I have to admit that when I saw an SKS rifle for the first time - some 30 years ago (!) - I didn't really know what to make of it. It seemed like a really well made, pretty unique gun (especially for those times), but I was a bit confused by the price. Back then they were about $159 a piece - and you could buy a collector’s pack of 5 guns - as new and still in the cosmoline - for under 500 bucks.
The closest reference point I had for this was the M1 Carbine - which was then - and still is - one of my favorite guns. Obviously, they both were carbines but the M1 Carbine, even then, was 4 or five times more expensive, was restricted and lacked the bolt hold-open of the SKS - and had a much less desirable cartridge. Then again, at that time, accessories for the SKS were non-existent and nobody really knew if you could scope one. Also, the stock on the SKS had cheap looking wood and was WAY too short.
Obviously, several decades later we've all had lots of hands-on experience with the SKS rifle, and these things totally check out as wonderfully-reliable, fun to shoot firearms. They also have really good hunting chops; whereas the deregistered M1 Carbine leaves a bit to be desired, as a deer gun. I'm sure that Western deer hunters would correct me, saying neither gun is really that great a rifle for deer but, honestly, here in the East you can hardly beat the SKS as a brush gun - when hunting running deer. Justin, please take note.
Anyway, the price of SKS rifles has finally come up to reflect how good these guns actually are. This is taken away any stigma that it might have previously had as a “cheap gun”, or - depending on the country of origin - a “cheap Chinese gun”. That development, in turn has caused a lot of us two start to take a more serious interest in the collector’s significance of the firearm. And now, it turns-out that there are many, many intriguing patterns of SKS rifles - with many equally interesting production histories, etc. It's now become clear to me that SKS collecting can be every bit as fascinating as collecting C96 broomhandles or something like that, and frankly a lot more interesting than collecting M1 Carbines. Hat’s of to the excellent collector’s web sites that have emerged, recently.
By dumb luck, two SKS rifles that I now own were bought back in the days when they were cheap and have turned out to be especially collectable variants (a 51 Tula and a ghost gun) . Life is good.
The closest reference point I had for this was the M1 Carbine - which was then - and still is - one of my favorite guns. Obviously, they both were carbines but the M1 Carbine, even then, was 4 or five times more expensive, was restricted and lacked the bolt hold-open of the SKS - and had a much less desirable cartridge. Then again, at that time, accessories for the SKS were non-existent and nobody really knew if you could scope one. Also, the stock on the SKS had cheap looking wood and was WAY too short.
Obviously, several decades later we've all had lots of hands-on experience with the SKS rifle, and these things totally check out as wonderfully-reliable, fun to shoot firearms. They also have really good hunting chops; whereas the deregistered M1 Carbine leaves a bit to be desired, as a deer gun. I'm sure that Western deer hunters would correct me, saying neither gun is really that great a rifle for deer but, honestly, here in the East you can hardly beat the SKS as a brush gun - when hunting running deer. Justin, please take note.
Anyway, the price of SKS rifles has finally come up to reflect how good these guns actually are. This is taken away any stigma that it might have previously had as a “cheap gun”, or - depending on the country of origin - a “cheap Chinese gun”. That development, in turn has caused a lot of us two start to take a more serious interest in the collector’s significance of the firearm. And now, it turns-out that there are many, many intriguing patterns of SKS rifles - with many equally interesting production histories, etc. It's now become clear to me that SKS collecting can be every bit as fascinating as collecting C96 broomhandles or something like that, and frankly a lot more interesting than collecting M1 Carbines. Hat’s of to the excellent collector’s web sites that have emerged, recently.
By dumb luck, two SKS rifles that I now own were bought back in the days when they were cheap and have turned out to be especially collectable variants (a 51 Tula and a ghost gun) . Life is good.
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