Machodoc
Old Guy
Does it preserve the hay equally well just in case you get the urge for a snack while de-cosmolining the rifle?
Instant meal: Just add heat and you have Albanian Deep-Fried Hay. It's a delicacy.
Does it preserve the hay equally well just in case you get the urge for a snack while de-cosmolining the rifle?
I picked up an sks recently. It was my first, and i felt i got a pretty good deal. After doing some research I feel like I have a great rifle. I'm pretty certain It's a Sino-Soviet. The numbers are B4537, all matching. Of course the numbers under the trigger guard start with a 8 instead of a B. I read that was normal. I don't have the original clip, and i'm not sure about the stock. It doesn't have any markings, and it is the jungle stock. Do these items hurt the value at all? And how rare are these rifles? I bought this rifle to sale but I'm not so sure now. It's starting to grow on me.
I picked up an sks recently. It was my first, and i felt i got a pretty good deal. After doing some research I feel like I have a great rifle. I'm pretty certain It's a Sino-Soviet. The numbers are B4537, all matching. Of course the numbers under the trigger guard start with a 8 instead of a B. I read that was normal. I don't have the original clip, and i'm not sure about the stock. It doesn't have any markings, and it is the jungle stock. Do these items hurt the value at all? And how rare are these rifles? I bought this rifle to sale but I'm not so sure now. It's starting to grow on me.
I picked up mine at the Chantilly, VA Gun Show last Friday.
the Dealer only had 5 of them, there were 3 left on Sunday, they were real rough, no bluing on the metal, large chunks carved out of the stocks
so no one would pay 299.00 for them. They are IO imports
I received my first one from Classic and the stocks you guys have shown are beauties compared to mine. Mine is all matching including the stock. It does have the side sling mount but the wood is dark and rough. I like it more and more every day.
I received my first one from Classic and the stocks you guys have shown are beauties compared to mine. Mine is all matching including the stock. It does have the side sling mount but the wood is dark and rough. I like it more and more every day. I did spend some time removing the cosmo and it has lightened up in some areas. Machdoc, thanks for the tips and support!! I will reassemble tonight and get some pics out.
I picked up an sks recently. It was my first, and i felt i got a pretty good deal. After doing some research I feel like I have a great rifle. I'm pretty certain It's a Sino-Soviet. The numbers are B4537, all matching. Of course the numbers under the trigger guard start with a 8 instead of a B. I read that was normal. I don't have the original clip, and i'm not sure about the stock. It doesn't have any markings, and it is the jungle stock. Do these items hurt the value at all? And how rare are these rifles? I bought this rifle to sale but I'm not so sure now. It's starting to grow on me.
Yours is bad ass! Love it!
here are some pics
Hey, bmeade -
You came here asking for info about the collector value of your rifle, and I'm going to give it to you straight. I'm not trying to pee in your Wheaties, but just giving you the most accurate into that I can.
But first of all, know that how a collector looks at a firearm is often rather different than how someone else looks at one. In most cases, we look for it to be original first of all, then start looking at things like matching numbers, condition, unusual models, rarity, etc.
The average non-collector wants it to be new-looking and badass.
Here's what you've got:
What you have started out to be a Sino-Soviet letter gun. These were, for a long time, assumed to have been made in 1956, but that's being re-examined by some collectors. The jury is still out on that. I personally have mixed feelings, but I do know that it was made between 1956 (when the Chinese production started) and 1962. I've been able to find primary-source documentation that the Chinese shipped small infantry arms and artillery to Albania prior to June, 1962, but after February, 1961.
The letter rifles were pretty rare in the U.S. for many years, but since 2012, a bunch of them have been imported from Albania, where they were used, then stored, after being given/sold/traded to that country by China.
Most of the stocks on the ones from Albania were in well-used condition. OK ... they weren't pretty, and they were packed in cosmoline. The majority simply needed some TLC, but some were cracked and broken. Some buyers didn't like the original look of the stocks on these (most collectors do), or they got rifle with stocks that couldn't be salvaged.
Yours is almost certainly one of those that came through Albania. A previous owner apparently bought it and decided to put it into a fiberglass Chinese "jungle stock". That's not the original stock, so that's a detraction for a collector, but it's legal.
Then he may have decided that it needed to have a removable high-capacity mag, so he took out the original mag (which should have been a matching-number part) in order to accommodate an after-market one that would/should snap in and out ... another big detraction ... and perhaps a problem.
I'm assuming that you don't have any mag at all for it, so it's just an incomplete rifle that's missing the original one. (Say, "Yes.")
Then, he decided that it needed a rail on it, so he tapped the bolt cover and installed one ... creating another detraction for collectors by modifying a numbered part.
From what we call the "bubba" viewpoint, your rifle is worth whatever you can get someone to give you for a substantially modified rifle. You might find a non-collector who thinks it's cool ... but you may have some surprises in store for you, too.
From a collector's standpoint, it's had too much done to it to make it very attractive. It would cost a fair amount of money to put it back to original, and then you'd have a non-matching serial numbers rifle (a "mixmaster").
Now for the surprises.
Federal Level
What you have may no longer a C&R rifle. If there's an incorrect mag with it, changing the mag took care of that. You also need to take a CLOSE look at these sites to see if it's now in compliance with federal law:
http://gunwiki.net/Gunwiki/BuildSKSVerifyCompliance
http://www.victorinc.com/SKS-FAQ.html#TEN_OR_LESS_DISCUSS
MD State Level
I'll let some of the MD experts try to explain the laws, but I think that if you have the wrong capacity mag in it, it may not even be legal to sell in MD now.
I don't see any mag at all with/in the rifle, so I'm assuming that your intention in presenting it to us was to show it as an incomplete "parts rifle" that doesn't have a mag, and you're trying to find an original mag to put back onto it. Right?
It makes a great truck rifle.
That's exactly what the SKS was intended to be.
OK, what is a "truck rifle"?