Questions when buying an SKS

Gindryden

Gindryden

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I have this feeling like I should buy an SKS to participate in military gun shoots, but am a bit wary of the conditions etc of guns.

What are things that I should be looking for or asking on a used gun. I am not really concerned about the collectibility or matching numbers but want to make sure I get a solid shooter in working condition.

I have been doing some reading and from what I see the Russian guns are supposedly better than the Chinese but not bey a lot.

Is there a better year? version etc.

Any information is appreciated.
 
The Chinese guns tend to be commercially made for retail sale. Anything "new" isn't surplus. The Russians never (to my knowledge) had a commercial sales run of SKS rifles.

The Chinese rifles generally have a pressed fit barrel, whereas Russian SKS' are threaded. This is not a hard and fast rule, but something I remember.

Russian rifles have either solid birch or laminated stocks. Chinese rifles are solid tropical hardwood. When we were buying M14s from China, the name for the splintery hard wood was chu wood.

Chinese bayonettes are spike type versus Russian blade bayonettes. It makes a difference when changing stocks from original to aftermarket products.

Ganderite did a series of accuracy tests on a variety of 7.62x39 rifles of many types. His studies will teach about accuracy.
 
I just bought one of the recent import chinese ones. I haven't had it out to shoot yet but it's like new. Factory 26, 1979ish production. Not a spot of rust or anything on it. I'm kind of amazed something like this is available in this condition tbh. They're still available at many places. From everything I've read/watched it should be a decent one. Milled receiver, short barrel lug, etc. Seems like there are countless variations depending on the year and country of origin.
 
Make sure that you field strip the rifle in question and look for corrosion in the gas tube and on the gas piston, also strip the bolt. If someone has been firing corrosive and not cleaning properly thats were problems will hide....
 
I've owned a few SKS rifles in my lifetime. Regardless of manufacture, hope for a 2 moa gun, but expect 3 or 4 moa from most out of the cosmoline. I your going to shoot corrosive ammo a chrome lined barrel will help postpone corrosion, but it won't prevent it. Some say their more accurate, but I found that is not always the case. Same goes for Russian v.s. Chinese imo. There are some trigger and firing pin kits that can help accuracy & reliability. The stocks could be a real bone of contention, I'd stick with a good fitting laminate one. If your not worried about a numbers matching collector gun then Ebay and the like will be your friend. There are some real knowledgeable guys on this site & they can help you dial in an SKS while keeping it "stock". Not me, I just like collecting them LOL! Best advice: Find a forced matched post 51 Tula with a laminate stock, still in the grease for the best possible price (under $500).
 
Look for Soviet 1953 and newer, with chrome lined barrel.

Field strip, check for rust (bring a fleshlight): springs in the fire control group, chamber, gas tube and piston. Rusty springs will break. Too rusty chamber, possible ejectile dysfunction (minor rust specks possible, give corrosive ammo and non chromed chamber on all barrels).

Look inside the bore, check for pitting and cracks in the chrome (extremely unlikely on a healthy specimen).

Insert a piece of kleenex into the muzzle end a few cm deep, look at the rifling, it should be strong. Insert a round into the muzzle end, the bullet should not go in too far. SKS that had been in service were carried on guard duty and cleaned regularly with a steel rod from the muzzle end, usually by people who didn’t want to be there, lol. And Soviet steel jacketed projectiles are brutal on rifling.

Carefully and firmly push and pull the metal, try to observe any forward/backward movement in the stock, and up/down movement at the back of the receiver. Worn or dried out stock cannot hold the metal properly. Excessive metal-wood play is the #1 cause of poor accuracy in SKS. Per the service manual, it can be fixed by fitting a new crossbolt piece, but new parts are hard to find for something that has been out of production for 65 years.

If none of the above fails inspection, the rifle is more likely to be alive than dead.
 
The front-rear play between the stock and barreled action can be tightened up with an aluminum shim such as a strip of siding or flashing wrapped around the front of of the cross-bolt. This can be a bit fiddly to put together, but once done will do wonders to restore accuracy to a rifle with an old worn or shrunken stock, assuming the bore is OK.
 
One of my worst mismatched Chinese SKS functions and shoots the best, like a laser. Just buy one here on the EE and get the phone number of the seller and have a 2 min chat. Make sure he has shot it and can guarantee function. I never sell anything I haven't shot unless it is a brand new gun. Cheers
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
The Chinese guns tend to be commercially made for retail sale. Anything "new" isn't surplus. The Russians never (to my knowledge) had a commercial sales run of SKS rifles.

The Chinese rifles generally have a pressed fit barrel, whereas Russian SKS' are threaded. This is not a hard and fast rule, but something I remember.

....
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Some of these comments are not correct, imho, the rest is fine. All the sks's currently on the market are surplus and were made during the cold war. The chinese triangle 26 ones in like new condition (wood stock, bakeolite gas tube cover) currently on the market are the finest of the chinese surplus sks's ever on the market according to triangle 26, a youtuber that talks extensively about all the variants. I recommend checking him out.

Regarding threaded barrels, i have looked at probably hundreds of chinese sks's in the last 10 years and have yet to see a pressed barrel on them. Most are short shank threaded. Before my time (80's & 90's i suppose) there were norinco marked sks's of lesser quality that paled in comparison to russian ones. Some of those apparently had press fit barrels.

Personally, i would either get a like new chinese online as mentioned above from a site sponsor like great north guns. Or, i would look for a matching russian izhevsk on the EE. You should be able to find a nice 1954 for 500-600. These guns were made (in my opinion, and perhaps others) with higher quality standards for fit and finish than some of the russian tulas. Izzies are rarer than tulas but they do come up
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
The Chinese guns tend to be commercially made for retail sale. Anything "new" isn't surplus. The Russians never (to my knowledge) had a commercial sales run of SKS rifles.

The
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This is not accurate.

No Chinese sks were ever made for commercial sale. A very small number of military sks were factory modified for commercial sale, like the sks-d models, or were factory refurbished for commercial sale (think 1960's guns lever arms sold in 1990's)

Most Chinese sks, and all currently sold ones, are military production from war reserves in China.

The manufacturing improvements over the years reduced cost and improved production speed. Other than a brief foray into stamped receivers, none of those changes reduced accuracy or reliability.

Generally, chicoms sks are in better condition than most Russian guns and on average they often shoot a little better and were made to newer and tighter tolerance.
 
They weren't? I had an unmarked sks with no factory number. I assumed there was some put together for export sales. Didn't fit any military serial numbers either.
 
.223Rem said:
Be wary when someone offers you one that 'only has 50 rounds down the pipe' but comes with a half empty spam can of ammo lol.
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That mean nothing…my buddy has more than one SKS and rifle in 7.62X39. He also has crates (many)of ammo. The ammo sold with a rifle that has very few rounds through it is an incentive to the sale. You are just making assumptions..
 
.223Rem said:
Be wary when someone offers you one that 'only has 50 rounds down the pipe' but comes with a half empty spam can of ammo lol.
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^^^
this

55recce said:
Make sure that you field strip the rifle in question and look for corrosion in the gas tube and on the gas piston, also strip the bolt. If someone has been firing corrosive and not cleaning properly thats were problems will hide....
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^^^
this

Butcherbill said:
What are you bringing a fleshlight for? :)
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he is trying to date it...
 
hobophobe said:
They weren't? I had an unmarked sks with no factory number. I assumed there was some put together for export sales. Didn't fit any military serial numbers either.
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Unmarked guns are typically refurbished military guns to get them ready for commercial sale to the USA back in the 1980's.

Markings are either ground off or welded over and ground off.
 
Butcherbill said:
What are you bringing a fleshlight for? :)
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He wants a discount?

Seriously though, rust is always bad. Take the bolt out, #### the hammer, put your thumb on the hammer to stop it from smashing down, and slowly press the trigger. If the hammer moves back a little before releasing, or doesn't move at all, it's good. If the hammer 'leans' forward, you might want to give it a pass - the sear engagement is marginal, particularly if the rifle has a 'nice light' trigger. If you find a stamped receiver, buy it, they are hens teeth rare and someone will buy it for more than you paid - they're a pure collectors item in any condition. I prefer Chinese to Russian - I've never had a Chinese one that sucked (6 I think) and most of the Chinese rifles I have had were either new, or like new. The Russian refurbs are OK, but in my experience the Chinese guns are slightly better for fit and finish - Yugo's are another jump up the ladder.
 
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