Help Identifying my new SKS

Hawkeye80

Hawkeye80

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Oakville, ON.
Hey guys,

I bought an SKS last week and was wondering if its a Tula or not. The person I bought it from told me it was never used after armory refurb.

It had a bunch of cosmoline all over it and still does after i cleaned it. All parts seem to match and are stamped.
 
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Yes, it's a Tula. You can tell by the Star on the dust cover. Izhevesk ones have the circle with the triangle and the arrow in them. So, this is a 1951 Tula refurb. About it never being used after arsenal refurb, that's certianly possible. It's hard to tell these things, but it's indeed a possibility.

It looks to be in very good shape, you have a very solid rifle on your hands.

In terms of overpaying: These go for like, what, $220 -$230 or so from site sponsors before shipping and taxes. With shipping and taxes factored in, these can often run people up to or a little over $300 bucks. I wouldn't consider it to be unreasonable if you paid around there.

Enjoy it! Those refurbs actually have a lot of character: If you strip it down you'll see a ton of proof marks on the bolt and bolt carrier, they look really neat. Compared to my Chinese unissued ones, I find the Russian ones a little more interesting just by the sheer amount of proof marks all over them. I have an Izhevesk that is covered with the things, pretty cool!

Take it out for a shoot soon, and don't be afraid of the corrosive ammo. With good cleaning, it'll treat you just fine.
 
Just to clarify why we can tell its a refurb...

People seem to often make the mistake of thinking that all refurb stocks have the ######X marks over an old serial number.

The stock is a laminant, which was only original on some 1955/56 model SKSs, the very last model produced in the USSR. The absense of typical refurb ######X marks over old serial numbers only means that the stock was taken from surplus parts that had not yet been used, and then paired with the 1951 rifle. Thus it IS a refurb, with a new stock.

I noticed that Westrifle has been selling a lot of these with the new laminate stocks.


As for value... Wholesale Sports has been selling SKSs for $179 + tax, inclduing any special models or laminates. That's about as cheap as I've seen them. Other shops sell them for closer to $250. I think Westrifle would have sold that one for about $220 + tax. Non-refurbs seem to go for $300-350.
 
Andurp said:
Yes, it's a Tula. You can tell by the Star on the dust cover. Izhevesk ones have the circle with the triangle and the arrow in them. So, this is a 1951 Tula refurb. About it never being used after arsenal refurb, that's certianly possible. It's hard to tell these things, but it's indeed a possibility.

It looks to be in very good shape, you have a very solid rifle on your hands.

In terms of overpaying: These go for like, what, $220 -$230 or so from site sponsors before shipping and taxes. With shipping and taxes factored in, these can often run people up to or a little over $300 bucks. I wouldn't consider it to be unreasonable if you paid around there.

Enjoy it! Those refurbs actually have a lot of character: If you strip it down you'll see a ton of proof marks on the bolt and bolt carrier, they look really neat. Compared to my Chinese unissued ones, I find the Russian ones a little more interesting just by the sheer amount of proof marks all over them. I have an Izhevesk that is covered with the things, pretty cool!

Take it out for a shoot soon, and don't be afraid of the corrosive ammo. With good cleaning, it'll treat you just fine.
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Thats good to hear, thanks for your input. It definitely has a ton of proof marks all over. I was a bit scared to get corrosive ammo but the more I hear about it the less apprehensive I become. I was going to wait for some Norinco but maybe the corrosive isnt the boogeyman I made it out to be.

Dakk said:
Just to clarify why we can tell its a refurb...

People seem to often make the mistake of thinking that all refurb stocks have the ######X marks over an old serial number.

The stock is a laminant, which was only original on some 1955/56 model SKSs, the very last model produced in the USSR. The absense of typical refurb ######X marks over old serial numbers only means that the stock was taken from surplus parts that had not yet been used, and then paired with the 1951 rifle. Thus it IS a refurb, with a new stock.

I noticed that Westrifle has been selling a lot of these with the new laminate stocks.


As for value... Wholesale Sports has been selling SKSs for $179 + tax, inclduing any special models or laminates. That's about as cheap as I've seen them. Other shops sell them for closer to $250. I think Westrifle would have sold that one for about $220 + tax. Non-refurbs seem to go for $300-350.
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I was wondering about the stock because it didnt have the X's. Thanks for the info.

Those are pretty good prices, would you find one like mine for say the $179 + tax? This was the first SKS I'd had seen in person and thought it would be worth more.
 
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Dakk said:
Just to clarify why we can tell its a refurb...

People seem to often make the mistake of thinking that all refurb stocks have the ######X marks over an old serial number.

The stock is a laminant, which was only original on some 1955/56 model SKSs, the very last model produced in the USSR. The absense of typical refurb ######X marks over old serial numbers only means that the stock was taken from surplus parts that had not yet been used, and then paired with the 1951 rifle. Thus it IS a refurb, with a new stock.

I noticed that Westrifle has been selling a lot of these with the new laminate stocks.



As for value... Wholesale Sports has been selling SKSs for $179 + tax, inclduing any special models or laminates. That's about as cheap as I've seen them. Other shops sell them for closer to $250. I think Westrifle would have sold that one for about $220 + tax. Non-refurbs seem to go for $300-350.
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We can see the refurb stamp on the cover between the Tula star and the date.
Joce
 
svt1940 said:
We can see the refurb stamp on the cover between the Tula star and the date.
Joce
Click to expand...

Yes, true. Just noticed that. I think the refurb mark isn't quite as obvious as the date stamps in that particular picture. The stock is the most obvious sign of refurb in the pictures, which is why its the first thing I noticed. But in person the refurb mark would probably be more obvious.
 
Great buy! these things will handle any 7.62x39 ammo (at least mine does!) never had a misfire or bad feed yet, great guns.. not sure about the Chinese ones, I have two original Russian models and they perform every time.
 
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