Need advice for buying SKS

C

ColinD

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
101   0   0
Location
Rural Alberta
Hi all,

There seems to be quite the risk of buying as SKS sight unseen.

Can some one help me out and provide advice? What do the different grades mean? Laminate or hardwood?

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Another question, is the norinco red box 762*39 actually non-corrosive?
 
Have you looked on EE ? I'd rather buy from a member than the 'gamble' of sight-unseen. Often G-post has them, and you can find local ones that you can see if within travel.
 
It all depends on what you want it for and from it.

Do you want russian or chinese? Blade or spike bayonet?

Are you a collector? You might be looking for all matching serial numbers or no refurbishment marks, an early/late year model, different factory stamps, etc.

Do you like the laminate stocks or the hardwood better?

Is a chrome lined barrel important to you? if no you're going to be looking for 1949, 50, possibly some 51's without it. If yes the later years models

For the most past, an SKS is and SKS as long as it's not all rusty and beat up. Some look pristine and shoot like crap, some look like crap and shoot great. If you're not able to look at them yourself it's kind of a coin toss, but even the bad ones will still function.

Like Buck1950 said though, you might be better off looking on the EE and being able to see pictures of the actual rifle instead of a generic stock photo and getting whatever shows up in the box.
 
Thank you, for what I know from the bit of reading I’ve been doing, I’m after a Russian Tula. I would like the Crome lined barrel, I think the laminate looks nicer but would get a hardwood as well.

I want to shoot this thing. I likely won’t use corrosive and would keep good care of the rifle. So I guess I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t want a beater and can’t afford a collector grade
 
A few years back , pre covid, a " Collector Grade", what ever that is ?? was 200-300.oo , Most laminated are refurbished, or later ones, hardwood Tula would likely be a original.
Corrosive ammo is fine , as long as you clean properly, gas port, piston, tube is where I see most of the problems with not proper cleaning.
I take with a grain of salt any ammo that is imported that says non corrosive.
 
I treat all Chinese non corrosive (white or red box) as if it’s corrosive because you can’t trust it
If you want good non corrosive try to find some Russian Barnaul ammo
As for what to look for in an sks I like to find numbers matching ones that are blued and not the bbq painted ones
Although either work just as good. The 1950 year models usually have a spring loaded firing pin but a non chromed lined barrel
Pickings are gonna be slim though as most of the real nice ones are bought up already
The EE is prob your best bet as was already mentioned
 
Sight unseen is tough simply because with cheap (read corrosive) ammo and the general disregard many people had for a "cheap surplus" gun means I have handled many SKS that never got the cleaning or attention they needed. I had one co-worker many years ago sell me an SKS for $100 with half a spam can of ammo left, he said the thing no longer ran. Turns out the gas piston was rusted/seized in the gas tube. A couple hours of cleaning and scrubbing and it is now completely fine. Problem is now that it seems spare parts are tough to come by, so if for example the spring from the piston extension is gone (like one that my buddy bought....) it can be tougher to get it back to working order
 
ColinD said:
Hi all,

There seems to be quite the risk of buying as SKS sight unseen.
Can some one help me out and provide advice? What do the different grades mean? Laminate or hardwood?
Click to expand...

As long as you buy from a dealer I don't see any risk. A laminate stock is generally better for extremely low temperatures but I guess nowadays in Canada it is a non-issue. The original laminate Russian SKS's, so called "letter series", were produced 1956-1958 in Tula but they are rarities these days. Other production years with laminate stocks are just refurbs so no collector value (could be very good shooters though).

Another question, is the norinco red box 762*39 actually non-corrosive?
Click to expand...

Yes, a red Norinco box is non-corrosive. I've been shooting them without any problem in my other than SKS rifles. However, you should notice that the price of 7.62x39mm ammo is skyrocketing nowadays. A 20rds box is now $9.99+HST.
Click to expand...
 
There are rare collector sks's as there can be rare collector variants of the USGI 1911 which had millions made. Singer 1911s come to mind

Off the top of my head, east German SKS rifles, North Korean SKS rifles, Albania rifles, and Izhevsk SKS rifles are "rarer" and thus qualify as collector desirable due to how much fewer were made and how few made it into civilian hands.
 
As 05RAV says, Ammo is getting rare, many on-line supplies are gone ! I just got a case of 1500 for ca $600 = $8+ / 20 = $ 0.41 / rnd. Up 0.10 / rnd since last Summer's price. hint - SFRC
 
Buck1950 said:
As 05RAV says, Ammo is getting rare, many on-line supplies are gone ! I just got a case of 1500 for ca $600 = $8+ / 20 = $ 0.41 / rnd. Up 0.10 / rnd since last Summer's price. hint - SFRC
Click to expand...

That's a lot for a crate, I never intended on shooting corrosive but when the only other available 7.62x39 is winchester at $35 a box, $0.30/rnd of corrosive looks pretty good.

The norinco stuff is good but the price just shot up 50% and availability seems sparatic. Barnaul is Russian so who knows if we'll be seeing more of it anytime soon.
 
If you can find a crate for $460 (not many left out there) AND you only have 7% tax AND you live near that store (NO shipping), you'll still pay $ 0.33/round. There are no x39 for sale for less within 500 miles of me. YMMV
 
05RAV said:
Yes, a red Norinco box is non-corrosive. I've been shooting them without any problem in my other than SKS rifles. However, you should notice that the price of 7.62x39mm ammo is skyrocketing nowadays. A 20rds box is now $9.99+HST.
Click to expand...

What is your experience between Red box and White box Norinco?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom