Has anyone bought an SKS... Lately
- Thread starter Ascot500
- Start date
SKS is like John Wayne toilet paper. Rough and tough and won't take poop off anyone. The AR is like an erector set. Change it around all you want or not. Scopes easy. I don't see price affecting the reason for purchase. That's my opinion and since I'm first that makes it the best. Happy trails.
tubeshooter
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What "motivates the purchase" is that you want one and that is the going rate if you want to buy one nowadays.
May very well not have anything at all to do with the price of entry-level ARs.
[EDIT: There's a lot of folks probably wondering the same thing about $800 leverguns in .30-30, and it's the exact same story.]
May very well not have anything at all to do with the price of entry-level ARs.
[EDIT: There's a lot of folks probably wondering the same thing about $800 leverguns in .30-30, and it's the exact same story.]
Speedo66
Member
It’s a battle proven semi-auto mil-surp, for comparison look what Swedish Mausers or even Mosin’s are going for now.
They all started out cheap, then went up. Conversely, AR’s came down in price
They all started out cheap, then went up. Conversely, AR’s came down in price
someguy2800
Member
An SKS? What do you think we are made of money? I'm just a simple middle class guy. 
CoalCrackerAl
Member
I bought one recently. I like it very much. It is a add on to my 7.62x39 arsenal.
Middle class isn't the same as it used to be. Some time or the other middle class blue collar has slipped.An SKS? What do you think we are made of money? I'm just a simple middle class guy.
I would assume its due to Inflation, Import Bans, etc
I didnt think they were worth the 69 bucks back in the 80's. So I really have not paid much attention.
Limited supply tends to do that.. If AR's end up banned watch their prices skyrocket.
Speedo66
Member
I think everyone that wants one has an AR now, or several.
Around 1990, a local discount store had them on the shelf stacked deep at $79.99/ea.
About 25 years ago, I found a Norinco SKS for a song and a dance. Still my only 7.62 Commie launcher... Sold its big bro, PSL 7.62x54R for a large profit. Lingered in the back of the vault long enough.
About 25 years ago, I found a Norinco SKS for a song and a dance. Still my only 7.62 Commie launcher... Sold its big bro, PSL 7.62x54R for a large profit. Lingered in the back of the vault long enough.
BreechFace
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As a connoisseur of firearms I enjoy the development of firearms. So a $400 SKS if I didn’t have one wouldn’t scare me away. They are neat firearms in their own right and with their 20” barrel are great deer rifles with good ammo.
The comparison to entry level AR’s is an easy arrival, but economies of scale are opposite spectrums. There are no new SKS’s being built to my knowledge where as everyone and their mother are CNCing AR parts and countless commercially sold AR’s.
The comparison to entry level AR’s is an easy arrival, but economies of scale are opposite spectrums. There are no new SKS’s being built to my knowledge where as everyone and their mother are CNCing AR parts and countless commercially sold AR’s.
Young men and women come of age every single day that own neither.
mgmorden
Member
The days of buying surplus military rifles as utilitarian rifles due their cheap cost have been gone for well over a decade now. The well ran dry and there's just no more piles of cheap rifles in warehouses.
Now if someone is buying a surplus rifle they're typically buying it as a collectible, and they are priced accordingly. You can't really price compare items bought as collectibles to items bought as mundane utilitarian pieces. You might as well be asking why a 1967 Mustang costs more than a brand new 2023 Toyota Corolla that is more comfortable, gets better gas mileage, and is far more reliable.
Now if someone is buying a surplus rifle they're typically buying it as a collectible, and they are priced accordingly. You can't really price compare items bought as collectibles to items bought as mundane utilitarian pieces. You might as well be asking why a 1967 Mustang costs more than a brand new 2023 Toyota Corolla that is more comfortable, gets better gas mileage, and is far more reliable.
someguy2800
Member
There are almost 4 million people born in the US every year.
But a good 1973 Chevy 1500 is cheaper than a new F150. Your comment it right on
Speedo66
Member
someguy2800
Member
And most of them that are dying are not giving one away.
Riomouse911
Member
I bought a Chinese SKS back in 1992. A work-buddy had a friend who imported them, they had a warehouse with at least 25-30 double-stacked pallets of rifles and a similar number of single pallets with Chinese 7.62x39 rounds.
I think paid 89 bucks for the gun and 100 rounds of ammo.
It was okaaaaay, I pulled the fiberglass stock off and put it in a Choate folder. Ultimately I sold it for funding the purchase of something else, I can’t recall what that was.
My Dad offered to give me his Yugo SKS over thanksgiving, he never shoots it and it is just propped against the wall in his closet.
I have two 7.62x39 guns, an AR and Mini-30, so I told him to give it to my sister and BIL since they don't have one.
Stay safe.
I think paid 89 bucks for the gun and 100 rounds of ammo.
It was okaaaaay, I pulled the fiberglass stock off and put it in a Choate folder. Ultimately I sold it for funding the purchase of something else, I can’t recall what that was.
My Dad offered to give me his Yugo SKS over thanksgiving, he never shoots it and it is just propped against the wall in his closet.
I have two 7.62x39 guns, an AR and Mini-30, so I told him to give it to my sister and BIL since they don't have one.
Stay safe.
35 Whelen
Member
An AR is a rifle chambered in a small, marginally effective cartridge that people build, customize, take pictures of, talk about, and compare to their friends AR's, but never really shoot them save maybe at the range. And in the real world (or at least my world) they're not really all that practical as they're cumbersome and unwieldy.
An SKS, especially the Chinese examples, on the other hand, are fairly trim (lower profile), do not depend on detachable magazines, are arguably more rugged, and chambered in a cartridge firing a bullet with ~40% greater diameter and almost twice the mass of the 5.56.
My SKS serves a utility role very, very well, and it is a role that I don't think would be filled as completely with an AR.
35W
An SKS, especially the Chinese examples, on the other hand, are fairly trim (lower profile), do not depend on detachable magazines, are arguably more rugged, and chambered in a cartridge firing a bullet with ~40% greater diameter and almost twice the mass of the 5.56.
My SKS serves a utility role very, very well, and it is a role that I don't think would be filled as completely with an AR.
35W
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ThomasT
Member
I'm glad someone aso thinks they are clunky, awkward guns. I have two and have no desire to own another.
I have two SKS rifles. Well, one is the carbine version with the 16" barrel. The other has a 20" barrel. I personally like the longer barreled gun better. The extra 4" barrel helps with blast and I like the slightly longer sight radius.
No way I would pay what they want for one now. The Paratrooper was free from my dad and the 20" barreled gun I paid $275 NIB off gunbroker about 10 years ago.
Savage30L
Member
New lever-action 30-30s are a lot more than $800 nowadays. More like $1000-1500.
I'd like to join in the old timers memory train. Mine came with a plastic hunting stock and no bayonet. I put an aftermarket peep on. Shoots as good as any other open sight rifle I have. Has AK mags and who knows round count or how many times the barrel has cooked.
Edit. Shoots way better than my stubborn mini 30
Edit. Shoots way better than my stubborn mini 30
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American_Fusilier
Member
I bought a Chinese sks a couple years ago for $350. It was caked in cosmoline and in sort of rough shape. But she cleaned up nicely. I love it, though it doesn't get shot nearly enough.
CapnMac
Member
Dunno. Simonov made a nice carbine-sized rifle. It has decent balance, if a tad finicky to learn the easy way to take one down for cleaning. The internal/external tripper-clip fed magazine is an interesting things, too. The pig sticker or tent peg mounted to a swivel under the barrel gives a unique look.
The 7.62x39 make a nice pig killing round in my book. And the "pokey bit" on the front does give a way to not have to lay your rifle in the mud--if an awkward one.
SKS are not very handy for installing optics, but there are solutions for that.
Now, the fact that nice examples all seem to have US$700 or $800 price tags does suggest more economical ways to rid the world of excess feral pigs. (Back, in the Beforetimes, like 1992, when an SKS was US$79, same as a case of x39 ammo--those ecomomics were different.)
Your Mileage May Vary.
