Back in the early 90's, I bought a couple of SKS carbines. They were among the best combat long guns a Californian could buy.
The first one cost $110 and had been in cosmoline for forty years. Kinda liked it and when someone wanted to sell theirs, bought another for $90. Figured it would be a "trunk gun". But that didn't happen. Decided to keep them both safe.
Shot the second one at the range. Really nice shooting carbine. Left that second one in California on consignment when I left the state. Figured it would sell for more in a communist state. It sold for $600.
I've never shot the first and still have it. They are both Russian made. The one I kept was made in 1952 and is generally better made than the second. The box held the carbine, sling, bayonet, metal oil can, cleaning kit, etc. Felt funny opening a box with Cyrillic characters on it and pulling a Russian gun out of cosmoline.
Found http://yooperj.com/ and I'm going to give the SKS a good looking over to discover more about its history.
Any other SKS stories?
I had a Russian SKS from 1952 as well. Great gun, and fairly accurate. Sorta wish I still had it...
I bought a few of those a while back. $69.95 each, if I recall. All Russian (all milled receivers), 1951-53, excellent condition, unissued, chrome lined barrels, and 2 with laminated stocks ($5 or $10 extra, I think). One of them gets almost as much attention as my 10's (the...rest...are...buried...around...here...somewhere...). Fun, cheap to shoot, easy to maintain, accurate, powerful (relatively). I've gone through the aftermarket stock, conversion mags (30-not cheap to shoot anymore), scope, dot sights. You name it, I tried it, trying to make it into something it wasn't. Now, all original, and it'll stay that way. Back to "just fun" again.
In my line of work every now and then I try to revive the dead. So here we go.... :D
I got an SKS from my dad as a graduation present. Then one winter while shooting it began firing "full auto". Alot of fun for a little bit. Til we noticed flashes coming from the not yet closed bolt. Asked a gunsmith about getting it fixed. He told me to toss is in the garbage. It would cost more to just look at than it would to go buy a new one. This was 1993 and I think my dad paid $80 for it. At that time too, you cold get 1400 (?) round cases of ammo for less than $100. He still has a couple of sealed cased from back then that is the gray Norinco brand ammo. Anyway, I put a trigger lock on it and put it in a case. Fast forward 20 years. I had never looked into what was wrong with it. Hell, I never even opened the case. It moved everytime I did except when I went to wyoming for a short time. I stumble on a thread about "slam fire". I could not believe it when I got to reading and learned that 1. this was a common issue, 2. all I had to do was clean it, 3. another solution was to change out the free floating firing pin for a spring loaded firing pin. After I cleaned the firing pin, it lasted about 30 rounds before the firing pin broke. Ended up ordering a spring firing pin. Somewhere along the way, the mag follower or plate got lost. Swapped out the fixed mag for detachable mags. I sure missed this rifle. After I got working again, I had forgotten how much fun it was to shoot it. Took my first ever white tail with this rifle in 1993. It was like getting a new gun again. I make sure I stay on top of the cleaning this time, as I do with all of my toys.