A few points of note on the SKS and the market

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Kano383

Kano383

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I often see debates and arguments about some SKS' value. More often than not, it goes like that: "I bought a SKS for $69.99 forty years ago, no way I'm shelling $600 or $1,000 or $1,200 for one of these, market is crazy, people are crazy, I'll sit and wait till sense comes back".

There are a few points missing there...
  • SKS, unlike AKs, are a finite quantity: they're not made anymore.
  • SKS, unlike AKs, are expensive to make: fully milled, including the dust cover. Nobody is going to make one anytime soon, and if they do that will be an expensive gun.
  • One of the great advantages of the SKS is that it's a fixed-magazine gun, and it may escape the legilator's long teeth much more easily than other "military" rifles.
  • A second great advantage of the SKS is the 7.62x39 caliber: good for plinking, good for miscreants, and good for hog or deer.
Now, a point that most don't know or don't consider: there are not many left in their countries of origin.

At the moment you can't import from China, but China was the largest producer of SKS and they sold millions of them, emptiying their stores. I live in a country where they are still imported by the container full, and I can tell you one thing: they're scraping the bottom of the barrel. A few years ago, you could find number-matched rifles in the consignments coming in, and they were either in original finish, or reblued.

Nowadays, what comes in from China has been heavily refurbed, belt sanded and painted (paint, not bluing), a hodgepodge of mismatched parts picked from heaps.

My two cents? Don't miss one because you think you'll get a better deal tomorrow...

If things get tough, the SKS' prices will go up, and up. Just watch
 
Just about the last of the surplus rifles one could buy as they went full auto/select fire soon after the SKS. Yes, earlier military bolt guns are around and there were some bolt guns made after but not many.

Other side of the coin though is you can get a new AR for near what some SKS's are going for now. Or, if you want a "truck gun" get a new Ruger American for less that you can scope as you like and is new with warranty.

I like the SKS but they are going from a solid user to more of a collectible in my mind. Not a bad thing, just changing times.
 
The values have increased to the point I am quite ginger with my Norinco and Tula SKS rifles when I take them to fire.

Both are pristine mint and I could sell them from a grand a piece. I'm not kidding. I also have a new in cosmoline unissued Yugo SKS with grenade spout.

I am seriously considering selling all three and using the money to fund a quality Kalashnikov to use the several thousand rounds I have saved up.

I
 
Prices might as well be what people paid in 1973.

Money is money - rite ? Wages is wages ——

But if I see a gun with an acceptable price, whether other people see it as such is never a factor.
 
Cost is relative. But I get it. I bought my first SKS new in box in the 90s for $100.
For years I refused to replace it when SKSs were $250-$350. Not til I found one at a yard sale in a Monte Carlo stock and a busted Tapco mag for $40.
Other than paying $60 for an unissued fixed factory mag (back when gun parts from Soviet bloc countries were plentiful on eBay), that’s all I have in it. To replace the stock, hardware & bayonet would have more $$$ in it than it’s worth.
Now back when Ruger Ranch Rifles were $430 new, I’d say that’s a better deal than a used SKS, today that RAR is $630 msrp.
Everyone wants something that shoots cheap steel case 7.62x39, and the SKS is probably the cheapest way to do that today. So I’ll forgo a detachable 30 round mag for a reliable, accurate platform that still has plenty of available parts....right now, anyways...
 
Well, I will point out that an SKS is selling higher then used AR 15's now. That's quite the feat for an old rifle that only comes in one caliber.
Same could be said though with the AK, K98 Mausers, Enfields, Mosin Nagants, M1 Carbines, etc. Everything surplus is going up
 
As you may recall, before that disease hit our nation, you couldn’t gave an AR away.

Everyone, at that time, who ever wanted one, or ten, had them. Kits were selling under $300 in some instances from PSA, finished ones not much more.

But other guns, such as the SKS and M-1 Carbines were still appreciating. They’re still making AR’s, but we’ve seen what happens when new sources of collectibles are found, like the Midway Carbine batch. Rather than bringing prices down, new heights were reached in a feeding frenzy.

The fact that there are finite numbers of SKS’s in this country ensures their prices will continue to rise.
 
They don't really appeal to me personally as a collector or as a range toy, but different strokes for different folks. Even in the present climate of panic buying you can still get into a 7.62x39 AR15 for less than I see on the price stickers at local gun shops for rather decrepit or bubba'd examples.
 
The issue I have with the SKS is the lousy triggers and poor sights. I know tech sights are a thing but the SKS models of tech sights are hokey and you have to butcher the receiver cover pin to install them. The SKS is almost as if they designed it specifically to be extremely difficult to modernize.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
Uh, pretty sure Norinco is still producing SKS rifles. They are (or were until just recently) being sold in Canada marketed as brand new. Ive even seen a few at recent gunshows down here in the Free States. They might be new-old-stock, but were most certainly not rebuilds.
Click to expand...
So is Molot in Russia:
https://molot.biz/goods/op-sks.html
 
With the price rise, makes me wish I had not thrown away the original stock on for my Yugo. I put a nice Choate poly stock on it. Wonder how much it devalued it?
 
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I've got a couple. Mostly in trades.
Only bought the one for $199.99 back in the day.
Definitely something to have in this craziness of "evil black guns"
 
My last SKS I bought was a "gunsmith special", one of those J&G Sales used to promote.
Its a Chinese T56 with the blade bayonet, and surprisingly, it still had its cleaning rod!
The only thing broken on it was the take down lever was snapped off, but its clean and functional like its supposed to be.

For $250, 5 years ago or so, I think I did well. I really dig the trench art on it too.
 
I agree they are a neat historical firearm. Unfortunately they have little war provenance. Well, at least little in the conflicts that generally interest me.

As far as being a fixed magazine, well if new legislation comes about making that feature necessary, the market will put one out in less than 6 months time since I’m sure many of the manufacturers have already R&Ded such a thing so as not to put all their eggs into the very brittle basket of firearms regulations.

I have a Garand. Until I bought it, every time I thought about buying one I suddenly got the urge to buy an M1A. In other words, there are always better options out there compared to surplus if shooting the gun is your goal.

SKSs have seemed to always have a bit of a cult following. Only a few years ago if someone asked a question about a semi auto rifle the SKS would get brought up even amongst competition like ARs, AKs, M1As, Mini-14s, etc. Seemed insane to me that an older design which is only mildly accurate and has not a good way of mounting an optic (like the AK) can really compete.

I am not a tactical kind of guy in general. If my long guns fill any kind of tactical role they also dual purpose into hunting somehow. The SKS just doesn’t make sense for me.

I worked at a pawn shop when they were $150 and I don’t regret not buying one then.
 
I have two Norinco SKS rifles. One of them is the Paratrooper model. I like the longer barreled gun better. The Paratrooper came to me for free when my dad passed away. The other I bought NIB off GB a few years ago for $250. I wouldn't sell either one of them for less than $500. But I wouldn't pay $500 for another one either. The only mod I made was to install rubber butt pads to add an inch to the LOP.

I like the guns and like the round they are chambered for. And they are military grade in the build. So they should be anvil tough and built to last. I like that. No they aren't target rifles but most military rifles aren't. But they are accurate enough to keep their rounds on a mans chest out to 200 yards with the issued sights. Thats good enough for me.
 
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