unfired, non-refurbished, un-issued SKS

badboybeeson said:
Nooo

And I was not taking about the made in china ones
There are now new russian unissues sks.
Russia was to active suppling other wars to have unissued guns. Just sitting in a box.
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Yes there were. I had one (but sold it like an idiot) It was a "И" letter dated Tula serial BO1880. It was mint. The stock was flawless with absolutely zero shellac flaking and zero handling marks. It had all credentials. Someone on CGN has it... and probably swapped the stock out for plastic fantastic and cut off the bayonet lug.

Late 2012 to early 2013 is when they showed up. They do exist. Why are so many in denial? They are rare now considering people bought them and cut them up not knowing what they had. I have 3 stocks from un-issued rifles (one '54 and two '55s) the the owners swapped them and sold them for cheap.

"It's just a cheap SKS like the rest, chop chop"
 
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Un-refurbished SKSs pretty much certainly do exist given the short time these rifles were in service and the absence of any significant (Soviet) conflict in which they might have been used. Refurbishment is needs based, not some time consuming activity without a purpose. You don't repaint your car every year and you don't re-shingle your roof for fun.

Un-issued and un-fired are a different subject where there is only evidence but never proof. You can prove you have been to Calgary, but can you prove that you have never been to Calgary? Absolute proof that you have never been to Calgary would be possible if you had a GPS ankle bracelet attached and birth and monitored every moment of your life. Same goes for an SKS - there is no way to prove it was un-issued even if you could agree on what the term meant (never issued to a unit, never saw field service, never left the factory). It is possible to conduct a very detailed evaluation of the barrel and chamber with an SEM to look for power residue or gilding material transfer but this could only prove that it was fired, not that it was never fired and carefully cleaned.

Collecting is a hobby so its purely in the eyes of the individual what is valuable and what is not. I have some SKSs but don't collect them. It's a good hobby for us with modest means. They are still relatively cheap and plentiful enough that you have a good chance of finding what you are looking for. This is in contrast to other milsurps which have become expensive and prone to forgery.
 
It shows that some people here fail to grasp the purpose of sks and its use through the time. If you think that sks was withdrawn from service after AK47 was adopted, you'll be mistaken. SKS is still in service and being issued to support and rear echelon troops that don't require AK. Understand that it never was a primary rifle it has the legacy of being the long lasting in service due to its atributes like attached bayo and mag.
SKS is ideal for guard troops, antiaircraft batteries or railroad troops that need a rifle and not a bullet hose. That is why they kept refurbishing and reissuing these rifles and that's why i'm saying unissued sks is non existent.
 
gewehr76 said:
It shows that some people here fail to grasp the purpose of sks and its use through the time. If you think that sks was withdrawn from service after AK47 was adopted, you'll be mistaken. SKS is still in service and being issued to support and rear echelon troops that don't require AK. Understand that it never was a primary rifle it has the legacy of being the long lasting in service due to its atributes like attached bayo and mag.
SKS is ideal for guard troops, antiaircraft batteries or railroad troops that need a rifle and not a bullet hose. That is why they kept refurbishing and reissuing these rifles and that's why i'm saying unissued sks is non existent.
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Nobody was saying that it wasn't used in a variety of roles and countries, but they made enough to supply WW3. I've got a bunch that look like they have never been touched by human hand. A service gun wont last a week without at least some scratches. Just my opinion.
 
gewehr76 said:
It shows that some people here fail to grasp the purpose of sks and its use through the time. If you think that sks was withdrawn from service after AK47 was adopted, you'll be mistaken. SKS is still in service and being issued to support and rear echelon troops that don't require AK. Understand that it never was a primary rifle it has the legacy of being the long lasting in service due to its atributes like attached bayo and mag.
SKS is ideal for guard troops, antiaircraft batteries or railroad troops that need a rifle and not a bullet hose. That is why they kept refurbishing and reissuing these rifles and that's why i'm saying unissued sks is non existent.
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I think a lot of people understand the history and its employment in support roles. What many people have directly observed is that there are many examples (particularly 1954,1955) that display no physical evidence of field service (dents and dings, worn bluing, rust etc.). Many examples show no evidence that is normally associated with refurbishment (miss match or re-stamped serial numbers, refurbishment marks, miss-matched parts etc).
I have a 1953 with a refurbish stamp where there is no question that it saw rough field service. I have several 1954s that are pristine and I doubt they were ever in the field.
If the definition of"unissued" is not used in the field then I think examples do exist.
 
bp2626 said:
For Chinese rifles, yes, absolutely. The majority of the ones in Canada were as new.

For the Russian ones it's absolutely impossible to verify "unissued" or "unfired". You can have a fired rifle with a clean bolt face and you can have an issued rifled in mint condition. Unrefurbished can be determined after a detailed inspection. Some of the refurbishments are very subtle. I recently have seen a near mint 1950 SKS with everything indicating it was unrefurbished until I noticed the takedown latch was not the right configuration. It was a short tab (mid 1951+) but it was a particularly long example making it look like a long tab but more rounded. Only after consulting some reference books did I discover that the capture pin needs to be milled and not pressed in for it to be an original 1950, very minor detail requiring magnification to verify, 9/10 people wouldn't have noticed is my guess.
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I'm just wondering if you have any pictures showing examples of this?
 
Corsa said:
I'm just wondering if you have any pictures showing examples of this?
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http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...SKS45-ID-FAQ-Collectibles-update-feb-8th-2011

Go to "l. Top cover latch.". This will explain which type of latch was used during which manufacturing period.

If you're unsure because it's in the middle length wise, look at the capture pin that holds it into place. If that pin is milled, aka the same piece of steel, it's the earlier type. If the pin is a separate piece of steel that has been pressed in to a hole to receive it, it's the later style.
 
BeaverMeat said:
Yes there were. I had one (but sold it like an idiot) It was a "И" letter dated Tula serial BO1880. It was mint. The stock was flawless with absolutely zero shellac flaking and zero handling marks. It had all credentials. Someone on CGN has it... and probably swapped the stock out for plastic fantastic and cut off the bayonet lug.

Late 2012 to early 2013 is when they showed up. They do exist. Why are so many in denial? They are rare now considering people bought them and cut them up not knowing what they had. I have 3 stocks from un-issued rifles (one '54 and two '55s) the the owners swapped them and sold them for cheap.

"It's just a cheap SKS like the rest, chop chop"
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I agree that they do indeed exist, I have one as well with the reversed N serial number in only two digits, I kick myself for not grabbing a couple more at the time.
 
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