Where to buy a Arsenel 26 SKS?

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Derap34

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I'm new to these forums, (first post) and new to guns. As of a few weeks ago I had shamefully never fired a gun.

I have been doing a lot of research and decided on getting an SKS for my first gun. In specific I am looking for an arsenal 26. Does anyone know where one of these legendary guns can be had?
 
if this is your first gun and you intend to actually shoot it and not keep it in your safe then I wouldn't worry about if it is arsenal 26 or not. Arsenal 26 maybe a better option among Chinese sks but even then it will never best a good russian Tula or Izzy. Trust me, if you are not a collector, it doesn't matter that much unless by some accident you get a lemon. Most people won't be able to tell the difference because there is none (ok, very little) Just get any sks in good condition and start plinking.
 
The large imports of Chinese SKS's dried up a couple years ago. At the moment, the only Chinese SKS's you'll find are on the secondary market, and the price of them reflects scarcity, not quality.

If you're after a shooter rifle, edojan is correct. Get a Tula or Izzy fresh in the cosmoline from one of the sponsor dealers like Westrifle, Corwin Arms (when he has them, they're in astoundingly good condition), etc. For $200-$250, you'll get a Soviet rifle that shoots as well, or better, than a $400+ Chinese SKS.
 
p.s. Be wary, very wary, of YouTube hype over certain guns/flavours of guns. Much of it is "marketing on the sly" for the major importers and retailers.
 
Ok good to know, I actually was getting all of my information from youtube lol

All i'm looking for is a good straight shooting accurate SKS, it doesn't have to be "numbers matching" or "never fired" / "collector quality", this guns gonna get used hard but never put away wet.
 
Derap34 said:
Ok good to know, I actually was getting all of my information from youtube lol

All i'm looking for is a good straight shooting accurate SKS, it doesn't have to be "numbers matching" or "never fired" / "collector quality", this guns gonna get used hard but never put away wet.
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They're 3-4MOA guns at best. They're cheap, reliable, and capable of hitting a man sized target at 300m. Above that, you need to look at a different platform.
 
straight shooting accurate SKS

The only SKS its been my experience to be accurate beyond 2moa is one that's either been fed tailored hand loads or SOME Yugoslav models. I haven't found the model with the grenade launcher to be better than their standard model. They are however quite expensive in comparison to the Chinese mixmasters out there. Some of the early Chinese SKS rifles are also quite accurate IF as with the Yugos they are in excellent to new condition.

None of them were built to be tack drivers.

I played with a Russian FTR and installed a heavy take off barrel from a Hunter Bench Rest rifle. The barrel wasn't ported and the action had to be operated manually. The groups were better but nothing worth pursuing further. The receivers are just to flexible for inherent accuracy when push comes to shove. When the gas ports are functional and the tube is installed then there is a question of harmonics and of course flex around the gas tube. There are videos of this happening on the SKS and AKs.

On the other hand there are some spectacular bolt action commercial rifles on the market that are relatively cheap such as the lovely little Howa, Yugo Mini Mausers, Ruger short actions and likely others. They even shoot surplus ammo about as well as can be expected.
 
grelmar said:
The large imports of Chinese SKS's dried up a couple years ago. At the moment, the only Chinese SKS's you'll find are on the secondary market, and the price of them reflects scarcity, not quality.

If you're after a shooter rifle, edojan is correct. Get a Tula or Izzy fresh in the cosmoline from one of the sponsor dealers like Westrifle, Corwin Arms (when he has them, they're in astoundingly good condition), etc. For $200-$250, you'll get a Soviet rifle that shoots as well, or better, than a $400+ Chinese SKS.
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I've been buying and selling SKS's for years, and to be honest, if you want an exceptional refurb ("supergrade") or non-refurb, you won't find one for under $300 anymore. For an average shooter, yeah, maybe less. There's also alot of subpar crap for sale as well. Beware of disappointment there. There's absolutely NO difference in shooting performance between the two (Russian vs Chinese), and I've shot tens of thousands of rounds through them. The finish quality on the earlier Russians are by far the best (obviously not the rule, but it seems to be more often than not). In my humble opinion, a mint 1952 Russian gives you the best of both worlds: nicer finishing/fitment/bluing and a chrome-lined barrel. I also prefer laminate stocks, so a mint 1952 with an arsenal fitted laminate stock is what I look for in a shooter.
 
grelmar said:
The large imports of Chinese SKS's dried up a couple years ago. At the moment, the only Chinese SKS's you'll find are on the secondary market, and the price of them reflects scarcity, not quality.

If you're after a shooter rifle, edojan is correct. Get a Tula or Izzy fresh in the cosmoline from one of the sponsor dealers like Westrifle, Corwin Arms (when he has them, they're in astoundingly good condition), etc. For $200-$250, you'll get a Soviet rifle that shoots as well, or better, than a $400+ Chinese SKS.
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Westrifle is at the bottom of their barrel of SKS's. They are all beat up and overpriced. I'd stay away from them if you don't want to be disappointed.
I have a Chinese factory 26 and a Russian laminate I could get rid of if you're interested. PM me
 
Mayday_ said:
Westrifle is at the bottom of their barrel of SKS's. They are all beat up and overpriced. I'd stay away from them if you don't want to be disappointed.
I have a Chinese factory 26 and a Russian laminate I could get rid of if you're interested. PM me
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That's a shame, they had some quite nice ones for a long time. I haven't bought an SKS in a few years. I have "enough" nice ones to last.

For the OP: Scout around, and there are still deals to be had on some fairly nice ones. Bore condition is the biggest thing, everything else can be replaced fairly easily.
 
While traveling to our summer home in Twillingate my girlfriend decided to stop at one of CT's on the way. While she was browsing around I innocently walked into Sporting Goods section...and here she is: beautiful Factory 26 SKS, made in 1966(11 million range). All matching, except mag(looks like it was swapped during pinning process) for $219.99. Needless to say that I ended up buying her:)
So, these are around.
 
I think their is a used factory 26 at a local store here in Vancouver if its still there. I remember they had two of them. I bought one of them, a Factory 306, who Canada Trail now owns and the other still remains from the last time I was there. The only reason why I didn't pick that Factory 26 over the Factory 306 is because the 26 didn't say Wu liu shi on the side of it while the 306 did. That one was by far my favorite SKS I've ever had. If you're interested in that gun, I can pm you the stores phone number as they're not a site sponsor.
 
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