I've owned 13 or 14 Russian SKS's (7 or 8 non-refurbished), I lost count, but I have handled literally hundreds. I foolishly sold a mint unissued 1953 Izhevsk which was perfect in every way (deep bluing and an attractive honey brown stock). I sold all but one after I retired, a real valuable one to me. It's an as-issued, non-refurbished 1954 Tula that was imported into this country by IZH in early 2008. It was weimajack's personal SKS, hand picked from literally thousands. It has the "nice" pinning method of a small thin piece of barstock lightly tack welded to the follower arm. If I do my part it hits inside 4 inches at 50 yards all day long (sometimes better) using the Barnaul ammo. It also has several ultra-rare unit markings on the handgrip, including what appears to be a repair depo marking. It was definitely issued and used, but still in excellent condition. You can say that it's going to the grave with me. What is not to love about these well-made work horses? An unnamed member here carried one in Angola--preferred over the AK and the FN fal for a variety of valid, real world reasons