Chinese Surplus SKS Quality

Every single Chinese military unissued sks I have seen has been of comparable quality to the Russian unissued sks. More often than not, they are even better shooters as well. Not sure who here has been inhaling too many veneer fumes but this is not just my experience, but that of many others as well. Not talking about the wood either. I have a commercial norinco made that is probably in the same category as most of your unissued Russians, sorry to say it.
 
And you have direct knowledge evidence of the standards at Soviet small arms facilities?

Pretty bold assumption to make.

They're making ak's for god's sakes, not performing open heart surgery.


Well, actually, yes... I know very well how the Eastern European countries treated factory workers back then, especially those working in manufacturing crucial equipment for the regime. They would often be treated better and had more respect from the ruling regime than doctors or teachers and were often referred to as the "nation's pride".

The reason is simple: Com bloc Eastern Europeans, even back then, would not put up with the same sh*t from their "leaders" that submissive Chinese citizens would. There's a reason the fall of communism started in Poland, in national factories: it's cultural and these people have a long tradition of defiance against oppression. This is why they were treated with relative dignity at work, their work being considered the driving force behind the communist dream and a source of national pride. If you had a factory job back then, you were pretty lucky.
 
Yeah, I'm sure labor standards and work safety were much higher in China in 1956... just three years after the Chinese were sending their soldiers barefoot to attack American and South Korean positions in -40C weather during the Korean war! :eek:

Your dumbass remark shows that your knowledge of communism and how it treats its' "citizens" is what CNN taught you... fake news, much?

Bingo.... You no maka perfect boom boom, we chip chopy you finga.


Thanks for proving my point. Lol

On another note, never did I state working condition were not bad there brain child. Your comparison of the highly recognized state arsenal to shack outfits is priceless.
 
The Chinese SKS are not "crap", but if a new shooter can buy either the Chinese or a Russian in the same condition and for the same price, I'd strongly recommend the Russian because of fit and finish alone. Then there is also the collector value down the road... the supplies of the Russian ones are essentially exhausted, whereas there could be still hundreds of thousands of Chinese Type 56's still hiding in some Norinco depot.

I definitely agree with this. The glory days of pristine examples coming out of the Ukraine are long gone, if anything comes out of that part of the world it won't be for a long while and will be a lot more expensive if and when they do reappear.

The Chinese rifles are still available but from what I can recall no one will import them at the prices the Chinese are now asking for them. Hard to say if demand for them ever gets up to what the importers feel we will pay and they can still make their margin on.
 
On another note, never did I state working condition were not bad there brain child. Your comparison of the highly recognized state arsenal to shack outfits is priceless.

Well, let's at least agree on the fact that a mistreated worker is less likely to give a damn about whatever he's making than another worker who has relatively good working conditions in another country. The best example of that are Yugo Model 59 SKS's - made by professional, relatively well-treated factory workers who took pride in what they made and the end result is a product worthy of a H&K stamp.


Anyway, to each their own. We're not going to agree anyway, so let's just leave it at that. Both SKS's are available in Canada right now for roughly the same price. The Russian ones are in the process of disappearing (no more supply), while there seems to be no shortage (for now, at least) of the Chinese ones. Draw your own conclusions on what's best to buy in 2017.
 
I definitely agree with this. The glory days of pristine examples coming out of the Ukraine are long gone, if anything comes out of that part of the world it won't be for a long while and will be a lot more expensive if and when they do reappear.

The Chinese rifles are still available but from what I can recall no one will import them at the prices the Chinese are now asking for them. Hard to say if demand for them ever gets up to what the importers feel we will pay and they can still make their margin on.

It’ll happen, they pay more in the U.S. for them now, but most people wouldn’t pay much more than the $200 or so for the Russian ones that are available now. However, the Russian ones available now aren’t as nice as before, some people are already paying more for the “unissued” Chinese ones on the used market and, if the supply of Russian ones dwindle, people will pay more for the Chinese ones as long as they are not the refurbs.
 
God your dense. My asking what a "sino-soviekt" was was a rhetorical question.

You and I both know Russan stocks are not made from that type of birch. You cant just assume it must be the highest density birch on the list because it fits your narrative.

Have you know, My former profession had me hand selecting high grades of hardwood and veneer to be used in the cabinets of private jets. This ain't my first rodeo there numb nutz.

Again, you can wonk wonk all you like, but until I see you post a thread of you sanding and cutting the crap out of these sks woods, perhaps you should shut your pie-hole.

Catalpa and Burch are both hardwoods, BUT they are BOTH on the low end of density.

Some of you guys arguments would be the same as me taking one look at that bastardized rifle FenceLine posted and assume all Russians are crap. Im sorry fellas.... It simply does not work that way.

Have them Janka tested then Einstein, see where they both fall.
I posted Janka wood scales for you, everyone can see where Catalpa falls...550 which is lower them most softwoods.
You picked the closest Birch to try and make a point, but failed yet again since that species is North American. The Birch used in Finish and Russian stocks is quite hard wood, not the boxwood/balsa comparable garbage the Chinese used.
As for Catalpa, you probably couldn't even spot the tree if it fell on you...which it might, because it's soft as dog ####. I have one growing in my front yard BTW. Nice trees...#### soft wood for gunstocks though. #### firewood too.
 
Holy hell these threads always go off the rails like this. The OP asked a simple question, instead of being able to quickly find an answer he (or anyone else that would like to know) now has to wade through a 9 page pissing match. Both Russian and Chinese sks will do the exact same thing reliably. I'm sure that when they were getting passed around to the NVA/Taliban/child soldier/whatever not once did anyone say "ewww no thank you, I'll only shoot a Russian/Chinese sks". Both rifles will provide minute of man accuracy while being rugged and reliable.

Do we really need to know which wood will provide fractionally more strength? Is that not something that would have to many variables to measure anyway? Are you guys going to sample a 1000 of each Russian and Chinese rifles and compare findings? Do you guys plan on building a bridge out of these stocks?

I'm not going to copy and paste my original reply from the first page. But short version, the rifles are fine. I put 200 rounds through a recent Chinese today and wow is me, it did exactly what I expected it too. My Russian that I shot last week gave me identical results too!
 
Im guessing you haven't sanded the crap out of or taken either to a table saw. Lol.

Its funny you mention.. Between myself and another Administrator of SKSFiles, we have collected a number of stocks from various countries and era's to slice/dice and send the samples off to be scientifically analyzed for origin and species. It will be interesting to find out the results of some of the early chicoms, because several of mine have russian QC stamps and they very well may be birch.

I told you already, they are BOTH soft azz crap woods, just one looks pretty. I guess you think birch was used because its superiority over other woods? No, it was used because its cheep and abundant. The good thing regarding Catalpa is its high resistance to rotting as already mentioned.
 
Fwiw, post #2 in this thread is reason for derailment, and quite possibly the reason you cannot get any high quality Jianshe guns. People read dumb posts like that and are fear mongered into not paying for a decent gun. What makes you think when these dont sell or wont sell, that the importers will have any ambition to get even better stuff and charge even more because THEY had to pay more.

I hate to say this, but its a consumer driven market. This isn't rocket science here. If you are unwilling to pay a fair share for a quality product, expect cheap crap. You want cheap, distributor has to get cheap, importer has to get cheap, and the chicoms say..... This what you get for that price. Rifles hit the shore and then don't sell because its not cheap enough or high enough quality, not to mention all the keyboard commando nay sayers that paint entire countries production as crap with a wide brush because they only got what they were willing to pay for. Heck, 90% of this board wants a new rifle expected Smithsonian grade products for $150 only to bastardized the damn thing with $500 in operator parts.... Figure that one out.
 
If you haven't picked one up make sure you pay no more then 210-220 for one. I picked one up from a sponsor recently for 209 with a big order I had.

I was Meh, about it. But I really wanted one for my collection. I may consider buying another one day, they kinda look neat with the spike bayo and differnt wood stocks. IMO they are not identical or comparable to Russian. The finnish, wood, ect is all differnt. Quality and accuracy wise who knows, Ill probably never shoot mine and It will join the other SKS'S.
 
I definitely agree with this. The glory days of pristine examples coming out of the Ukraine are long gone, if anything comes out of that part of the world it won't be for a long while and will be a lot more expensive if and when they do reappear.

The Chinese rifles are still available...

The days of pristine factory marked Chinese sks are gone too. The ones now are all scrubbed and commercialized (clandestine for those that feel the need to make their Chinese sks something special, when it ain't) or heavy refurbed with mismatching parts.
 
The as new factory guns are there and available but are not deemed marketable at the prices that they would cost since the Chinese are apparently asking more for them now. At least that is what I gather from a few comments made by some in the know on here.

The Chinese examples currently on the market reflect this; they are in the price range most average shooters want to pay. And that is what most will do with them, shoot them and it won't matter to them who made it or the condition as long as it goes bang everytime. Outside of CGN most people are not collectors for the most part.

No one is ready to pay $400 for a new Chinese, at least not yet or in numbers profitable to an importer.
 
So Canadian shooters will pay the same for a poorer quality gun but won't pay more for the better quality gun they once got for the poorer quality price...

Think about that for a moment...

Perhaps the profit margins are higher... when selling a poorer quality gun for the same price as an all matching as new version previously sold for the same price.
 
I don't need to think about it, it is evidenced as fact by the marketplace itself. The new examples of Chinese SKS's on the EE languish at $300, not exactly flying out the door. The importers would be asking higher than that for whatever new stock they brought it.

Even the much exalted Russian rifles are not commanding over $300 on the EE, for the prime Ukraine examples. I will say it again, most people outside of CGN are not collectors and will not pay an extra 50% for a gun they just want to shoot or put in a tapco stock or bang around on a sled.

How much does a "rare" '49 Russian go for? $500-600 should get you a good collectible one. Think about that.
 
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