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I'm not sure why I did it, certainly didn't need one. I was in Sportsman's Warehouse and saw they had SKS rifles on sale. I've had a lot of SKSs over the years, starting in the late 1980s. I've had Chinese, Yugoslavian, Russian, Sino-Soviet, even an NVA at one time. Most were a very long time ago. I've spent many an hour cleaning cosmoline from rifles over the years.

I honestly never figured I'd get much chance to ever smell that delightful perfume of cosmoline, just because the glory days of surplus are well in the past.

Well, I got talking to the gun counter guy at Sportsman's, and he offered to go in the back and find me a good one. He did a good job, and I bought it. I just got done cleaning the cosmoline from it, and other than the usual dings on the stock from 52 years, it looks practically unused.

It's funny how something like this brings back good memories. I'm happy with a gun purchase, but it's not because it's a cool new gun I've never had before, really just nostalgia. :)
 
I'm not sure why I did it, certainly didn't need one. I was in Sportsman's Warehouse and saw they had SKS rifles on sale. I've had a lot of SKSs over the years, starting in the late 1980s. I've had Chinese, Yugoslavian, Russian, Sino-Soviet, even an NVA at one time. Most were a very long time ago. I've spent many an hour cleaning cosmoline from rifles over the years.

I honestly never figured I'd get much chance to ever smell that delightful perfume of cosmoline, just because the glory days of surplus are well in the past.

Well, I got talking to the gun counter guy at Sportsman's, and he offered to go in the back and find me a good one. He did a good job, and I bought it. I just got done cleaning the cosmoline from it, and other than the usual dings on the stock from 52 years, it looks practically unused.

It's funny how something like this brings back good memories. I'm happy with a gun purchase, but it's not because it's a cool new gun I've never had before, really just nostalgia. :)
:s0122::s0140:
:s0140:
 
I'm not sure why I did it, certainly didn't need one. I was in Sportsman's Warehouse and saw they had SKS rifles on sale. I've had a lot of SKSs over the years, starting in the late 1980s. I've had Chinese, Yugoslavian, Russian, Sino-Soviet, even an NVA at one time. Most were a very long time ago. I've spent many an hour cleaning cosmoline from rifles over the years.

I honestly never figured I'd get much chance to ever smell that delightful perfume of cosmoline, just because the glory days of surplus are well in the past.

Well, I got talking to the gun counter guy at Sportsman's, and he offered to go in the back and find me a good one. He did a good job, and I bought it. I just got done cleaning the cosmoline from it, and other than the usual dings on the stock from 52 years, it looks practically unused.

It's funny how something like this brings back good memories. I'm happy with a gun purchase, but it's not because it's a cool new gun I've never had before, really just nostalgia. :)
I almost did the same thing yesterday! I have a nice SKS and don't need another. But I am tempted to have one in Cosmoline... brings back fond memories of when I was new to collecting.

Great post.
 
First sks i got from my uncle, who brought it back from Vietnam.
It was just a block of cosmoline resembled a 4/8 block covered in rice paper...
Took me a week to carve it out, was totally upset when dad told me we only had 20 rounds for it.
Early 80s it was impossible to find 39 ammo..
 
Early 60's, a friend and myself opened up a crate brought home by his father, and spent the next two and a half months removing the cosmoline from an entire jeep and all its parts. That will put a different perspective on cosmoline memories, and forever imprint the smell of it, and kerosene. . About the second week, it went from giddy excitement to a monumental chore without an unforeseeable end.
End results ended up being worth it though.
Me? my reward for helping him was I got to keep all the profits from the chitum bark we had collected together which was drying in their barn. Actually more than the ninety nine dollars his father paid for the jeep. A tidy $125.00 worth!
 
I'll snap a photo when I get home from work. It's my first day back after foot surgery a couple weeks ago, so I'm still moving slow.

It's just an average Chicom SKS, made in '69, spike bayonet, numbers all match. They were $399 at Sportsman's. It seems crazy to pay that much for one. Back in the day I don't think I ever paid over $125, even for the Russian or NVA. Oh well, inflation.

My 15yo son likes shooting them, especially the Yugo. It's heavier and has very mild recoil.

30 years ago I spent time and money making my first SKS into a wannabe AK. Over the years I came to realize the SKS makes a much better SKS than it does an AK. :)
 
My first surplus rifle was a K98 Mauser. $34 uncleaned or $39 cleaned of its Cosmoline! I got the uncleaned version. After taking my money the sales guy took me to the back and pointed to a wooden barrel, and said "Pick one of those, and go out the back door. Don't bring it back through my store!" 1975 or 76. I put it over the handlebars of my bike and peddled a couple miles home with it! I was covered in it!
The first time I tried to shoot it I got mostly light strikes and failures to fire.
I showed it to my dad and he had me strip off the wood, He filled a metal drum with water and built a fire under it. When it got boiling we dropped the metal parts in. after several hours of skimming off the cosmoline that kept floating up I finally got most of it off! After that I never had problems with it firing again. DR
 
Here it is. Like I said, nothing special. The stock actually looks better in person than in the photo. A few honest dings in an old gun like this don't bother me a bit. We'll take it out to the range and try it out when I get walking a little better.

IMG_1861[1].jpg
 
I had one that the cosmo froze up the firing pin wow that was a surprise !
I had that once too, a long time ago. It was pretty embarrassing at the range. I was careful to take the bolt apart on this one, and clean the firing pin channel thoroughly with acetone. A lot of the metal parts had seriously dried cosmoline that would only come off with acetone.

My first SKS was a very well-worn Chinese, in the late 1980s. It looked like it had been through a war (probably had). It was rough, but still worked fine. I bought it at a garage sale, as a teenager (remember those days?)

The ammo in the photo didn't come with it, of course. That's about what's left of the Chicom ammo I had. I had a LOT of that stuff back then. It was cheap and plentiful.

My first AK I bought at a gun show in the 1990's. A guy was carrying around an Egyptian AK, the one with the plywood thumb-hole stock. I asked him about it, and he sold it to me for $210, as I recall. When he handed it to me, he says, "Oh yeah, it comes with some ammo. It's out in my truck."

I follow him out to his truck in the parking lot, and he opens the canopy and lifts out a wooden crate of Chinese steel-core, corrosive ammo. 1,440 rounds in sealed tins! Both the rifle and ammo are long, long gone. I kind of wish I had kept that rifle.
 
I had that once too, a long time ago. It was pretty embarrassing at the range. I was careful to take the bolt apart on this one, and clean the firing pin channel thoroughly with acetone. A lot of the metal parts had seriously dried cosmoline that would only come off with acetone.

My first SKS was a very well-worn Chinese, in the late 1980s. It looked like it had been through a war (probably had). It was rough, but still worked fine. I bought it at a garage sale, as a teenager (remember those days?)

The ammo in the photo didn't come with it, of course. That's about what's left of the Chicom ammo I had. I had a LOT of that stuff back then. It was cheap and plentiful.

My first AK I bought at a gun show in the 1990's. A guy was carrying around an Egyptian AK, the one with the plywood thumb-hole stock. I asked him about it, and he sold it to me for $210, as I recall. When he handed it to me, he says, "Oh yeah, it comes with some ammo. It's out in my truck."

I follow him out to his truck in the parking lot, and he opens the canopy and lifts out a wooden crate of Chinese steel-core, corrosive ammo. 1,440 rounds in sealed tins! Both the rifle and ammo are long, long gone. I kind of wish I had kept that rifle.
I bought a Norinco Sks that takes the Ak mags with the planet of the apes stock for $75 and still have it !
 
I remember those, almost bought one about 20 years ago, for 250 I think. I bought my first AR instead, for $850. How times have changed.

Nowadays I'm more interested in vintage S&W revolvers, M1 Garands, rolling-blocks and lever-actions, stuff like that.
I understand the pure practicality of modern sporting rifles and plastic pistols, but personally I just enjoy the old stuff. :)
 

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