RFI on 7.62x39 "military style" rifle

[flyrodr]

My father-in-law had this under his bed. I believe he got it from his deceased brother, so has no history on it.

Don’t think it’s any kind of valuable relic, but wondered if any members had an idea if it has any value. Appears more/less new, but I’m pretty sure it has to be several decades old.

Didn’t get a photo of the “fine print”, but as I recall, it said something like “SKS Made by Norinco in China”

Any ideas appreciated.

68816

68817 hi

[Borderland]

Watch what this one goes for on GB. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/894953076

Yours is probably worth $200 more because of condition. The one on GB looks like the stock has been varnished. Yours looks pristine like it was popped out of the crate yesterday.

People were buying those for $150 back in the 90's. That supply dried up a long time ago. Being Chinese I think they're no longer imported but I'm not up on imports. I have a friend who has one. He says it's a good shooter.

IIRC the AK-47 replaced the SKS. The AK-47 has a detachable magazine where the SKS doesn't.

[flyrodr]

Watch what this one goes for on GB. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/894953076

Yours is probably worth $200 more because of condition. The one on GB looks like the stock has been varnished. Yours looks pristine like it was popped out of the crate yesterday.

People were buying those for $150 back in the 90's. That supply dried up a long time ago. Being Chinese I think they're no longer imported but I'm not up on imports. I have a friend who has one. He says it's a good shooter.

IIRC the AK-47 replaced the SKS. The AK-47 has a detachable magazine where the SKS doesn't.

Thanks very much. The mag is attached, and the release just drops the bottom plate for a dump. I did forget to mention that there was an extended mag in the box. Appears that both it and the standard mag attach somehow up in the stock, but to be honest I didn't even look at it yet.

[TGS]

flyrodr, based on the condition and inclusion of an extended mag, it's almost assuredly a commercial production Chinese Type 56 Carbine (SKS). The Chinese used the SKS alongside the Type 56 rifle (AK) for many decades. When the PLA stopped buying them, Norinco started importing them to the US at crazy low prices. However, they had made millions and millions of these, and they served in front line use up through the 80s. Chinese Type 56 SKSs accounted for the majority of the small arms in use by the NVA and Viet Cong during the 1st and 2nd Indochina Wars, and the Chinese also sent them elsewhere as military aid.

The commercial Norincos are the least sought after SKSs on the market. Not a bad rifle to come into by chance, however. The shame of the SKS is that it's the quintessential low-income white trash bubba rifle in America, which has tainted their image. People used to buy them for cheap and think it's "basically an AK, bruh", and dress it up in a bunch of low-quality junk furniture and accessories. If you look at them from the perspective of military history just as you would an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, they're actually pretty interesting rifles. Since the supply has dried up and with the massive increase of gun owners over the last decade, I think they're going to keep gaining value and people will start appreciating them more for their history than as the default cleetus blaster. If it was a military SKS I'd say hold on to it for that reason alone, though who knows....you might just like it anyways.

If you intend to ever take it shooting just to see if you like it, make absolutely sure that you blow out the bolt with a lot of non-chlorinated brake cleaner, mineral spirits, or whatever your preferred strongest cleaner is. They have a free-float firing pin that is particularly prone to slam-fires if there's congealed oil, grease, or cosmoline in the firing pin channel.

[okie john]

They’re solid, reliable rifles, but heavy for the power they provide. Think of it as a gas-operated 30-30 that uses lighter bullets, so it’s adequate for smaller deer at shorter ranges. I’ve often thought of getting one and Dremelling off all of the excess weight, then using it as a close-cover deer rifle.

The aftermarket extended mag is probably a piece of shit. Give it to someone you don’t like.

Scoping one is a bitch.


Okie John

[Welder]

I'm starting to realize that I'm getting old when I pop in here really quick and read two threads, one basically asking what an SKS is and the other something about shooting NODS with armor LOL. I remember SKS's selling for less than $100 in Shotgun News, so everybody saying they're Cletus rifles are right when it comes to American views. AK's were almost twice as much at the time, who could afford one? Lots of people bought cases of SKS's...'cases' isn't the proper term, but you get my point. Wooden boxes with a bunch of rifles in them, all packed in cosmoline. The preppers of the '90's had cases of SKS's and baked beans. Crates, that was the term. Crates of SKS's.

I did have one. And yes, it was a heavy rifle for it's purpose. Mine had a spike bayonet, others had blade bayonets, still others were bare. Mine was lucky to make 4 MOA but it was reliable. It was a blaster rifle for walking the fencerows after a day of work and shooting groundhogs and sparrows and such. 20 rounds of ammo was like $2 or something, so way more expensive than .22 which was $8.88/brick of 500 at Walmart, but for a centerfire it was as cheap as it got. The top of the bolt is slotted for stripper clips and that's the way to load it. The sight radius stinks and yeah, scope options were such at the time that I never tried.

Lacking a pistol grip and detachable magazine would be benefits in some areas, I would think. There were variants that used AK magazines, but I've heard mixed reports on their reliability.

Honestly I'd rather read a thread about SKS's than another about AR's, so I'm mainly writing in here to support this thread. :D

[1slow]

My understanding is that with the stock 10 round mags they work well and they trying to run 30 round mags through them stresses the system past long term reliability.

[Suvorov]

They are good and solid rifles with the caveats mentioned here. There was a time in my life when just about everyone I knew had one. Wouldn’t be my first choice to face down the goblin hordes with, but they are certainly serviceable military rifles.

[Suvorov]

They are good and solid rifles with the caveats mentioned here. There was a time in my life when just about everyone I knew had one. Wouldn’t be my first choice to face down the goblin hordes with, but they are certainly serviceable military rifles.

[TGS]

Re: scoping an SKS

Use an appropriate scope and D&T properly into the receiver. Works fine. You can use a PU type mount as seen here (a Yugo wearing a Yugo ON-52 scope made in Ljubljiana), or you can use an AK rail and a low-rise mount. Go the cleetus cheepus route, and you won't be able to hold zero in addition to having horrible ergonomics.

68832

68833

[awp_101]

I'd love to see a way to properly mount a good dot without needing a 'smith. Maybe an SKS version of the UlitMAK? Even at 10 rounds and having to use stripper clips, I think they make a decent defensive carbine.

[Bigghoss]

Thanks very much. The mag is attached, and the release just drops the bottom plate for a dump. I did forget to mention that there was an extended mag in the box. Appears that both it and the standard mag attach somehow up in the stock, but to be honest I didn't even look at it yet.

To attach the extended magazine you have to field strip the rifle and reassemble without the fixed 10-rounder and the extended one will rock in kinda like an AK. But Based on everything I've read and the couple I've tried it's not going to work very well.


I played with a few SKS' over the years. I have yet to find any aftermarket accessory that's not junk with the possible exception of a couple of very expensive chassis systems. Between that and the fact that you have a nice one I would highly recommend leaving it as is. It will never be any better than it is right now. I haven't followed the SKS market in a while but one that nice is worth something. And they're never coming back into the country except maybe batches of surplus occasionally.

If you really want to learn about the SKS you can check out SKSbords.com or just do some google searching. There's tons on info out there.

[pooty]

Any ideas appreciated.

68816


this is the best bayonet because its tri bladed & the length of the rifle you can stick it into a chicken or any kind of bird to comfortabley roast over a fire. the tri blade works really well for it like its a big toothpick

[flyrodr]

Gentlemen,

I appreciate the collective wisdom here at P-F.com. Not being much of a rifleman myself, this thing was pretty much a mystery to me. I did look on GB.com, but figured (correctly) that I'd get much more info here - - - especially tips like roasting chickens with the bayonet and following up by using it as a toothpick. You can't get help like that just any where!

I'll pass the info on to my father-in-law (now in his 80s, and while a super nice guy, is not into guns at all), and let him decide what he wants to do with it.

I can't get that roasting chickens idea out of my mind. Thinking though, it might be even better as a frog gig. And if I run into a bullfrog that's just too big . . . well, if I keep the rifle loaded, there's that. Of course, that idea begs the question of mounting a light on it. And what load is best suited to frogs, without damaging those tasty legs.

[Flamingo]

Here is a great video review that talks about the type 56:


https://youtu.be/SCJ8-clFjo8

[okie john]

Mine was lucky to make 4 MOA but it was reliable.

I had one for a while. I always thought that it would group better if you got rid of the bayonet and cleaning rod but I never tried.


Okie John

[Welder]

I had one for a while. I always thought that it would group better if you got rid of the bayonet and cleaning rod but I never tried.


Okie John

I never thought they looked right naked. My grandfather had a Polytech AK with a spike around the same time, and I used it on groundhogs as well. My farthest shot with it was 110 yards resting across a 4-wheeler seat. Ever since that rifle I don't even think AK's look right without a spike. Even if it's not 'normal.'

The ammo we had back then was junk, too. 4 MOA might've been all it was good for!

[NoTacTravis]

PewpewTactical did a decent overview of these rifles last year if you're looking for a 5-10 minute read to get the rundown on it:
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/sks-review/

[Joe in PNG]

It's kind of weird to see them moving past the $500 mark these days.

[deputyG23]

It's kind of weird to see them moving past the $500 mark these days.
Considering I paid $99 for mine in '92, yes.
Trigger pull was horrid and I never warmed up to it.
Sold it and about 350 rounds of Chinese ammo to a co-worker for $350 about six or seven years ago.

[JRB]

If it doesn't shoot worth a damn with the bayonet folded, try extending the bayonet and firing it. All three SKS's I've owned (one Tula and two Sino-Soviet Chinese SKS's) grouped somewhat better with the bayonet extended. Similarly, many Mosin M44's shoot better with the bayonet out as well.

The Chinese also made a 20 round fixed magazine for various military contracts, which works just as well as the fixed original 10 round mag. But those 20 round fixed magazines are pretty rare these days and they do take away from the 'handy' look and nature of an SKS. For me, the SKS has always had sort of a simplistic, rugged appeal with the fixed mag, in that like a revolver all one needed to keep the weapon going was loose ammo.

A friend of mine mounted a Primary Arms micro dot to his SKS using some commercially available mount that replaced the rear sight leaf. No drilling and tapping but loc-tite was involved, he said it was pretty easy and that it holds zero. He throws that into the back of his Land Cruiser whenever we're out 4 wheeling in the middle of nowhere. That particular rifle has claimed countless water bottles and soda cans as well as a couple of Coyotes in the ~100-150M range.

[awp_101]

JRB, this one? https://www.primaryarms.com/scout-scopes-sks-scope-mount-ss-04093

[JRB]

Honestly that one looks even better and more secure - the one I'm thinking of has a bullet-shaped slot in the middle of the pic section above the bolt to permit stripper clips to clear.
The design there on Primary Arms looks superior, IMHO.