Help a picky SKS noob buy his first milsurp!

Z

Zerex

CGN Regular
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Location
Victoria, BC
After a lot of thought I've decided I need an SKS in my firearms collection.
The problem is I'm fairly particular (picky) in what I think I want. And on top of that I'm not even sure I can find an SKS that meets my criteria.
So this is what I'd like: Light colored hardwood stock, unissued non refurbished, chrome lined bore.
Here's a picture of the color I'd prefer

Yugo_SKS.jpg


So, there you go. Help me find my SKS!
 
First, that's a Yugo. Not widely available in Canada.

If you like that color closest will be a Chinese one. Which are scarce currently.

Russians are readily available, but do not have that color at all. There are some honey/amber coloured ones, but not typicaly one solid consistent colour like you desire.
You could find a lighter russian arctic birch stock, strip it and refinish so that its lighter afterwards.
 
Cb750k said:
If you find an unissued un refurbished one expect to pay a premium, most of the Russians out there for sale are refurbs now.
Click to expand...

This^.

Don't be too quick to sneer at a refurb however. I bought an early Tula refurb last spring that looks new/unissued. The laminated stock and bluing on the metal was flawless. I had to look hard to find the refurb stamp on the stock. Believe me, you could do a lot worse.
 
Refinish the stock so that the sks won't be battle-scarred, and re stain it to the colour of your choice. Would be a good project to do over the winter time...
 
99% of the SKS's you see out there are refurbs. Some are really nice, all matching, etc, but still refurbs. As mentioned, be prepared to pay a premium. You're probably looking at around $350 for an unissued Russian SKS. You may have to prioritize on what exactly you want too. You may need to sacrifice the chrome bore and light stock (Russians are generally dark red) to get an unissued, non-refurb.

My suggestion would be to pick up a cheap beater and use it for a while, then decide if you want to get a collectible one. If you find one like you're looking for, you may not want to fire it too much, and I'd definitely recommend against shooting corrosive ammo through an unissued SKS.
 
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Talk to CGN'er weimajack. I purchased 4 non-refurbished SKS's from him. They are ALL in exceptional condition.
He may not have any at the moment, but he seems to have a few from time to time. You'll be paying over $400 for one, but still a bargain.
As others have said, 99% of the SKS's out there are refurbs, but many are very mild refurbs with just a replacement stock. If you go the refurb route, I would purchase a nice laminate. They can be found with the honey finish that you seek.
 
theJawshMay said:
Refinish the stock so that the sks won't be battle-scarred, and re stain it to the colour of your choice. Would be a good project to do over the winter time...
Click to expand...

+1

You could strip the cosmoline from any matching# milsurp SKS -- in any cheap awful-for-the-wood manner (hot water, steam, oven cleaner) and then refinish with stain of your choice.

I personally love the red colour.
 
Isn`t that strange ? Used to go to the Cabelas in the USA and all you saw on the racks were those lovely Yugo SKSs ,while up here ,all you could get were Chinese type 56 versions.

Now it`s the wonderful Russians !

As mentioned ,buy the best you can or better yet several (a few cheap refurbs)and make sure they are the Birch stocks ,then strip and finish yourself, starting light and working the finish until the desired tone is realized.

It is indeed a great winter project ,so get several.

Paul T
 
OK so by the sounds of it I'm going to have to compromise. So I would purchase a refurb if it's in great condition and by the sounds of it refinishing a Birch stock will be me best bet.
So where can I pickup the best condition Birch stock SKS (can I find one chrome lined?)?
Thanks for all the advice so far :)
 
Zerex said:
OK so by the sounds of it I'm going to have to compromise. So I would purchase a refurb if it's in great condition and by the sounds of it refinishing a Birch stock will be me best bet.
So where can I pickup the best condition Birch stock SKS (can I find one chrome lined?)?
Thanks for all the advice so far :)
Click to expand...

From what I can see the best places to get a quality sks would be Westrifle and Marstar
http://westrifle.com/wrstore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20
http://www.marstar.ca/dynamic/category.jsp?catid=85527

Good shooting
 
Hey Zerex, if you get to Vancouver at all you should drop in at Lever Arms. $375 gets you an sks and a 1320rnd crate of Romanian surplus ammo. The 52 Tula I picked out is in beautiful condition, shoots well. If you can hand pick from the rack you won't find a better deal at $420 after tax, I find levers selection of birch or laminates are top notch. They have ample stripper clips and Chinese bandoliers that hold 220 rounds as well.
 


For a refurb it's in beautiful shape, bluing is nice. In town I'd go to Lever again and pick through the rack, lots of years and stock choices as well as chrome lined barrels or not lined. My wife's cousin picked up two when he was visiting last, they were both in top notch shape.
 
I got my sks from whole sale sports when they were on sale for 170 and when i first de cosmoed it it looked like new. I have put 300 round through it now and I love it.
 
Corwin-Arms. I know, I know, I'm a broken record recommending Corwin-Arms, but Martin knows his stuff, and goes out of his way to meet your needs/wants.

He picked out a beauty for me this summer (my 2nd SKS). I ordered on a Wednesday, he sent me an email that night saying he was in Poland picking out more for his next shipment, but already had some great ones in stock, if I could wait until Monday for him to get back to Canada and pick one out. He phoned me on the Monday, asked in detail what I wanted, and it arrived at my house... Wednesday afternoon.

I can't think of any other dealer who puts that kind of care and attention into making sure his customers are satisfied. This is the one he sent, it met my specs exactly:

minty_sks_s.jpg


http://corwin-arms.com/product/russian-sks-hardwood-0
http://corwin-arms.com/product/izhevsk-sks-hardwood-stock
http://corwin-arms.com/product/laminate-stock-sks-rifle
 
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