My 1952 Tula Refurb

The Kurgan

The Kurgan

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I picked this SKS up lately for a real steel. Nothing particularly special about it. Its an all-matching metal, aresenal refurbished 1952 Tula. Refurbishment appears to be limited to a newer production laminate stock with matching serial number (no ###XX'ed out serial number on this one), a nicely blued bayonet, and I think it has a re-blued and re-matched gas piston. The bluing on the barrel seems awefully nice and matches the bayonet, and I suspect it may have been re-blued as well, but I can't be certain. The bore looks absolutely perfect! The reason I picked it up, other than that it is one of the nicer refurbs I've seen is that it has a nice tight fitting gas tube with original wood finish and no electropenciled serial number. I suspect this sucker will make a fine shooter. This will be my last SKS purchase as I shift gears towards other interesting milsurps and hunting rifles.

This is a mid to later 1952 model, with all the features of the newer SKS's, with the exception of an earlier trigger assembly. Obviously, it has the type 2 non-spring firing pin (milled on two sides) and type 2 variant receiver cover. Interestingly, it has a "transitional" bayonet lug, with both a lightening recess (typical of 1952+ SKS's) and a non-angled inner ear (typical of pre-1952 SKS's).

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plinker 777 said:
Kurgan; any problems with transfers on weekends before? The whole thing didn't pass the nose test to me!
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$199 + tax

Its kind of a lottery system. Since June of this year, I purchased 12 non-restricted firearms:
-4 x SKS's (from Al Simmons, Lebarons, and CGNers: weimajack, Ki11ercane)
-GEW88 (from CGNer Dutchie)
-Venezuelan model 1924 FN contract 7mm Mauser (from Marstar)
-Zastava .22 Hornet (from Marstar)
-Savage .22 MKII BTVSS (from Markham Lebaron)
-Marlin 1895 GS guide gun (from Mississauga Lebaron)
-Polytech M305 (from Al Simmons)
-Remington 870 Express combo kit (from Markham Lebaron), and
-Mossberg 46B(a) .22 S-L-LR (from my father-in-law).

I had a delay in transfer on 1 of my SKS's (from Ki11ercane), and on my GEW88 (from Dutchie)... the rest were instant, including 4 Saturday purchases: SKS (from Al Simmons), Savage MKII, Marlin 1895, and Remington 870.

You just had bad luck; it likely has nothing to do with the seller. Mind you, I avoid CT like the bubonic plague. Dumb a$$es there.

3 of my 4 SKS's have 4 digit serial numbers when the cyrillic letter in the front is disregarded. So serial number is not necessarily the cause of delay with the CFC. In fact, my Mossberg doesn't have a serial number and it was also an instant transfer!

BTW, you could have saved yourself plenty of agony and just drove 1 hour to Al Simmons in Hamilton. I have personally inspected a number of their SKS's, and they are all minty, as are the SKS's at Lebarons in Mississauga and Markham.
 
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Woodbeef said:
Is it franken-pinned? The blued blade looks good on that light laminate.
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It is not tack welded at the follower.

My interest in the good refurbs is starting to grow -- I especially like the nicely blued examples, with the blued bayonets. Alot of expert workmanship went into the refurbishment process in the late 1950's early 1960's at Tula. Those days are unfortunately long behind us now!

FYI, Lebaron's has some very nice SKS's. :D Worth checking out.

Also, weimajack has some real beaties. He really knows how to hand-pick them.

The rumour is that the nicer Russian SKS's are getting more scarce. I think we're starting to see the end of the Russian SKS avalanche. Hopefully, as prices go up in the future, the well deserved and long overdue respect for Russian SKS's also increases!
 
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Curtton said:
you got one of those lightening cut level ear bayo lug , same as clavens.

can you inspect it close and see if it was modified?
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Refer to page 6 and page 7 of your Russian SKS FAQ sticky. My SKS is of the exact same batch as igojuone's SKS. There is no coincidence. This is an example of the transitional 1952 bayonet lug.

I'm no expert, but after personally inspecting many many SKS's, and owning a dozen, I am confident that it was never modified.
 
The Kurgan said:
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If you look close at the stake mark were the bayonet screw attaches to the bayonet lug you will notice that the dent is off set meaning that the bayonet was removed at some point in time. Also the shinny cross pin holding on you front post sight and also the re-blued lug's that apear to be modified to fit the new bayonet make me lean torwards an late production re-furb. Take pic's of were the gas block meet's the reciever and we be able to tell you more about your rifle.
 
G-Force24 said:
I love the blued blade, just got one off the EE from More Guns supply in Winnipeg, Is there a way to blue the existing bayonet???
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I will try to post pic's this weekend for you on my SkS project called "Black Beauty" I think you might just like it.
I know most people think it's a waste of money but if you get Murdoc to Arma-Coat your entire rifle and it has a chromed barrel it literally take 3 passes with a bore snake & CLP after a wipeout foam bubble's disappeared. ;)
 
Satain said:
If you look close at the stake mark were the bayonet screw attaches to the bayonet lug you will notice that the dent is off set meaning that the bayonet was removed at some point in time. Also the shinny cross pin holding on you front post sight and also the re-blued lug's that apear to be modified to fit the new bayonet make me lean torwards an late production re-furb. Take pic's of were the gas block meet's the reciever and we be able to tell you more about your rifle.
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Refurbishment on this particular SKS is limited to a replacement laminate stock, possible replacement gas tube and piston, blued bayonet, and possibly a re-blued barrel and front sight. That is it. All serial numbers match, there are no ground/re-stamped serial numbers, no blued-over electropenciled serial numbers (with exception of gas piston), etc.

I removed the bayonet for a thorough cleaning after purchase, and because I was experimenting with whether or not I wanted it attached with a Tapco stock. However, the bayonet would have been removed for arsenal re-bluing anyway. I disagree with your other comment. There is no evidence to suggest the lugs were modified to fit the bayonet. There are already a number of examples of the same bayonet lug features on other MID to later production 1952 SKS's (see Curtton's Russian SKS FAQ sticky). On those examples, all had the earlier trigger assembly, lightening recess cuts and straight inner ears on lug. The reality is that this is a fairly rare lug variant as the 1952 models "evolved" into their "final" 1952+ form.

I make it a hobby (as sad as it might sound to some of you) :) to visit gun stores and inspect SKS's and other Russian surplus while there shopping for ammo, etc. I find it theraputic. :) In reality, I have probably handled over 150 SKS's since June. I have become fairly good at identifying obvious and not-so obvious signs of refurbishment. 99% of them are refurbished for absolute certain, but some very mildly. I have never seen a case yet where the bayonet lug was "modified" to accept a replacement bayonet or mimic the later bayonet lug type. Possible yes, but not in my case. Yes, most bayonets were removed when they were re-blued (as well as front sight-lug attachment, etc.) and sometimes when they got painted. But that is not a sign that the bayonet was replaced.
 
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The SKS rifles at lebarons must be a new shipment, because I was going to grab one from Missisauga around the summertime, and I heard that its not worth the drive ( 1hour for me ) because they are really slim picking left. All of the nice ones have been picked through, or atleast from what I heard.
 
blueflash said:
The SKS rifles at lebarons must be a new shipment, because I was going to grab one from Missisauga around the summertime, and I heard that its not worth the drive ( 1hour for me ) because they are really slim picking left. All of the nice ones have been picked through, or atleast from what I heard.
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you are right. These are a recent shipment, as of the 2 months or so. I don't know what's left, as I was at Lebarons in late October.
 
Woodbeef said:
You say it's not franken-pinned. But the mag is renumbered on the side just like the franken-pinned ones are.
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Woodbeef; I was mistaken. I was confusing my other recently acquired Tula that has the newer, smaller rivits that don't block the SN. Though you raise an interesting point in that the SN is stamped (and whited out) on the side of the magazine like you would see on other parts. My other refurb (with frankinpin) has the SN electropenciled on the side.
 
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