A few points of note on the SKS and the market

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illinoisburt said:
Well I'll be... That is a pretty SKS. Never thought I would say that. Interesting the Russians say it's for medium and large game, proven in Africa even. Aha! just knew the 762x39 ammo in the US was downloaded :DI do wonder if the Molot rifle has more refined sights since it appears to be sporterized somewhat by the factory?
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Larger game in Africa??:eek: The 7.62x39 is in the same ballpark as the 30-30, but with a thicker jacket. The ammo in the US is not downloaded. There’s plenty of surplus ammo on the US market. I still have Russian, Chinese, Yugo and some others. Most of the surplus is useless for hunting, being FMJ and having a thick jacket.
I gave my brother his SKS that he uses on the farm. He was going to use it for deer hunting, but we ran into a problem. We tried Winchester and Remington soft point ammo and couldn’t hit a target at 50 yards. We were able to get 4” groups at 50 yards with surplus ammo. We set a target at 25 yards and fired three rounds. When we checked the target, it looked like we had shot it with a shotgun.:mad: We discovered that the rifle had a very tight bore and deep rifling. It was basically slicing the jacket to pieces o the commercial ammo.
My SKS came from the same batch of rifle and it shoots commercial ammo just fine. I added an extended rubber butt pad. I picked up a dust cover with a scope base. The cover had to be fitted, it’s very tight. It’s a great little deer gun, my nephew took a few deer with it.
01C5A2B8-FE61-4A93-AC1D-BB51C8AFB80E.jpeg
 
GunnyUSMC said:
Larger game in Africa??:eek: The 7.62x39 is in the same ballpark as the 30-30, but with a thicker jacket. The ammo in the US is not downloaded. There’s plenty of surplus ammo on the US market. I still have Russian, Chinese, Yugo and some others. Most of the surplus is useless for hunting, being FMJ and having a thick jacket.
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My comment was in jest based on the description from the Molot website. Much like the old ads about super power rifles we used to see here.

The OP-SKS carbine is designed for commercial and amateur hunting for medium and large game.

For more than half a century it has been used in all types of traditional Russian hunts. Tested on predators in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Middle East.
 
I owned a Norinco back when they were cheap, under $100 with ammo thrown in. It was swimming in cosmoline, but once I got all that crap off of it I found the real issues with it. First off it shot patterns like a shotgun at 50-100 yards. Second, the trigger was awful, gritty and heavy. But the reason I got rid of it was that the sear had such light engagement that rapping the stock on the floor like if you dropped it would have fired it. At that price it wasn't worth getting it fixed. I'm not even sure how you manage a heavy trigger and a light sear. I let the buyer know the issues, and he still bought it for more than twice what I paid, back when the price of a good AK was $300-400.

If I had known that prices would get this stupid, I'd have held onto it.
 
illinoisburt said:
My comment was in jest based on the description from the Molot website. Much like the old ads about super power rifles we used to see here.

The OP-SKS carbine is designed for commercial and amateur hunting for medium and large game.

For more than half a century it has been used in all types of traditional Russian hunts. Tested on predators in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Middle East.
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Tested is not the term I would use for the only type of gun you have. The 7.62x39 is a mid range cartridge. It is very capable of taking deer and hogs within its range limits. But you don’t find people hunting bear and other dangerous game with an SKS, if they can choose the rifle they want.
But there will always be someone out there that will push the limits.
 
Nuclear said:
I owned a Norinco back when they were cheap, under $100 with ammo thrown in. It was swimming in cosmoline, but once I got all that crap off of it I found the real issues with it. First off it shot patterns like a shotgun at 50-100 yards. Second, the trigger was awful, gritty and heavy. But the reason I got rid of it was that the sear had such light engagement that rapping the stock on the floor like if you dropped it would have fired it. At that price it wasn't worth getting it fixed. I'm not even sure how you manage a heavy trigger and a light sear. I let the buyer know the issues, and he still bought it for more than twice what I paid, back when the price of a good AK was $300-400.

If I had known that prices would get this stupid, I'd have held onto it.
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Have you ever taken a SKS trigger group apart? If so, you would understand the sear problem. I learned howto clean up a SKS trigger group before there was a YouTube.
In the early to late 90, it was the Heyday of the SKS. They were cheap and plentiful. There were all kinds of aftermarket parts for fixing them up. Now days there’s not as much. The SKS has found a home here in the US and is loved by many, but to some it will always be like a red headed stepchild with freckles.
 
Frankly value comes down to what someone will pay. We live in a world where people pay millions for 1980s video games, encrypted bits on Gard drives, small minerals dug from holes in the ground and old pieces of canvas with swirls of paint on them. If there is enough of a demand to week after week have people turn over SKSs for $600-$800, then that is what they are worth. My grandfather bought surplus M1s, 1903s, 1911s for a handful of dollars from the 1930s to the 1950s. My dad bought a B-25 bomber for $1600 in 1975. It literally is irrelevant and meaningless as it relates to value today.

As for capability, it's one of the most reliable semi-automatic carbines ever produced and had practical accuracy enough to be useful to kill or break most things within 150 yards.
 
GunnyUSMC said:
Have you ever taken a SKS trigger group apart? If so, you would understand the sear problem. I learned howto clean up a SKS trigger group before there was a YouTube.
In the early to late 90, it was the Heyday of the SKS. They were cheap and plentiful. There were all kinds of aftermarket parts for fixing them up. Now days there’s not as much. The SKS has found a home here in the US and is loved by many, but to some it will always be like a red headed stepchild with freckles.
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Sadly, aside from taking it apart to clean the quarts of cosmoline out/off of the gun, I didn't try to figure out the problems. I bought it because it was inexpensive, and as my first centerfire semi auto, if I screwed it up somehow, no big loss. I did keep it to refinish the stock for practice, as I got an M1 Garand through the DCM program that needed the stock refinished. Nowadays I would have completely disassembled it, figured out the mechanical interactions, and looked on YT to see how to fix them. Don't know if that would have fixed the patterning, that was more of a barrel issue most likely.
 
Nuclear said:
Sadly, aside from taking it apart to clean the quarts of cosmoline out/off of the gun, I didn't try to figure out the problems. I bought it because it was inexpensive, and as my first centerfire semi auto, if I screwed it up somehow, no big loss. I did keep it to refinish the stock for practice, as I got an M1 Garand through the DCM program that needed the stock refinished. Nowadays I would have completely disassembled it, figured out the mechanical interactions, and looked on YT to see how to fix them. Don't know if that would have fixed the patterning, that was more of a barrel issue most likely.
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SKS accuracy seems to be a love it or hate it question.

It’s either a tack-driver that holds its own with the typical AR and far surpasses the typical AK, or it’s a minute-of-barn accurate and really not much good for anything except making noise.

I’m not sure where mine stands because I’ve never seriously tried to see how accurate it is. I have no trouble hitting a can at 50 yards, and for now that’s plenty good for what I need it for. It would not be my first gun to grab in an emergency, nor would it be the first to grab for hunting or animal control. But it is one of the ones I frequently take when I’m going to shoot and have a bit of fun.
 
illinoisburt said:
For more than half a century it has been used in all types of traditional Russian hunts. Tested on predators in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Middle East.
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“Tested on predators…” I wonder if they’re referring to Russian foreign policy in supplying their clients with SKS’s in all those regions?
 
Mosin77 said:
SKS accuracy seems to be a love it or hate it question.

It’s either a tack-driver that holds its own with the typical AR and far surpasses the typical AK, or it’s a minute-of-barn accurate and really not much good for anything except making noise.
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I've read for years, right here at THR, how an SKS is usually the choice for accuracy when compared to an AK. I've never put the two to a real accuracy test to find out for myself, though.
 
brunowbe said:
So is Molot in Russia:
https://molot.biz/goods/op-sks.html
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Molot SKS are milsurp refurb/sporterized, not new manufacture.

As for the Chinese, they did produce some till the US ban or slightly after, but I'm not aware that they still do. As said earlier, here they are still imported by the container full: those that are coming in are refurb, and the more time passes, the lower the quality of the rifles. A few years ago, new models M were still coming in, then only old stock with the occasional number-matched gun, then only heavily refurbished guns.
 
chicharrones said:
I've read for years, right here at THR, how an SKS is usually the choice for accuracy when compared to an AK. I've never put the two to a real accuracy test to find out for myself, though.
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The Norinco I bought new thirty years ago is super consistent 5 inch shooter with any of the 120-125 grain ammo. The 154 grain wolf and tula/herters will usually be 3 to 4 inches at 100. Just fine plinking and general truck gun uses. Pretty crappy in comparison with my Yugo which will print close to 1-1/2 moa with fusions and bit over 2 with most of the steel its been fed. I suspect with an optic and handloads it could be a 1 moa rifle.
 
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brunowbe said:
Not saying you're right or wrong, this article from 2012 states they are new manufacture, granted the SKS pictured is wearing a different stock:
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/10/23/molots-modern-sks/

Then there's also this, a smoothbore "shotgun" version:
https://www.all4shooters.com/en/hunting/shotguns/molot-vpo208-366tkm-semi-automatic/
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From Russia, info on Molot SKS mentions that the sporting models are converted military rifles (i.e. old stock, since military rifles have not been in production for decades). The models in .366 TKM get a new barrel. I had read it on other Russian sites, but here is the Wikipedia entry:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Самозарядный_карабин_Симонова

Варианты

На основе СКС были разработаны охотничье-промысловые карабины:

ОП-СКС (охотничье-промысловый) — СКС, переделанный на заводе «Молот» или Тульском оружейном заводе из боевого оружия в охотничье путём удаления прилива под штык, ограничение прицельной планки штифтом до 300 метров и нанесения новых маркировок (согласно Федеральному закону РФ «Об оружии»). В остальном СКС и ОП-СКС полностью одинаковы[2][7].

ВПО-208 — модификация СКС под патрон .366 ТКМ. Производится ООО «Молот-оружие» Имеет заново изготовленный частично нарезной ствол с нарезами в дульной части (Парадокс)[9]. Прилив под штык не спиливается. На дульной части ствола имеется резьба для установки дульного тормоза-компенсатора. Является гладкоствольным оружием (согласно Закону «Об оружии» 150ФЗ).


Variants

On the basis of SKS, hunting and fishing carbines were developed:

OP-SKS (hunting and fishing) - SKS converted at the Molot plant or the Tula Arms Factory from military weapons to hunting weapons by removing the bayonet, limiting the sights with a pin to 300 meters and applying new markings (according to the Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On weapons "). The rest of the SKS and OP-SKS are completely identical [2] [7].

VPO-208 - modification of SKS chambered for .366 TKM. Produced by Molot-Weapon LLC. Has a newly made partially rifled barrel with grooves in the muzzle (Paradox) [9]. The bayonet lug is not cut. On the muzzle of the barrel there is a thread for installing a muzzle brake-compensator. It is a smooth-bore weapon (according to the Law "On Weapons" 150FZ).
 
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Additional info from a Russian gun forum: Molot picks and select SKS from GRAU warehouses, and tests them for accuracy. They reject any that groups over 70mm at 100m (roughly 3"), and many are below 2".

https://forum.guns.ru/forum_light_message/48/995527.html

На складах ГРАУ ОЧЕНЬ МНОГО хранится карабинов СКС, которые затем переводятся в ОП СКС. Отсутствие штифта важно только для коллекционеров, на качество стрельбы и кучность он никакого влияния не оказывает. На заводе Молот проводится отстрел АБСОЛЮТНО ВСЕХ карабинов на кучность и безопасность. По умолчанию из цеха НЕ ВЫПУСКАЮТ В ОБОРОТ, если кучность ОП СКС превышает d=70 мм. В действительности же, кучность значительно больше, в пределах 35-50 мм на 100 м. Есть в наличии с кучей 35-37 мм.

In the warehouses of GRAU, VERY MANY SKS carbines are stored, which are then transferred to the SKS OP. The absence of a pin is important only for collectors; it has no effect on the quality of shooting and accuracy. At the Molot plant, ABSOLUTELY ALL carbines are shot for accuracy and safety. By default, a carbine is NOT RELEASED from the workshop if the accuracy of the OP SKS exceeds d = 70 mm. In reality, the accuracy is much higher, within 35-50 mm per 100 m. A bunch of 35-37 mm are available.
 
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