WARNING SKS prices will go up in 2017

[05RAV]

I've been reading a ton about the SKS recently, and was wondering what the Made in Russia, stamped barrel means? I couldn't find anywhere online that discussed it.

The ones marked "Made in Russia" under the gas tube, on the barrel, are the more recent "Molot" (that's the name of Russian plant where they were refurbished). They are covered (painted ?) with some black coating, not blued. Most of them are forced matched. I bought one some time ago from my local Shooter's Choice for $219 and it's quite decent. Mine is 2014 refurb and it shoots well and that's important to me. The problem is that not all of the Molot's SKS are the same quality. You can see the pics to get more familiar:

 

[05RAV]

For comparison to the one in #281 there is my beautiful, blued, all matched, a 1957 SKS from Westrifle, purchased a couple years ago:

 

[PinkyPlinker]

Molot is the export company, they didn't refurbish them, just marked them for export.

I've bought some gorgeous guns from WestRifle. I believe their SKS's, at the time anyway, came out of Ukraine before things went south there. As such, they do not have the Russian export markings required by Russia to export.

The only detractor to the WR SKSs is that they are mag pinned by welded plug, which appears to be how the Ukrainians did it. The guns coming out of Russia tend to have the pin welded or pressed into to the follower, prettier but very prone to failing and leaving the owner in possession of a prohibited mag.

 

[05RAV]

Molot is the export company, they didn't refurbish them, just marked them for export.

You don't know what you're taking about. Molot is a real machine plant. The marking on the Molot SKS means: B П- Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод «Молот»- Vyatsko-Polansky Molot machine work plant - symbol of the Molot plant. And more: «Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод „Молот“» (ВПМЗ) — машиностроительный завод в Кировской области, градообразующее предприятие города Вятские Поляны.-Machine building plant in Kirov District, the main labor provider for the town Vyatskiya Polyana.
At least they coated/painted those SKS's if not more than that.

 

[PinkyPlinker]

LOL! Ok pal.

 

[Ayeso]

oh strange, cause mine has those markings, but doesnt appear to be force matched, isnt painted. Thats why i figured it was some sort of rubber stamp since everything else looks original but those markings under the gas tube.

https://imgur.com/a/qcMd7

 

[05RAV]

oh strange, cause mine has those markings, but doesnt appear to be force matched, isnt painted. Thats why i figured it was some sort of rubber stamp since everything else looks original but those markings under the gas tube.

https://imgur.com/a/qcMd7

The lack of any markings on the receiver cover indicates to me that you have the so-called "letter series" SKS manufactured 1955-1958. Is there a Cyrylic letter after the serial number? What markings are under the gas tube? It is possible that you have a light refurb imported directly from Russia not from Ukraine which was not painted in the "Molot" plant. Please show a pic of those markings under the gas tube.

 

[05RAV]

I just looked at all your pics posted on Imgur and I see that indeed you have a letter series SKS (the Cyrillic letter "И" at the end of the serial number which is an English "I"). This points towards the production year of 1957 which was at the end of the production years of the SKS carbines. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same letter series SKS as mine in #282. The only difference is that yours has a non-laminate stock.
This way I don't think that you have any other markings under the gas tube, on the barrel.
Did you buy your SKS from Westrifle?

 

[Ayeso]

The lack of any markings on the receiver cover indicates to me that you have the so-called "letter series" SKS manufactured 1955-1958. Is there a Cyrylic letter after the serial number? What markings are under the gas tube? It is possible that you have a light refurb imported directly from Russia not from Ukraine which was not painted in the "Molot" plant. Please show a pic of those markings under the gas tube.

My best guess was a letter series. looks like this Й, 1957 series All parts are stamped or penciled(if they are thin metal) with this mark. Under the gas tube it has "Made in russia" and a bunch of other writing. The way it is marked is identical to this mark on the outside of the receiver under the bolt handle. I will try and get a picture of the actual barrel marking tonight. I just started wondering what the difference was when West rifle mentioned they werent as desirable. As it seemed to be all original and not a molot refurb.

 

[05RAV]

My best guess was a letter series. looks like this Й, 1957 series All parts are stamped or penciled(if they are thin metal) with this mark. Under the gas tube it has "Made in russia" and a bunch of other writing. The way it is marked is identical to this mark on the outside of the receiver under the bolt handle. I will try and get a picture of the actual barrel marking tonight. I just started wondering what the difference was when West rifle mentioned they werent as desirable. As it seemed to be all original and not a molot refurb.

Like I indicated in my post #288 above, you, indeed, have a letter series "И" SKS manufactured in 1957. On the pic above I see white letters "ГИС" which mean "Государственная Испытательная Станция" (in English: State Proof Station) albeit without any year of proofing which is weird! Normally it should be the last two digits of the proof year like for example "14" that would mean "2014". However, what is the most important fact, is that this "ГИС" acronym means that your SKS was imported to Canada directly from Russia, most likely, just before the sanctions went into effect! Very interesting! Please post the markings on the barrel under the gas tube!

 

[PinkyPlinker]

Typical markings of Molot exports from Russia. Ravi's gun has the same markings so I don't know why he thinks it's interesting. Most of the guns on the market currently have this marking. None of them have year of proofing because Molot didn't proof them. All Molot does is mark for export, pin mags, and apply crappy black touch up paint on badly rusted external parts.
They're selling these for what, maybe $50-75. To think they are doing anything more than that is ludicrous.

 

[bobdbldr]

I just looked at all your pics posted on Imgur and I see that indeed you have a letter series SKS (the Cyrillic letter "И" at the end of the serial number which is an English "I"). This points towards the production year of 1957 which was at the end of the production years of the SKS carbines. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same letter series SKS as mine in #282. The only difference is that yours has a non-laminate stock.
This way I don't think that you have any other markings under the gas tube, on the barrel.
Did you buy your SKS from Westrifle?

The was a 1958 K sks too!

 

[Ayeso]

The was a 1958 K sks too!

Here are the barrel markings!

 

[05RAV]

Here are the barrel markings!

Your SKS is interesting because it's a very light refurb, blued, letter series 1957 but it was directly imported from Russia in 2015! That was after the sanctions!?
It was actually proofed by "Molot" but not coated/painted by "Molot". The meaning of the markings is as follows:
O П-CKC - охотничье-промысловый ("commercial hunting (carbine)) - SKS
B П- Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод «Молот»- Vyatsko-Polansky "Molot" machine work plant - symbol of the Molot plant
CIP/N- a mandatory proof mark for Russian export
ГИС - Государственная Испытательная Станция (State Proof Station) 15 which means "2015"

My SKS in #288 does NOT have any Russian export markings on the barrel because I bought it from Westrifle that imported from Ukraine not Russia. Your, like I said, was a direct Russian import. A found in another thread that you bought it from Cabela's Canada during that sale blitz a week or so ago. A mystery to me is that sanctions on Russia by Canada were imposed on March 17, 2014 and your SKS was imported in 2015 during sanctions! How did it got into Canada? Beats me.

 

[Ayeso]

Your SKS is interesting because it's a very light refurb, blued, letter series 1957 but it was directly imported from Russia in 2015! That was after the sanctions!?
It was actually proofed by "Molot" but not coated/painted by "Molot". The meaning of the markings is as follows:
O П-CKC - охотничье-промысловый ("commercial hunting (carbine)) - SKS
B П- Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод «Молот»- Vyatsko-Polansky "Molot" machine work plant - symbol of the Molot plant
CIP/N- a mandatory proof mark for Russian export
ГИС - Государственная Испытательная Станция (State Proof Station) 15 which means "2015"

My SKS in #288 does NOT have any Russian export markings on the barrel because I bought it from Westrifle that imported from Ukraine not Russia. Your, like I said, was a direct Russian import. A found in another thread that you bought it from Cabela's Canada during that sale blitz a week or so ago. A mystery to me is that sanctions on Russia by Canada were imposed on March 17, 2014 and your SKS was imported in 2015 during sanctions! How did it got into Canada? Beats me.

Actually I got it from Wanstalls on their sale about 2 weeks ago! A lot of guys got REALLY refurbed ugly ones, I think I lucked out with a much nicer find. Pretty neat that it somehow seems a bit unique! Kinda cool!

 

[05RAV]

Actually I got it from Wanstalls on their sale about 2 weeks ago! A lot of guys got REALLY refurbed ugly ones, I think I lucked out with a much nicer find. Pretty neat that it somehow seems a bit unique! Kinda cool!

Sorry, right, it was Wanstalls not Cabela's sale! Yes, you're lucky that you got such a nice and to the extent. kind of a unique SKS. I read the horror stories in another thread about those ugly SKS people got in that Wanstalls' sale. It seems that yours is one of only a handful that were really nice.
Also, it just came to my mind, if I look at the pic showing the barrel of your SKS, that it appears to be qiote new with nice bluing. I just speculate but, perhaps, they replaced the barrel with the nearly-new one in the "Molot" plant. The division of the "Molot" plant named "Молот-Оружие" (Molot-Firearms) manufactures the whole spectrum of various firearms like "Vepr-Pioneer", the VPO-209 (a shotgun that looks alike the AK-47), the VPO-148 (semi-auto in 5.45x39mm) and a number of other guns. You can see them on You Tube. Very nice guns. If there were no stupid sanctions on the Russian Federation we could have those here in Canada for cheap!

 

[Ayeso]

Sorry, right, it was Wanstalls not Cabela's sale! Yes, you're lucky that you got such a nice and to the extent. kind of a unique SKS. I read the horror stories in another thread about those ugly SKS people got in that Wanstalls' sale. It seems that yours is one of only a handful that were really nice.
Also, it just came to my mind, if I look at the pic showing the barrel of your SKS, that it appears to be qiote new with nice bluing. I just speculate but, perhaps, they replaced the barrel with the nearly-new one in the "Molot" plant. The division of the "Molot" plant named "Молот-Оружие" (Molot-Firearms) manufactures the whole spectrum of various firearms like "Vepr-Pioneer", the VPO-209 (a shotgun that looks alike the AK-47), the VPO-148 (semi-auto in 5.45x39mm) and a number of other guns. You can see them on You Tube. Very nice guns. If there were no stupid sanctions on the Russian Federation we could have those here in Canada for cheap!

Its possible, but the bluing is only that nice under the gas tube. the rest of it looks rather old and matching the rest of the bluing. I was very happy with what I got overall, I was really worried with some of the horrible pictures that people were posting of really poorly painted ones. My stock has a few nice chunks out of it, but if thats the worst it has Im ok with it!

Thanks again for all the info! It was rather hard to figure out what those words meant.

 

[westrifle_sks]

Yes,,,,, it was refurbed into a sporting rifle by stamping it with those markings, just a red tape thing to make it legal to export! Just marked up a nice rifle is all they really did!

How do you know what was done at Molot factory.
Let me tell you the truth. Molot factory receives Sks for free from government. It is form of subsidy.
Sks have a minimum of 6000 to 10000 shots through it. So I can tell you that in order to sell them they need to refurb them. There is a team of about 12 people that are working on refurbishing those. Parts are swapped and stocks as well. Some are not even worth repairing they put them aside and melt them. No barrels replaced.
How I know is I was there and I saw it.

 

[bobdbldr]

Sorry bud, I was told they were refurbed elsewhere, guess I was given bad intel!! So are you going to be buying any of their rifles? Please be picky because some of the stuff the other importers are bringing in is pretty rough! Also are you able to get used parts from this factory? It would ve great to have a supply of good quality parts!

 

[GUB]

So where do the junk, rusted guns come from ..on the recent $209 sale from another sponser??