Background

As we continue to look into military surplus rifles we couldn’t pass up this jewel, another impressive carbine from the former Soviet Union. While not a communist, I find cold war Soviet design to be extremely interesting. Today’s rifle was designed towards the end of the second World War, and thus incorporates a great deal of features valued in the last centuries warfare. I am of course talking about the SKS Carbine. While originally from the Soviets, today’s example comes to us from China. The Norinco SKS was manufactured and imported to the US by the same company.

As a kid from the 80’s, I grew up seeing guns like the SKS and AK-47 on television and other media. So as a gun nut it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on both of them. The SKS has a long and distinguished service record with more countries and too many wars to mention. While initially designed and fielded by the Soviets, it was later downgraded in favor of the select-fire detachable box magazine-fed AK.

Ever the communists, the Soviets licensed and supplied countless copies of the SKS to whomever needed a simple and inexpensive carbine. Something everybody was after during the Cold War.

A great many examples of those rifle eventually made it to American gun shops, and today’s example is exactly that. The affordable surplus rifles have long been a hit with American shooting enthusiasts, but does the 80-year-old SKS still have a place in our market?

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