Does my Russian SKS have a chrome lined barrel?

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kozmo

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I have a 1951 russian sks with the spring loaded firing pin. My question is how can I tell if it has a chrome lined barrel. The crown is shiny and the rest of the barrel is blued.
 
Test with a weak magnet. Ie. A small(1/8"x1/8") piece of a refrigerator magnet. If it sticks to the barrel but not the bore than you have chrome. If it does stick to the bore no chrome.

Or you could shoot some surplus and not clean it then see if it rusts or not.
 
ciphery said:
Test with a weak magnet. Ie. A small(1/8"x1/8") piece of a refrigerator magnet. If it sticks to the barrel but not the bore than you have chrome. If it does stick to the bore no chrome.

Or you could shoot some surplus and not clean it then see if it rusts or not.
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It would have to be pretty thick chrome to defeat a magnet.

Put some gun bluing on a q-tip swab and a dab to the bore. Chrome won't blue, but bare steel will.
 
From what I know, all 51's and newer have chrome barrels.

The ones that definately dont are the 49's and most 50's, the latter being most desirable by me... although I'd like to get a chrome lined 51 Russian to take the heat of heavy fire.:)
 
It was tough to tell any difference with the magnet test, but the muzzle is shiny, so I guess it's chrome lined

it's a tough gun to figure out, it has no refurb marks except the stock and the cover has no date stamp or anything, numbers all match,it's a 51, in great shape... I think it may be a nice find if it's got both the spring loaded firing pin and the chrome barrel, since they would only have both in early 51
 
kozmo said:
It was tough to tell any difference with the magnet test, but the muzzle is shiny, so I guess it's chrome lined

it's a tough gun to figure out, it has no refurb marks except the stock and the cover has no date stamp or anything, numbers all match,it's a 51, in great shape... I think it may be a nice find if it's got both the spring loaded firing pin and the chrome barrel, since they would only have both in early 51
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Very nice find! I just got a 1950 SKS and doing a bit of research on it I found the spring loaded firing pins were in the 49s, 50s, and the first half of the 51s. The chrome lined barrels came in in 51. My barrel is very dark, if your's is chromed it should be very shiny. I'm surprised your cover doesn't have a date though....
 
kozmo said:
It was tough to tell any difference with the magnet test, but the muzzle is shiny, so I guess it's chrome lined

it's a tough gun to figure out, it has no refurb marks except the stock and the cover has no date stamp or anything, numbers all match,it's a 51, in great shape... I think it may be a nice find if it's got both the spring loaded firing pin and the chrome barrel, since they would only have both in early 51
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Once the barrel is clean, its easy to see if its chrome or not. Chrome bore are very very shiny and ofc, the cold blue test dont lie. Spring loaded firing pin is not required, the free floating one is perfect as long rattle freely when you shake the bolt.
Jocelyn
 
I bought it a Wholesale Sports, so its a crap shoot as to what you get, but once i got it home, it was interesting to date it since it didn't have any factory or date stamps, I'm still not 100% sure about the chrome because I blasted a 150 rounds through it before I checked to see if it's chrome lined, so I can't really tell if it's just dirty inside or not, although I have cleaned it several times :) however, the crown is very shiny. I'm surprised how much fun I've had just researching it
 
kozmo said:
I bought it a Wholesale Sports, so its a crap shoot as to what you get, but once i got it home, it was interesting to date it since it didn't have any factory or date stamps, I'm still not 100% sure about the chrome because I blasted a 150 rounds through it before I checked to see if it's chrome lined, so I can't really tell if it's just dirty inside or not, although I have cleaned it several times :) however, the crown is very shiny. I'm surprised how much fun I've had just researching it
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Are you sure its a 1951? Gas block on 51 is slended like 45* No date on cover, well with refurb anything can happen. No Tula star on left side of receiver? Could you post pics? Always nice to see various SKS.
Jocelyn
 
I will post pics tomorrow... My PC died and I now have a Mac... Not really sure how to do anything on this computron
 
1951s were a transition year. At least 2 things were changed during the year's production. One was the change from a sprung firing pin to an unsprung one and the other was the introduction of chrome barrel lining.
An example of this is the crate fresh and unmolested '51 SKS that I purchased from Lever 2 years ago. It has an unsprung pin and non-chromed barrel. This means it was one of the first of the changover rifles, as only one upgrade had been done. By '52 all SKS' had the changes.
If yours still has the pin spring, I'd bet it is an early '51 meaning it also as the plain barrel.
 
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Jocelyn, I figure from all the parts posted that it is 1950-1952, but because it has a spring loaded firing pin, I narrowed it down to 1951... am I mistaken? What does all of the electropencilling tell you? I can't find any info about whether this makes it a referb? I still don't get the unmarked receiver cover and no refurb stamps with the serial number. I was apprehensive about shooting it, but since it may be a refurb, I may just enjoy this gun on the range rather than in my locker :D... although now I think I would like to have a collectable to leave untouched... I never thought I'd say this, but I want another SKS!!!
 
kozmo said:
Jocelyn, I figure from all the parts posted that it is 1950-1952, but because it has a spring loaded firing pin, I narrowed it down to 1951... am I mistaken? What does all of the electropencilling tell you? I can't find any info about whether this makes it a referb? I still don't get the unmarked receiver cover and no refurb stamps with the serial number. I was apprehensive about shooting it, but since it may be a refurb, I may just enjoy this gun on the range rather than in my locker :D... although now I think I would like to have a collectable to leave untouched... I never thought I'd say this, but I want another SKS!!!
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Nice sks!
I did read in the Russian SKS45: ID FAQ Collectibles .... That some Refurbs had replacement blank covers if the original cover was lost or damaged.
Stock is forced match with all the ######X's
Try the blue test to see if the barrel is chrome, I highly doubt that it is though.

I just did some more digging on my what I thought was a '50 tula, it has the spring loaded pin, and '50 tula cover.
But, has chrome barrel, Type 3 Gas block 1952 -56 , Late bayonet lug 1952-56 , no mill step reciever 52-56, Late rear sight base 1952-56, Late trigger group. 1952 -56 and mag 1949-53 which has the gap below the locking lug....
guess I have a 52-53 something with early spring pin and cover......seems like a mutt
 
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kozmo said:
Jocelyn, I figure from all the parts posted that it is 1950-1952, but because it has a spring loaded firing pin, I narrowed it down to 1951... am I mistaken? What does all of the electropencilling tell you? I can't find any info about whether this makes it a referb? I still don't get the unmarked receiver cover and no refurb stamps with the serial number. I was apprehensive about shooting it, but since it may be a refurb, I may just enjoy this gun on the range rather than in my locker :D... although now I think I would like to have a collectable to leave untouched... I never thought I'd say this, but I want another SKS!!!
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Your sks could be a 1950 also. the cold blue test would tell if the bore is chromed or not or if you could try to clean the bore and take a pic of it. The bore would be only have been replaced if was worn out. The rear cover can be from a used rifle,with restamped number or can be a replacement virgin cover too. Its alway hard to tell because in refurb, everything is possible and the russian didn't always put the refurb stamp during refurbishing. The stock come from another rifle, they ###X the old number and stamp the new number to match. Same for the bolt carrier, could be a used one, repolished and penciled or a replacement part. you must note that on sks, parts like gas tube,rear sight,gas piston,extractor are always electro penciled even on unissued rifle because those part are too small or too thin to be stamped. In all, your sks is a refurb for sure,no doubt about that so dont worry have fun with it.
Jocelyn
 
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