If you are a little older and/or haven't got the best eyesight it might be worth also shooting at 50m.
My eyes are not what they once were so I find I cannot do ironsighted rifles the justice they deserve.
Cabelas Russian SKS
- Thread starter AlbertaJohn
- Start date
If you are a little older and/or haven't got the best eyesight it might be worth also shooting at 50m.
My eyes are not what they once were so I find I cannot do ironsighted rifles the justice they deserve.
flat Earth ???? must be a Newbie, LOL
Good point - thanks
I have had equal luck with Russian (54 Izhevsk) vs Chinese accuracy. Both run around 4" with surplus ammo at 100 yds. It seems to depend more on the quality of the ammo than the guns themselves.
Back to the matter under discussion, the OP has done very well.
That 54 Izhevsk is quite rare, and being blued with only the mag non matching is bonus.
I looked through around 10 chinese sks's 2 years ago and they were all beaters in comparison.
Yes, the 53 is even more rare, but a 54 like this is quite a find. The Izhevsk's had excellent machining, and easily surpassed the Tulas in finish.
Thanks for sharing.
Back to the matter under discussion, the OP has done very well.
That 54 Izhevsk is quite rare, and being blued with only the mag non matching is bonus.
I looked through around 10 chinese sks's 2 years ago and they were all beaters in comparison.
Yes, the 53 is even more rare, but a 54 like this is quite a find. The Izhevsk's had excellent machining, and easily surpassed the Tulas in finish.
Thanks for sharing.
Good score buddy . and Izzy at that . does it have the Izzy stamp on the other side of the stock ? the same as the one on the top of the receiver with the date ? just curious .
- Location
- West Central Alberta
I'm going to say yes but it is very faint and hard to see. Have a look maybe your eyes are better than mine.
View attachment 385990
This is Tula's ''F'' stamp. The stock is probably replacement and was refinished. What is stamped on the other side of the stock?
- Location
- West Central Alberta
Ok thanks and here are the rest of the stamps.
View attachment 385995
View attachment 385996
View attachment 385997
This fainted mark is a military acceptance mark by the representative Phillip (Filip) Petrovich Tovstenko, “ТФ” who was a chief verifier in Tula in the 1950's. Like jaroslav mentioned the stock is refurbished.
This is a Tula hammer mark on the stock. The stock is force matched and the older serial number was covered with X-es. The new stamped serial number is (in English) R90N. There is a diamond shaped refurbishment mark which indicates either the 5th GRAU arsenal in Alatyr or the ABV Turkestan Military District arsenal in Solnechny (hard to recognize). Your SKS looks like a mismatched, fully refurbished carbine with the barelled action from Izhevsk and the stock from Tula.
Last edited:
- Location
- West Central Alberta
Thanks for the info. All in all I'm still happy with this sight unseen SKS from Cabelas. I've bought a few others from them over the years and some of them were just plain ugly. lol
Check if the barreled action is slightly moving horizontally in the stock when you pull it back and forth. If so, you can put even a piece of cardboard or leather at the back of the receiver (receiver cover) to make it tight. You can also check if the action has any slight movement vertically. These are, most likely, two major factors in inaccuracy of an SKS.
Happy shooting.
Ya she could be a replacement stock . the ### are a refurb marking and if I'm not mistaken the stamp on the other side is an inspection stamp . those rifles were only made for 2 years . a few in 53 and the rest in 54 . she's blued and the stock is nice . shoot it and enjoy it .
An old Chinese SKS is the best for accuracy.The oldest ones are the best SKS's we can get, but are almost impossible to obtain.They never made better SKS's than those old early 50's Chino-Soviet guns, and most collectors would gladly pay plenty to buy one.
I may be wrong, but i thought the first Chinese sks were 1956?
What you are saying is that the first Chinese SKS MADE WITH RUSSIAN HELP are the best. Then all the Russian SKS must be superior to the Chinese SKS.
He's right, the early Chinese/Russian supervised built SKS rifles do bring an premium price, even in FAIR only condition. AS LONG AS THEY RETAIN THE ORIGINAL BLADE BAYONET.
The equipment used to build the early Chinese SKS rifes was used when they purchased it from the Soviets. Not worn out but close to it.
The Chinese reverse engineered that original equipment and made a few manufacturing shortcuts. Other than that, not a lot of real difference between the Soviet and Chinese SKS rifles.
I don't remember when the change to press fit barrels came about but those rifles are just as reliable and accurate as the rifles with screw thread fitted barrels.
It's not even a Chinese idea. I believe the Soviets made some up as well???? Please correct me on this if I'm wrong. I know a lot of AK 47 barrels were press fit as well.
IMHO, the best grade of workmanship to be found on SKS rifles overall are the Yugoslavian models.
