When I was a kid, my brother in law gave me my first Gun Digest, 1993 Edition. One of the articles was a fantastic write up of, at the time, cheap Chinese imports.
Called the Gang of Four, it went into detail of the four rifles of the article: Pellet rifle, 22. lr rifle, SKS, and the Type 53 Mosin Nagant. I...was...hooked! Started my own research and search for my own.
The Type 53 I finally found many, many years later. Inbetween that time, I had had many SKS's, Mostly Norinco ones, like the Paratrooper, or the Yugo SKS. Sure, I shot them all, some better then others..
but...not what I wanted. I always wanted one with battle scars, wear and tear in due part of rough handling but still in good shape. Then about...oh, 8 years ago J&G Sales had some T56 SKS's in their gunsmith specials
for $250. I jumped on the band wagon, and got one. Would you believe the only broken part was the take down lever? That was it! I'll get around to fixing it...or not. Its not important. What was neat was all the
trench art, true wear and tear, complete with the rare blade bayonet AND cleaning rod! All the SKS's I have ever had was always missing the cleaning rod. Anyways...
I may not be getting my own complete "Gang of Four" but I am very happy for what I got, when I could.
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