Date of manufacture of Norinco SKS make any big difference?

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canthitathing

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I've never been a fan of red rifles (red rifle noob), but after reading some threads and seeing some SKS pics, I'm ready to "pull the trigger" on an SKS and expect to do some superficial mods as long as they don't affect classification (such as replace the stock with a synthetic after-market tactical-looking stock (sorry to you purists, lol), and maybe eventually having the removable magazine mod).

My question relates to the date of manufacture for a Norinco SKS. I am debating between one of early 60's versus one from 70's-80's. Both are said to have milled receivers and chrome-lined barrels with spike bayonets. Is there any reason to favour one over the other? I've heard that Chinese SKS rifles had many small incremental factory changes done over the years and wonder whether the later manufactured ones have some benefit over the earlier vintage. Thanks for your comments in advance.
 
Hmmmmm, I expected all you SKS officiado's to jump right in here, but nothing so far, quite disappointing. Anyway, I'll bump this up and wait a bit more.
 
The early chinese SKS have the barrel threaded in receiver as the russian and have a blade bayonet while later chinese have spike bayo and barrel are pressed and pinned in, and are perfectly fine. They are also commercial chinese SKS made in the 90's i think, quality is so so from what i read but dont worry, the SKS that are available in Canada now are all military made SKS so you are good to go. Chinese SKS were made at different factory but except for finish quality, they perform all the same.

Joce
 
The earlier SKS have spring in the firing pin which was removed in the later model. If you just want to shoot it, you can go with any year and either Russian or Chinese. For collecting, I understand 1945 are highly collectible.
 
SteelCap said:
The earlier SKS have spring in the firing pin which was removed in the later model. If you just want to shoot it, you can go with any year and either Russian or Chinese. For collecting, I understand 1945 are highly collectible.
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There,s no 1945 SKS, the first year of production was 1949 but yes they are collectable ones.

Joce
 
All Chinese SKS' are great rifles. 60's and 70's are choice decades. The early 1956 or 57 especially.
The Chinese were very secretive and inconsistent as a result to throw other nations off with regards to production numbers. The only Chinese SKS' that can definitely be dated are the factory /26\ models. That factory kept records and had a consistant serial number dating system.
Not all military issued Chinese SKS' had the Chinese letters (three characters meaning "type 56") on the side of the receiver either.
What you want is a factory triangle number stamp. My Norinco is a factory /625\ with a milled receiver. Do some research and you'll find some more interesting factoids.
 
I bought a Chinese SKS in the very early '80's before anyone in Canada knew what they were. It was a Viet Nam vet "bring back" that I foolishly refinished and sold. In the '90's I bought a Chinese commercial one that was a HUGE pile of crap. Among other problems the rear sight was mounted so far from center that it stuck out noticeably on the left side of the rifle. I wisely sold it to one of those nit-wits that wears cammo and jump boots to go get groceries. Next I got a Russian one from Bartons. A beautiful thing, I'll keep it forever. My point being that not all SKS's are the same. Get a military one. I'd be wary of a "new" one.
 
The ones I am trying to decide between are military non-issued, non-refurbed rifles from two of our site sponsors. Even their web page descriptions are almost verbatim.

I just wondered about any potential incremental factory improvements between 60's vintage (Eastern sponsor) and 70-80's vintage (Western sponsor) rifles. My purchase would therefore be online, so no chance to see it beforehand. Minor cost differences include shipping and maybe applicable taxes (HST versus only GST? not sure).

So far though, I'm not hearing anything specifically differentiating so can only think that if there is any benefit, that the 70-80's vintage would be the one with the benefit. Still listening for further input though.
 
EL34/6L6 said:
All Chinese SKS' are great rifles. 60's and 70's are choice decades. The early 1956 or 57 especially.
The Chinese were very secretive and inconsistent as a result to throw other nations off with regards to production numbers. The only Chinese SKS' that can definitely be dated are the factory /26\ models. That factory kept records and had a consistant serial number dating system.
Not all military issued Chinese SKS' had the Chinese letters (three characters meaning "type 56") on the side of the receiver either.
What you want is a factory triangle number stamp. My Norinco is a factory /625\ with a milled receiver. Do some research and you'll find some more interesting factoids.
Click to expand...

The secrecy that the Chinese used was for their own security. The Chinese very quickly moved away from single production factories, to individual parts only being made at a single factory location. One factory would make barrels, another stocks, another would make firing pins, ect. When done in this manner, parts or materials cannot go missing enough to make a complete firearm. Individual firearm ownership is prohibited in China. Accurate numbers of individual parts would be shipped by rail to unknown locations where the military oversaw complete assembly. Individual factory and/or parts markings may have a lot less to do with the place or date of production than a lot of internet rumors tend to speculate about. To this day, "Norinco" is still a group of factories, rather than an individual one.

I get my information from a retired Chinese gentleman who was in the Chinese military when he was a very young man. Ironically, he knows every single part of the Chinese SKS, most of the stamps, and he does the translations for me on other Chinese militaria and where and when they were made.


On another note, many of the commercial Chinese SKS rifles were made primarily of left over milspec parts. I have a commercial made SKS from the mid eighties, with probably over ten thousand rounds through it it has never missed a beat and shoots as well as any of my many other Chinese and Soviet SKS rifles. In thirty plus years of shooting corrosive ammunition, there is no rust anywhere on this rifle.
 
canthitathing said:
I just wondered about any potential incremental factory improvements between 60's vintage (Eastern sponsor) and 70-80's vintage (Western sponsor) rifles. My purchase would therefore be online, so no chance to see it beforehand. Minor cost differences include shipping and maybe applicable taxes (HST versus only GST? not sure).
Click to expand...

No matter what sponsor you decide to purchase from, you will be getting a fine SKS...
 
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