty accurate. That's pretty accurate, not to be confused with bench rest, tack driver or anything like that. The chrome bores (in all but the Yugos) are a nice touch too.

[Dutchman]

Early Type 56 rifles are known as Sino-Soviet SKS in that they were built under supervision of Russians on Russian equipment. They are "as good as" Russian SKS. I have one built in 1963 though it was very used when I bought it the sucker functions very smooth with the nicest trigger pull you've ever felt on a SKS. It'll shoot into 1" at 50 yds with crummy Chinese surplus ammo.

Other than that, the later Norinco SKS are just mass produced (very mass produced) and sometimes not real good quality control with the absolute worst wood ever found on a rifle, soft yucky crappy wood.

Even among Chinese SKS there can be found a fair number of variations or anomalies. Some of the anomalies occur in the trigger group. (see Type 68 SKS, adjustable gas port, select fire, 15 & 30 rd magazines).

Norinco was not above putting "illegal" parts in export SKS. I'll leave it to you to look further into this history. Some parts that shouldn't have been used.... were.

Excellent reference:

Defense Intelligence Agency
Small Arms Identification and Operation Guide- Eurasian Communist Countries
DST-1110H-394-76 "unclassified" circa 1980.

A most outstanding reference that covers handguns, including the various Polish & Hungarian "Makarov" caliber PP and PPK clones to heavy machineguns and everything inbetween including Mosin-Nagant rifles. Even though it says "Eurasian" it has all the Soviet/Russian, Czech and other military small arms, including submachineguns.

Small Arms of the World by Smith (earlier editions are superior)

Simonov SKS-45 Type Carbines by Lamont & Fuller 1988

There was a small book published many years ago that contained ~forbidden knowledge~ of SKS esoterica. I may have glanced at one at a gunshow... or something.

The "thrilling" thing about the SKS45 is it is a wonderfully designed and beautifully built rifle that is nearly faultless (10 rd magazines sucks canal water and the length-of-pull is too short). The combat service to the North Vietnamese (and Viet Cong) clearly illustrated it is a very capable combat weapon by any definition.

http://images18.fotki.com/v61/photos/2/28344/3000907/362872a-vi.gif

[muzzleblastm38]

http://www.marstar.ca/gf-norinco/CHINESE-MILITARY-SKS.shtm


no ak for us in canada regular shooter but sks in new are rainning here. no day at the range with out a sks . you luky guy,s with ak, i wish i can trade a sks or two for some ak. bang!bang!:-(

[mac1911]

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php A good palce to start for some SKS info and reasons for prices. They have a collectors market. I have loved the SKS since I purchased my 1953 russian and case of 1770 rounds of ammo waysback on sale for 149.00 gun and ammo. The ammo was corrosive. I dont know what you really call accurate BUT for a military based design I can get fist size groups @ 100 yards with either of my SKS. I always wanted a early
chinese sks. the one with the 4 or 5 # serial and a blade style bayo.
I recently purchased a Romanian which has seen some use in its day. This is another fine gun. Wood is beat to sknot but metal and accuracy is VG.
Heres a pic of the Romy and a target useing elcheapo old stock surplus ammo. I Cleaned it. fired 10 rounds for function then the next 10 rounds into the target @ 100 yards this is how it shot. Nothing more than off the bench with a sand bag. My aim point was the 6 oclock of the white center ring. The squares are 1" I had one low flyer and one dud, hence the 9 holes not 10. With modern production ammo with some decent bullets Im sure I could get this gun shooting sub 3" maybe 2" if I work on my shooting skills.

If I had known these buggers would be getting what they are getting now. I would not have sold off many of my not so rare chinese SKS that had the spike bayo or where buba'd up already. They are not as plentiful as they where even just 10 years ago. For some its about as close as you can get to a "military" gun for under 500.00 and some what cheap ammo.

A crusty plinker run you 250+ in my local. If it has any collector value 350.00+
My rusky and romy are rare birds as far as the triggers go. They are match triggers compared to the others I have owned ans shot.

[Jailer]

So I should have jumped on the yugo with nice wood and grenade launcher for $150 today? I've got a Norinko with low round count already that I picked up in 91 for $112. Figured one was enough.

[Bloodman14]

Jailer, GO GET THAT YUGO!!

[Jailer]

Jailer, GO GET THAT YUGO!!

I probably should for that price. He bumped the add again yesterday so it's still available. It's just that I'm in the process of acquiring everything I need to start smelting, casting and swaging and all my money is going towards that right now.

[fryboy]

while i never was fortunate enough to get one for under $40 i do recall a case of them for 49.99 each .... worse these were the better ones the ummmm worse ones came in much later as for value of that particular one .....[shrugz] it could be desirable to a collector - especially if needed to finish/fill a collection , i kick myself for getting rid of a un-issued russian w/ blade bayonet it was a nice specimen , in truth i had too many at the time and a arsenal refinished went first ... well after the chicom stuff , i even managed to luck onto one ak at a decent price and yes sir i sold it for about 5 times more than i paid for it ( it was a desirable model - the best of the best is what the guy who bought it said ) worse i was trying to make money for a dream hunt that didnt pan out [sigh] i'm either going to guess that ur's has a screwed barrel ( vs. pinned ) and perhaps a milled trigger group and add to that that the guy may of been star struck , i wont go for the no paper part cuz for all the guy knew u may of been a dealer and was function firing it , i havent seen one around here for under 200 in a bit and that includes the cra...ermm cruddy ones

[Jailer]

Well I went back and checked the add and it's sold. Oh well.

[CALGOUGERS.NET]

I had a Sino Soviet SKS. It was a good shooter it was replaced by a Russian SKS though. I would buy another chicom Military SKS but not a Commercial SKS I would buy the AK mag fed one if they weren't illegal in CA.

[grog18b]

I picked up a really nice Russian SKS, date stamped 1952, with the star on the receiver, all milled parts, with matching numbers. It is a very good shooter, and I didn't put many rounds through it for a while, because I didn't have any for it. Our DA provided a case of rounds for it that needed "destroyed". I am still in the process of destroying it, and just started working on the project about a month ago. I really like the Russian SKS. Never fired a Chinese version, so I can't compare. Good weapon, with larger capacity mags available. If the SKS had better detachable mags, it probably would have been more popular. Stripper clips are not condusive to a combat environment.

[CALGOUGERS.NET]

I picked up a really nice Russian SKS, date stamped 1952, with the star on the receiver, all milled parts, with matching numbers. It is a very good shooter, and I didn't put many rounds through it for a while, because I didn't have any for it. Our DA provided a case of rounds for it that needed "destroyed". I am still in the process of destroying it, and just started working on the project about a month ago. I really like the Russian SKS. Never fired a Chinese version, so I can't compare. Good weapon, with larger capacity mags available. If the SKS had better detachable mags, it probably would have been more popular. Stripper clips are not condusive to a combat environment.

Chinese version is the same not much of a difference. The large capacity mags that they sell for SKS don't work very well if at all. The best thing is to find a Chinese SKS M and D rifles as they take standard AK magazines.

http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-23.htm

[NickSS]

I bought my first two SKS for marines that brought them back from Viet Nam. I paid $50 for the two of them one with and one without a bayonet. At the time (1969)ammo was not available anywhere for them. None was being imported and none was being loaded in the US so I had to make my own from 6.5 X52 Carcano Brass from Norma. As I had no forming dies and no trimmer I had to do it all manually which made each case about a half hour job, I made up 40 rounds and shot them with 150 gr hornady spire points. I was really impressed with their accuracy but as ammo was expensive and time cosumming to make and the lose rate was high I sold off both guns. Since then when they became more avaiolable I bought and sold probably 30 of them both Chinese and Rushian. I never bought a Yugo as I do not like the grenade thrower. Today I have one Russian one that I have not fired in 5 years. They are capable of shooting groups in the 2 to 3 inch range with mil surp ammo and not much better than that with hand loads. Of course that is about half the size groups I have experienced with every AK I have ever owned. The average AK (I have owned Norico, Yugo, Egyptian, Romainian and US made ones) all seam to be around 5 to 7 moa guns. I have one Romainian one of those that I also do not shoot much except for when I feel like blasting ammo away and do not care about anything but sinking cans in a river.