How to tell if an SKS unissued

[Propyro85]

Different refurb factories finished them differently, doesn't mean much, some folks think the shiny ones are original and goldish color ones are special, I am not sure to be honest!

That makes a lot of sense, especially after reading a bit of that thread about the SKS with the golden bayonet from Tenda.

That one was refurb by Molot.

Well, thanks for that bit of information.

 

[jaroslav]

Yea exactly, followed by a noise similar to a cat getting its tail hit with a 10lb. Mallet!

Did it hurt?

 

[53Izzy744]

Wow the price is going up. My dad bought a beauty from W a few years ago (my user namesake) and they were a premium 240$.

 

[City Boy]

I can’t comment about “unissued” or “non-refurbished”, but I have seen rifles with wear on the stripper clip guide/bolt carrier or wear on the bolt and then there are rifles that look perfect, unused. Some rifles look like they’ve been dragged through the mud and some look like everything has been painted or replaced/non-matching. The perfect looking rifles are not as common anymore.

 

[GarandStanding]

Edited

 

[toyboy]

look at the bolt face.any ring around the firing pin?
look at the piston and carrier.any carbon or scratches on the piston?any small ring on the carrier where it makes contact with the second piston?
look at the rifling.any copper or dark grey marks in the rifling?

that will tell you unissued and possibly unfired.
i have one unissued and unfired.IZH import all blued and pinned with welded rod to follower.

 

[GarandStanding]

I think this one is unfired according to everything I’ve read.

 

[grinder08]

Non refurb is easy enough to figure out. Unissued? Unless the seller has a time machine and was able to sneak into Soviet Arsenal’s and steal brand new rifles right off the line, they are lying when they say it is unissued. There is no way we can know what happened to a 60+ year old rifle behind the iron curtain.

There were a lot of unissued SKS's. Both the SKS and the AK47 were being manufactured in tandem. By the 50's a lot of SKS's were put straight into storage after manufacture, not all by a long stretch but quite a few. Can you be absolutely sure you have an unissued non-refurb, no. However there are a number of good indicators, First does it look right, wood with all the same discolouration etc (the gas tube was often replaced), all the parts stamped with the same number with no cross outs etc, appropriate colour bayonet (but this is not absolute) later in the production run especially Russian firearms were often put together from a parts bin rather than all parts manufactured at the same time. Even renumbered parts does not necessarily mean it was issued it just means it was pulled from one rifle and put on another. Remember these were cheap disposable military rifles. They were not built with the north american collector in mind. Personally I don't think any SKS can certifiably be called unissued non-refurb there are just to many variables but you can certainly get ones with a good chance of being unissued, non-refurb. I have one I believe is in this category but I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it.

 

[MartyK2500]

I have reason to believe my recent 200$ SKS purchased (in a bag full of cosmoline) is possibly and/or unissued, unfired, unrefurbed.
Anyone has other spots to look for?
1954, all parts matching numbers. Breach face and gas piston look new.