Opinions on changing the russian sks stock to tacticool

this is why you shouldn't perma mod an SKS

here is a whole and complete enfield, you could buy them for $10 out of a barrel in Army and Navy. they were everywhere, people said "I can do what I want to them because we will never run out"
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this is what happened to most of them: "hunter cool" sporterization, as advocated by magazines like "popular mechanics" and the gun rags of the day.

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and this

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perminatly altered, is some cases the rearsight bridges cut off the receivers.

Fast forward 40 years, the originals are rare and snatched up quickly, those $10 rifles from an oil barrel if left unmolested and even remotely cared for are fetching $800 +

were as the broken, battered and babba rifles can barely muster $300 I've seen many go around $200.



SKS's are probably the last major surplus rifle that will ever hit the canadian market, with real wood, milled receivers a class act for amass produced russian rifle. now that they are "drying up" the price is slowly going up for worse and worse examples..... once no more crates come over thats it... the price starts to climb year after year... and eventually unmolested SKS that survive are going to be worth big bucks.

DDon't believe me, look at the US market were they havn''t been able to import them for 20 years... they are going for $700 USD.
 
Let's be generous and say that 20 years from now, unmodified SKS sell for $1000. Wow, you had a rifke sit in your basement for 20 years and it is now worth $800 more than what you paid for it. Except the dollar doesn't go as far so it's more like $600 more. Hmmm is it really a great investment ? :)
 
LordEvilPepper said:
this is why you shouldn't perma mod an SKS

here is a whole and complete enfield, you could buy them for $10 out of a barrel in Army and Navy. they were everywhere, people said "I can do what I want to them because we will never run out"
az.jpg



this is what happened to most of them: "hunter cool" sporterization, as advocated by magazines like "popular mechanics" and the gun rags of the day.


DDon't believe me, look at the US market were they havn''t been able to import them for 20 years... they are going for $700 USD.
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I remember them at 13 bucks from the wooden barrel. You must be older than me....But YES, the exact point.
 
fiddler said:
A scope would certainly improve some groups for guys with aging eyes, but realistically you can only expect so much from surplus ammo. It will never be a tack driver no matter how much of your hard earned money you throw into it. If someone wants a precision rifle, there are so many other worthwhile platforms to put your money on. An SKS will always shoot like a $200 rifle regardless how pretty you make it.
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The challenge would prove whether or not the modified SKS's. Handle better and faster than the Stock SKS's. Im not talking accuracy. I'm talking improved reload speed, better sight picture do to optics, better pointability, muzzle control etc, things that potentially improve with mods. You people keep comparing modified SKS rifles to $2000+ black rifles.... When In reality the NEXT gun that comes close to a modified SKS is a $1000 STOCK VZ, by time u add ur optic, stocks etc, that $1000 VZ is more like $1500+....
 
Gatehouse said:
Let's be generous and say that 20 years from now, unmodified SKS sell for $1000. Wow, you had a rifke sit in your basement for 20 years and it is now worth $800 more than what you paid for it. Except the dollar doesn't go as far so it's more like $600 more. Hmmm is it really a great investment ? :)
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Yup, this is the real truth.
 
I also see a difference with what was dons to do many Enfields- permanent alteration- and most modded SKS which often is just replacing some parts or adding stuff to it without chopping or drilling. And lots of SKS are just left alone, too. A standard SKS is common whereas most Enfields have been worked over.

Just my opinion. :)
 
As B. A. Baracus might say, "Only a fool would tacticool"...
Did you notice that the A-team's Mini 14's remained pretty much stock?
Says something.
I tacticool only the BBQ Molot imports that have been essentially butchered before they even got here.
Anything with that wavy purply bluing stays as museum fresh as I can keep it.
 
I still don't get all the fuss over enfield prices. My total cost for my enfield mk3 with stock, rifle, spare parts and equipment to restore costed less then 400$.


Thanks to the cost of ammo im not even sure if ill use it.
 
Gatehouse said:
Let's be generous and say that 20 years from now, unmodified SKS sell for $1000. Wow, you had a rifke sit in your basement for 20 years and it is now worth $800 more than what you paid for it. Except the dollar doesn't go as far so it's more like $600 more. Hmmm is it really a great investment ? :)
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but when you bought a create of them for $100 each 5 years ago.... thats a big investment payout, especially when you can still shoot them and have the value hold.
Look at SVTs they were $200 what 4-5 years ago? you could get legit matching numbers ones in that range. try to find one in a store that isn't a "used, used rifle".They are going for $350 to $400 now.
Even M44's have crept up to $400

Once the market dries up for "new" the used market gets expensive to hunt down ones that haven't been shot out, bubba or beaten up.


there are people that bought 40-50 enfields for $10-15 each... its like a nest egg now lol.
I know one guy at CHAS bought over 20 P17's. hes been making them into wild cat guns (the one in .50 alaskan is pretty neat) over the years to the agony of the collectors.


but the bubba is going to massacre another surplus rifle line sigh


AS for SKS mods not being permanent.... that might be true, but how many guys lose the original parts... or just throw them out? heck some ofthe stores are selling them sans wood stocks in tapco's.. and i know they just pitch them.


CanadianBaconPancakes said:
I still don't get all the fuss over enfield prices. My total cost for my enfield mk3 with stock, rifle, spare parts and equipment to restore costed less then 400$.


Thanks to the cost of ammo im not even sure if ill use it.
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you got a tipical deal on a sporterized, and found a good deal on parts....

A sporter without the bridge is only going to get $300 tops... $200 realistically.
A sporter with the bridge is going to get maybe $300 if the original sights haven't been mauled to bad.

A all together enfield non matching might show up for as little as $500 depending on model but will go for more like $800-900 these days
A matching enfield of a desired model.. man i've seen them hitting $1000 to 1600 not bad for a $10 rifle from a barrel, its like having an investment that pays 12.5% compounding interest... which is better then RRSP's lol.
 
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Another consideration-

Id there any guarantee that if SKS supply dries up and the price rises to $500-700 that one of our importers won't see an opportunity and have the CHinese do another run of them for the Canadian market?
 
maybe not.

but what did the import of AIA enfields do against actual Enfield prices?
not much as they cost more to produce.

IF the going market for SKS rise to $400.... i don't think a single importer will try to sell a chinese one for less then $375 if new production cost isn't more already.
 
Just thinking out aloud.

SKS were Russian designed and while they licensed production to several other countries, I prefer Russian made. I know Chinese versions are good too, I had a D version which I sold when the Russians arrived.

I think Russian originals will increase in value while Chinese versions, may not go as high.

I'm thinking about Norinco 1911s, as good as they are, they don't command the same prices or respect, as other makes.
 
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