Ghoulardi wrote: ↑Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:22 pm
what that is, is a SINO-SOVIET SKS. 1) it has the Cyrillic battle sight 2) and this is the biggie - the barrel is screwed into the receiver, and not pinned like the typical Chinese made SKSs 3) it has a blade bayonet 4) the stock is not the typical catalpa soft wood, it's a hard wood stock
although you didn't take a picture, the trigger group should be milled and not stamped
yep, if the price is right, get it.
as for it being a "bring back"? without any documentation to verify that, it's just a very nice early SKS is how I look at it.
I did take a picture, I just didn't include it. I agree with you on the documentation as well. I suspect that it is a bring back for the simple reason it has no import stamp but that's all it is, a suspicion. I can't prove it nor would I spout off claiming such to be fact.
I have three other SKS's in my collection. The first one I bought is a Chinese imported by Poly Atlanta Ga. that I got around 1992 and has the "Area 51" arsenal mark. The second is another Chinese Arsenal /26\ (CSI Ontario Ca,) made around 1965/66. The third is a rebuilt Tula SKS 45 (CDI Swanton Vt.). Mostly early bits in it but it has the late, unmarked dust cover (drat).
When I saw this one way at the end of the rack behind the counter I just KNEW it was another SKS 45. When he told me it was a Norinco I was like, "seriously"?! I knew if that was really the case then it HAD to be a Sino-Soviet. I looked it all over including stripping it right there on the counter and could find no fault with it. The fact that all the numbers matched and there was no evidence of forced matching was icing on the cake. Mechanically it is excellent and the rifling is very sharp. Outwardly it has a generally worn appearance and the butt plate is worn completely through in two places.
I do NOT consider those to be negatives. It simply shows the rifles character.
The only faults I found were very minor. No sling, no cleaning kit in the butt and the bayonet was mounted upside down (first thing I fixed as soon as I got home).
I was 90% sure when I first spied it sitting on the wall that it was going to come home with me. Once I held it and looked it over you couldn't have pried it out of my hands with dynamite.