Would like advice from my fellow Gunutz on my SKS purchase.

B

buckshot14

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Super GunNutz
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Location
Church Lake, NS
Purchased an SKS last week from a young lad here on the rock who needed some cash.
Came with mounted Wartac rail, some accessories and just over 1300 rounds of Soviet surplus ammo. for a price I could not refuse!
Unfortunately no orig. sight, cleaning rod or top cover latch pin.
When I got it home and pulled the top cover off found it to be a 1955 Tula, non-refurb. in un-issued condx. all matching numbers, no refurb. stamps anywhere.
The seller said he put 12 or so rounds through the rifle and from what I can see that is all that has ever been down the pipe.
This rifle has an Arctic Birch stock, in new condx. with NO Arsenal stamp, date or serial #.
Only marks on the stock are: - Cyrilic letter in a circle (L) forestock which transliterates to English capitol 'B'
- Cyrilic letter 'K' bottom of forestock
- Cyrilic 'O' or zero within a diamond on (R) buttstock.

Before I start to bubba this piece my question is, do I have a collectible SKS that someone might appreciate as such even without the missing orig. parts?

Sorry, but my 70 yo brain won't allow me to figure out how to post pics!!!

Cheers and thank you brothers for any info. you may provide.
 
I'd say its not really a collectible SKS, since there's no original rear sight or serial number stamped on the stock. That tells me it's been refurbed at some point, with a new stock replacing the original.

There are people on CGN who know (much) more than I do about the SKS and its collectability. I just shoot my two.
 
I would like to be a collector of SKS (I don,t feel that I quite qualify yet with only three of them) but I would say that you have got yourself
a good shooter that no one else will want as part of their collection.
 
Thanks Bro's. for the replies.
I hope you are right, I would kinda like to keep this one!
Just that I would hate to use and abuse this piece if it was truly worth collecting.
Although I took an Armourer's Mate course with the RCNR in 1960 and had much to do with NATO military arms through to the mid 70's
I really don't know much about Soviet arms and their collectible status. But this piece sure looks like it has never been used.
Blueing looks orig., furniture shellac o'lap onto steel looks orig., no scratches on gas tube lever, etc.
Cheers.
 
Help a guy out and get a new rifle, sounds like a great deal!

Installing the Wartak means the receiver cover latch has been removed and also from your description the rear sights were not included with the rifle so the 'leave as-is' collector quality on this rifle is low. The cleaning rod missing is not a big deal, I have a hard time telling the difference between different examples. '55 Tula is not a very rare SKS, if there is a pin in the magazine and the stock has no serial number it most certainly is a refurbished rifle. Let us know how it shoots!
 
+1 here brother, shoot , enjoy , modify to your tastes.. and clean her with the surplus....i am 1 1/2 years into my SKS obsession...with most of these, they are all great to shoot and enjoy with only a small fraction being collectible....happy sks'ing :p
 
You would require a more experienced SKS eye to determine if the rifle is a nonrefurb. Especially considering not all refurbs were stamped as such when they left arsenal.
 
Thanks again, brothers.
Already started, removed the bayonet. (The wife said at my age I shouldn't be allowed to have sharp, pointy things. I think she meant cutlery!!!)
Next to tackle the front sight/bayonet lug.
Cheers.
 
"That sucks he was so down on his luck he needed to sell his gun..."

Don't think it was quite that bad. He told me he and his mother were heading back to the USA.
He also had a Win. pump /w access., but more than I could afford as the wife reminded me I had just spent
much on naughty bits for my GSR.
 
EL34/6L6 said:
You will be able to remove the front sight, but not the lug...
Click to expand...

I'm fixin' to remove the whole FSB, you know, to clean it up. Then while I'm at it, take the shelac off the furniture as
there is some nice wood under that orange! Next I have an ugly Chinese scope to mount on that awesome Wartak rail.

Geez, I hope I'm not offending any SKS purists out there, lol!
 
buckshot14 said:
I'm fixin' to remove the whole FSB, you know, to clean it up. Then while I'm at it, take the shelac off the furniture as
there is some nice wood under that orange! Next I have an ugly Chinese scope to mount on that awesome Wartak rail.

Geez, I hope I'm not offending any SKS purists out there, lol!
Click to expand...

It sounds like you are doing a good job of sporterizing your SKS rather than Bubbaing it. I'm more inclined to preserve each SKS as I get them but I do
have an Izzy that came to me with a sanded stock that looks like it would clean up to look great. Will you be staining your stock or leaving it natural?
 
Robert Nicholson said:
It sounds like you are doing a good job of sporterizing your SKS rather than Bubbaing it. I'm more inclined to preserve each SKS as I get them but I do
have an Izzy that came to me with a sanded stock that looks like it would clean up to look great. Will you be staining your stock or leaving it natural?
Click to expand...

Not sure, Bro. Will wait to see what the grain looks like. I am leaning towards just using tung oil. Hopefully I can figure out to post pics. when finished.
 
I would be hard pressed to say there is any such thing as a collector SKS. There are millions of them available so it is not like they are rare. I have one and quite like it but collectable not really.
 
grinder08 said:
I would be hard pressed to say there is any such thing as a collector SKS. There are millions of them available so it is not like they are rare. I have one and quite like it but collectable not really.
Click to expand...

You may be right and we who (want to) collect SKS may be in for a let down in twenty years but on the other hand - with everyone either
sporterizing or bubbaing their SKS - a very nice unmolested and unrefurbished example (like the one I haven't bought yet) may be worth a lot.
 
grinder08 said:
I would be hard pressed to say there is any such thing as a collector SKS. There are millions of them available so it is not like they are rare. I have one and quite like it but collectable not really.
Click to expand...

Once the cheap surplus ammo reserves runs out they will they be worth anything ?

They are not like the surplus enfields of another generation. These had/have value as an excellent hunting rifle.

The future value of any SKS may be limited to their value in some government ""buy up"" of military style firearms.
 
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