1952 Russian Black Bolt SKS

[Reloader762]

Took many years to finally get my hands on a Russian SKS, life gets in the way and takes your spare cash and prices go higher year after year till they're out of your price range. But as luck would have it, a good buddy of mine who was at the time an FFL had bought a bunch of Russian SKS rifles and several of them had gotten buried back in the gunroom and forgotten for the past eighteen years, so when he discovered them he made me a deal I couldn't refuse which basically doubled his money for what he originally paid. I kept it in my safe for over a year before shooting it, since it was unfired since leaving mother Russia but I finally broke it out last year and put a box of my reload through it and it fed and functioned without a hitch, it's a 1952 Tula Black Bolt Russian.

Read More

 

[Aero Denezol]

Beauty, congrats. Always wanted one of those.

 

[Z-PDX]

nice rifle.

generational thing…

i can't look at one of those and see a number bigger than $169.

$159 if you buy 3 or more.

 

[fstdraw]

I too bought one of these a year ago. Shoots well and inspired me to buy two other SKS's. A Chinese Model M paratrooper and a nice Norinco.

 

[Reloader762]

My first SKS was a 1970 Yugoslavian refurb M59/66A1 with night sights I got to handpick out of a crate, Chinese and Russian SKS rifle were one of those things you just didn't see in my area at the time. My second SKS was a 1965 Arsenal /26\ Norinco, I lucked up on that one new in the box, and combine I only have as much in the three rifles as what a used Russian SKS cost these days.

1970 Yugo SKS, with mint condition barrel,


1965 Arsenal /26\ Norinco, all milled parts.

 

[Aero Denezol]

I've had a couple of Chinese and a couple of Yugos. My first SKS was $240. I sold it for $350 a few years later and thought I was rich. I still have a '64 /26\ which I learned to shoot well and plan to keep.

The SKS frequently appears in memoirs of the Vietnam War, sometimes denoted as the "CKC" (C being the Cyrillic equivalent of S). It was rapidly replaced in NVA service, however the Viet Cong continued to use it throughout. It seems the tactic was a couple of quick potshots before disappearing back into the jungle.

I was always interested in the Paratrooper/Cowboy Companion model even though they are post-war/commercial adaptations.

 

[Reloader762]

The Yugo I have cost me $175 out the door, the Chinese was just a fluke, I was having some work done on a firearm and the gunsmith that used to frequent gun shows looking for and selling antique pump action 22 rifles and would often just buy out the individual's whole collection to get what he wanted and sell off what he didn't want to keep.

Well it just so happened when I came in to pick up my rifles he ask me if I was interested in SKS rifles and being I had always wanted a nice Chinese SKS he just happened to have one new in the box and I got it for $250. It was a little pricey at the time but being new, never issued and all milled parts and I figure I would never see another like it again, I bought it.

The Russian cost me $400, but at the time, well-used ones were going for $600 plus. I've always wanted one of the Chinese SKS M or D models, and the Cowboy Companion with the factory scope and mount would just be a bonus.

 

[echo1]

You done good on both rigs. PAX

 

[Z-PDX]

OK, I gotta keep going and ask if anyone else remembers when the Chinese SKSs were being imported by the container load. Rusky SKSs were slightly more scarce. This was early 90's.

It was very fashionable to buy a whole crate of the things still in cosmoline. The single price was more like $69. With the crate price being a bit less.

Lots of my buddies were doing these as groomsmen's gifts at the time.

There must be millions of these things stashed away collecting dust... because I sure don't see them out in the wild anymore.

Although I suspect the appeal was at least as much the availability of cheap 7.62 x 39 as much as the affordability of the rifle. And then the whole Oly Arms 7.62 drama started...

But that's a story for another time.

 

[aasbra]

OK, I gotta keep going and ask if anyone else remembers when the Chinese SKSs were being imported by the container load. Rusky SKSs were slightly more scarce. This was early 90's.

It was very fashionable to buy a whole crate of the things still in cosmoline. The single price was more like $69. With the crate price being a bit less.

Lots of my buddies were doing these as groomsmen's gifts at the time.

There must be millions of these things stashed away collecting dust... because I sure don't see them out in the wild anymore.

Although I suspect the appeal was at least as much the availability of cheap 7.62 x 39 as much as the affordability of the rifle. And then the whole Oly Arms 7.62 drama started...

But that's a story for another time.

Yes, I remember my Dad and I each buying a Norinco SKS in like new shape in the early 90s. Picked them out of a barrel at a local Gunshop up the McKenzie as I recall, outside of Eugene. They were $89 each, IIRC.

Neither of us still own them, but I remember shooting them quite a bit back then. And you could get a case of ammo for not much $ either.

 

[Unicykle]

I think I paid $89 for mine at one of the gun shows decades ago. I sold it for nothing and regret selling it but I but I doubt I would've even shot it in the last few decades.

 

[Reloader762]

A few months after I picked up my Yugo, my brother jump in on the bandwagon and bought this Yugo at the LGS. This is a rare Yugo SKS made in 1979 and was one of around 500 that got imported into the states. The problem was because of the mfg. date it's not actually a C & R rifle, but around 300 of them were sold and grandfathered in and the other 200 had to be broken down and sold for parts.

Hi rifle basically came right off the production line, was never coated in cosmoline or the stock was never sanded down to where it meets flush with the rubber butt pad.

 

[DunRanull]

OK, I gotta keep going and ask if anyone else remembers when the Chinese SKSs were being imported by the container load. Rusky SKSs were slightly more scarce. This was early 90's.

It was very fashionable to buy a whole crate of the things still in cosmoline. The single price was more like $69. With the crate price being a bit less.

Lots of my buddies were doing these as groomsmen's gifts at the time.

There must be millions of these things stashed away collecting dust... because I sure don't see them out in the wild anymore.

Although I suspect the appeal was at least as much the availability of cheap 7.62 x 39 as much as the affordability of the rifle. And then the whole Oly Arms 7.62 drama started...

But that's a story for another time.

I remember those $69$ SKS... And the crates.. Had a friend in the gun business at the time. Got mine NIB, later picked up a nice new-looking Russian... Bought two Chinese bandoleers and some stripper clips to go with em. They are my trunk guns but at prices these days AR15's could do the same job without dinging up an "antique"...

 

[clanhanson]

Russian SKSs are the original and best, and yours is arsenal refurbished so it's a shooter! If you want to get the bolt back to white as it was originally, the black paint comes off fairly easily.

 

[Reloader762]

Russian SKSs are the original and best, and yours is arsenal refurbished so it's a shooter! If you want to get the bolt back to white as it was originally, the black paint comes off fairly easily.

I kinda like it that way, make it unique.

 

[clanhanson]

I kinda like it that way, make it unique.

I like it on mine too. Plus it's still part of the rifle's history. I just know the black paint comes off easily with certain cleaning solvents.. oops.

 

[Melman]

Sweet Gun GLWS
If my Saiga sells and this is here still maybe talk about it

I still got my brand new never shot Model M

 

[BUTCH47]

Took many years to finally get my hands on a Russian SKS, life gets in the way and takes your spare cash and prices go higher year after year till they're out of your price range. But as luck would have it, a good buddy of mine who was at the time an FFL had bought a bunch of Russian SKS rifles and several of them had gotten buried back in the gunroom and forgotten for the past eighteen years, so when he discovered them he made me a deal I couldn't refuse which basically doubled his money for what he originally paid. I kept it in my safe for over a year before shooting it, since it was unfired since leaving mother Russia but I finally broke it out last year and put a box of my reload through it and it fed and functioned without a hitch, it's a 1952 Tula Black Bolt Russian.

View attachment 1335222

I just bought a 1952 SKS RUSSIAN RIFLE FROM A FRIEND WHO BOUGHT IT BRAND NEW LONG TIME AGO THAT PASSED AWAY 10 YEARS AGO. HIS WIFE CALLED ME AND OFFERED ME THE RIFLE BECAUSE SHE KNEW I ALWAYS WANTED 1 . THIS HAS NEVER BEEN bubblegum AND I HAVEN'T SHOT IT EITHER. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS RUSSIAN ONE ??

Sweet Gun GLWS
If my Saiga sells and this is here still maybe talk about it

I still got my brand new never shot Model M

View attachment 1373782

 

[DunRanull]

Hang on to it, find a bandoleer and 20 or so stripper clips, fill the bando with strippered ammo and put it with the rifle. If possible, don't shoot it!

 

[teflon6string]

I'm curious to learn more about various Russki, Yugo and Chinese SKSs. Anyone know of a dedicated SKS forum or sub-forum online? I know there are user-groups for AKs, MACs, Uzis, Mausers, etc. Hopefully something like that exists for the SKS too. Thanks for ideas.