In what year were the first Soviet SKS imports to Canada?

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Boris Badinov

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Did they start at the same time as the Russian commercial imports to the USA-- early 1990's, i.e. soon after the Soviet Collapse?
 
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The U.S. already had a lot of Russian SKS's that were Vietnam War bring-backs during the 60's and early 70's. (F/A AK's were banned.)

I don't know when they started being imported to the U.S. or Canada, but I bought one in 1993 that was already used.

It shot minute-of-pie plate, so I got rid of it pretty fast.

There was a lot of ComBloc stuff floating around back then.

It would have been nice to have had a lot of money and to know what to buy.

IIRC, the first Chinese imports of SKS's and semi-auto AK's into the States were back in 1983.
 
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Bought a Russian SKS for $300 in 2006 and it was considered quite a score. 1949's were unheard of.

In late 2010 Canada was flooded with them at $200 or so. 1949's went for $300 and up.
 
I bought some minty Chinese one for $200 in 2011 or 2012, can't compare them to todays imports. In 2009 the influx of the Russian BBQ SKS was overwhelming. I think I paid $239 for a real ugly one but it shot great. Many stock repairs too. I think the prices from private today are still good, bought some nice Russian ones this year for $400, you would have paid the same price 10 years ago but there are a lot more available today so the price hasn't really gone up. There are still people offering them for $700 but cough cough, good luck. There are just no more cheap ones from dealers today.
 
gewehr76 said:
2007-2008 Ukraine ones started arriving
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This ∆∆∆

IZH brought in a large shipment in early 2008. These were from the Ukraine and were a mix of as-issued and mildly refurbed. These are known for their quality and mag pinning method--small piece of barstock tack welded to the follower arm. These command a premium over all other SKS's.

There were smaller trickles prior to 2008, but were hard to come by. Mostly Chinese. By 2014, the best SKS's were gone and lesser specimens began coming in droves.
 
The Kurgan said:
This ∆∆∆

IZH brought in a large shipment in early 2008. These were from the Ukraine and were a mix of as-issued and mildly refurbed. These are known for their quality and mag pinning method--small piece of barstock tack welded to the follower arm. These command a premium over all other SKS's.

There were smaller trickles prior to 2008, but were hard to come by. Mostly Chinese. By 2014, the best SKS's were gone and lesser specimens began coming in droves.
Click to expand...


Were these the FIRST Soviet era sks imports to Canada?

(Barfly refers to 1992, but I realize now that he says he got them from Century Arms (CAI) which is a US importer)
 
Boris; I believe so. I have been keen on SKS's (Soviet) for a LONG time. As soon as IZH brought them in, I ordered several. They were a sweet crop of premium rifles.
 
If I'm not mistaken I saw Russian sks rifles in the early 1980ties . I had a Chinese one in the late 80ties also. paid $100 dollars for it . it shot very accurate .
 
cement head said:
If I'm not mistaken I saw Russian sks rifles in the early 1980ties . I had a Chinese one in the late 80ties also. paid $100 dollars for it . it shot very accurate .
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I don't believe Soviet-made arms were sold commercially to the west until after the Soviet collapse in the early 1990's.
 
Boris Badinov said:
Were these the FIRST Soviet era sks imports to Canada?

(Barfly refers to 1992, but I realize now that he says he got them from Century Arms (CAI) which is a US importer)
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Century International Arms Inc. was the U.S. importer based in Vermont, and their Canadian division was International Firearms Company based in Montreal.

They moved the company headquarters and sales staff to Florida in 1995.

They still have a minimal presence in Montreal.

U.S. Catalogue Covers - 1987 & 1991

cia1987.jpg
century1991.jpg


Canadian Catalogue - 1992

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kLtSJgp.jpeg

HLEwemg.jpeg
 
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@MapleSugar:

Thank you very much!

So it looks like 1992 may be the earliest Russian sks imports-- as I am not aware of Soviet arms sold commercially in the west (or anywhere) before the Soviet collapse.


Extremely helpful.

Thanks again.
 
The first Soviet made rifles sold by Century didn't come from Russia. The one I bought had an Arabic number painted on the butt.
 
OneBarfly said:
I bought one around 1992 from International firearms/Century. Beat-up Soviet for around $259.00 I seem to recall. Very well used, unnumbered cover. Bought an M1 Garand for less around the same time.
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According to the catalogue, you probably paid $159.95 for your SKS.

You just triggered my memory, though.

I remember that I paid $100 for my Russian SKS back in 1993.

I was used to full sized cartridges like .30-06, 7mm Rem Mag, or .303 British.

I marveled at the intermediate cartridge and the ruggedness and simplicity of the SKS rifle.

I got rid of that rifle pretty quick, but it started a love affair with the SKS and the 7.62x39mm round.
 
Boris Badinov said:
@MapleSugar:

Thank you very much!

So it looks like 1992 may be the earliest Russian sks imports-- as I am not aware of Soviet arms sold commercially in the west (or anywhere) before the Soviet collapse.


Extremely helpful.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You're welcome!

Russian SKS's may have been imported and sold even earlier, but that is the only catalog from that era that I have pictures of.

If International Arms Co. posted them for sale in their 1992 catalogue, then they must have had them in 1991, at least.

Someone posted that catalog on this forum awhile ago, and I had the foresight to copy the pictures.

I have more old catalogues on another hard drive that I can't access right now.

I used to have a lot of them from that time period, but I tossed them decades ago.

It would have been clever to have kept them.
 
tiriaq said:
The first Soviet made rifles sold by Century didn't come from Russia. The one I bought had an Arabic number painted on the butt.
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With all due respect, Boris wasn't asking if they came from Russia, though.

He just wanted to know when the first Soviet/Russian SKS's were imported into Canada for sale.

Boris Badinov said:
Were these the FIRST Soviet era sks imports to Canada?
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I seem to recall that it was the former ComBloc countries that were purging themselves of Soviet stockpiles back in the early 90's.

I certainly remember the flood of surplus arms and equipment from the former East Germany.

That stuff was everywhere, now it's nearly impossible to find.
 
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