Annie, just for your information, there never were a lot of them in the country. To aggravate the situation further, parts and accessories are almost unobtainable. Parts are out there, but a lot of looking is necessary.
If you are planning on buying a clunker and fixing it up, just remember model 52 and 52/57 rifles have personalities unique to themselves. The 52 is an extremely reliable rifle and actually outperforms the 52/57 accuracy wise. It's obvious drawback is lack of available ammunition. It has a case that isn't shared by anything else and is a hand loading proposition when you can find the cases. The cases are also berdan primed and that is another pain. The ammo I had for the one I used to own wasn't corrosive and the several thousand rounds fired (7.62x45) didn't cause any undue problems. Others say different things.
The 52/57 is a fine rifle as well. It has its hiccups as it was a modified design made to accept the shorter 7.62x39 cartridge. This has led to some feed issues with earlier rifles. If you hand load for the 52/57, keep the loads on the high end or they have a tendency to stovepipe, ruining brass and concentration.
I like mine as I said before, it has proven itself to be accurate and reliable, as long as its diet is acceptable. The SKS on the other hand is a junkyard dog. Totally reliable in most cases and easily repairable. Lots of variations though the most notworthy being threaded and press fit barrels in the receivers.
I've seen naysayers ranting about press fit barrels, but I don't think anyone has actually had or seen one come loose. That press fit is as solid as a weld, maybe even more so. It is also extremely rigid, basicly like makeing the barrel and receiver out of a solid piece of metal. Again just MOHO.
The SKS also has a lot of parts and accessories available, both aftermarket and surplus. This stuff is available in many local gunshops and from many of the headered sponsors at the top.
If you're new to the game, go for the SKS. The Russians are the rage at the moment and quite cheap but, the Chinese copies made by Norinco are very good as well. They are in a similar price range right now and the Russian may or may not be the better investment. The Russian will eventually be a desirable collector where the commercial Norincos will languish and lose value. The type 56 Chinese milsurp is another story and can be had with a synthetic, issued stock.
Other options are the Yugo milsurp SKS offerings. There are two models generally available one with and one without a grenade launcher. As new Yugos command a higher price and are considered to be some of the best SKS rifles out there.
There are many other countries that produced the SKS but they are usually harder to find and may or may not be as desirable as collectors or shooters.
bearhunter
