Refurb SKS and SVT-40 stock finishes

jonyork

jonyork

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
3   0   0
Location
Ottawa
Hey Guys,

They other day I was looking at some pictures of russian soldiers with SKS's and SVT-40's and I noticed the stocks look to be a bit of a different finish.

Where the refurbs refinished somehow before they got to our shores, or are the stocks "as issued"?

Thanks!
 
 
The honor guard sks's might have a different finish. More than china and Russia made SKSs. Other countries made them and different woods and finishes were used for stocks. Most in those pictures are honor guard guns and they may have used a different finish, as they also refinished the metalwork. But the others look like the Russian and Chinese finishes. The Chinese made them over decades and there are some variations in color of the Chinese ones over the years. Also the original finishes of the SKS's and SVT 40s was different that the refurb finish. We are seeing alot of refurbs here. The original finish like they would have had when they were in use back then in the pics was darker. The lighter color are refurb. As well the ones being used back then didn't have the cosmoline. When reshellaced and soaked in cosmoline it would change the look.
 
Last edited:
Reading about some of the finishing processes the Soviets used, my understanding is pine tar and shellac were used as primary finishes. Cosmoline and storage age give us the final finish we find in these Canada bound milsurps.
 
jonyork said:
Admittedly, it's very hard to tell in the black and white ones, but they seem to be less....shiny? Almost as if they got polyurethaned before they were stored for a long time, or shipped over.
Click to expand...

Great pics... thx for sharing.

You are right, it is hard to tell what the finish was when these guns were first produced but I imagine the arsenals that made them used the same finishing process when they were refurbed.
 
So, just for curiosity's sake, if you took a refurb, stripped it of it's finish, and refinished it with pine tar you would have something close to the originals?
 
Reading R.N Chumak's book, page 130. He is talking about SVT wood stock. All he says that the wood parts were covered in special oil-tar compound or linseed oil and coated with several layers of VK-1 type lacquer and varnish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom