Sino - Soviet SKS fixup?

I just received a Chinese SKS from Century and it is a Sino-Soviet. It has the right serial number of D49XX, factory 26 mark, one piece gas tube, lightening cuts on the bolt carrier and bayonette lug, milled trigger assembly and the side facing sling swivel on the butt stock. All serials match but no number on the gas tube or stock.

My question is about the bluing, or rather the lack of bluing. I'm inclined to re-blue the entire thing at this point. I'd say it has about 40% of the original bluing on it. The exposed barrel has no bluing but the bayonette is still in good shape. The cover has no finish at all but the action and barrel beneath the wood has some bluing.

The stock has some cracks that run through and I'm tempted to Acra Glass those back together. The action fitting of the stock is really rough and I'm thinking of at least cleaning up the gouged wood.

Does any of that plan sound wrong? I want to keep it original but not harm its value. I'll eventually post photos but I'm in the process of cosmoline removal and its in pieces.

Jim

Personally, if it were me, I'd fix the crack and leave the rest as is. I love the 'been there' look.
I think a rebluing would ruin it. But this is just one guys opinion!

Same here, I'd fix the crack which will require the stock to be refinished anyway and leave the rest. FWIW, if harming the modest value is a concern for you then don't do anything. A full blown refinish on these is tempting though I agree, but they have been there and done that. In the end it's yours to do as you please....

On further consideration I am NOT going to alter this rifle in any way. I have cleaned out the cosmoline (had to remove the gas tube retainer pin but I wouldn't think that would make too much of a difference) and bought a stock to shoot with.

I'll just store the original stock and oil the metal. Should be good to go.

Thanks for the input.

Jim

I'll post some photos after I read how to....

Attachment 53903

Parts after cosmoline removal.


I thought this was corrosion but it could be patina. Thoughts?

From what I can see here, I see no corrosion, just natural patina. If it had a ton of the fun sticky stuff, that more than likely contributed to the dark look to it. Clean the stock of aforementioned fun sticky stuff, reassemble, and enjoy!

Well here it is back together. I noticed that the whole action was sliding around in the stock so I got a replacement to shoot with and saved the original.
Attachment 54830
Here it is in the replacement stock

"Patina" is a good term for furniture collectors to use; it means "surface oxidation on wood & metal", & is a good thing.

For firearms, "patina" is not generally defined, but I always take it to mean "rust & corrosion", a bad thing.

Until this group of military surplus Chicom SKS rifles was imported this year, all we had were the commercial Chicom rifles made for export. Not a large quantity, these will likely be collectible (& remain C&R if unaltered). Yes, all of them are kind of rough, but that's to be expected from rifles that have had hard use. The only variety that is rarer would be the handful of VN bring backs that are not import marked.

Neal

Yes, the blue has been heavily worn down!
That being said, I would keep it oiled/ greased when not in use.
I like the look of that ol war horse!!

I've seen SKS rifles with good and bad "patina". Those dark spots you have are most likely rust or corrosion spots. No big deal she's beautiful.

Good patina to me on an sks is when whole parts start to uniformly change when original finish still exists. Like the yugos that turn a red color or the plum color some Romanians get.