Any difference between Marstar Chinese Military SKS vs Canada Ammo SKS?

The Cocker

The Cocker

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I'm thinking about getting a Chinese military SKS. The Canada Ammo description says their's are from the 70's-80's for manufacture and Marstar's description is saying early 60's. Is there really much difference between these one's? Would the early 60's models be more desirable?
 
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Neither are particularly sought after. Just mass produced and stored. Both will be unused and covered in old cosmoline. Purchase whichever is the better deal
 
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They are the same. And more likely 1970s guns. One of my two marstar SKS carbines is a 1980 /26\ and I got it last summer.

While Marstar says 60s, the vast majority of Chinese SKS imports of late by anyone are 1970s production, but aren't really date-able to a specific year as only Factory 26 is reliable in terms of serial number dating. The rest are dateable to a "genre" by build features.
 
Ah, that's another thing I was wondering. If maybe the years in the description were a bit off. Most of the companies seemed to get the Chinese military SKS's at the same time. So I kinda thought they'd all be from the same batches.

Hopefully this is much better than the Norinco consumer export SKS I had back around 2006. That thing was pretty awful looking (worked well though). The Russian SKS I have was super impressive looking next to that old one.
 
From the Chinese SKS sticky...

a. Production date in serial number- Commercial variant.
Some commercial production have the production year in the serial numbers. These ones have no factory codes (nfc) and serial numbers of 7 digits. Serial numbers began with 88 and later. The earlier serial numbers have no space while the later ones have a space between the first two and the last 5 digits.

eg: 8812345= 1988 , 02 12345= 2002

b. For factory 26.
Serial number in the millions plus the year of adoption (1956) equal the year of production.

eg:
(<1,000,000 = 0) 0+1956=1956
(2,000,000= 2) 2+1956=1958
(10,000,000 = 10) 10+1956=1966
(24,000,000 = 24) 24+1956=1980

c. For other factories.
The above formula will work on some other factory codes but not all of them. I cannot be certain that your result will be absolutely correct but it's better than not giving you a solution at all.

I would suggest that you try it on your SKS with a triangle, rectangle or oblong codes which has 8 digit serial numbers (ignore importer's prefix and suffix numbers). It will not work with 7 digit serial numbers. Use it in conjunction with the production classes below and see what you come up with.
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Only factory 26 is reliably dated by serial number. Any other Chinese SKS is hard to tell. You need to ballpark it by it's own features. Here are the dates in which Factory 26 changed features of their versions. Note, factory 26 never pinned their barrels. Other factories changed from threaded barrels to pinned in the 70s, possibly very late 60s.

9. Factory 26 parts changes.

Changes made in 1965.
-Barrel, long lug 1956 - part1965, short lug part1965 - 1980. no pin barrel.
-Bayonet, blade, 1956 - part1965, spike bayo part 1965-1980.
-Wood stock, for blade 1956 - part1965, spike bayo part1965 - 1978, spike with take down lever cut 1979-1980.

Changes made in 1967.
-Bayonet lug, lightening cut 1956 - part1967 and 1979 - 1980, no lightening cut part1967 - 1970.
-Gas tube, 1 piece 1956 - 1967, 2 pieces 1967 - 1980.
-Carrier, lightening cut 1956 -1967, no lightening cut 1967 - 1980.
-Main spring guide and locking cap, milled 1956 -1967, stamp 1967 - 1980.

Changes made in other years.
-Rear swivel, side1956 - part1966, bottom swivel part1966 -1980.
-Top handguard, wood 1956 - 1970, bakelite 1979 - 1980.

Note: At factory 26 information on 1971-1978 are not available at this time.
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The Cocker said:
Ah, that's another thing I was wondering. If maybe the years in the description were a bit off. Most of the companies seemed to get the Chinese military SKS's at the same time. So I kinda thought they'd all be from the same batches.

Hopefully this is much better than the Norinco consumer export SKS I had back around 2006. That thing was pretty awful looking (worked well though). The Russian SKS I have was super impressive looking next to that old one.
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Count on it being a 70s production gun with either place. The are both military grade and will be fine quality wise. No one has "commercial" grade in Canada anymore except for the used market.

Most production coming to Canada as of late are Factory 306, 316, 625 or no code.
 
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I have a 1950 Tula, a 1953 Izzy and a 19xx? Factory 625 Chinese. The Machining and metal quality is best on the Izzy. They actually bothered to replace their tooling when it was worn? I don't know. The Tula and Izzy both shoot equally well. The Chinese stock (Chu maybe?) is crap compared to the Russian Birch. The metal work is almost on par.. maybe not quite as nice of a set of end mills but thats okay. The trigger on the Chinese 625 is 100x better then either of my Russians. Its a clean break at what feels similar to a Glock trigger. Its strange. The Russians both feel like creepy old Combloc milsurps and share similar trigger pulls to my Mosins and SVT40's.

An SKS is an SKS, just start collecting. ;)
 
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