Marstar Chinese SKS Rifle

is there anything that stands out to you sunnyside? there are these russian refurbs in town i was thinking of getting. but these chinese sound good. would you recommend it over a russian arsenal refurb?

ive seen the pics and the vid at martstar, they look really nice and i love the spike beyonet. and they look like they came outa a box. i mean im just genna shoot the sh!t outa of anyway but i want a good shooter
 
I don't have Russian sks, but do have a chinese commercial sks with blade bayonet. I like this chinese one because:

1. It's brand new and not refurbished
2. Military issued rifle
3. The barrel is chromed
4. It's spike beyonet
 
I have a couple of them now, but it was much faster to obtain them from sources other than Marstar . Of the three that I've cleaned up on my bench, here are some of my observations:

The stocks are heavier with a few shipping and storage marks on them, but when you take of the spike bayo and rod, it weighs out at 8 pounds from about 8.8 pounds out of the box. The bolts are really nice and tight and very much smoother to operate than the consumer versions from china that were produced in the eighties and nineties. Perhaps they will loosen up a bit when it has a few cases of ammo through them, but they're good and tight now. The pinning of the magazine is done really well from the outside and is definitely not a butcher job as seen in other attempts to restrict magazines to five rounds. having that said, not all of the magazines are pinned equally, two of the three I looked at will hold five in the magazine with the bolt closed, and the other only holds four with a closed bolt. It takes five of the stripper but you can't close it. It will only take a few minutes to machine it down, but the point is that they are not all perfect to begin with.

These are not factory refurbs. They are in fact un-issued and never fired, and some of them would have been sent back to the arsenal for adjustments. One of the rifles has a gas tube that has been improperly fitted and the the whole thing had to be pressed with a clamp to be able to pry it off. Again, a bit of machining to correct this but I can't imagine a small Chinese soldier trying to remove this in the field without the proper tools. This would have been sent back for adjustments. On all three rifles, the trigger assembly seems to be crudely machined where its attached into the rifle. On all three, it was a real bugger to not just remove, but also to re-insert it into the rifle. This was not so much of a problem with later made Chinese rifles, but it would be difficult to strip and clean without the proper tools and clamps. I'm not really sure yet what I would modify to correct this, but its not like it needs to be done often in the field unless it was dropped in water.

The rifles are pretty greasy when you first get them, but its no secret that long storage milsurp rifles need to be cleaned of cosmoline. Its best to completely take everything apart and soak it in a solvent based solution. At minimum, the firing must be removed and taken apart to be cleaned. If the pin does not rattle freely inside the bolt carrier, then it is not ready to shoot. Cosmo gets very hard and brittle when heated up from shooting and could cause slam fires if the pin begins to stick. Again , a small issue, but it needs to be addressed. You don't have to completely remove the barrel and receiver from the stock, but it will ooze grease for quite a while when heated up from shooting if you don't. I use Ed's Red to clean and treat everything. Its 20 times cheaper than Hoppes or CLP , it works much better and I mix it in the garage by the gallon.

Two of the three rifles I've shot and the barrels are in great shape with the chrome lining, and consequently group pretty good at a hundred meters. Be prepared to adjust the lateral and elevation on the front sights. These have not not been fired or preset.


All in all, a good rifle for tossing on the quad or in the back of your truck. They are reliable and durable. They are not as pretty or machined as nice as the Russian models on the market, nor are they cleaned up well when you receive them. For two hundred bucks you can't lose and they will take much more of a beating than the average $800 dollar lever action that people have traditionally used for the same purpose. Its a nice cheap little carbine that is fast to operate and easy to sight in the bush. If you understand this and the limitations of the cartridge, its a great gun for a great price.
 
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sunnyside said:
I don't have Russian sks, but do have a chinese commercial sks with blade bayonet. I like this chinese one because:

1. It's brand new and not refurbished
2. Military issued rifle
3. The barrel is chromed
4. It's spike beyonet
Click to expand...
Your commercial chinese sks isn't chromed?
 
fiddler said:
I have a couple of them now, but not from Marstar directly. Of the three that I've cleaned up on my bench, here are some of my observations:

The stocks are heavier with a few shipping and storage marks on them, but when you take of the spike bayo and rod, it weighs out at 8 pounds from about 8.8 pounds out of the box. The bolts are really nice and tight and very much smoother to operate than the consumer versions from china that were produced in the eighties and nineties. Perhaps they will loosen up a bit when it has a few cases of ammo through them, but they're good and tight now. The pinning of the magazine is done really well from the outside and is definitely not a butcher job as seen in other attempts to restrict magazines to five rounds. having that said, not all of the magazines are pinned equally, two of the three I looked at will hold five in the magazine with the bolt closed, and the other only holds four with a closed bolt. It takes five of the stripper but you can't close it. It will only take a few minutes to machine it down, but the point is that they are not all perfect to begin with.

These are not factory refurbs. They are in fact un-issued and never fired, and some of them would have been sent back to the arsenal for adjustments. One of the rifles has a gas tube that has been improperly fitted and the the whole thing had to be pressed with a clamp to be able to pry it off. Again, a bit of machining to correct this but I can't imagine a small Chinese soldier trying to remove this in the field without the proper tools. This would have been sent back for adjustments. On all three rifles, the trigger assembly seems to be crudely machined where its attached into the rifle. On all three, it was a real bugger to not just remove, but also to re-insert it into the rifle. This was not so much of a problem with later made Chinese rifles, but it would be difficult to strip and clean without the proper tools and clamps. I'm not really sure yet what I would modify to correct this, but its not like it needs to be done often in the field unless it was dropped in water.

The rifles are pretty greasy when you first get them, but its no secret that long storage milsurp rifles need to be cleaned of cosmoline. Its best to completely take everything apart and soak it in a solvent based solution. At minimum, the firing must be removed and taken apart to be cleaned. If the pin does not rattle freely inside the bolt carrier, then it is not ready to shoot. Cosmo gets very hard and brittle when heated up from shooting and could cause slam fires if the pin begins to stick. Again , a small issue, but it needs to be addressed. You don't have to completely remove the barrel and receiver from the stock, but it will ooze grease for quite a while when heated up from shooting if you don't. I use Ed's Red to clean and treat everything. Its 20 times cheaper than Hoppes or CLP , it works much better and I mix it in the garage by the gallon.

Two of the three rifles I've shot and the barrels are in great shape with the chrome lining, and consequently group pretty good at a hundred meters. Be prepared to adjust the lateral and elevation on the front sights. These have not not been fired or preset.


All in all, a good rifle for tossing on the quad or in the back of your truck. They are reliable and durable. They are not as pretty or machined as nice as the Russian models on the market, nor are they cleaned up well when you receive them. For two hundred bucks you can't lose and they will take much more of a beating than the average $800 dollar lever action that people have traditionally used for the same purpose. Its a nice cheap little carbine that is fast to operate and easy to sight in the bush. If you understand this and the limitations of the cartridge, its a great gun for a great price.
Click to expand...

One of the rifles I received from Frontier a while back had the same problem with the trigger group. It would not re-insert with repeated tries until the full weight of a person was put into it. Some might think the rifle is defective and send it back or complain. It's just the way they are though.

Thanks for pointing this out. Great review
 
Its not exactly eye candy, but here you go. This one is yet unfired. They weigh out nice when you take the pig sticker off.

IMG_0458.jpg
 
fiddler: thanks for the pic .

can you post close up of the factory code and the area where barrel meet the receiver .
 
It looks like factory something ?25 or ?26. I can't get a good closer shot with my blackberry camera/phone. I'll have to wait until I get my good camera back from the cabin.
 
fiddler said:
It looks like factory something ?25 or ?26. I can't get a good closer shot with my blackberry camera/phone. I'll have to wait until I get my good camera back from the cabin.
Click to expand...

i dont think its /26\ cos i havent heard the recent shipment came from there.

may not may /25\ , could be /625\ ? to an untrained eye , the codes can be confusing , thats why i ask for a pic of the codes.
 
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Where can I find the info/codes being discussed here?

I recently got an sks and would like to source its history as much as possible.

Thanks for your time,

Coach






Curtton said:
i dont think its /26\ cos i havent heard the recent shipment came from there.

may not may /25\ , could be /625\ ? to an untrained eye , the codes can be confusing , thats why i have for a pic of the codes.
Click to expand...
 
SteelCityCoach said:
Where can I find the info/codes being discussed here?

I recently got an sks and would like to source its history as much as possible.

Thanks for your time,

Coach
Click to expand...

Here's Howie's list. Now remember they have not seen any new Chi-Coms in the US since the early 90s. If you have a new one not on the list let him know.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454174
 
Curtton said:
i dont think its /26\ cos i havent heard the recent shipment came from there.

may not may /25\ , could be /625\ ? to an untrained eye , the codes can be confusing , thats why i have for a pic of the codes.
Click to expand...


Its definitely not /26\, more like 625. Old eyes, no magnifying glass. It is a 3 digit number. Its not written in the same fashion as Howies list of codes. The large 6 makes the entire triangle and is not written above the last two numbers.
 
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