Updated - Anyone notice dealers are starting to get Chinese SKS?

In the late 1980's I bought a new, wrapped No4 MkII in the grease for $150, if you want something like that now, you'll need to add a zero. I know a guy that traded an L1A1 for an SKS - considered a great deal at the time, because the SKS was worth nearly $100 more than the FN. The SKS is a great "tool" gun, it's durability means it isn't disposable, and it's value has held over the years, when we stop getting them, the value will increase.
 
I did ;), BUT I also have another Russian SKS that is kept in original condition.

Oh yah, I`ve done one in tacticool or whatever they call it (Tapco stock ,bi-pod,rails....you know,the usual) it`s a Chinese ,and shoots pretty damn good.

Have another Chinese done up in a Dragunov revamp ,all hand machined wood stocks and aluminum shell, that was a fun project(would have used a Russian donor ,but they weren`t available here yet)

Then I did an AK version using a Russian version .turned out pretty nice and looks the part.

BUT..not to worry, I still have some beauties left that will never be buggered with.

BB
 
That's good news!
I'm glad I didn't buy into the hype and seek out an over priced Chinese SKS
Soon they should be coming up on the EE for $200, just like the Russians.
 
Depends how many are out there. Anyone know who's got them besides Tradex?

The Halifax Army Navy Store. They have the Type 56. A week or so ago the price was $249 now it is: SKS – Chinese Military Surplus – wooden Stock, $300
Their Type 56 looks quite beat up. IMHO not worth $300.
The ones at Tradex are a bit better but still nothing special although not so bad for the price of $249.
 
Deep rust that was repaired on magazine..... Missing Handgaurd pin? wtf.... Cut down handgaurd ( to short ) Looks like it was actually made outta spec.

Unusable outta box, pretty sure the gas piston will not line up with the piston under the leaf sigh its so lose.

Good for Bubbha project.
 
There was a dealer "who's name shall not be spoken" that sold Chinese sks for $75 with the purchase of a $250-$299 case of ammo. They did this for nearly 2 years straight. This was the norm only a couple years ago. Likely tens of thousands of the Chinese sks floating around in Canada. The imaginary increased value on them now in my eyes is associated with the lack of real value to newer shooters. They plainly just don't know because they are new to the sport and are being financially fleeced. Hey if you want to give $300-400 for a sks I would gladly sell you some mint condition all numbers matching McDonald's napkins.
 
There was a dealer "who's name shall not be spoken" that sold Chinese sks for $75 with the purchase of a $250-$299 case of ammo. They did this for nearly 2 years straight. This was the norm only a couple years ago. Likely tens of thousands of the Chinese sks floating around in Canada. The imaginary increased value on them now in my eyes is associated with the lack of real value to newer shooters. They plainly just don't know because they are new to the sport and are being financially fleeced. Hey if you want to give $300-400 for a sks I would gladly sell you some mint condition all numbers matching McDonald's napkins.



Wasent it later found out that these were commercial variants as well? Even tho they sold them as military.

I recently read on the M1 gran fiasco posts lots of people found their sks to be commercial rather then millitary and were very unhappy. Their rediculouse shipping charges probably made up for all the savings on the SKS anyway.

Can am was doing a sks and 1000 round non corrosive for 399$ with free shipping 2 years ago. That was a much better deal IMO. I grabber 3 of them.
 
There was a dealer "who's name shall not be spoken" that sold Chinese sks for $75 with the purchase of a $250-$299 case of ammo. They did this for nearly 2 years straight. This was the norm only a couple years ago. Likely tens of thousands of the Chinese sks floating around in Canada. The imaginary increased value on them now in my eyes is associated with the lack of real value to newer shooters. They plainly just don't know because they are new to the sport and are being financially fleeced. Hey if you want to give $300-400 for a sks I would gladly sell you some mint condition all numbers matching McDonald's napkins.

At the time, I did the math, and it wasn't much of a deal. The ammo was consistently overpriced by about $100 compared to what most of the other major surplus dealers were charging.

It was a $175 Chinese SKS - at a time when that was the going rate for the Soviet SKS's.

In fact it was this, along with some of the other shenanigans, that turned me off of (the dealer that shall remain nameless) even before the Garand fiasco. They've long been a shifty business resting on the laurels of a reputation they earned decades ago.
 
Tradex also sold those cheap SKS rifles as well. I bought two shipped to my door with taxes in for just over $200. They have chrome lined bores, the barrels are "pressed" into the receivers and they bear the triangular stamp with the 206 factory code. One is still unfired and one has seen at least 4500 rounds. Never a hiccup.

As for those that believe these rifles will always be available as surplus, you need to do some due diligence and look up when the last SKS rifles were manufactured. No one has manufactured them for over forty years to my knowledge. Many of them are still being used in the field by some third world nations and many are being worn out in North America by those shooting up all the cheap surplus ammo that was being sold at less than $100 per crate not that long ago. Also, when the cheap new old stock Chinese SKS rifles were offered, the Canadian dollar was on par or slightly above its US counterpart.

I don't know if the old new stock Chinese SKS rifles were actually commercial variants or just the last variant intended for military use. Mine looks to be all militiary. I can tell you the one I shoot is every bit as accurate as its Russian or Yugo counterparts. All of the ammo its consumed has been surplus corrosive. It responds very well to proper cleaning procedures. I have had to clean the copper fouling out of it several times but other than that, none of the hype about the press fit/pinned barrels being inferior has proven true.

One SKS collector's source mentions that all of the parts on both commercial SKSs and military SKSs are the same. The commercial variants can have many different configurations as well, from five round mags to laminated stocks. If your rifle has a normal type 56 configuration then likely IMHO it was produced for military use. Many moons ago I had a chance to purchase an Egyptian contract SKS from the /260\ factory. I passed because of the laminated stock. I didn't believe or know at the time that those stocks really were part of that contract. I thought the stock had come from a couple of Californian importers that were adding laminated stocks with 5 round clip options.
 
They used to run $10k/100 wholesale a few years back. I am sure this batch is in the $150-$175 range.

Not sure what you mean by a few??? Tradex sold the pressed/pinned barrel new old stock Chinese variants for $89.95 plus taxes and shipping. I doubt they paid more than half that amount for those rifles.
 
New in box/no refurb signs were $100 each in 2011. I could have purchased as many as I wanted for $105 plus taxes.

However the LGR was still in effect - I resisted the temptation to invest. Oh well...
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but are all the new chines rifles refurbed, as opposed to the new ones previously on offer one year+, which were all new??
T

Not necessarily. Still you could find some Chinese Type 56 SKSs that were preserved in cosmoline immediately after production and after 40 or so years imported to Canada. A few months ago I bought a new Type 56, unfired, with a chrome lined barrel and immaculate rifling. Mine was produced around 1970 in a factory code #306 (pic). See pic which gives an idea what I'm talking about. You can look at the EE and perhaps find a similar one.

2ywd8qg.jpg
 
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