My first milsurp

[andre66]

I just bought a Russian SKS 45 this weekend, not what you would call a sought after collectible but i bought it for shooting so i will enjoy it.
Lots of good info on this site so i will be around a lot more now that i actually own of these great rifles, don't quite own it yet, the paperwork has to go through the CFC but it should be mine by next week. Here is a picture that the seller sent me, i'm pretty sure he is a member here.
Andre

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[Dan M]

Oh, they are collectable... depends on what year it was manufactured. Nice one

[sdh1911]

DAn M is quite right, They are quite collectible, most of what we a seeing these days are Yugo Sys's and other former U.S.S.R. satellites. The best of luck to you with your new rifle, very cool.-SDH

[Stevo]

We're recently had piles of Soviet SKS's come into Canada. Everything from un-issued, perfectly matching rifles to heavily refurbed mix-masters. Priced at from $200 to $285 Cdn. I picked up a refurb '50 Tula for $200 Cdn. Thats's about $160 US right now.

[Claven2]

Some are real tent-pegs, other like the depicted rifle are unissued.

In my case, I bought one, specified unissued, paid a sizable hand pick fee, and still got shipped a tomato stake. I sent it back...

Some guys are lucky though!!!

[sdh1911]

I haven't seen many Russian down here in quite awhile. In this area they run $300/$400 in good condition. Very sorry I passed on one at Sarcos a couple of years ago, but, I'm happy with the gun I got at the time (Swed Cg63)-SDH

[louthepou]

Good for you Andre - you know it's not a bad pick for getting started along your milsurp collecting path

[happydude]

I considered one of the new imports, but I recalled getting rather bored with my Norinco SKS back when I had it. Might reconsider for something of nicer quality.

Good choice Andre, you'll have a lot of fun with it!

[bearhunter]

happydude, many of us here very seldom get rid of the rifles we buy. We will sometimes sell or trade one if we find a better replacement or maybe in times of financial need. For one thing, milsurps especially, just seem to go up in value. The exception right now seems to be the Mosin Nagants other than the Finnish models. The reason for this is the supply of cheap ammo is drying up. The same thing happened to Lee Enfields in the early sixties and seventies. Now, original rifles are makeing the $10 investment that was probably bought to cut down as a sporter look like a real gem.

Sometimes I envy guys like you that get bored with something and just get rid of it. Then I go through the safes and look at some of the stuff bought just for curiosities sake and never fired or even handled much, other than to clean it up and still get a lot of enjoyment out of wondering about the stories they could tell and compareing there virtues if they have any. Then the envy goes away.

I really don't believe that you don't have an extensive collection or get bored with it. Maybe the Chinese SKS you had was one of the earlier commercial models. I still regret tradeing the fibreglass stocked milsurp Chinese SKS that I traded for a couple of Lee Enfields.

[happydude]

Trimmed.

It was a Chinese military model from Milarm, spike bayonet. It wasn't a bad gun but the fit and finish was poor. The bolt hold open didn't always work and the finish blistered and peeled quite badly under fire so I stained it. It was pinned to 7 so I enjoyed that but I really did get bored with it. Sold it to a CGN'er for cheap, who later sold me a lovely East German K98 for a good deal.

Right now I'm thinking either a Garand or one of those nice K31s from TSE.